Meet Airbnb’s first ever guest

Amol Surve, a design graduate fresh from Arizona State University, was very eager to attend the Industrial Design Conference being held in October of 2007 in San Francisco.

There was just one hitch. There was no cheap room vacant in San Francisco.

Amol had managed to get the money to buy the conference ticket, which cost almost US$1,000. He had no money left to rent an expensive hotel room.

“I would pay for the ticket only if I could get a place to stay. Every cheap hotel or hostel I checked was packed due to the conference. Others were priced over $300 a room night,” Amol tells Tech in Asia while on a visit to New Delhi.

While surfing a design blog he saw a link to a new website – Airbedandbreakfast.com.

“I clicked it just because I liked the logo,” says India-born Amol, who moved to the US in 2004 as a student.

There was one more hitch – there was no booking link or way to contact the hosts, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky.

Amol browsed the internet and somehow found the number of Joe, also a designer. Amol gave Joe an unexpected call and the place was booked for the night.

“I landed at the Rausch Street apartment and Joe welcomed me in an aviator hat and glasses on. He had the perfect designer traits,” he says with glee.

The website’s founders Joe and Brian could not afford the high rent to their three-bedroom apartment.

Changed his life