This is the fourth guest post from Boris and Ana, who are crossing the USA on an electric bike.

We've stayed with 10 different hosts during the last month of our tour, and with each stay, the reason we chose to be Airbnb guests is justified again and again. It's an incredible experience – much richer, more human, and far more pleasant than a hotel could ever be.

But what about our hosts? What makes somebody want to become an Airbnb host? What makes them embrace the concept so passionately and go to such great lengths to keep their guests satisfied?

Our hosts in Des Moines, Iowa – the fantastic husband-and-wife team of Susan and Todd – shared their story and what got them hooked on Airbnb.

Both Susan and Todd served in the military for more than 20 years and retired a few years ago.

Not one to sit still, Todd soon took a new job at Homeland Security in the Midwest, and they relocated from Oregon to Iowa. They bought a 6-bedroom, 5-bathroom house so that their two songs could live with them in comfort.

But plans changed. Their older son soon joined the military, and the younger on moved out for a more “flexible life.” Suddenly, Susan and Todd were left with a giant empty nest.

“It was a whole lot of house,” Susan reflected.  While Todd was finding his new job engaging, Susan missed feeling relevant and needed.

Then Susan stumbled upon Airbnb. She felt like a prayer had been answered. Todd agreed to try to rent out a single spare bedroom. “If it works,” the couple reasoned, “we’ll have a guest or two a month and make a few extra dollars.”

Susan quickly got to work, turning the main guest bedroom into an Airbnb rental and put up a listing. To her surprise, the morning after her listing went live, they got their first request. Except it wasn’t just one guest. It was three. Friends were coming to town for a wedding, and they had requested two separate rooms.

Susan called Todd at work to share the news and asked what he thought about renting two bedrooms. He agreed reluctantly, half-expecting to stay up all night listening for noises from potential hooligans.

But the guests proved friendly and fun to chat with. All went better than expected. And the next day, Susan got a second request.

From that point on, the flow of guests never stopped. In the past 12 months, they have hosted 617 nights, enabling them to nearly cover their mortage. With the extra income, they have made improvements to their home and will be rewarding themselves this year with a two-week vacation.

No longer working full-time for the Army, Susan has found a new purpose through Airbnb. She gets to meet travelers from all corners of the world, enjoys the company of ambitious, intelligent, open people, and develops new and long-lasting friendships. By keeping their prices below the standard hotel rate in Des Moines, they find that upscale, educated, computer-savvy people choose to come to their home and enjoy a nice bargain while Susan and Todd enjoy the company.

As we sat around the kitchen table eating burgers that Todd grilled earlier, Susan described some of the unusual guests they have hosted over the past year. This included an Australian Buddhist monk, a Swedish particle physicist, and a vet from Zimbabwe who was in Des Moines to be certified as a blood pathologist.  With her natural charisma and knack for fresh baking, Susan made all these guests feel at home nearly instantly.

In a new home within a new community, Airbnb has filled not only a physical space for Susan and Todd, but also an emotional one. The feeling of connection is one they pass along to everyone who is lucky enough to spend some time with them. It’s much more than a place to lay one’s weary head. It's about forming memorable connections, meeting people of diverse backgrounds, and making lifelong friends.

In a word: no.

Many would-be travelers give up on the Olympics way too early, figuring that as the Games near, prices spiral upwards for flights, accommodations, and even basic amenities. Not to mention that pesky question of actually obtaining tickets - they're long gone, right?

Think again.

Those in the know realize that package-tourism companies often release flight tickets late in the season, once they have booked up all their inventory. This brings plane-ticket prices down as May slips into June.

More importantly, the Olympics organizers always plan for a second-round ticket release a few months before the Games. And, as it happens, that's going on right now.

That's right. Fresh tickets to a range of Olympic events are hitting the market tonight (well, 11am UK time on Friday, to be specific.) So get your last-minute tickets for such events as the 100m track finals (watch Usain Bolt fly by!) and the opening and closing ceremonies.

As for accommodations? Well, we've got you covered. We've put together a special Collection just for you. Our London Within Reach Collection features spaces in the Big Smoke that won't burn a hole in your wallet. Like this cozy room right in Paddington.

Or this sweet Shoreditch pad, not far from Hackney's Olympic Village.

Or even this entire studio in Bath Terrace, where you can have the whole place to yourself.

And if your budget is a bit stretchy, hope over to our Lowdown on London Collection, which showcases the most magnificent spots in the city. (We've got our eye on this amazing narrowboat.)

Whatever your style and budget, your London dreams are within reach. Reach for those rings!

Image courtesy Anirudh Koul, Flickr

We're creating a global community based on the idea that true, human connection uplifts us all.

Who inspired us?

Who opened our eyes to the great big world out there?

Who told us that our dreams were within reach?

For many of us at Airbnb, it's our moms.

So thanks, Mom. Happy Mother's Day.

Love,

Your Children at Airbnb

Image courtesy seahawkr, Flickr.

Today we're in mourning for Maurice Sendak. Author of such classics as Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, and Outside Over There, Sendak stirred the imaginations of parents and children alike with his gorgeously twisted illustrations and dark stories of adventures, calamities, and triumphs. 

Most folks know Sendak as a dedicated New Yorker, but not many realize that he had a close connection with Philadelphia. In the late 1960s, Sendak began donating his personal papers, manuscripts, and original book artwork to Philadelphia's Rosenbach Museum and Library. Sendak strongly believed in the museum's mission and values, and he worked with the institution for decades.

In Sendak's honor, the Rosenbach announced plans today for a memorial exhibit opening on June 10th (his 84th birthday) that will highlight work from each of his books.

This is the perfect opportunity for Sendak devotees to celebrate the crabby author's work while exploring a fascinating city. The museum is set in Philly's historic Rittenhouse Square area, a gateway to some of the best sights the City of Brotherly Love has to offer.

Rittenhouse itself can be a bit of a glitzy tourist trap, but the surrounding small side streets are replete with family-owned antique shops, indie bookstores (try Joseph Fox), quaint cafes (like the Last Drop), and some of the oldest existing homes in the United States. Like this one.

 

On sunny weekends, locals from all walks of life set up in the grassy park with a cup of coffee from nearby La Colombe or a scoop of Capogiro gelato.

Just a couple of blocks north, this colorful Chestnut St apartment is a great launching pad for a day of browsing all the Parkway's cultural offerings, including the Rodin Museum, Free Library's Central Branch, the soon-to-be-opened Barnes Foundation, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (just try going up the stairs without the Rocky theme song playing in your head).

 

Within steps of Rittenhouse are some of Philly's local-food superstars, including 20 Manning, Audrey Claire, Tinto, and Parc. You'll forget all about cheesesteaks when you try the duck-fat fries with braised short ribs at Village Whiskey. And this place is around the corner.

After a long day's wandering, you can't beat a beer. And you really can't beat a Yuengling at Oscar's or McGlinchey's.

So if paying homage to Maurice Sendak takes you up Philadelphia's way, embrace the local neighborhoods the way Max, Mickey, or Ida might have. And don't forget to engage in a bit of wild rumpus.

We'll miss you, Maurice.

Today's post is the third in a series from Boris and Anna, two Airbnb-ers crossing the USA on an electric bike. 

Nearly every Airbnb experience we've had has proven that Airbnb hosts will go to great lengths to make their guests feel comfortable and at home.

Hosts not only provide lodging for the night, but also make themselves available for their guests on a very personal level. We've been overwhelmed by the kindness we've received from all corners of the Airbnb community.

Michelle, our host in Ann Arbor, Michigan, sat outside in the cold night waiting for us to pedal in. I had called earlier to inform her that we got delayed by the weather. “Oh no, are you guys OK? Are you cold? Do you need me to prepare some dinner for you?” she asked, concerned about two strangers she'd never met before.

We arrived to her sporting a flashlight, an umbrella, and a concerned expression. “You guys must be exhausted!”

There was nowhere better we could have come to than Michelle's place.

She did everything in her power to warm us up after a cold night of riding. After a hot shower and some tea, we began to pay more notice to the unique features of the house – her husband's artwork on the walls, the light fixtures, the furniture placement. It felt like home.

We woke the following morning to the smell of freshly fried bacon. A beautiful breakfast was waiting for us on the dining table, in a specially designated area by the large living room window. It was a thoughtfully contrived space, so guests could not only eat a delicious meal, but enjoy a view of the backyard while dining.

For Michelle, hosting is more than providing a comfortable space – it is trying to connect personally to her guests and to make their entire experience a well-rounded one.

It wasn't only in Ann Arbor that we were graced with such generosity. Hosts everywhere have gone to great lengths to accommodate us as well. Biking enthusiasts Mike and Laurie, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, left us beautifully illustrated notes at night when we arrived late and again in the morning.

No problem: “You can just have our room,” they decided. They quickly changed the sheets and set up a floor space for themselves elsewhere. We were struck once again that someone would be so generous to two strangers.

We've been blessed to experience firsthand the lengths to which great Airbnb hosts go for their guests. Of course, there are good business reasons to be so hospitable, including maintaining a good reputation and establishing oneself in the Airbnb network.

But we believe there's something more to it. The level of sincere generosity we've experienced has convinced us that there's something universal about the desire to be genuine, helpful, and accommodating. There's a perfect Airbnb host in us all.

Read Boris and Anna's previous post, The Joy of Slow Travel, and their next post, What's in It for the Hosts?

Today's the first of May - May Day, observed in Great Britain and much of Europe.

May Day marks a pagan festival celebrating the beginning of spring. So to commemorate the occasion, we pulled together some of our favorite springy listings throughout the UK. All of these spaces feature some spectacular garden scenery.

However, something got lost in translation as we pulled these photographs across the Atlantic. Specifically, there is something quite wrong with two of these images.

Can you spot what's gone amiss?

1. The Coach House in Westbourne, a lovely cottage in England's South.

2. Craster Tower, where you can stay in a massive apartment that takes up the entire top floor of this noble edifice.

3. Church Farm Barns, tucked away in the Norfolk countryside.

4. A Chelsea maisonette, inhabiting one of London's trendiest neighborhoods.

5. A Snowdonia woodland retreat, on the edge of Wales' largest national park.

Have you spied the two pictorial problems yet? If you're stumped, take a peek at some of the hints on our Twitter page.

Mondays can be dreary. So we're here to put a bit of cheer in your week-start.

We've picked out five Airbnb spaces that all share two things in common. Can you identify both threads?

Our first listing is located "blocks from" one of the "best beaches in the world, with white sand and crystal blue sea."

Our second is in a "1950s" building that's "full of character."

The third listing is within walking distance of "the most famous avenue" of its city.

The next listing is in a "young, artistic neighborhood" within a short walk of "Sunset Square."

And our final listing is right in the middle of one of the world's most famous beaches.

So what two characteristics do all these spaces share?

(For those who are stuck, we'll be dropping hints on Twitter.)

We passionately believe that Airbnb is good for the environment, on a grand scale.

By sharing resources and using previously wasted space, our community frees up land and materials that would otherwise be consumed. Collaborative consumption maximizes utilization - which is basically a fancy way of saying that sharing reduces waste. Your kindergarten teacher was right all along.

But we can't talk about our impact on the world without living our principles. That's why the Airbnb community acts out our dedication to sustainability every day.

It starts in our office. We strive to make our office environment as earth-friendly as possible. It starts with separating our waste into Compost, Recycling, and Landfill (and Compost is always the fullest, meaning that most of our waste will be turned into usable soil for farms). We use tiny amounts of paper for a large organization. We are committed to buying local, seasonal, sustainable foods for our kitchen.

Most importantly, we strive to grow a green office culture. We promote our local farmers in our lunch menus, we email about the virtues of our organic food vendors, we creat online chat groups to discuss how to sort garbage and what we're eating and drinking this week, and we plant seeds together on our roof. Just this week, in celebration of Earth Day, the team came together to plant an organic garden on our rooftop. 

You can get the full story on our green office culture from Airbnb's sustainability king Sam Lippman on our Google+ page.

We take our inspiration, as always, from our community. We are constantly amazed by the ways in which Airbnb hosts use innovative green techniques in their spaces (and we've already talked about some of these ways).

As we began discussing greener spaces on our Facebook and Twitter pages, our community alerted us to some neat spaces that we had previously overlooked.

Take, for example, this backyard tent-cabin hybrid, covered in a living garden of strawberries and mint. Delicious!

Or our host Wendell, who offers space on his 16-acre homestead and is engaged in ongoing green projects, including solar energy, biodiesel, garden compost, and organic gardening. (You have to be pretty tight with the great outdoors!)

And we were blown away by this luxury Bedouin tent in the Judea Desert, built like a greenhouse to withstand the harsh conditions. Hosts cook using outdoor earth ovens they built themselves. 

We're excited by these listings, and we've begun putting together a collection of them on our Pinterest board.

How are you bringing a little bit of green into your life?

Green is beautiful.

Green is money.

It's not easy being green.

Words like "ecotourism" and "sustainability" get thrown around a lot these days. With growing public consciousness around the impact of our consumption and travels, businesses love to jump on the green bandwagon.

Some of these companies pay lip service to sustainability, citing slightly lower levels of water usage or power savings garnered from switching lights off once in a while.

We think that's half-baked.

True sustainability is about committing to positions that help the environment in ways that benefit all of us. As champions of collaborative consumption, we believe that sharing space naturally helps the environment out through reducing land usage.

And we also believe that if you're going to call yourself green, you'd better be really green. That's why we've put together a strict set of criteria for inclusion in our It's Easy Being Green Collection.

To make the grade, these properties go through the wringer:

• Are they built using reclaimed, recycled, or locally sourced materials?
• Do they user wind or solar energy to heat, cool, or power the house?
• Do they have a grey water filtration system, rainwater collection system, or low-flow plumbing?
• Do they feature an organic garden or use native landscaping to minimize water usage?
• Do they use green linens or bedding?
• Do they offer sustainable transportation options, such as bicycles?

One space that passes the test with flying colors is our Off-grid itHouse in California, which derives all its power from solar panels.

(Don't expect television and wifi, though - this place is for getting away from it all.)

If the middle of the desert seems a bit remote, then check out our Pocket Door House in Portland, which features reclaimed grain-elevator floors, low-flow plumbing, and native organic landscaping and gardens.

We're pretty proud of our community's efforts to provide a sustainble future for all of us.

What do you think? Does our Green Collection make the grade? And how are you going green in everyday life?

(Oh yeah, that image at the top is from an Eco-Retreat in Hawaii. Pretty cool, eh?)

Happy Earth Day! Today's post is the second from Boris and Anna, two Airbnb-ers crossing the USA on an electric bike.

Traversing the country by bicycle means slowing down. It means zooming in on the sights you're passing and having time to reflect on your surroundings. Slow travel makes memories and associations with places stronger. 

Had we chosen to travel in traditional lodging facilities, our experience would be so much poorer. The neatly arranged beds, the centered flat-screen TV, and the cheaply-framed Monet hangings would eventually start to blend into a blur. The differences between a motel in Ohio and a motel in Wyoming would be minute. We'd easily forget the faces, and more so the places where we stay.

Our hope with choosing Airbnb instead was to embrace the opportunity to create unique memories. So far, we haven't been disappointed!

Our first week, we arrived in Baltimore exhausted and starving. But our worn muscles seemed to magically regenerate when we stepped into the home of our host, Deb.

Unique artwork decorated the walls. The neat, elegant space exuded complete peace and coziness. Deb opened up her entire home to us, and even offered her jacuzzi!

She showed us to our room and we were amazed to find a personalized welcome letter waiting for us - as well as  an impressive display of cow-themed decorations. ("Oh those! I grew up on a farm, so I like cows,” said Deb with a cheery smile.)

We were in post-cycling heaven. We savored this moment that we knew no motel would ever be able to provide.

Even when we can't spend as much time exploring a city as we'd like to, we always look forward to staying with a host each night. It unfailingly provides us with an authentic, unique experience that sticks in our memory. We'll never forget Deb's cows or her contagious smile.

Our style of travel will allow us to walk (well, limp) away from 70 days on the road having met an array of gracious, affable hosts. In the end, the connections we forge and experience we savor will eclipse anything we could see by zipping from destination to destination.

Read Boris and Anna's next post, Ultimate Hospitality.