November 17, 2025, 6:47 am | Read time: 5 minutes
If you have a spare room or don’t need your apartment for a while, you can easily share it with others today–and even earn some money. This idea led to the creation of Airbnb, now the most well-known platform for private short-term rentals. TECHBOOK delves into the history and operation of Airbnb.
The History of the Online Platform Airbnb
For many travelers today, it’s a given to compare Airbnb offerings alongside hotels. Typically, privately rented apartments or rooms are the cheaper alternative. They’re especially a good choice if you’re traveling in a group and want to stay together. Airbnb opens up possibilities that would have been unthinkable around 20 years ago. The idea for this brokerage portal was accordingly brilliant in 2007–and the founders share how they came up with it on the Airbnb website.
The founders in question are Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk. Chesky and Gebbia were living together in an apartment in San Francisco when a design conference took place in 2007. The result: Hotels were fully booked or outrageously expensive. So, the two set up an air mattress in their living room and offered breakfast as well. This explains the name of the business model, which was to become quite successful: “Airbed & Breakfast,” later shortened to “Airbnb.” Blecharczyk, who joined later, developed the website, and the company was officially founded in 2008.
How It Works
It works by allowing private or commercial providers to list available rooms, apartments, or entire houses for rent. They set the prices for their accommodations as well as the availability and booking rules. Travelers can view the various listings from hosts on the Airbnb website or app. They can book the property of their choice directly or send a request to the host first. A booking is confirmed once the payment details (such as credit card, debit card, PayPal, or gift card) have been verified.
Because various fixed costs (such as for reception staff, cleaning, and dining) and fees that hotels must or can charge are eliminated, bookings on Airbnb are cheaper. They have to be–otherwise, the concept wouldn’t work. Travelers would stick with hotels, which offer various services that are usually not available in privately rented accommodations.
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Hosts must comply with a number of legal requirements when using Airbnb. The income generated through the platform is generally taxable. In many major German cities, there are also prohibitions on misuse and permit requirements. In Berlin, for example, secondary residences can only be rented out short-term for a maximum of 90 days a year without a special permit, as explained by the Senate Department.
At the EU level, new rules were adopted in 2024 with Regulation (EU) 2024/1028: Platforms will be required to provide host data, and a registration requirement will be introduced. Violations of these regulations or reporting obligations can result in hefty fines.
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The Tasks and Services of Airbnb
Airbnb provides the complete digital infrastructure–from payment processing to the review section, which is crucial for many users–so that hosts and guests can easily connect. The company moderates community standards and offers additional insurance and guarantee mechanisms as a platform operator. Additionally, Airbnb optimizes prices and offers regionally to strategically manage bookings and regularly adjusts its flexible fee model to market conditions and user needs.
On its website, the company emphasizes that it enforces certain rules “to protect the integrity of the Airbnb platform.” This is increasingly necessary: Like many other large online platforms, Airbnb is experiencing more frequent attempts at fraud. No wonder–millions of private users interact directly with each other worldwide. This offers a significant attack surface for abuse: from fake listings to phishing and payment fraud to identity theft.
A common scam is also manipulating photos to make accommodations appear more attractive. The travel magazine TRAVELBOOK explains here how to protect yourself from fraud on Airbnb and how to react correctly in case of an emergency.
Recently, Airbnb has expanded its range of services. In May of this year, the platform introduced various everyday services–from massages to hairdressers to private chefs–as well as excursions and events; TECHBOOK reported.
Airbnb Now Offers Excursions and Events
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How the Brokerage Portal Earns
Airbnb’s main sources of income are service and brokerage fees that are incurred with each booking. Guests typically pay a service fee, which ranges from a few to double-digit percentage points of the total amount, depending on the booking. Hosts–the private owners of the accommodations–pay a commission. For commercial providers or alternative fee models, the rates can be higher.
Airbnb generates additional revenue through offerings like “Airbnb Experiences,” cleaning fees, the business travel program “Airbnb for Work,” or special tools for professional hosts. Furthermore, the company uses regional price and offer optimizations to strategically manage bookings.
Airbnb Today
After its founding, the company experienced rapid growth. However, it faced its first setback during the coronavirus pandemic, which, as is well known, had an extreme impact on travel. The expansion of the service offerings described above significantly contributed to Airbnb’s quick recovery.
Today, it is one of the most valuable platform companies in the entire travel industry. Airbnb competes with traditional tourism giants like Booking Holdings or Expedia–even though the company doesn’t own any hotels or real estate. According to figures from Market Cap Watch from November 2025, the U.S. company is valued at around $77 billion on the stock market. This value can fluctuate, but it shows that investors trust Airbnb to deliver stable returns in the long term.
The Airbnb founders are still actively involved in the company today and play a significant role in determining the strategic direction of the platform. How the business is doing–such as the number of bookings, revenue generated, and changes in user numbers–is published by Airbnb in quarterly and annual reports.