For those of you who travel to foreign cities for conferences, get all fired up throughout the day listening to inspiring talks, and seeing innovative ideas in action, yet then dread the retreat to the seclusion of your double-bed hotel room, don’t fear: an alternative is here. Not only is renting a hotel a pain in the rear, but I frequently experience buyers remorse due to how excessive a whole room to myself feels, not to mention how unsustainable hotels really are. To top it off, hotels are lonely. When I travel alone for an event to meet people, I want to continue meeting them and enjoying their company all day long.

So, for those of us alike who prefer socializing, enjoying the company of others, and connecting with like-minded professionals nationwide, there is a creative and more sustainable hotel alternative for you called Airbed & Breakfast. Two independent designers in San Francisco recently had the idea to rent out extra space in their SOMA loft to provide an opportunity for conference attendees to connect with others off the premise. This October 17-20, a rather large conference is taking place in the bay area called the IDSA World Design Congress. The last time this conference was in the US was 20-something years ago. As a result, designers of all ages from all over the country will be traveling to the city to be a part of this important design weekend. With the theme of the conference being "Connecting," this opportunity is perfectly appropriate.

What these two gentleman realized was that they have a wealth of extra space, extra desks, plenty of kitchen space to cook everyone breakfast, and somehow a stockpile of airbeds. When you put these extra resources together, it makes for a great environment that many travelers could advantage of. This is "something new and different: classier than couchsurfing, and more personable than craigslist — it is an AirBed & Breakfast."

In addition to building a website to advertise the brilliance of this new way to connect people at the conference, the two founders, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, both in their mid to late twenties, wanted to provide an opportunity for others to list their place in order to create a new network of socialization and entrepreneurship at conferences nationwide. On the site is a link tovacancies where prospective residents can browse through and choose their weekend home and office based on location, attributes, ambiance, and other details. The moment that Joe and Brian launched the site (just this past week), the word spread quickly. There are now four different spaces offered on the vacancies link, and one is already sold out.

The brilliance in this idea is not only attractive because it builds relationships and creates a more comfortable living alternative to hotels, but it is far more sustainable. Even the acclaimed "green hotels" are required to use far more resources to maintain a whole room for one individual than an existing home with an added bed. If you think about it, if one is already making coffee in the morning, why not make it for 10?