Airbnb is an innovative company. They were the first company to invent the concept of subletting one’s apartment to strangers, and to help traveling strangers find apartment accommodations.

Now, Airbnb is branching out into different (and maybe stranger) territory. The company is now encouraging hosts to invite traveling strangers to dinner.

Airbnb Dinner Series

Instead of focusing on just accommodations or one other aspect of traveling, Airbnb’s main focus is on the traveler experience. More often than not, the one experience that travelers remember for years to come is the food that they ate and shared while traveling. Airbnb’s new service will let people traveling to San Francisco (it’s a local project for now) book a table at a host’s house along with other traveling visitors.

While it may seem odd at first (and potentially dangerous or scary), it does make some sense. Many people consider themselves home gourmet cooks, and lots of people like to share meals with friends and guests. So, why not charge travelers to attend a dinner party held by a perfect stranger and shared with other strangers? Airbnb will take a cut of whatever hosts make (as is the case with the Airbnb room bookings), and hosts will have the pleasure of meeting people from all over the world, entertaining those people, and cooking some great (we hope) meals.

Pricing and Other Details

Airbnb has told hosts that they can set the prices of meals along with the time and date of meals. The program is currently in the very early stage, though, so you won’t see Airbnb dinners for sale until much later this year (if the program takes off without a hitch, that is). There are just a few potential problems that I can see with this new Airbnb venture.

First, I’m not sure that I want to eat at some people’s houses – some people are the cleanest or best cooks, right? Second, you never know who might show up at your house. It’s not like you can do a complete background check on every guest that wants to buy a dinner. Lastly, there’s the possibility that you could attract some heavy partiers, and your home may be taken over. Sure, you can look at people’s profiles, but that’s not going to tell you too much about the people that will be coming over for dinner. Still, it’s an interesting idea, and it might work in some cities, but I’m not certain about all cities.

If you do live in San Francisco and you want to become a dinner host, you can check out Airbnb’s main website to sign up. Again, this program is in its early stages, and that means that you may not be able to move ahead with the sign up quite yet. If you do have some serious cooking skill or just like to entertain, the new Airbnb cooking program might be for you.

Is this a good idea or one that you’d never consider taking part in? Sound off below!