Airbnb underwrote the nightmare so strangers would swap keys

the problem

Sleeping in a stranger's home

the move

After a host's home was ransacked, layered a host guarantee (to $1M), identity verification and double-blind reviews onto the marketplace.

the payoff

Strangers sleeping in strangers' homes became a mainstream behaviour.

filed under

Stranger trust

was it genius?

same kind of clever

• 2003 · Taobao / AlipayTaobao held the buyer's money in the middle until the parcel arrived
• 1823 · Rishengchang (日升昌)Rishengchang stopped moving silver across bandit country and moved a coded slip of paper instead
• 850 · Guangzhou's Fanfang (蕃坊) Foreign QuarterTang China let Arab merchants judge their own disputes so they'd keep the ships coming