I tried to use AirBNB a couple times in NYC but my experience boiled down to (a) people not replying when I contacted them about their property, and (b) people trying to get me to pay them cash directly instead of via AirBNB. Glad to hear they're doing well, but I haven't had any luck with them.
NYC may be an anomaly - I've had some people not reply promptly (that's pretty much to be expected and their loss), but never yet seen an attempt to cut out AirBnB. My experience has been pretty uniformly positive.
I met this Lisa Gansky woman, after she spoke at PopTech this year, who wrote a book on this "business of sharing" type of model. I think she's dead on.
I've owned houses, cars, lots of things, and now that I rent almost everything, I feel so much freer from things...
Agreed. In the past 6 months alone, companies with expansive networks are truly attracting the critical mass of people with all different ages and interests (these "sharing" businesses are no longer have user-bases consisting of early tech adopters). This is proving itself with the enormous valuations for companies such as Groupon for shared buying power, Facebook for shared social news, Zynga, etc.
http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/67624?price=15