Post by High Priestess on Jan 4, 2016 16:58:51 GMT
See this article:
www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2016/0103/As-Africa-s-sharing-economy-grows-Airbnb-points-tourists-in-new-directions
Nearly two years ago, Mengesha Tesfaye was scrambling to make ends meet shining shoes in Lalibela, a picturesque Ethiopian town known for its medieval-era rock-hewn churches. Then, one morning, he struck up a conversation with a French tourist, who had a strange idea for how he could earn a bit of extra cash.
Why didn’t he try renting out his spare room to passing tourists? There was a website, she explained, where he could advertise his place and visitors could arrange to stay. Nearly as odd as her idea was the name of the site itself, a jumble of letters he couldn't quite parse: Airbnb.
“I had never heard of this Airbnb, but I thought it might work,” he says. He knew his simple room – which has electricity, but no indoor plumbing – couldn’t compete with the professional hotels in town, but he thought he could offer something they couldn’t: a chance to see how local people lived. “I could take people around to drink coffee, drink honey wine, see the old village,” he says. It worked: Today, “The Lovely Africain Room” in Lalibela, which rents for $10 a night, has a perfect 5-star rating.
www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2016/0103/As-Africa-s-sharing-economy-grows-Airbnb-points-tourists-in-new-directions
Nearly two years ago, Mengesha Tesfaye was scrambling to make ends meet shining shoes in Lalibela, a picturesque Ethiopian town known for its medieval-era rock-hewn churches. Then, one morning, he struck up a conversation with a French tourist, who had a strange idea for how he could earn a bit of extra cash.
Why didn’t he try renting out his spare room to passing tourists? There was a website, she explained, where he could advertise his place and visitors could arrange to stay. Nearly as odd as her idea was the name of the site itself, a jumble of letters he couldn't quite parse: Airbnb.
“I had never heard of this Airbnb, but I thought it might work,” he says. He knew his simple room – which has electricity, but no indoor plumbing – couldn’t compete with the professional hotels in town, but he thought he could offer something they couldn’t: a chance to see how local people lived. “I could take people around to drink coffee, drink honey wine, see the old village,” he says. It worked: Today, “The Lovely Africain Room” in Lalibela, which rents for $10 a night, has a perfect 5-star rating.