Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Airbnb is dead to me

drupaler.drupalgardens.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 236 posts

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#221

Post by Canada »

hunterloftis wrote: post #213
Canada wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm doing the same thing, living out of AirBnB rentals. The best places are actual homes where the owner lives some part of the year. Bookshelves are filled with the books they love and art they appreciate hangs on the walls. Sitting on the couch is relaxing, working at the desk is productive and the kitchen is properly equipped. The owner has a regular housekeeper. Worry-free regular cleaning is easily arranged at a…

That's a good litmus test. What has frustrated me most is the lack of repercussions to hosts who behave badly. For instance, as a guest, if I were to cancel my $2k trip 48 hours before arrival, I would still have to pay for it. I had a host do exactly that - cancel a $2k trip that had been booked for months, 48 hours before I got off the plane with a backpack and no place to go. The host saw minimal fallout - basical…

That sucks. I've been lucky not to have any last minute cancellations by host so far. A lot of hosts list on multiple sites, so in your case there might have simply taken a better offer via another site.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#222

Post by lotsofcows »

scottmcdot wrote: post #28

Just tonight, my mother checked into an Airbnb in Vienna, Austria. She sent me photos of the bed which did not have new sheets, the towels which were not fresh, a band aid on the floor and some rubbish bins full of cigarettes and ash. The apartment was overall pretty dirty. The host's contact phone number goes straight to message bank (I also tried many times) and the host is not answering emails. In this situation,…

This is hilarious! You were bitten by one unregulated system and then, to fix the issue, you called another unregulated system! Your poor mother.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#223

Post by lotsofcows »

ghaff wrote: post #147
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.

Any number of bed & breakfasts and other small properties that aren't Airbnb are "no kids." And, of course, the majority of hotels are no dogs.

I think he's complaining about the manner of writing. It's very reminiscent of "No dogs, blacks or mexicans".

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#224

Post by scottmcdot »

scottmcdot wrote: post #28

Just tonight, my mother checked into an Airbnb in Vienna, Austria. She sent me photos of the bed which did not have new sheets, the towels which were not fresh, a band aid on the floor and some rubbish bins full of cigarettes and ash. The apartment was overall pretty dirty. The host's contact phone number goes straight to message bank (I also tried many times) and the host is not answering emails. In this situation,…

UPDATE:

This is part of a response from Airbnb customer service, which has no apologies for the situation and sounds like they're leaning towards defending the host.

"We got the news from [host] that the place is clean and ready to welcome you.

In order to claim a refund we will need to receive documentation regarding the cleanliness issues. At this point there is no confirmed hosting standards violation therefore we will not be able to penalise our host and refund you."

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#225

Post by mistermann »

mistermann wrote: post #208
aianus wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to prove certain risks are genuinely covered Why? I'm well aware of the risks of using AirBnB (or being a contractor instead of an employee or whatever) and choose to take them on because I believe I come out ahead overall. Not everyone wants the nanny state watching out for them at every opportunity.

Not even reads Hacker News - feel free to link the location on AirBNB's website that informs regular people about the nature of things that can go wrong, and details on how they will handle that (or not, as the case may be).

*Typo: Not everyone reads Hacker News...

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#226

Post by [deleted] »

larrys wrote: post #177
deveac wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Airbnb is essentially enabling any joe idiot to run a shit hotel anywhere in the world with zero accountability. You did not leave a rating or review of your unfit rental on airbnb?

So that's great but then you are doing part of the work that airbnb should be doing.

[deleted]

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#227

Post by outside1234 »

ghaff wrote: post #115
outside1234 wrote: post #2

Its equally bad as a host. I have a place that rents very well in the summer (its near the Ocean) and a group of people showed up, didn't like it for whatever reason, and AirBNB canceled the reservation with no penalty despite there being a super clear cancelation policy in place. No recourse (customer service blew me off: "sorry, renter didn't like the bed."), no way to rent it for a week on that short of notice, I…

But what should Airbnb (or any company managing rentals) do under that circumstance? The renter is doing the equivalent of a return for "item not as described." I'm perfectly willing to believe that this renter had some expectation or requirement that to your mind or mine was totally unreasonable. Or maybe they found a better deal nearby at the last moment. But there's no real way an Airbnb can start investigating th…

They should stick to the contract first off.

Secondly, they should look at the microsite for the listing and see that there was an exact picture of the bed.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#228

Post by 59nadir »

yardie wrote: post #105
mikeash wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've traveled quite a bit, including to Barcelona. If you speak English (and this person clearly does) then "don't speak the language" is not an issue there, or indeed almost anywhere. If I book a place for a certain period, then I'm staying for that whole period. If the host suddenly changes their mind and tells me I have to move, no way. I'm contacting the booking agency and having them tell the host to get lost. I…

You place far too much faith in AirBnB's customer service line. I've called it before. I've sat outside the apartment I rented waiting on hold listening to the same 3 damn songs forever (hey did you know the music they've selected is produced by their employees?). AirBnB wasn't reachable when I needed them the most. Sitting on the curb with my wife and 4yo at 10PM without a place to go. Trying desperately to find any…

> AirBnB wasn't reachable when I needed them the most. Sitting on the curb with my wife and 4yo at 10PM without a place to go.

There is literally no way I would trust some random schmo on a site that enables idiots to try to run hotels with the wellbeing of a child, much less a 4 year old. Book a real hotel, honestly. Even if it went well, the bad judgment on display here is slightly disturbing.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#229

Post by 59nadir »

tdylan wrote: post #216
gaius wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, you had a problem with AirBnB so you called Uber? Why not you know, an actual taxi to take her to an actual hotel??

Uber has far more control and safety with their supply than Airbnb does, even more so compared to Taxis in foreign countries.

There are plenty of countries where taxis work well and are perfectly fine. Uber was specifically founded to adress a broken taxi market in certain US cities. It's almost completely useless in a lot of countries where the same problem with taxis simply didn't exist. In those countries, Uber is an unregulated, not cheaper alternative that isn't as tried and true.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#230

Post by greg_harvey »

spikels wrote: post #130

This is an attempt to get a refund from AirBnB, right? Has HN become a back channel customer service platform for YC companies? Unfortunately since it seems to work so well. I expect we will see more of this.

Nope, it isn't. I didn't post it on HN. I didn't even have a HN account until I decided to reply to a few comments (including this one). This is simply someone so annoyed and frustrated with Airbnb's apparent indifference to bad hosts they decided to blog it and tweet the blog post. Everything else was beyond my control. And actually, the money is a side point. It was company account, meh, who cares? The REAL point is there's someone gaming Airbnb, they know this, but they're not removing this person from their listings. That's what really pees me off.
Post reply on HN