Matthieu Jost (entrepreneur)

Matthieu Jost
Born
Orsay
NationalityFrench
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known forFounder - misterb&b & MyGayTrip
Websitewww.brak.com Matthieu Jost

Matthieu Jost is a French entrepreneur and the founder and chief executive officer of the websites misterb&b and MyGayTrip.[1] He has been ranked top 100 most inspirational and influential LGBTQ+ leader in the world by Out Magazine.[1]

Jost founded the French media company Taplanete in 2003.[2] The company published Internet sites for television shows and music and was purchased by AlloCiné in 2004.[2] Later, Jost founded MyGayTrip which has been referred to as a TripAdvisor-type site for the LGBT community. MyGayTrip was a joint venture along with Marc Dedonder and the French magazine Têtu.[3]

Jost founded misterb&b after a trip to Barcelona.[4] He rented a room in a shared apartment and was treated badly by the owner, who was not expecting a gay couple.[4] Feeling uncomfortable, Jost returned to Paris the next day.[5] This experience inspired him to create a platform for people to travel to welcoming environments.[4] Misterb&b started as a combination of MyGayTrip and the short-term apartment rental service Sejourning, and it has since developed into an Airbnb-like platform for the LGBT community.[6]

Misterb&b now has over 300,000 hosts in 135 countries.[7]

Matthieu Jost and misterb&b have been selected to join Expedia Group accelerator program, which aims to help undeserved communities travel more easily across the world.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ a b "Out100: 9 LGBTQ+ Names at the Forefront of Beauty and Business". www.out.com. 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  2. ^ a b Beky, Ariane (15 November 2004). "AlloCiné atterrit sur Taplanete.net" (in French). Clubic.com. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  3. ^ Beveraggi, Jean (23 March 2011). "Tourisme Gay et Lesbien : plus qu'une niche, un marché à part entière" (in French). Tour Magazine. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  4. ^ a b c Pirolli, Bryan (10 December 2015). "Misterbnb: Gay travel revolution takes on homestays". CNN. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  5. ^ Rosini, Mattia (10 October 2014). "The founder of the only 'gay Airbnb' speaks out". West. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  6. ^ Middleton, Josh (20 March 2013). "A Gayer Version of Airbnb, Misterbnb, Launches". Philly Mag. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  7. ^ @NatGeoUK (2019-08-17). "Meet the changemakers: Matthieu Jost from Misterb&b". National Geographic. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  8. ^ "Expedia Group kicks off startup accelerator focused on underserved travelers". www.phocuswire.com. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  9. ^ Rokou, Tatiana (2023-01-23). "misterb&b selected for Expedia's One World Accelerator Program". TravelDailyNews International (in Greek). Retrieved 2023-05-12.