AirBnb Inc., which allows travellers to rent private accommodations online around the world, is in discussions with the venture capitalist Peter Thiel about an investment of approximately $150 million, according to inside sources, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

That would bring the value of the San Francisco-based start-up to approximately $2.5 billion, nearly double its $1.3 billion valuation last year.  From its cut in the bookings, AirBnb recently reported $10 million in quarterly revenues, according to the anonymous source.

"The talks demonstrate investors' continued willingness to value hot young private companies with relatively little revenue," the paper reported.

Founded in 2008, AirBnb advertises accommodations in 30,743 cities and 192 countries, including air stream trailers, cabins in the woods, urban apartment lofts and even castles. In June it hit a 10 millionth-night milestone, up from under two million a year earlier.

Although the terms of the deal have not been finalized, it is expected that other big names in Venture Capital who have already invested in Airbnb, including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, may participate, as reported by the WSJ.

In addition to his venture capital firm Founders Fund, Thiel co-founded PayPal and was an early investor in Facebook.

HomeAway Inc. and Kayak.com, both venture capital backed online travel-related companies have had IPOs since 2011; their capitalized values are $2.1 billion and $1.15 billion respectively.  HomeAway shares have risen 9% year-to-date while Kayak has climbed by 17%, the WSJ reported.

The London-based online accommodation company HouseTrip, recently raised $40 million in its third-round of funding, from Europe's three largest venture capital firms.