The idea that a couple wouldn’t be able to openly celebrate their love on their HONEYMOON really hit home and Airbnb wanted to do something to raise awareness about the issue.

Our idea: provide a forum for these couples tell their story and spark a conversation about rights, respect and perseverance. By amplifying their voices, we hoped to increase understanding of the issue on a deeply human level.

The nearly four-minute mini-documentary shares intimate portraits of five different couples, one specifically a transgender couple who highlight specifically why we produced this film. If people knew they were a transgender couple, “would they be kind to us?” It’s an honest, authentic look at real couples and all the the normal fun and struggles they go through on a day to day basis. In our interviews, our couples are always together in the frame, speaking directly to the camera while sitting comfortably in their homes. Each of them shares their travel experiences and the challenges they have faced when thinking about travel. We premiered the film to an audience of 1,200 at the Frameline Film Festival, the largest LGBTQ film festival in the world. And then we posted it on Facebook and YouTube, shared it on our social media channels, and promoting it on our website.

Honestly, it feels a little presumptuous to dig into “success metrics” around this campaign. We certainly don’t want to claim that this one documentary “solved” the problem or changed people’s perceptions around being Transgender. But we believe highlighting the Transgender community within the LGBTQ context drives higher awareness of this often neglected group, even within the LGBTQ community itself. We also believe the answer to challenges like this lies in the power of human kindness and in the personal hospitality we see in our community. Open doors lead to more open minds, as people of different backgrounds come together over dinner tables to accept each other and welcome strangers as friends, we can look forward to creating a world of more acceptance, together. That said, here are some of the results around the film: 600,000+ views on Facebook and YouTube On Facebook, 16,000+ likes and 4,300+ shares. Shared at five times the travel industry average and received a 98% positive rating Dozens of media stories, including FastCompany, Buzzfeed, HuffingtonPost, Travel + Leisure, Brides.com, Instinct Magazine, Hello Giggles, Adweek and Adage, 1M+ impressions