Especially considering their customer service and product quality (read: host integrity) issues.

Manufacturing might be a bit overboard, as that takes running a factory, but if a hotel wanted to partner with an existing lightbulb factory to commission lightbulbs matching the hotel’s spec, that might be a nice feature.

In the case of lightbulbs, they could probably find something available off the shelf which matched whatever reasonable spec they might develop. But for a large hotel chain, ordering custom lightbulbs probably wouldn’t break the bank.

* * *

Helvetica is an awful typeface for anything but posters, logos, and headlines. Please never use Helvetica for body copy.

> Plenty of successful companies managed to create a distinct brand identity using helvetica.

You could use this logic to criticize basically any company expenditure as frivolous. Plenty of companies do things that probably aren't strictly necessary for their survival. I for one am grateful to live in a world where companies sometimes do interesting and creative things, even if it isn't an obvious and immediate win on the balance sheet.

If we followed your reasoning, most CEOs would be immune from criticism.

I, on the other hand, have a different rule of thumb. If a company does something in public, it's fair game for the public to talk about it.

>You could use this logic to criticize basically any company expenditure as frivolous.

I hope not! That's not my intention. I'm just refuting the idea that branding requires a unique typeface.

The reason this is frivolous is because the company's core business is in writing the app and matching vacationers with short term rentals. Designing a typeface seems unrelated to their core business, and is probably best left to someone else, while they focus on what they're good at.

Friendliness, trust, professionalism are all part of the image AirBnB wants to convey to guests and hosts. I would say that a font is extremely a part of their core business as anything that even slightly improves the feeling of confidence you want your customers to have when they book a room — improves conversations, perceived satisfaction and a whole host of other intangible, but still very real aspects of the AirBnB experience.

Spend some time as an AirBnB host and you’ll quickly understand their core business is beyond just being a transaction engine but more around almost being a therapeutic interface between hosts and needy, insecure and hesitant guests. Remember also that AirBnB is growing rapidly — a large number of hosts and guest have never “done this sort of thing” before. So AirBnB’s design motifs have to be psychologically perfect to make those people, like your Aunt Edna, feel safe.

For the average HN reader, certainly Menlo, Times New Roman or Comic Sans would be suitable.

Design matters and it matters a hell of a lot when you are dealing with the “normal” public.

Is a font the number one thing? Number two? number three? Or maybe number 62? Ofcource a company is "allowed" to do whatever they want. I don't see why anyone should be forced to take their actions seriously.

>Design matters and it matters a hell of a lot when you are dealing with the “normal” public.

Sure it matters, just like everything matters, just not to the degree that designers think it does. Like I said in another post about UX - I'd bet half a paycheck that the only people who really really care about the new "cool" designs are (1) Bosses looking to take credit (2) Bored tech writers looking for content (3) UX Peers looking for validation (4) Tech people looking for new toys.

Can you provide a source that Hilton commissioned it?

Edit: In a bit of an ancillary note, it looks like they are serving the font directly from their wp-content folder as a static asset. This might indicate that they either came to own it or commissioned it.

http://resorts.hiltonbusinessonline.com/wp-content/themes/hi...

The key differentiator between AirBnB and a hotel is the community. By adopting a more flippant variation of the well-known humanist sans-serif fonts, they're communicating that their experience is more about the people and the connections than just the physical infrastructure of a boring old Helvetica hotel.

Having their own typeface is good strategically because it helps to create a moat around the product experience.

It's similar to how Wal-Mart created their own typeface to double down on their American-as-apple-pie branding. Now every time you drive past a Wal-Mart, the font tells that story before you even walk into the store.

Also, Wal-Mart's logo is set in Myriad Bold. They made slight alterations to the W, A, and T characters.

If so for me, then it must be subliminal, as I had not even noticed the typeface. If the message is 'bland' and 'unexceptional', then at least I have not been subliminally misled.