Airbnb is a peer-to-peer online marketplace and homestay network enabling people to list or rent short-term lodging in residential properties, with the cost of such accommodation set by the property owner. The company receives percentage service fees from both guests and hosts in conjunction with every booking. It has over 2,000,000 listings in 34,000 cities and 191 countries. Airbnb is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and is privately owned and operated.

Shortly after moving to San Francisco in October 2007, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia created the initial concept for AirBed & Breakfast (renamed as Airbnb) during the Industrial Design Conference held by the Industrial Designers Society of America.

In February 2008, technical architect Nathan Blecharczyk (named inventor on the patent) joined as the third co-founder of Airbnb. During the company's initial stages, the founders focused on high-profile events where alternative lodging was scarce. 

This patent titled 'Automated Determination of Booking Availability' was filed on the 13th of March, 2013. Described as a system that "can predict the availability of an accommodation for a given period of time". The novelty of this system compared to other generic booking systems is that it makes its predictions based on the accommodation’s current listed availability and the past behaviors of the accommodation’s host in updating the availability information for the accommodation. 

The illustrative figure that can be seen in the patent print highlights a studio apartment for rent in San Francisco. After all, this was the city that had inspired the ingenious idea of Airbnb, now a modern day tech goliath that has improved the lives of millions of hosts and guests around the world. 

Want to know more about what the AirBnB patent print? We have created a description page here.