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Conventional wisdom tells us to ‘expect the unexpected,’ and Airbnb news certainly delivered this week, most notably when a guest in Los Angeles received a surprise visit from a SWAT team! Margot Lee Shmorak, CEO and Co-founder of Hostfully, joins Jasper (our homeless host) to discuss that incident as well as the unexpected negative view of Airbnb presented by a few high-profile Democrats on the n...

Is there something you’ve always wanted to try? Maybe it’s surfing, or nature photography, or even burlesque? It can be intimidating to seek out experiences like that on your own if you don’t know anyone in the scene. Airbnb Experiences is designed to give guests an opportunity to try something extraordinary – with a welcoming expert host who can’t wait to share their city with you. Cat LaCohie, o...

You’ve got to keep ‘em regulated. This seems to be the hotel industry’s sentiment toward Airbnb, as revealed in documents obtained by the New York Times this week. Jasper is joined by Glenn Carter, Hostfully Marketing Specialist, to chat about the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s formal plan to rein in Airbnb, as well as a new UBS report suggesting that regulations have slowed the growth o...

Everyone loves a good party… Unless of course, that party happens in your Airbnb without your knowledge or consent! We all hope that our guests will be respectful of our possessions and our space, and the vast majority of Airbnb users are good people who do just that. But every now and then a bad apple comes along, and it is a good idea to be aware of Airbnb’s resolution process and think through...

Airbnb was in the headlines for the wrong reasons this week, as an Asian-American guest was stranded by a vicious host who offered race as the reason for the last-minute cancellation. Despite Airbnb’s best efforts to combat discrimination via changes to the platform, the issue continues to plague the company. Today Jasper chats with Nicole Prentice Williams, VP of Strategic Partnerships at Hostful...

The beauty of Airbnb is the trust people place in each other, allowing strangers to stay in their homes and sharing their space – and often their lives. Comedians are in the business of studying people and learning their stories, and today’s guest was fascinated by the concept of home sharing and curious to understand why people choose to host. Jasper is chatting with Greg Schwem, a business humor...

As the trend toward instant bookings continues, the Airbnb platform becomes more user-friendly for guests. But what does that mean for you as a host? The policies around cancellations can be confusing, and hosts who prefer the strict cancellation policy operate under a different set of rules. Hostfully President David Jacoby joins Jasper this week to cover the pros and cons of using Instant Book a...

Feel like escaping the ‘rat race’? Wouldn’t it be nice to build a little wealth, making as much in passive income as you do active? Today Jasper has a conversation with a guest who has accomplished this ambitious goal – with the help of a game! Mark Krupa has invested in multiple properties along the ‘tourist trail’ in Eastern Europe. He is the author of @Airbnb Coach: Maximize Your Income and Sat...

Airbnb’s mission statement asserts that one can “belong anywhere.” But because of the company’s disruption of the travel industry, some cities have implied that Airbnb itself is unwelcome – through strict regulations and ongoing legal battles. This week in the news, we see evidence that Airbnb is finding new ways to work with city governments and nonprofits to both improve their image and impact s...

New York is known as the city that never sleeps. But if you are an Airbnb host there, you may be losing sleep over the state’s anti-Airbnb crusade and complicated short-term rental regulations. Today Jasper is on the line with Brendan MacKenzie, the founder of MetroButler, a short-term management company in New York. His background in law and familiarity with the Airbnb ecosystem make him the perf...

SW2 + WC = MO. Don’t worry: This isn’t an algebra lesson. The formula above is actually some inspiring advice Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia learned from an RISD professor about how to deal with rejection. In a recent interview with Signapore’s Strait Times, Gebbia shared his journey from selling Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles drawings to his elementary classmates for $2 to co-founding global powerhou...

There is no doubt that the short-term rental market is here to stay. Airbnb has experienced a wildfire expansion in the last ten years, and it only continues to grow. Listen in to learn about a new book that looks at the development of the industry through a series of interviews with eight players, both large and small, exploring the details of its expansion and predicting its future direction. To...

Has the student become the teacher? One of the headlines in Airbnb news this week comes from the South China Morning Post, its author arguing that Chinese copycat home-sharing sites have begun to surpass Airbnb when it comes to innovation. Silvia Li Pham of Hostfully is back to chat with Jasper about this and other news stories, including the additional capital Airbnb has raised, the company’s int...

Airbnb owes much of its success to the visual appeal of the site, which has been referred to as “Pinterest meets real estate porn.” But did you know that in Airbnb’s early days, Brian and Joe spent time with hosts in New York and took the pictures themselves to help upgrade the listings? The Airbnb story is a compelling one, and you might be surprised by many moments in Airbnb history that made a...

As Airbnb continues to grow and pursue its ambition of becoming the Superbrand of Travel, changes in the company’s model are sure to follow. On some fronts, Airbnb seems committed to maintaining the hands-off, platform-only approach to business in the sharing economy. Yet in other areas, they are taking a more proactive approach that allows the company more control over the guest experience. Jaspe...

This week on the podcast, Jasper has a conversation with Brian Chen, lead consumer technology writer for the New York Times and Airbnb Superhost. Brian’s cabin in northern California has been a lucrative business investment, though he has had some surprising experiences with Airbnb guests – and not in a good way. Brian shares a few horror stories about guests who engaged in illegal activity and ho...

It was a quiet news week for Airbnb, though the themes of acquisitions, group travel and regulations remain top of mind. This week, Jasper chats with Margot Schmorak, CEO and Co-Founder of Hostfully. They deliberate Airbnb’s recent acquisition of micropayments platform Tilt as well as an interesting perspective on regulations that appeared on BaconsRebellion.com this week. Margot also covers her r...

This week, Jasper is chatting with Marc Figueras, the CEO and Co-founder of KeyNest, a smart key exchange service with a network of locations across London where Airbnb hosts and property managers can securely store their keys. Marc explains the specifics of the regulations particular to London as well as the options available to Airbnb hosts in the face of these newly enforced restrictions. Find...

Airbnb’s growth is in the news this week, and acquisitions are in the air. Having only spent $300 million of the $3 billion raised, Airbnb has capital available. And they will have to invest in order to facilitate the growth necessary to reach the publicized goal of $3 billion in profit by 2020. Jasper is joined by Hostfully Growth Guru, Silvia Li Sam, to discuss acquisitions that are already bein...

Jasper talks with Peter, the host of Clyde River Cottage in southern Australia. With a background in the hospitality business, Peter is well-versed in providing guests with a quality experience and marketing to travelers both directly and through third-party platforms. Peter shares the advantages of diversifying your Airbnb business and discusses how he uses the Triple Wow Factor to procure five-s...

Regulations and enforcement dominate the conversation today, as two big news stories out of NYC and London are making headlines. Jasper is joined by Nicole Williams, VP of Strategy and Marketing for Hostfully, to chat about the property managers fined in NYC this week as well as the feasibility of enforcing the rules established in London. Jasper and Nicole also cover the exponential growth of Air...

Jasper talks with Kevin the Financial Panther, an Airbnb superhost and expert side hustler. Kevin is a lawyer who has capitalized on the sharing economy to pay off $87,000 worth of student loans in just two and a half years! Kevin shares his journey to becoming an Airbnb superhost and explains how he uses other platforms including DogVacay, Postmates and OfferUp to make extra money. Listen and lea...

In November of 2015, Airbnb Global Policy Chief Chris Lehane announced the bold goal of forming 100 home sharing clubs in 2016. Today, a global network of 112 of these advocacy organizations fight regulatory battles and engage in partnerships with small businesses to enrich the local economy and culture. On this episode of the podcast, Jasper is joined by Emery Lieberman, Airbnb’s Global Home Shar...

On this episode of the podcast, Jasper chats with Pierre-Camille Hamana, founder of smartbnb, an application that provides value to Airbnb hosts via automated messaging. Smartbnb gives superpowers to superhosts, improving response times and listings placement! Jasper explains how his own experience as an Airbnb host informed the development of smartbnb, the flexible functionality of the applicatio...

Trump is on our radar again this week as his travel ban on refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries has left travelers stranded at airports all over the world. Jasper is joined by Margot Schmorak, CEO and Co-founder of Hostfully, to discuss the details of Airbnb’s response to the executive order and tech executives speaking out against the policy. In other news, Jasper and Margot cover Airbnb...