Airbnb: Not just a place for booking a place to stay
I travel a lot and I look at new places to travel even more. The process of traveling in this age goes hand-in-hand with Airbnb; for me, the website is always my first port of call after receiving a ‘Booking confirmed’ email from Virgin Atlantic or Easyjet.
Obviously, the main purpose of Airbnb is to find somewhere to stay — slightly cheaper and much more homely than a hotel. But, lately I’ve found myself referring to the site for more than just booking a place to stay; It’s somewhere I got to check out furniture and learn about different cultures from the comfort of my desk.
Example: Before a recent trip to Copenhagen I spent a few hours trawling the site, looking for the ideal spot for one night in the Danish capital. Of course, I found a place to stay but I also discovered a few new neighbourhoods and the Danish trend of couple’s having two single duvets on their beds — something which really intrigued me and something I’d certainly never found out from hitting up the Radisson Blu website and booking a double room.
Having an insight into a different culture isn’t the only thing to glean from a quick house search on Airbnb though. For me, a ferocious consumer of lifestyle content, the website gives an incredible insight to life around the world.
There’s something rewarding about being able to check out someone’s house without having to peer through their window, something nice about seeing a cool coffee table without scrolling through MADE.com for an hour and something engaging about looking into someone else’s space and feeling that you understand what they’re doing with it.
The personality of the space really shines through on an Airbnb listing and while I love a nicely shot, curated image of a well designed chair with a finely presented magazine on it — the best way to see actual lifestyle is via Airbnb, with books on a coffee table and cafeterias sat on the kitchen side — that’s what I’ve found anyway.
My willingness to travel has got me on Aribnb a whole lot more of late and as it stands I’ve got 14 wish lists on Airbnb. Two of these wish lists though, are there entirely for visual stimulation — If I’ve stumbled across places to stay which are nice looking or have great furniture, I put them into their respective list, whereas a nicely located apartment in Honolulu simply goes in its self titled list: boring indeed.
This ability to create and curate a knowledge and showcase for homes around the word really fascinates me. I know I can take some time on Airbnb once a week and find something or someone interesting — not entirely the company’s aim for users but its certainly got my stuck on the site.
