App seeks to make vacationing safe for LGBTQ travelers
The landing page for gay travel app misterb&b opens with a slideshow of stock photos of two men in a white-tiled kitchen smiling at each other, two women in rose-colored shirts with one draping her arm over the other’s shoulder, and a series of other images of people sitting at tables smiling cheerily while seemingly having conversation.
Next to the slideshow is a text box with a rainbow flag banner. “Where do you want to go? NYC or Paris?” the prompt reads. When Paris-based entrepreneur Matthieu Jost created misterb&b in 2014, he was fresh off a disappointing experience where a vacation rental host in Barcelona, Spain denied him entry because “she found out we were gay and [my partner and I] would be sharing a bed under her roof.” Powered by the feeling of never wanting to experience such a dehumanizing moment again, he created an LGBTQ-centric app centered on safety and connection.
For almost a decade now, misterb&b has given LGBTQ travelers access to more than a million queer-friendly accommodations and an opportunity to connect with other LGBTQ locals in their travel destinations. “The name misterb&b came from the app’s original focus on gay male travelers,” said Jost in an email. “I had traveled to Barcelona with my partner and our home share rental house rejected us from her home…We left and I decided I never wanted to have the same experience again, for myself or for my community.” Getting into travel app development, however, wasn’t uncharted territory for Jost.
He was part of a team in 2010, which included French gay magazine Têtu, that created gay lifestyle and travel website MyGayTrip.com.
