NYC: The Rise of the One-Room Hotel | theatlantic.com

Many web startups begin without a business model. They have a cool service or a sticky blog -- or merely an *idea* that people might like. Airbnb is not one of those startups. The site allows people to rent out their rooms or houses as vacation rentals, turning every place into a prospective microhotel. Their business model is simple: they handle the transaction, taking a 6-12 percent cut on each booking.