Design Thinking: Key to Airbnb`s Success

In 2007, Chesky had given up his job as a designer on a popular TV show, and moved to San Francisco, to stay with, Gebbia a designer and his classmate at Rhode Island School of Design.

In October 2007, during the annual Industrial Design Society of America Conference, all the hotels in San Francisco were fully booked and the conference attendees were facing difficulties in finding accommodation. The two roommates, who were finding it tough to pay the rent, decided to take advantage of the situation and ‘make a few bucks’. They rented out space in their apartment, complete with three air mattresses. To make the offer more attractive, they also promised the guests’ breakfast. The two created the ‘airbedandbreakfast.com’ website as well. To their delight, the idea worked and six days later they had 2 men and a woman as their guests. The guests were each charged $80 each night. The initiative was profitable, and this encouraged the young entrepreneurs to make it bigger...