I read one non fiction book for every 30 or so fiction, so I clearly have a strong preference but as a user of Airbnb I was interested to see what this was about and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The writer was objective and clear, didn't drown me in business jargon and data but told a compelling story and I found a lot of it quite inspiring. A good deal of the leadership journey can be applied to any work place, or even personal goals and I would certainly recommend it to anyone with an interest in travel, social issues, tech or just appealing start up stories :)

For no clear reason, the word "rollicking" kept coming to mind as I read this - eventually, I realised why: the book rollicks every bit as much as Airbnb did in the early years, and it was hard to put it down for the first few chapters. To be honest, though, it all seemed to slow down once the early, heady years moved on to consolidation and dealing with the headaches set up by places like New York; it all, somehow, seemed to become a bit more American-business-school in tone. Never mind, the pace began to pick up as Airbnb's new ideas were floated, and as a totally non-business reader with only a passing Airbnb experience, I felt it came back to a more accessible account. As I put in my "note to the publisher", some graphics in place of the figures might have made the point about the explosive growth of Airbnb more dynamically, and some pictures (what do the magic trio look like?) might have humanised the story as much as the occasional quotes or anecdotes. That said, it ought to be required reading for Airbnb guests - if only to let them see how much work and skill lies under that seamless booking experience.

As someone who appreciates Air B n B, this was an interesting and enjoyable read. Not dry, not dusty, but got everything across in an amusing way.

This sits comfortably in the business biography section. It's an interesting, not too dry, read focusing, as you would expect, on the founders backgrounds, concept and evolution.

I can't believe I never stopped to think about the rather odd name to realise that it reflects the original business concept of "air bed and breakfast"

Obviously this doesn't have the scandal of some of some of the banking crisis books, of the clout of Warren Buffett, but it earns a place on the shelf for the unique success story it tells.