I am a huge fan of airbnb – I’m looking forward to a “local” experience on my upcoming trip to Vancouver. I have had plenty of positive experiences using airbnb, both as a host, as well as a guest, but their newest initiative might be a bit hard for some to swallow… literally!
I came across an interesting article this morning on Business Insider that talks about a new business model that airbnb is stiring up – paying to dine in someone’s home.
Here’s the pitch: By staying in someone’s home, you’re already living like a local in a new town, so why not take it up a notch? With this new idea, someone who really enjoys cooking, posts their “menu” and price on airbnb. Strangers can then book a dining reservation at the “chef’s” home.
In a perfect scenario, you’re in a Tuscan-village, eating Nonna’s home-made pasta, and your money’s well-spent on an authentic meal. On the other end of the spectrum though, you could end up in a frat-house with a few re-heated pizza slices… A far-worse scenario is ending up in the local E.R. getting treated for food-poisoning.
So what do you think? Do you think this is where the future of dining is headed? I mean, in one aspect, the emerging “sharing economy” is certainly on the rise and, we’ve seen success with home-sharing, couch-sharing, ride-sharing (like Uber and Lyft). At the same time, where do you draw the line?
You’re probably wondering what side of the fence I’m on. For me, I like to believe people are good-natured, and I genuinely believe that the opportunity to have a home-cooked meal makes any trip more memorable because it’s a unique experience. On a recent trip to Abu Dhabi, a local invited my travel friends and I into his home and served us tea and biscuits. We had a wonderful time, and I learned a lot about the culture.
Of course, I also heavily rely on intuition when it comes to assessing whether or not something seems “dangerous”, but for the most part I believe that it’s ok to be adventurous in life.
How about you? Is this something you would consider? I would love to hear your thoughts!
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You know, Uber isn’t really about “ride-sharing” at all. You are as much “ride-sharing” an Uber car as you are “ride-sharing” a taxi cab. The taxi cab experience has been so bad for so long for many customers, that it was a matter of time that a private-car-on-demand service like Uber would come by and displace it.
This was my idea 45 years ago. Kind of like a “Popup” restaurant. I lived in Italy for 20 years and am publishing a cookbook-memoir about the dangers of the gluten-free diet fad called Tales of A Gluten-Free Gypsy. I have included many of the traditional Tuscan recipes I have translated into gluten-free.
May still consider it . I will contact Air and see what they recommend for a price range.
I stayed at a lovely AIR BNB for a weekend in Santa Monica a couple of months ago, and it was perfect in every way. Will return this summer.
If you’re a traditional bricks-and-mortar restaurant, you have to comply with a bunch of regulations. But if you sign up for an account with a Silicon Valley-based company, you don’t. So can a McDonald’s franchisee sign up with airbnb to provide meals so that they can save money on compliance?
We had a marvelous experience using http://www.eatwith.com in Jerusalem. We had a lovely meal cooked by a professional cook and shared with a young couple who worked for the UN. Excellent complicated food and scintillating conversation. I would do it again.
They have host all over the world; not a huge list but it’s growing.