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Why Airbnb is dead to me

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Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#81

Post by ghaff »

jellicle wrote: post #70
danmaz74 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirBnB can't slap wrists of hosts without very clear proof of their wrongdoing - which wasn't the case here. In a p2p system like this, it's the bad ratings that need to make this kind of dealings unprofitable.

Oh, that's not true at all. Ebay showed - and the writer of this article realizes - that you can fuck sellers around all day long. AirBNB could implement a "if any customer complains, for any reason, the landlord doesn't get paid" 100% guarantee policy, and the landlords would have to take it. They not only don't need "very clear proof", they don't need any proof at all.

That does require however, for better or worse, a deliberate decision to operate in that manner. Certainly many eBay sellers, many of whom were doubtless perfectly respectable, became very disillusioned with eBay once they tilted in that direction.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#82

Post by aeze »

bachmeier wrote: post #63
aianus wrote: post #40

You have completely the wrong expectation of how Airbnb works. The hosts are randoms and Airbnb has no way to deliver a consistent quality experience like a hotel. Airbnb is like eBay, not Amazon. You need to realize that when you get the last apartment in a city at conference-time (almost certainly not a superhost with good reviews), you're obviously taking a big gamble that it doesn't work out in order to save a fe…

> So in this worst-case scenario you wound up in the same place as you would have if Airbnb didn't exist? Cry me a river. Worst case scenario for this story is that the driver takes them out of town, shoots them, and dumps their bodies into a river.

Or they get abducted by aliens, if we're talking about things that didn't happen.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#83

Post by aianus »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #54
aianus wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're well-compensated for the risk you take on Airbnb, it's not like it costs the same as the Four Seasons.

Except prices gradually moved up from "hey look at this bargain" to being at hotel parity. I live in a trendy Chicago neighborhood and have people visit now and again. My spare room is in the basement, which is fairly unappealing, so people try airbnb. The rates they get are comparable to some hotels downtown if you do a little legwork on Expedia. In places that aren't the middle of nowhere, there aren't a lot of sav…

You can get a shoe closet with a mattress on the floor for $18/night in the middle of Tokyo on AirBnB [1]. For comparison, the capsule hotels are $35 a night. Even a bunk(!) in a hostel is more than $18 a night.

[1] https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/6843251

There are definitely still bargains to be found.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#84

Post by anoonmoose »

RomanPushkin wrote: post #74

For me it's the same as hotels, but with less service. I've relocated to SFBA a year ago, and it was cheaper to rent Extended Stay America rather than AirBnB with weird rules. We had a kid, and one guy was mentioning "no dogs or kids" in his AD. That's ridiculous! DOGS OR KIDS! O-k-a-y. Will never never never use AirBnB again.

"No dogs or kids" in the ad is going to sound pretty fair to a lot of people on HN.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#85

Post by vinceguidry »

ghaff wrote: post #81
jellicle wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, that's not true at all. Ebay showed - and the writer of this article realizes - that you can fuck sellers around all day long. AirBNB could implement a "if any customer complains, for any reason, the landlord doesn't get paid" 100% guarantee policy, and the landlords would have to take it. They not only don't need "very clear proof", they don't need any proof at all.

That does require however, for better or worse, a deliberate decision to operate in that manner. Certainly many eBay sellers, many of whom were doubtless perfectly respectable, became very disillusioned with eBay once they tilted in that direction.

Being that AirBnB is in the customer service field, not really a true marketplace, a customer-centric dispute policy makes total sense. Hosts that can't grasp the concept of "make your customers happy" are only going to hurt the overall AirBnB brand and should be sussed out and expelled quickly.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#86

Post by ap3 »

archagon wrote: post #59
scottmcdot wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reviews were all very positive, so I think this may have been because the host has been caught up somewhere or has been busy with something. But it's still very irresponsible. I managed to find the host's Facebook and I would say he is around 24 years' old and studying at a university in Vienna. Had I known this, I probably would have told my mother to look elsewhere.

Yeah, the problem is that people review based on their expectations. A beautiful vacation home and a ratty student flat can both get 5 stars, depending on who's visiting.

You don't think the price would make a difference between the two places?

I recently used airbnb for the first time and I specifically looked for reviews that said the place matched the pictures, google street view, did a google search on the condo name, vrbo, emailed the host and even got direct phone numbers in return

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#88

Post by ampersandy »

The root of these bad host stories seem to be that the guests arrive and don't immediately contact Airbnb about issues with the rental. Because of this, Airbnb just denies any liability and puts the blame on the renters instead of the host.

This seems trivial to solve -- Airbnb should make check-ins a mandatory part of all stays, and any issues with the accommodations would obviously be included in this initial check-in. There would be no chance for a host to move you across Barcelona before realizing you've been totally screwed or before Airbnb starts denying any and all responsibility for the problem.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#89

Post by dreamdu5t »

bachmeier wrote: post #63
aianus wrote: post #40

You have completely the wrong expectation of how Airbnb works. The hosts are randoms and Airbnb has no way to deliver a consistent quality experience like a hotel. Airbnb is like eBay, not Amazon. You need to realize that when you get the last apartment in a city at conference-time (almost certainly not a superhost with good reviews), you're obviously taking a big gamble that it doesn't work out in order to save a fe…

> So in this worst-case scenario you wound up in the same place as you would have if Airbnb didn't exist? Cry me a river. Worst case scenario for this story is that the driver takes them out of town, shoots them, and dumps their bodies into a river.

Grow up.
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