Why Airbnb is Called Airbnb: The 2008 Origin Story - FourWeekMBA
Gennaro Cuofano·2026-05-20·via FourWeekMBA
Airbnb was initially called Airbedandbreakfast, as the main idea behind the starting of the company was to rent air mattresses in their apartment, as San Francisco filled up due to various conferences, to make some money to pay back the rent.
Airbnb meaning refers to "Air Bed and Breakfast," the original name founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia chose in 2008 when they rented air mattresses in their San Francisco apartment. The company shortened the name from "AirBedandBreakfast.com" to "Airbnb.com" in 2009 for branding purposes.
The Aibnb’s founders noticed this as they were designers. And a design conference (IDSA / ICSID) was about to happen in 2007; they launched Airbedandbreakfast as a service offering “Air Bed and Breakfast” to other designers coming to town who could not find available rooms in a hotel.
Thus from there, the initial name.
Yet, as Airbnb joined the Winter 2009 batch of the popular accelerator, YC, Paul Graham, founder of YC, suggested the founders change the name from Airbedandbreakfast to Airbnb – before demo day – as the name sounded better.
I'd long forgotten about this, but Brian told me today that I made them switch the name from Airbedandbreakfast before Demo Day. I think that was the right choice. The old name does look pretty clumsy written out.
The founders of Airbnb came up with the idea when they noticed that San Francisco was experiencing a shortage of accommodations due to various conferences.
The founders, who were designers, decided to rent out air mattresses in their apartment to make some money and cover their rent.
In 2007, a design conference (IDSA / ICSID) was scheduled to take place, and the founders launched “Airbedandbreakfast” to provide accommodations to other designers attending the conference who couldn’t find hotel rooms.
Airbnb’s founders primarily own Airbnb: Brian Chesky, with over 76 million Class B shares, which give him 33..4% of ownership and 30.6% of voting power; Nathan Blecharczyk, with over 64 million Class B shares, which give him 29.4% and 26.9% of voting power; and Joe Gebbia, which has nearly 47 million of Class B shares which give him 21..5% ownership and almost 27% of voting power. Other institutional investors comprise Sequoia Capital, Fidelity, and The Vanguard Group.
Airbnb is a platform business model making money by charging guests a service fee between 5% and 15% of the reservation, while the commission from hosts is generally 3%. For instance, on a $100 booking per night set by a host, Airbnb might make as much as $15, split between host and guest fees.
Airbnb was initially called Airbedandbreakfast, as the main idea behind the starting of the company was to rent air mattresses in their apartment, as San Francisco filled up due to various conferences, to make some money to pay back the rent.
The Aibnb’s founders noticed this as they were designers. And a design conference (IDSA / ICSID) was about to happen in 2007; they launched Airbedandbreakfast as a service offering “Air Bed and Breakfast” to other designers coming to town who could not find available rooms in a hotel.
Thus from there, the initial name.
Yet, as Airbnb joined the Winter 2009 batch of the popular accelerator, YC, Paul Graham, founder of YC, suggested the founders change the name from Airbedandbreakfast to Airbnb – before demo day – as the name sounded better.
Airbnb is a two-sided marketplace where hosts and guests transact via its booking platform. Thus, Airbnb makes money by charging a fee on top of hosts and guests when a transaction goes through. For instance, in 2023, Airbnb generated $ 9.92 billion in transaction rates, with an average take rate of 13.5%.
The Airbnb story began in 2008 when two friends shared their accommodation with three travelers looking for a place to stay. Just over a decade later, it is estimated that the company now accounts for over 20% of the vacation rental industry. As a travel platform, Airbnb competes with other brands like Booking.com, VRBO, FlipKey, and given its massive amount of traffic from Google. Also, platforms like Google Travel can be considered potential competitors able to cannibalize part of Airbnb’s market.
As a peer-to-peer platform, Airbnb will collect a fee from both key players once the transaction between host and guest goes through. For example, from a $100 booking per night set by the host, Airbnb might collect $3 as a hosting fee. At the same time, it might increase the price for the guest to $116 ($16 above the price set by the host) to collect its guest fees of $12 and taxes for the remaining amount.
In 2023, on $73.25 billion in gross bookings, the company reported revenues of $9.92 billion, a record of $4.79 billion in net income, and 13.5%, in take rates.
In 2023, Airbnb reported a 13.5% take rate (analysis by FourWeekMBA). Airbnb reported a 13.3% take rate in 2022 and 12.8% in 2021. The company’s take rate is a critical metric that Airbnb tracks to evaluate the financial health of its platform.
In 2023, Airbnb generated an average value per booking of $163.51, compared to 2022, when Airbnb generated an average value per booking of $161, compared to $156 in 2021 and $124 in 2020.
In 2023, Airbnb had over 5 million hosts on the platform, which generated 7.7 million listings in the same period; Airbnb had 6.6 million active listings, compared to 6 million in 2021.
A storyboard is a linear sequence of illustrations used in animation to develop a broader story. A storyboard process is now used also in business to understand and map customers’ experience and enable the growth of the company using that process.
Airbnb arbitrage is a business model where the renter of a house or apartment sub-lets the property to Airbnb users. This is a model where the Airbnb arbitrageur can transform a long-term rental, with the main property owner, into a short-term rental, with higher rates and margins.
An accessory dwelling unit (ADU) is a term used to describe a secondary house or apartment located on the same plot of land as a larger, primary place of residence. This has become an industry for its own sake, with the potential to become the next trillion-dollar industry.
Samara is a manufacturer of prefab accessory dwelling units (ADUs) that can be installed and operational in a matter of hours. It started as an R&D unit of Airbnb in 2016. And it eventually was spun off and run by Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, who now runs it full-time.
How AI Is Changing This
AI is revolutionizing how people discover the story behind Airbnb’s name through personalized content delivery and search optimization. When users search “Why is it called Airbnb?” AI algorithms now surface rich, contextual explanations that go beyond the basic “Air Bed and Breakfast” origin story. For example, AI-powered content platforms can dynamically generate comprehensive answers that include the founders’ 2007 struggles in San Francisco, their creative solution of renting air mattresses during a design conference, and how this evolved into a global hospitality empire worth billions. These AI systems analyze user intent and browsing patterns to determine whether someone wants a quick factual answer or a deeper entrepreneurial case study, then serve appropriately detailed content. This personalized approach means the Airbnb naming story is now told more effectively than ever, with AI ensuring the right depth of information reaches the right audience at the right moment.
ABNB is Airbnb's stock ticker symbol on NASDAQ. The full form represents "Air Bed and Breakfast," which was the company's original concept when founders rented air mattresses to conference attendees in 2008.
Q. Why is Airbnb called Airbnb instead of just "bnb"?
Airbnb includes "Air" because founders initially offered air mattresses as sleeping accommodations in their apartment. The "air bed" concept combined with "breakfast" created the original name "Air Bed and Breakfast" before becoming simply "Airbnb."
Q. How did Airbnb get its name in 2008?
Airbnb's name originated when Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia rented three air mattresses in their San Francisco loft during a design conference, calling their service "Air Bed and Breakfast" before shortening it to Airbnb.
Booking Holdings is the company the controls six main brands that comprise Booking.com, priceline.com, KAYAK, agoda.com, Rentalcars.com, and OpenTable. Over 76% of the company revenues in 2017 came primarily via travel reservations commisions and travel insurance fees. Almost 17% came from merchant fees, and the remaining revenues came from advertising earned via KAYAK. As distributionstrategy, the company spent over $4.5 billion in performance-based and brand advertising.
Trivago is a search and discovery travel platform part of Expedia Group. Trivago is widely known as a trusted hotel comparison service. Trivago doesn’t charge based on bookings but rather through a cost-per-click (CPC) model, monetized when a hotel searcher clicks one of its advertiser listings. This referral revenue comprises most of Trivago’s income. Trivago also has another minor revenue stream via subscriptions to its Business Studio, a tool that helps hoteliers track impression and click data associated with their properties.
Born in 1996 as a travel platform of Microsoft, it would be spun off later on. Expedia became among the largest online travel agencies (OTAs) which comprise a set of brands that go from Hotels.com, Vrbo, Orbits, CheapTickets, ebookers, Travelocity, Trivago, and others. The company follows a multi-brandstrategy.
Kayak is an online travel agency and search engine founded in 2004 by Steve Hafner and Paul M. English as a Travel Search Company and acquired by Booking Holdings in 2013 for $2.1 billion. The company makes money via an advertising model based on cost per click, cost per acquisition, and advertising placements.
OpenTable is an American online restaurant reservation system founded by Chuck Templeton. During the late 90s, it provided one of the first automated, real-time reservation systems. The company was acquired by Booking Holding back in 2014, for $2.6 billion. Today OpenTable makes money via subscription plans, referral fees, and in-dining with its first restaurant, as an experiment in Miami, Florida.
OYO’s business model is a mixture of platform and brand, where the company started primarily as an aggregator of homes across India, and it quickly moved to other verticals, from leisure to co-working and corporate travel. In a sort of octopus business strategy of expansion to cover the whole spectrum of short-term real estate.
TripAdvisor’s business model matches the demand for people looking for a travel experience with supply from travel partners around the world providing travel accommodations and experiences. When this match is created TripAdvisor collects commission from partners on a CPC and CPM basis. The non-hotel revenue comprises experiences, restaurants, and rentals.
Trivago is a search and discovery travel platform part of Expedia Group. Trivago is widely known as a trusted hotel comparison service. Trivago doesn’t charge based on bookings but rather through a cost-per-click (CPC) model, monetized when a hotel searcher clicks one of its advertiser listings. This referral revenue comprises most of Trivago’s income. Trivago also has another minor revenue stream via subscriptions to its Business Studio, a tool that helps hoteliers track impression and click data associated with their properties.
