Travel Weekly Blog

A new US site is putting sociable airbed owners in touch with budget-conscious travellers.

This is rather similar to the Couchsurfing trend, but seems to be more heavily monetised. Oh, and you get an airbed.

According to TechCrunch, "prices range from $20 a night for an airbed to $3,000 for an entire house," and "50 to 100 new listings appear every day".

This isn't going to take any business from the travel or hospitality trades - the 'forget hotels' strapline is frankly a bit optimistic - but as TC points out it could be very useful for last-minute, budget-conscious travel to big festivals and conventions.

Could be interesting to scan its pages in the run-up to e.g. South by Southwest or Sundance, where hotel space always ends up severely limited.

It's still very much at-your-own-risk travel, though, as the terms and conditions make clear:

Our Site is merely a venue for users to learn about one another and, if they wish, arrange stays with one another. Compensation for the stays may be involved, but AB&B is a stranger to any such transaction.

We are not involved in the actual contact between users. As a result, we have no control over the conduct of our users or the truth or accuracy of the information that users post on the Site.

Me? I'd do it for SXSW, but then I'm the type that doesn't mind camping on grotty music festival sites. I certainly wouldn't be rushing to AB&B for a proper holiday though.