AIRBNB HEADQUARTER

THE SOMEHOW DIFFERENT WORKPLACE

Airbnb has become something like our guaranteed home in the last 7 months. Because if it is possible we book at all destinations via Airbnb our accommodation. For the simple reason that here everything flows together what we need. The best of all is the direct connection to the locals and they know what is going on, what special to see and why it is worth to live in their city.

In San Francisco, we visited the headquarter of Airbnb to see who is behind this large platform. And how does it really look in this office because there is so much mentioned and published about this super creative workspace.

When we arrived they asked us to sit down in the lobby. So we took place on a comfortable leather sofa and looked around – somehow it seemed to be familiar to us. It took a moment to realize that we are sitting in the middle of a real listing of Airbnb. Precisely described we have been sitting in the living room of Sam in the middle of Brooklyn, New York. And what a coincidence this is the first apartment we requested at the beginning of our trip in September. Next to the remarkable sofa there was the original listing from the online platform framed to show what kind of rebuilding it is. In September Sam was not available, but finally we enjoyed his sofa.

Then a very friendly, easygoing staff picked us up and gave us a 1.5 hour tour of discovery on all 3 floors of this open workspace. We got a view to all kind of different desks and work places – the apartment of Sam in the lobby was just the beginning. Later on we strolled through a bungalow on Bali, a Swedish living room in a wooden cabin or passed a camper from Australia. Many employees doesn’t even have a fixed desk rather only a locker for their personal things and then they simply choose every day for the most suitable environment. So you can have your Skype conference in the morning in a Hello Kitty Room, answer your emails in a hammock with a view over the city and have your last meeting on the day in a mushroom cabin from South America. Does that sounds great? At first glance, yes, it looks like you have so much freedom and opportunities, different desks, neighbors and a choice of environments to be creative and find new perspectives. We asked if they like to work there and if they take advantage of all this opportunities. They all respond with full conviction “Yes”. But some people added that it is not always so easy as it looks like. That they even invite friends to have lunch in the office and to spend time there together, let them start thinking. Does at this point the job blurred with the private life? And they shared that at a place like this with various options sometimes it is not so easy to focus on the essential and do that what must be done. Because at least it is still a workspace.

After our view behind the scenes, we can confirm YES it is a workplace of a different kind. It is not only exciting because of its spatially diversity as it is a very great execution of making the real listings and the whole idea of the brand tangible and to a unique experience of this service. A place where a community has been created and in which everyone can become inspired way more as just in his own subject.

However, the variety of possibilities made us thoughtfully and we take the question of how much of it does really help the work process – and we are sure that there are only very individual answers and solutions.