One website I’ve only been browsing recently but am still very impressed with is airbnb.com.
Airbnb serves as a tool to connect homeowners who wish to rent out their houses to customers who would otherwise be staying in oftentimes more expensive hotels. The service has revolutionized the tourism industry.
I’m studying abroad next semester, and often browse the site with my parents, who are looking for apartments to rent in the neighborhood of London I’ll be staying in when they come to visit me.
My favorite thing about Airbnb is how user-friendly it is. As discussed in 10 Principals of Effective Web Design, I really don’t need to think to use the site. The navigation is simple and intuitive. I’ve never had to search for a link on Airbnb; everything I could ever want from the site seems to be at my fingertips. Even my parents, who aren’t as tech-savvy as I am, are able to navigate the site without my help.
I’m also a huge fan of the aesthetics of the site. Airbnb utilizes large pictures and simple text to elicit an emotional response from visitors. Seeing the artsy photographs of cities across the world makes me excited to travel and more likely to use Airbnb, which I’m sure is intentional.
It was hard to decide on anything I didn’t like about the site, but I did find some broken links in their Austin travel guide. I like they way they utilize writing and other content like photography to promote their service, so it was disappointing to find that some of their content wasn’t as seamless as the rest of their site.
