For its third annual conference on hospitality, Airbnb hit it big ! This year the Airbnb Open took place between November 17 and 19 in Los Angeles, more precisely on Broadway St. in downtown LA.

2016 Los Angeles Airbnb open announcement on a theatre 

 

To host the event, which was designed as a get-together festival for 6 000 hosts from all over the world, Airbnb reserved four grandiose theaters, which hosted presentations by the founders Brian Chesky, Nate Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia, by the Strategy Director Chip Conley, and by other speakers. Among them the only Frenchie, yours hostly: Katia Blanchard!

 

Katia Blanchard description as a speaker on airbnb website 

 

On November 19 I was invited by Airbnb, for the second year in a row, to get on stage and present my secret sauce on interior design for rentals - this time inside the famous 1650-seat Ace Theatre. My speech, titled "Interior design tips : give your rental a personal and unique touch", provided tips and advice for hosts, to help them make their rental stand out. 

 

In fact, as a BnbStaging consultant, I keep noticing that more and more hosts tend to completely de-personalize their apartments or houses, to standardize them as if they were hotel rooms. However, guests and travellers seek authenticity and character in a rental, in order to make them feel "at home". My presentation, which concluded the Open, first focused on the fundamentals of interior design, and then proposed a number of original and easy-to-do ideas to customize and instill personality in a home.

 

Katia Blanchard on stage in the Los Angeles Ace theatre

Katia Blanchard on stage at the Airbnb Open at the Ace TheatreKatia Blanchard on stage at the Ace Theatre during the 2016 LA Airbnb OpenKatia Blanchard, Interior designer and BnbStaging consultant, on the stage of the Ace Theatre in Los Angeles during the 2016 Airbnb Open

 

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