Watch my lips: Airbnb. See, it's easy.

[Gordon0]

I came across a Twitter thread from Airbnb yesterday. A plea, asking (begging) people to get their brand name correct.

I remember back in the early days of the forum getting some really snarky responses from people when I politely questioned their chosen moniker for Airbnb: ABB, AirB&B, AirBnB...and worse.

It got me thinking, what is it about Airbnb that makes it so tricky for so many to get right? I often wonder if the AirB&B camp aren't setting us up for failure, ie. "Where's breakfast?".
 

[Sandra126]

Well, the tweet taught me how to spell ''really''.

I often just say ''Air'' for short, in a loving familiar fashion. Or lazy. Will stop immediately.

Really.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

When I've heard for Airbnb for the first time I wondered how and why they didn't name it differently, somehow easier to spell and to remember?

Obviously, they've managed to succeed despite it 🙂

[Emily352]

That’s

really

   really

    really

     really

      really

     really

    really

   really

  really

really

strange.

In writing a lot of people put a “&", instead of the letter “n”, between the two letters “b”, I mean, in English pronunciation the name “airbnb” benefits of the notoriety of the formula “b & b”, but with a different graphic form, creating some confusion.

We didn’t create confusion, you created confusion! Don’t you remember, dear A-i-r-b-n-b, that originally your brand name was “Airbedandbreakfast”, then, shortly thereafter, you cut it down to just “airbnb”? The graphic form "bnb” creates confusion (you offer not only “b & bs”) What it’s clear is only “air”.

[Gordon0]

I'm not sure how many people will have been confused by the brand's original moniker, after all, it was back in 2007/8, long before it became mainstream. Oh, and ampersands are the devil's work. 

[Paul154]

Originally, I thought the "Air" in airbnb referred to the internet:

information/reservations transmitted through "air', the ether. 

I slightly felt it could be referring to the airplane. Fly in and stay.

Years later, I discovered its historical reference to air matteresses flopped on the floor.

My, we've come a long ways since then.

I wonder how many listing with 5 stars have air mattresses on the floor...

[Sarah977]

Dear Airbnb,

We

really

really

really

really

really

 really

  really

   really

    really

     really

really

really

really

really

 really

  really

   really

want you to stop wasting time on useless features and changes and revamp your platform so it actually works well for hosts and guests.

[Sandra126]

But you must admit the layout of the ''really'' is a little reminiscent of e e Cummings: