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The story with the air mattress still sounds good.
According to legend, Brian Chesky and his student roommates came up with an idea of how to make some extra money in the fall of 2007.
Hotels were fully booked during a conference in San Francisco, and even rooms in shared apartments were priceless.
So they rented an air mattress as a place to sleep.
It was and is the founding myth of Airbnb (short for Airbed and Breakfast, i.e. air mattress and breakfast).
Around 13 years later, the company is worth up to $ 42 billion, based on the upper end of the price range for Airbnb shares trading from Thursday.
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In almost every country in the world and in an estimated 100,000 cities, private and professional landlords offer their rooms, apartments and hotels via the platform.
The billionaire company hardly has anything to do with air mattresses.
Airbnb has adapted to changing conditions on several occasions, and both potential shareholders and hosts - that's what vacation rental landlords are called in Silicon Valley - should look closely over the next few months to see which direction things are going.
Airbnb has already completely changed several times
The corona pandemic has largely paralyzed city tourism, from which Airbnb benefited most.
Many hotels are weak as Airbnb competitors.
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But there is also a threat of a wave of new regulations, especially in Europe, where larger cities and governments are coming together to take action against what they see as excessive use of apartments as Airbnb apartments.
It is increasingly likely that a tough EU directive will come with extensive control powers for cities and an obligation for Airbnb to release landlord data.
First, however, Brian Chesky reacted radically to the corona-related collapse of bookings by 80 percent in the spring.
He reduced costs, put new business fields on hold and laid off around 1,800 employees.
Fight against housing shortages - EU countries are allowed to ban short-term rentals
In the fight against the housing shortage, EU countries are allowed to put a stop to short-term rental via platforms such as Airbnb.
That has now been decided by the European Court of Justice.
Source: WORLD / Alina Quast
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And he changed the strategy.
Anyone looking for a holiday home on the website will no longer be greeted with the temptations of the big wide world.
But with a homely “Nahweh”.
First and foremost are apartments in their own city or in the vicinity.
The motto is a short vacation from the pandemic.
The platform actually suggests stays in their own city for Berlin users.
Or in Rostock or Leipzig.
Fittingly, Airbnb presented a user survey in October.
According to this, 58 percent of those questioned said that they wanted to combine work and leisure more closely.
44 percent said they also wanted to work from another location to discover new areas.
The increasing home office frenzy of potential users could ensure that the strategy at least partially works.
Another factor plays into the cards for providers of private holiday apartments: In an exclusive apartment, you can spend a largely contact-free holiday.
While hotels are reducing their buffets, closing bars and only occupying some of the rooms - if at all - staying in someone else's private apartment is just as possible as before the pandemic, provided that there is no general tourism lockdown.
Accordingly, Airbnb booking numbers recovered in the summer.
Kathrin Anselm, Airbnb Manager for German-speaking countries, Eastern Europe and Russia, says: “With a view to the travel year 2021, safety and cleanliness will continue to be the top priority for travelers and we expect many to have an entire accommodation, such as a holiday home or a Apartment, preferred to a hotel. "
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On the other hand, the Californians apparently want to keep several options open.
For some time now, Airbnb has also been able to search specifically for hotels or "hotel rooms".
At the same time, it is noticeable that the private apartments that still remain on the platform are being presented more and more professionally.
Airbnb is also becoming a competitor for classic booking platforms such as booking.com
Adversity could more likely come from the political side.
In many cities popular with short trip tourists, there is a housing shortage, and the private rental of living space as holiday homes has come under fire.
In New York, for example, private apartments can no longer be rented out for less than 30 days, and only if the hosts are present.
This means that a good part of the Airbnb business model there is dead. In Los Angeles and San Francisco there are similar regulations, according to which private individuals are only allowed to rent out their first home.
A ban on short-term rentals in Paris is legal
In comparison, the rules in Europe are loose.
Yet.
A total of 22 cities, including Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, Hamburg, Berlin and Munich have joined forces and want to achieve stricter regulation at EU level in Brussels.
Just in September the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed that a ban on short-term rentals in Paris is legal.
Two landlords in the French capital each have to pay a fine of 15,000 euros.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager is open to stricter regulation.
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However, the legal framework still offers the classic Airbnb model sufficient protection.
Many cities in Germany, too, have recently tried to track down the so-called misappropriation of living space, which includes regular rental to tourists.
Access to the landlord's data at Airbnb is crucial.
This is the only way for the authorities to check whether landlords adhere to deadlines and reporting requirements.
In September, however, the Bavarian Administrative Court ruled that the City of Munich cannot simply and without reason demand that Airbnb hand over personal data.
Berlin demands fines and continues to sue
Half a dozen other lawsuits are pending in other German cities, such as Berlin.
There four districts complain about the release of landlord data.
But Airbnb has so far refused to disclose the data, referring to the Munich judgment and data protection at the company's headquarters in Ireland.
Berlin is now demanding fines and continuing to sue.
In the capital in particular, it is no longer just a matter of thousands of apartments not being regularly rented on the overused housing market.
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One is also increasingly annoyed by pure party tourism: “The provision of apartments for days or weeks destroys permanent neighborhoods,” said the Senator for Urban Development and Housing, Sebastian Scheel (left).
In the capital, however, there are no objections to classic home sharing, as it began back then in San Francisco - a bed, a mattress, a small room.
An overview of the rules in some cities and federal states:
North Rhine-Westphalia:
The most populous state is working on an anti-Airbnb law that could come into force in 2021.
Building minister Ina Scharrenbach (CDU) is in charge.
Subletting to tourists is to be limited to twelve weeks per year.
In addition, landlords should have to get an identity number from the municipality.
Baden-Württemberg:
A state-wide law against misappropriation of living space could be passed in Stuttgart before Christmas.
Rental periods, mandatory registration and, above all, high fines are planned.
Bavaria:
In the Free State there has been a threat of fines of up to half a million euros since 2017 if you violate the ban on misappropriation.
In Munich, real Airbnb detectives are online and on the streets to check whether landlords are sticking to the rules and, for example, are not offering their apartments for short-term rental for more than eight weeks a year.
"We have our own special investigation team for vacation homes, an online platform through which citizens can report suspected misuse, exhaust all legal means that are available to us, and we are also successful," says Munich social officer Dorothee Schiwy.
Hamburg:
The Hanseatic city recently achieved legal success and successfully sued Airbnb in Ireland for the disclosure of data for the taxation of rental income.
Because homesharers should also know that: Rental income at Airbnb is taxable if it is higher than 520 euros per year.
As soon as the data arrives in Hamburg, the Senate wants to pass it on to colleagues from other tax offices in Germany.
In addition, according to the Housing Protection Act, which has been in force since April 2019, Airbnb landlords must obtain a registration number and also state this in the apartment advertisement.
Registration is easy and supported by Airbnb.
Nevertheless, the Hamburg authorities do not know reliably whether such a number is not bogus.
A rental period of more than eight weeks is subject to approval in Hamburg, but the authorities can hardly check that either.
Almost 30 employees are full-time looking for violations.
Berlin Senate plans to tighten the law on misappropriation
Berlin:
So far, commercial or freelance businesses that were set up and operated in a living space before May 1, 2014, do not need a permit.
But anyone who came onto the market afterwards and lets 50 percent or more of the space in a private apartment always needs a permit from the district.
Around 50 employees monitor the implementation of the misappropriation rules.
However, the Senate is planning to tighten the misappropriation law.
"We are currently in the administrative coordination with the districts," said the Senate for Urban Development on WELT request.
Airbnb states that it wants to support the Berlin districts with a simplified apartment registration.
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