ONLINE—Today the Airbnb website announced a new addition for several of their cities and Washington DC gets to be part of the fun. The new Neighborhoods feature give a brief summary of what a newcomer can expect to find inside certain enclaves with keywords like hipsters, trending up, and gentrification. All is explained in the press release after the jump. [Airbnb via CurbedInbox]
FUNDRISE—The crowd-sourced real estate equity team announced today that they raised $325K in their first round with 175 investors taking part. It only took three months to come up with the money with shares starting as low as $100. [Fundrise via CurbedInbox]
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. – November 13, 2012 - Airbnb, the world's leading marketplace to list and book unique accommodations, today announced the launch of Airbnb Neighborhoods – a new way for travelers to uncover rich, unique experiences on a hyper-local level. When searching for accommodations in a city, guests will now be able to filter by neighborhood attributes and explore layers of professional-quality content, including neighborhood maps, custom local photography and localized editorial, details on public transportation and parking, and tips from Airbnb's host community.
"Neighborhoods are the original communities. They are the keys to unlocking local culture and one-of-a-kind experiences," said Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb. "By going deeper and tapping into local knowledge, we are introducing our community to a neighborhood's personality so they can match it with their own."
Location is the single most important factor Airbnb guests consider. And yet, with more than 250,000 properties across 30,000 cities around the world – each with 40 or more neighborhoods – Airbnb travelers have more options than ever before. With deeply immersive local guides in over 300 neighborhoods, Airbnb Neighborhoods lets travelers immerse themselves in rich content and make informed decisions about where they want to stay.
Launching initially with neighborhoods in New York, Paris, London, San Francisco, Washington DC, Berlin, and Rio de Janeiro, Airbnb will continue to roll out Airbnb Neighborhoods to major travel markets around the world.
"When we talked to our community, we saw a huge need for more information about location. Many users were visiting multiple websites in order to stitch together a sense of a neighborhood," said Ann Montgomery, Product Lead for Airbnb Neighborhoods. "Rich editorial content, local recommendations, and photography have always been woven throughout our site – but now we're enhancing all this content and making it more immersive. Airbnb Neighborhoods let our community feel what it means to become part of a city."
In addition to an online product, Airbnb Neighborhoods includes an offline component to connect travelers with local businesses. Local Lounges, a new partnership between Airbnb and select coffee shops in San Francisco, are authentic, local places for travelers to relax and recharge. Local Lounges will offer guests a warm welcome, free WiFi and local guidebooks to San Francisco. For travelers, this is a place to get connected and find additional information for their trip. Local businesses will also benefit from increased foot traffic. Participating coffee shops include Farley's in Potrero Hill, Radius Café in SoMa, Coffee Bar in the Mission, Cafe Sophie in the Castro, Progressive Grounds in Bernal Heights, Bean There in the Haight, Cafe Abir in NoPa, The Brew in Russian Hill, NOOK in Nob Hill, and Caffé Sapore in North Beach.
For more information on Airbnb Neighborhoods, please visit:
Airbnb Neighborhoods: www.airbnb.com/locations
Airbnb Local Lounges: https://www.airbnb.com/locations/local-lounges