When Airbnb sent round a survey to its employees in Paris asking what they’d like in their new office, the request was for a petanque field.
For the uninitiated, petanque is a form of boules played with a wooden ball. “We were like, ‘weeeelllll, that may not happen, it could be a little dirty and loud’,” says Rebecca Ruggles, Airbnb’s lead international designer, whose job is to make these wild workplace dreams come true.
Though the request may seem ambitious, it’s within in the realms of possibility for a tech start up as successful and disruptive as Airbnb. The holiday rental platform has transformed the hotel industry by giving anyone with a spare room and a mobile phone the ability to run a small hospitality business.
Governments and hoteliers in more than 34,000 cities in over 190 countries are still reeling from the aftermath, playing catch up where they can and, in many cases, changing the law on short term lets to curb its influence on private rental stock.
The Agora at Airbnb Dublin