Tag: Hire

From singing about milkshakes to studying culinary arts, food is an abiding passion for Kelis. Airbnb partnered with the Grammy-nominated musician, chef, cookbook author, and sauce maker on an exclusive Cooking Experience in Los Angeles, where guests learned to prepare some of her favorite recipes. Here, she shares her food-forward guide to LA. MUSIC AND FOOD are a perfect pairing, and no one straddles both worlds quite like Kelis who, in addition to being a Grammy-nominated musician, is a Cordon Bleu-trained chef and cookbook author. “I’ve always really loved food. My mom was a chef, and had a catering business growing up, so when the opportunity presented itself to go to culinary school, of course I decided to go,” says Kelis, who was raised in New York’s Harlem and now resides in Los Angeles.” Hankering for her Harlem roots (and favoring the saucier station in the kitchen) led Kelis to…

Not Yet Trending is an investigative story from inside Airbnb. Tipped off by guest travel data, we find up-and-coming destinations before anyone else can. To get the story numbers can’t tell us, we go straight to the source: the hosts on Airbnb. Durban could be considered South Africa’s middle child: Johannesburg is ambitious and successful, picture-perfect Cape Town is the apple of everyone’s eye, and Durban, despite its many charms, is perennially overlooked. But thanks to homegrown entrepreneurs reviving the city’s creative spirit, Durban is finally stepping out of its siblings’ shadows. It’s all about the vaaabs in Durbs. “It’s a good morning for some surf vibes.” “Time for coffee vibes.” “Braai vibes tonight?” You might even catch a photographer directing a model by asking for some “turn-your-head vibes.” Good vibes are a defining feature of Durban, South Africa, a seaside city where the beaches are beautiful, the Indian Ocean…

Not Yet Trending is an investigative story from inside Airbnb. Tipped off by guest travel data, we find up-and-coming destinations before anyone else can. To get the story numbers can’t tell us, we go straight to the source: our hosts. Our latest discovery: a region of Portugal – in the middle of the Atlantic – where the islanders dwell in dormant volcanoes, the pineapples are the sweetest on the planet and, we discover, locals in the capital are fashioning their own hyper-creative downtown before your very eyes. This shouldn’t be wine country – but it is. Not many people can say they built a vineyard from rock but Augusto Silva can. Refusing to be defeated by the unyielding, frozen-lava ground of his farm on the Azores island of Pico, he and his helpers, by cart or on their own backs, gathered soil from more fertile land further from the sea on this…Continue Reading

Not Yet Trending is an investigative story from inside Airbnb. Tipped off by guest growth data, we search for up-and-coming destinations before anyone else can. To get the story numbers can’t tell us, we go straight to the source: our hosts.  A quaint, historic town just outside Helsinki, Porvoo’s reputation as “The Little Paris of Scandinavia” comes from generations of attracting the creative class: poets, artists, writers, and designers —like fashion designer Liisa and famed screenwriter Jussi, whose room you can find on Airbnb. “Someone used to have a polar bear as a pet here,” Liisa tells us one afternoon. “Now we just have a couple of writers upstairs.” We’re sitting in the living room of Liisa’s pink wooden home, one of the traditional Finnish houses from the 18th century that Porvoo is known for. Liisa’s home sits right on the edge of Old Town, where cobblestone streets and narrow…

If you get to the end of the beaten track, then keep going through a mountain pass or two you’ll find Livingston, Montana. Beyond the cultural hub of Bozeman, and nestled next to the wonderfully named Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness, this is a town seemingly unchanged in almost a century, and yet infused with a vital creative energy and a sense of community that infiltrates every aspect of life here. It’s a place where explorers and artists, poets and cowboys mingle in the neon-lit streets, and where you can find an authentic American West—one that both lives up to archetypes and, simultaneously, explodes them. The sun is just beginning to fall behind the mountains in Paradise Valley—a place that is every bit as bucolic as the name suggests and which connects Livingston, Montana, to Yellowstone National Park. With every passing minute, the vast expanse of grassy plains surrounding the home Audrey…

When you visit Hawaii, it’s not just for the beaches, the waves, and the volcanoes. There is something richer that can happen when you authentically ‘Live Aloha.’ And if you tap into what makes these islands so special, you can—whether you stay for a weekend or a month—truly feel at home in paradise. Here are a handful of ways to do that: 1. Know what it means to Live Aloha. Aloha is a word with many literal translations: hello, goodbye, love. But to the people who live in  Hawaii, Aloha isn’t just a salutation or send-off. It’s a way of life. Aloha means sharing your backyard mangoes with the neighbors or inviting a visitor to meet you and your friends at a beach bonfire. In essence it boils down to another Hawaiian word: kokua, which means to help without being asked. 2. Take in the flora and fauna. Hawaii is…Continue Reading

Download a copy of the San Francisco Local List. There’s a place for everyone in San Francisco, no matter if you’re local or just in town for a visit. This is a city of unique neighborhoods (even “micro-hoods”) and colorful contrasts. We’re home to innovators and athletes, bohemians and foodies, activists, do-gooders, and a fog so famous it has a name (hello, Karl). You’re always free to be yourself and you’ll never be bored. Whether you’re into local produce or burritos, graffiti or go-go dancing, getting lost on a hike or amongst the shelves in an old Beat hangout, feeling like a local here takes nothing more than an open mind and a healthy dose of curiosity. More than 18 million tourists from around the world visit San Francisco each year, here to explore our top attractions, diverse neighborhoods, and breathtaking views. This past year, over 300,000 tourists visiting San Francisco…

As the summer travel season winds down, we took a look at the numbers and analyzed travel that took place between the end of May and early September. What started as one small apartment in San Francisco has grown to a community of travelers and hosts that spans the globe. Some highlights: Five years ago, in the summer of 2010, roughly 47,000 people stayed with Airbnb hosts. This summer, nearly 17 million total guests stayed with Airbnb hosts around the world. That means that in the last five years, summer travel on Airbnb has grown 353 times over. August 8 was the biggest night in Airbnb history, with nearly 1 million guests staying with hosts worldwide. If the Airbnb community was a city, on August 8 it would have been the 10th largest city in the United States. Guests traveled on Airbnb for authentic, unique experiences. In fact, over 10,000…Continue Reading

You, your car, and an open road of possibilities. No tickets to buy, no bags to check, no flight times to plan around. These are the reasons that a road trip is the ultimate form of travel freedom. (These, along with a healthy dose of nostalgia, of course.) Airbnb recently partnered with Tesla to bring charging stations to select hosts’ homes along the West Coast. As the first installment of a larger global partnership, we are working toward building a world with no limits to how far you can go while driving an electric car. We also love any good reason to explore the open road and put this travel freedom to the test. So we planned the perfect West Coast road trip for two of our amazing Superhosts, Lia and Garry of Pasadena, California. Having never experienced a Tesla before, the couple was thrilled to experience this modern, sustainable…Continue Reading

Going “local” in Chicago can be almost as easy as showing up. (Almost.) This city is rich with diverse neighborhoods, each featuring distinct cultures and flavors from all over the world. So it’s not necessarily about where you live, but how you choose to explore these everyday experiences. Whether you call Chicago home or are just passing through for a few days, you can easily take in what each community offers–from world-renowned restaurants and acclaimed museums to sprawling green space and up-and-coming breweries. Chicago is quite the playground of local goodness. And this guide is our way of helping you find the most authentic gems that make Chicago so fantastic. Our Chicago Local List was pulled together from our local host community’s own personal recommendations, so we’re proud to feature their Chicago favorites in a limited-edition printed guide illustrated by local artist Mikey Burton as well as right here in digital form, organized by neighborhood.