On the Isle of Portland, the limestone lump tied to the Dorset coast by Chesil Beach, a tiny social enterprise called bnb-side has found itself squared off against one of the biggest names in travel. Its opponent: Airbnb, the San Francisco booking giant worth around $100bn. The dispute is over the letters 'bnb'.
The guesthouse opened in 2024 as a fundraising arm of b-side, an arts festival that has run on the rock for nearly 20 years. Directors figured the name was a no-brainer: 'bnb' is simply the universal shorthand for bed and breakfast. Airbnb's lawyers disagreed, sending three legal letters since May demanding the six-room B&B abandon its attempt to register the name. Even tweaks like an ampersand or spelling out 'and' were reportedly off the table.
For b-side, the stakes go well beyond signage. The B&B now generates nearly half of the festival's £250,000 annual turnover, money that reduced its dependence on precarious public funding. Losing the name would mean rebuilding its brand, website, social media and reputation from scratch — a heavy lift for a volunteer-run outfit. The organisation has pro bono support and is being advised by the law firm Stevens Hewlett & Perkins as it asks the Intellectual Property Office to throw out Airbnb's opposition.
Airbnb is arguing on three fronts: that travellers might confuse the two brands, that bnb-side could freeload on or dent its reputation, and that the B&B is effectively passing itself off as an official Airbnb service. Trademark experts quoted in the report are sceptical. One notes that 'bnb' is a descriptive term long understood by the public, and descriptive phrases generally can't be fenced off. Companies House records show 14 accommodation businesses with 'bnb' in their names registered in the past decade alone. There's also a PR problem: aggressive enforcement against a small community arts organisation on an island where locals say short-term lets have priced residents out of housing is not a great look.
Why should holidaymakers care? Partly because it's a David-and-Goliath story playing out in one of England's most distinctive corners — Portland is home to the Tout Quarry sculpture park, dramatic cliff walks and views over Chesil Beach. Partly because the outcome could signal how far booking platforms can push trademark claims against the very descriptive language their own names are built on. And partly because if you want a weekend on the Dorset coast that funds local culture rather than a property portfolio, bnb-side is a pretty good place to put your money.
No ruling has been made yet, and Airbnb has not commented. But the B&B's directors sound unmoved. As one put it: 'We do things differently here in Portland.'