Post by High Priestess on Nov 25, 2015 16:13:58 GMT
Here's Brian's story about his experience in Paris after the Paris attacks:
medium.com/@bchesky/a-week-in-the-city-of-lights-and-love-f67591b5af5f#.nzrxevh91
"Yesterday I arrived back in San Francisco, along with 200 of us, from one of the longest and most emotionally draining weeks since we started Airbnb.
The week began last Sunday when I landed in Paris for the Airbnb Open, arriving at a charming 6th floor attic apartment in Saint Germain. The Airbnb Open began Thursday morning in a large arena tent that housed nearly 5,000 hosts and 645 employees. Hosts had taken the pilgrimage from nearly 110 countries, and their enthusiasm was effusive as smiles beamed from their faces.
Friday evening, I joined my family at an early employee reunion dinner at a beautiful Airbnb with our first 40 employees. It was an emotional beginning of the evening. Joe gave a toast, and we reflected on the last four and a half years together.
At 9:45pm, news started coming in of an attack in Paris. At first, we thought it was an isolated incident, so we only occasionally checked Twitter. By 10:30pm, it was clear that they were a series of coordinated attacks. Once we learned that 100 people were taken hostage in a theater, fear struck over the dinner. Our phones started buzzing with friends and loved ones wondering if we were okay. Immediately, we started thinking about our employees and hosts who were distributed throughout the city while a series of coordinated attacks were transpiring. Most remarkably, for many, the first person that contacted us was our Airbnb host.
Michael, our head of security, took over central command, and a handful of employees stayed up throughout the night so could account for all 645 of our employees. Some were just a couple doors from the attacks, and had witnessed much of the horror. We knew that one of our groups were at the stadium where an attack occurred, and we were worried they would be caught in a stampede. Others were hiding under tables in restaurants, whose metal gates were locked with the lights dimmed."
medium.com/@bchesky/a-week-in-the-city-of-lights-and-love-f67591b5af5f#.nzrxevh91
"Yesterday I arrived back in San Francisco, along with 200 of us, from one of the longest and most emotionally draining weeks since we started Airbnb.
The week began last Sunday when I landed in Paris for the Airbnb Open, arriving at a charming 6th floor attic apartment in Saint Germain. The Airbnb Open began Thursday morning in a large arena tent that housed nearly 5,000 hosts and 645 employees. Hosts had taken the pilgrimage from nearly 110 countries, and their enthusiasm was effusive as smiles beamed from their faces.
Friday evening, I joined my family at an early employee reunion dinner at a beautiful Airbnb with our first 40 employees. It was an emotional beginning of the evening. Joe gave a toast, and we reflected on the last four and a half years together.
At 9:45pm, news started coming in of an attack in Paris. At first, we thought it was an isolated incident, so we only occasionally checked Twitter. By 10:30pm, it was clear that they were a series of coordinated attacks. Once we learned that 100 people were taken hostage in a theater, fear struck over the dinner. Our phones started buzzing with friends and loved ones wondering if we were okay. Immediately, we started thinking about our employees and hosts who were distributed throughout the city while a series of coordinated attacks were transpiring. Most remarkably, for many, the first person that contacted us was our Airbnb host.
Michael, our head of security, took over central command, and a handful of employees stayed up throughout the night so could account for all 645 of our employees. Some were just a couple doors from the attacks, and had witnessed much of the horror. We knew that one of our groups were at the stadium where an attack occurred, and we were worried they would be caught in a stampede. Others were hiding under tables in restaurants, whose metal gates were locked with the lights dimmed."