What did Airbnb pursue for the night-stay service so that you can build "trust" with strangers?

ByEvan Long

The largest vacant room share site in the world "Airbnb"Is used in 191 countries around the world, and"Airbnb may drive out the hotel industry"It is growing to the extent that it is suggested. The reason why the method that seems to be dangerous at first sight "to strangle others at stranger" is widely used, there is "design" to eliminate prejudice of "stranger = danger" Airbnb co-founder Joe Gevia said that there was pursuit.

Joe · Gevia: Design for trust behind the success of Airbnb | TED Talk | TED.com
https://www.ted.com/talks/joe_gebbia_how_airbnb_designs_for_trust

The movie can be seen from the following.


Male reflected in the image is Gabia, co-founder of Airbnb. The lecture begins with an episode that "a man is about to be kidnapped" to a man as soon as Gebia graduated from Miyakudai.


One day when Gebia was doing a yard sale at the garden, a man came and purchased Gebia's art. A man on a red roadster was traveling by car alone, and in the near futurePeace CorpsI was going to participate in the event. Two men who sprained went out for a drink in the city at night.


When Gebia said goodbye to Mr. Gebia, "Where are you going to stay today?" The man answers, "Actually I do not have a place to stay". Gebia regretted his remarks immediately as saying "Oops." Although he does not know whether he is just acquainted with a man and goes to the Peace Corps but knowing that he does not have a story is because he can not leave the man as "Well," no matter where.


"Perhaps it might be kidnapped by being forced into the trunk of the roadster ... Although it is thought that such a small trunk!", Gebia says he has offered "Do not stay at home" then.


Givia looking at the ceiling of the bedroom at night when she strangled a stranger at home, said Gebia, "What a thing I did! I do not know a man in the next living room! What should I do if my head is strange?" Panic He said that he locked the door when he got out of bed.


This is the event that became the seed of Airbnb's idea. Fortunately, men are not abnormal people, now they work as teachers and they are decorating the art of Gebia who purchased at the yard sale in the classroom.


This experience completely changed the viewpoint of Gebia's thing. When I was young, we taught that "unknown person = dangerous", but there is a possibility that the person who does not know may still be a friend he does not see yet in truth. After that, Gebia who moved, he told me that he used the air bed he used to stay when he stayed at a new house without throwing it away.


After a while, Mr. Gebia is caught in a crisis situation "Unemployed, bankruptcy on the verge of the race, roommate goes out and rent rises". In such a case, Gebia hears that the situation that "a reservation of hotels can not be filled with all while a design conference is done in the city" is occurring. Mr. Gebia, who thought that "changing fear to pleasure is creativity," put it in action.


This is an idea sent from Mr. Gevia to roommate Brian. "There's a way to earn money, change our room to 'Designer's B & B' and offer it to the young designers who came to town for the 4-day event.If you have mattresses, Wi-Fi, desk, It is written in e-mail together with breakfast. "


When I made a simple website and appealed B & B for designers, three guests came to the room. The room rate is $ 20 per person. Mr. Gebia and Mr. Brian interfered with each other after making breakfast for three people as a host, guiding the town, announcing goodbye to the guests on the last day and locking the door. "We might have found a way to make friends while doing rent!"


After that, Nathan Brechigik who was a previous roommate joined as a technical manager, and efforts to make this idea business started.


Here is the word that Mr. Gebia sent to investors. "I'd like to make a website that puts a very private picture that I do not normally publish, like a bathroom in my room, a toilet, a bedroom, etc. I invite someone who I do not know through the Internet to the room and bring them home We can accommodate the night! This will be a great success! "


Of course, this presentation failed. Many people are taught as "other people = dangerous" as children, so no one invested in net services that would allow others to stay red at other people.


Mr. Gebia was a vast university and was studying design. Gebia who knew that design is not an appearance problem, but "overall experience" thinks to design "trust among people who have never met."


What is "trust" that Gebia tried to realize? So, the experiment begins by involving the venue. "People who participate in the experiment make thumbs up," says Gebia, a lot of audience thumbs up.


"Now, everyone remove the lock of the mobile phone ... ..." Gebia who unlocks his smartphone.


Then instruct the audience to pass the unlocked smartphone to the next person.


"A little panic condition you are feeling now is the feeling when the host exposes your home for the first time," Gebia said. "Public home" seen to bedroom and toilet is close to "unlocked smartphone" which is likely to see private information.


I will change the experiencing a bit of excitement to give smartphones that may be able to see information to strangers into a design to make "trust". For example, supposing that the neighbor introduced himself and taught his name, birthplace, and name of his dog, he should feel a little relieved. Also, if you evaluate that 150 people are "able to relieve even if you give a cell phone in an unlocked state!", You feel more secure.


Gebia says that the key to trust others is known to be in "evaluation" from other people.


Also, I find interesting things through collaboration between Airbnb and Stanford University. There is a kind of cognitive bias that makes it easier for people to place confidence in "people who resemble themselves", and the reliability from people to people decreases as "becoming unlike people" ... ...


When "evaluation from others" is added, the result will be totally different. Specifically, evaluation of less than three does not significantly affect reliability, but more than ten evaluations will raise the confidence of others than to "I am similar to myself". With this, it will be possible to eliminate the prejudice of "others = danger" by appropriate design.


Also, it turned out that it is necessary to "disclose information" to some extent in order to build trust. For example, it is too short to send a message saying "Hi", but it is too much to confess the contents such as "Hanging with my mother ... ...."


Airbnb designs websites and applications so that you can build nature and trust by preparing a message box of the appropriate size and urging users to send a message.


Airbnb bet on the idea that "prejudice can be taken away by design". It is unknown how many people are ready to abandon prejudice, but the number of reservations using Airbnb has exploded since 8 years since its establishment in 2008.


Of course, there are risks of trouble because we can stay strangers. However, out of the 122 million nights that have been offered so far, the trouble was "It is a fraction of 1%". At the beginning of the service, Mr. Gebia received a complaint telephone directly from customer service and said, "Someone's disappointment voice is the greatest driving force we can continue to improve."


Also, unexpected things happen. One man said that he was hit by a heart attack when he was staying at another's house using Airbnb.


The male's evaluation at that time will be read aloud. "A very nice house, ideal for travelers who can cause myocardial infarction due to lack of exercise"


"There are also hospitals nearby in a very beautiful place and Javier and Aleh handler will save you unknowingly You take a hurry to the hospital with a car and wait in the waiting room during bypass surgery They brought me a book to keep me alone so that I do not miss them, and extended my stay without additional fee.


This, beyond monetary exchange, "connection"Shared economyMr. Gebia says that it is aimed at what is called a sharing economy.


Most of the trip this time is like a fast food pursuing efficiency and homogeneity, making it difficult to "real experience".


Many of the houses in which we live originally are "private" and are designed under the idea of ​​"separation", but if the house were designed on the premise that it will be shared from the beginning, what kind of figure Are you doing it? If the culture of sharing becomes normal also in urban areas, it may bring connection with the community instead of isolation and division.


Similar services other than Airbnb have existed for a long time. Airbnb succeeded in that it is in designing the point of "trust" if it passes through the element of fortune, Gebia. Airbnb has grown to become a worldwide service used by 785,000 people in 191 countries worldwide, as it was able to remove prejudice deeply rooted in people who "unknown people are dangerous" by design.