How do you find a teepee in the Taiga forest of Northern Mongolia when it moves every two weeks?
Or maybe you’re in Stuttgart, you don’t speak German, your dufflebag is cutting into your shoulder on public transport, your Airbnb address is Plieninger Straße 30. Bad news, there are two. You end up at the wrong one 15 mins away.
Thanks to the rise of companies like Airbnb, people now seek to belong anywhere on earth. This has enabled over 300 million stays in 190 countries, so it’s safe to say that at a high level, it seems like more people are seeing more of the world. The challenge now lies in how do we get beneath the surface and experience what it’s truly like to be immersed in someone else’s reality. That means that getting access to an apartment in a capital city won’t always suffice, they want to live like a local. They want to eat homemade food, feel the stillness of nature or the buzz of city life, experience the daily ups and down that come with life on the other side of the world, not the glossy tourist version usually on offer.
As we look beyond accommodation that appears the same regardless of place and more towards unique once in a lifetime stays, Airbnb shifts focus towards the locals who make up the fabric of their nation. The ones who previously hadn’t thought hosting guests was an option, as they couldn’t tell people where to find them, they might not speak a foreign language, and their house is unaddressed or hard to find.
Enter what3words
A human-friendly system that combines the ease of remembering common dictionary words with the precision of coordinates - accessible to anyone in the world.
Airbnb and what3words are creating a new world of opportunity, and encouraging everyone and anyone to list their home without the barrier of addressing. From the reindeer tribes of Mongolia to the 17th century cottage down a winding English country lane, guests should always be able to find you.
The what3words system is a grid of 57 trillion 3m x 3m squares, where each square has a unique combination of 3 dictionary words. That means no matter where you are, you now have a 3 word address available for you to discover via the free what3words app. For example the main entrance to Henry VIII’s Tower of London is at ///dwell.ashes.bells or in German it’s ///pläne.soloalben.strohgelb.
Changing how the world talks about location
What does this mean for hosts? This means offering better local experiences that create lasting memories for guests, with the seamless guest experience and ease of access of staying in the home of a friend. From a reindeer tribe, to a cosy apartment in a hidden alleyway in Florence, to your refurbished cabin in the wilds of Colorado, where you are will no longer determine who can find you.
The future of travel means more choice, and deeper connections while not jeopardizing seamless and enriching experiences for both host and traveller. This means that we’re broadening the definition of what it means to travel abroad and the trips people take in the future might finally be one of a kind.
Get in touch with what3words travel expert Lily Christensen to see how travel brands globally are listing 3 word addresses and join the global movement of better addressing.
