Airbnb transformed the experience of travel by turning ordinary neighborhoods into tourist destinations, and ordinary people into backdoor innkeepers. These people’s small businesses are the backbone of Airbnb’s big one. But facing a pandemic and a potential PR disaster, would the company prioritize its guests or its hosts?

Podcast production by Heba Elorbany and Jess Miller, with help from Madeline Ducharme and Asha Saluja.

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