SAN FRANCISCO—Airbnb co-founder, Brian Chesky, addressed ULI Fall Meeting attendees as part of a conversation with Constance Moore, president and CEO of BRE Properties, ULI San Francisco board member and the sponsorship committee chair for the 2015 Fall Meeting. Chesky described his company's model of hospitality as complementary, rather than a threat, to the traditional hotel industry since Airbnb's global network of hosts can alleviate consumer demand that cannot always be met during periods of peak occupancy.

Citing the example of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and the fans who flooded its cities, Chesky said that Airbnb's inventory of hosts and private homes can help hotels and cities contend with the challenge of having an adequate supply of rooms for tourists and business travelers to stay in during major events.

"We allow cities to swell for large events," Chesky said. "For us to win, no one in hospitality has to lose."

Recommended For You

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.

Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Lisa Brown

Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.