It is amazing how a crazy idea almost 10 years ago turned into the incredible company that airbnb is today.  It has been essential in changing my life, as my real estate business went from quick flips and holding long term properties, to offering short term vacation nightly rental properties that bring in so much more passive income.  

One question Brian answered was about the difficulty of reaching airbnb customer service as a traveler and/or a host.  His answer really made me stop and think about how fast my personal business has changed.  The answer to the question Brian gave was that they grew so fast they couldn't get office space, hire people, and train people fast enough to have a good customer service experience at the same lightening speed that the company was growing at, and they still are not where they desire to be.

So my thought ... what if airbnb held back with their business model and growth until they could handle the pace?  Where would...

      Airbnb acquired peer to peer payment startup Tilt in the early part of this year to solve one its guest's biggest problems when they travel as a group. Before, one traveler paid for everyone and then had to collect from the other travelers. Soon they will be able to pay their shares when booking on the Airbnb payment portal. 

One down side is the the reservation is open for 72 hours to give all parties the time to pay, then another 24 hours to give the original booking party time to pay if one of the group doesn't pony up. This means your inventory could be tied up for a few days and you could still lose the booking. I don't see this as a huge concern in larger properties however, because most four bedroom and larger properties tend to book a few months in advance. It might affect smaller properties which book closer to travel dates, and tend to have more competition in their markets.

Overall it should certainly have a positive impact in growing Airbnb's...

Joe Gebbia tells the story of the founding of Airbnb, forever changing the landscape in the vacation rental industry.