The Travel Diaries

Brian Chesky, Airbnb Co-Founder & CEO

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Episode notes

Today’s guest is the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, an interview that has been years in the making, and a real honour.


For billions of us, including myself, Airbnb has completely changed the way we travel. It opened up people’s homes, creating an army of Superhosts in the process, bringing tourists and locals far closer together. It’s no short of lie that Airbnb created a travel revolution. 


So you could say today’s episode is both Brian’s and Airbnb’s. For a CEO of his magnitude, it’s clearly hard for him to separate the two. The story of how Airbnb came to be, is not what you’d expect. Brian went to design school, he’s an artist, and came from humble beginnings. In fact, it was cereal boxes that first got Airbnb off the ground - you’ll have to stay tuned to hear Brian explain more about that, as part of the fascinating and surprising twists and turns on the path to Airbnb’s global domination. 


Brain’s answers are very philosophical and a goldmine of both travel and business wisdom. As he says himself, he was a host before he was a traveler and many of his answers reflect that mindset. Travel for him is about getting into a locals POV. You won’t get luxury hotels, you’ll get stories of people and experiences.

 

We also hear at the end how Airbnb are pivoting to drive the next revolution in travel.


I hope you enjoy it.


Destination Recap:

  • St Louis, Missouri, USA
  • Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), USA
  • Los Angeles, California, USA
  • San Francisco, California, USA
  • Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, USA
  • Tokyo, Japan
  • The Walt Disney Family Museum, San Francisco, California, USA


If you want to follow in mine and Brian's footsteps and become a host on airbnb you can go to airbnb.com/host to sign up, and try out airbnb.co.uk/askasuperhost to speak to other UK hosts for advice.


Thank you to today's sponsor, DK Eyewitness. Find their guides on special offer at wordery.com - simply enter the code DKEYEWITNESS at checkout for a 10% discount.


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If you can’t wait until then, there’s always the first five seasons to catch up on, with guests from Sir Michael Palin and Jo Malone, to Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Raymond Blanc.


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