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TRAVELLER
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“It’s changing the business model for the travel industry
completely,” says Angelo Rossini, analyst at market-research
firmEuromonitor. “Before, there were passive travellers.
Now, they have a central role, because consumers have
information fromwebsites like TripAdvisor, and reviews
they find on networks like Facebook and other social media,
such as YouTube and Flickr.
“They also havemuchmore choice: the offline
possibility, the online offer and, also, this other type of
offer from the consumer directly, which promises amore
authentic experience and a chance to learnmore about their
destination, rather than going to an anonymous hotel. They
can even find free travel products, such as CouchSurfing. It’s
a growing trend and it’s an important one.”
This sharingmodel has spawnedmore local-expert
sites, including TripWolf, Dopplr, TripSay, TripHub, Driftr
and Spottedbylocals. Many of these attract the usual
sort of early adopters: young trendies, students and the
open-minded, but bonding with others is no longer a niche
activity. The numbers speak for themselves. TripAdvisor
has over 69million users per month; social travel-network
WAYNhas 19millionmembers, and there’s one site in
particular that’s increasingly drawing in those fromall
walks of life.
Airbnb, on which users rent out their spare
accommodation to paying travellers, has now taken
bookings for fivemillion nights. It lists far more than just
rooms and flats – there are also castles, boats, hammocks
and all sorts of quirky places, such as a beachside Airstream
caravan in Sweden (€156 per night), an igloo in Slovenia
(¤157) and a full-size airliner with Jacuzzi inHolland (¤377).
One, more usual, listing is for a room in London’s
Shoreditch (¤75), which belongs toNaseemKhan, a travel
journalist, cultural consultant and grandmother, who fell
into it by chance. “I started doing it when I was fooling
around on email,” she says. “You know how they have those
sidebars with advertisements? There was one asking if you
had a room to let. I thought it was interesting, clicked on
it and registered. I didn’t think anything would come of it.
When I got my first request, I went into panicmode. I got
intomega-tidying up and cleaning – I re-grouted the shower
and bought newmugs – but it’s worked out very well.”
So who uses it? “Themajority are young,” says Khan. “I
would think about 65% are under 35. I didn’t sign up for the
money – themoney is an extra. The reason I like it is that, at
the very best, I find people who are interested, interesting,
curious, intelligent and sometimes go on to be friends.
“There are two sorts of people using it: one does it
because it’s cheaper, so as life gets economically harder
I think it will develop; the other sort has a dislike for hotels
– the lack of character and the lack of connection with the
country they’re visiting. People want to get under the skin