171–180 of 403 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's really the crux of what I'm getting at here. People who are using AirBnB to rent space in their homes will also have the freedom to stop doing so if they are no longer comfortable losing any say regarding who they are willing to let stay. If anything, AirBnB is really opening the door for a competitor who totally defers to the property owner to cut into their market share.
Which would probably be pretty unsuccessful. Who's going to use and recommend WhiteBnB to their friends? Well, yeah, neo-nazis. But that's a pretty niche market and AirBnB only works if they are big enough to make the two sided market work.
I really think US is now getting to a completely different extreme - why should be whites and men so severely disadvantaged? You are getting to a point that when you don't enthusiastically approve of whatever a SJW says, you are instantly labeled an enemy.
Go and watch video how Turks in some remote city were kicking out Korean tourists - that's a problem you should focus on if you want to make the world a better place. First world problems...
I don't know if this is really a tractable problem. At the end of the day, either airbnb lets hosts decide who stays or doesn't. If they don't let hosts decide, they'll likely lose a ton of hosts, since having someone stay in your home is a very personal thing and a huge risk. If they do, then they're going to have significant discrimination problems as long as people are discriminatory, i.e., basically forever.
> If they don't let hosts decide, they'll likely lose a ton of hosts, since having someone stay in your home is a very personal thing and a huge risk. It's worse than that for Airbnb, I think. If they take too active a role in deciding who gets to stay it gets much harder for them to plausibly argue that they are not the entity that should be responsible for complying with zoning regulations and tax regulations and a…
The question comes... is that an established line that they can stop just short of OR is that a great big grey zone that will require a lawsuit to better define?
I don't know if this is really a tractable problem. At the end of the day, either airbnb lets hosts decide who stays or doesn't. If they don't let hosts decide, they'll likely lose a ton of hosts, since having someone stay in your home is a very personal thing and a huge risk. If they do, then they're going to have significant discrimination problems as long as people are discriminatory, i.e., basically forever.
That was my thought here as well. It's one thing to have very public businesses with anti-discrimination rules, but something like Air BnB where people have to decide in most cases who they are going to let into their homes is a much more complicated problem. We're seeing a wide trend in the US where people want rules to prevent people from making choices that they don't agree with, which was basically the opposite o…
A lot of people hosting through Airbnb shouldn't be.
As an host, I'll never discriminate on the basis of religion, sex orientation, color of skin, national origin or gender identity. When it comes to disability, I might refuse someone whose disability would cause risk in using the apartment and might have an accident because the apartment is not safe for someone who's disabled (the building is 300 years old, there's no elevator, the stair in the duplex apartment doesn'…
I'm blind. Would you not rent this property to me because you fear for my safety therein? Would it make a difference if I've said I've skied, biked solo, rock-climbed? If so, why should I have to do so when others don't, and are trusted to make up their own minds as to whether your property works for them? Do you feel more confident than I am in determining my own limits? Disclosure: I've been denied many opportuniti…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> a host who was nice to me when I met him and then wasn't as nice 5 minutes later once my wife arrived I don't doubt the presence of racism in our society, but this seems like an overly subjective and crude way to label someone a racist. Off the top of my head they could be threatened by the other's attractiveness (surprisingly common), they find the person awkward to speak with or annoying/ out of touch, they are s…
It's fine to analyze potential racism experienced by oneself in this fashion, but it really is out of bounds to analyze potential racism experienced by other people in this way. Perhaps that isn't fair to those of us who rarely experience potential racism, but so what?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nope. I would not ever rent a room with instant booking unless Airbnb signs a blank check for any damages by the guest (which it of course won't)
Do you think the $1M insurance policy isn't enough?
The Airbnb Host Guarantee is a total fraud. I looked into the abyss of worst case predatory corporate behavior when I filed my claim.
I am a big Airbnb fan, both as a host in my New York aparment and as a guest. But when I had my first bad experience with a guest that damaged property (floor, walls) and stole a whole set of expensive cosmetics from a friend that were stored in my bathroom, Airbnb behaved terribly. They basically dragged out the process over a month, demanding more and more “evidence” (a police report, exact list of missing items, photos of damage, quotes from handyman and Amazon list price links were insufficient). They continuously set 48 h “deadlines” for responses nearly every time I got a message, and said if I miss them the case gets closed.
After jumping through all the hoops, they told me they decided to close the case anyway.
This was a shocking experience - I read the terms and of course, there are certain things I didn’t provide (mostly the purchasing receipts for the stolen goods, since I don’t keep those). But the pictures with damages and police report got simply ignored by them.
This was “only” about $3,000, so it’s not worth to hire a lawyer and spend more time on this.
The Airbnb Host Guarantee is definitely a fraud, and Airbnb should be absolutely ashamed for their deceptive advertising.
Here are some more details in case you are interested:
* I had trouble with the guest already when they stayed in my apartment, and complained with Airbnb. Airbnb reviewed the case and had the guest actually pay for additional people they brought over to live there. The Airbnb team responsible for handling problems with the guest while staying there was great.
* After the guests left, we assessed the room and saw all the damage, and realized they had stolen lots of valuable items from the bathroom. I immediately informed Airbnb. They passed the case on to another guy called “Reiko”, and that’s where nightmare started.
Some official correspondence from Airbnb’s Reiko:
“If a host requests compensation through the Host Guarantee program, Airbnb will review the damages to determine if the guest is responsible and if the host qualifies for reimbursement under our terms:www.airbnb.com/terms
If the host qualifies for compensation, Airbnb will take measures to recoup those funds from the guest.”
> So, Reiko told me basically that if the guest doesn’t pay, I don’t get paid. Of course the guest doesn’t pay, he was a crook who stole my stuff.
After 1 months of back and forth, police involvement, handyman reviews and spending hours on this stupid case following Reiko’s instruction, he send me this:
“Thank you for getting in touch with us. We understand that this may have been a difficult and frustrating process.Unfortunately, we did not receive a response from you within 48 hours of our last email, sent on August 7th, as was specifically requested. Therefore, your claim was closed.”
>> The Airbnb host Guarantee states explicitly that a host has 60 days time to SUBMIT the request. I submitted within 24 hours on July 30th, and then Reiko dragged the process out over a month back and forth.
I freaked out given this out-of-control statement and asked Reiko what this is all about. I received this cookie cutter response:
“Thank you so much for following up, I definitely understand how frustrating all of this must be for you.
Whenever a situation like this arises, we advocate for an amicable solution. As a neutral third-party not present during the reservation, we must make a fair decision based on documentation and communication from both host and guest.
Following a full review of all documentation and communication in this case, we reached what we believe to be a fair compromise for both parties. As you may already know, our policies state that we have the final say in any dispute to which we are called upon to mediate. As such, the decision reached in this case is final and cannot be overturned.“
WOW.
Basically, there is no Host Guarantee. Airbnb simply tries to convince the fraudulent guest to pay. If they don’t pay, you (I) are screwed. Airbnb is not going to pay a dime.
This is in clear violation of their own stated terms. It says:
“We’re committed to creating a safe and trusted community around the world. Though property damage is rare, we understand you may need protection. The Host Guarantee will reimburse eligible hosts for damages up to $1,000,000.”
>> What it doesn’t mention is that it’s the guest’s responsibility to pay this $1,000,000.
It also states:
Useful documentation and information that will help process your payment request as quickly as possible include:
photographs of the damage being claimed
a police report for any damage that is over $300 USD
receipts or some alternative evidence of the accurate fair market value or report cost
proof of ownership
any other documentation that you feel will be helpful to processing your request
The bottom line:
Either Reiko is a liar and processed our case in the wrong way, or the Host Guarantee is a fraud. I am pretty sure I would win this in court; but Reiko and Airbnb unfortunately know that it’s not worth my time and money given the small (but still significant) amount of $3,000.
My guess is Airbnb simply assesses your earnings and comes up with a certain limit below that they will just screw you over and say “goodbye, no host guarantee for you” in clear violation with their own terms, since they know you can’t go to court.
I at least wanted to let my friend on Quora know.
Very sad and disillusioned with the “sharing economy”. This is not a friendly startup, but worst case predatory corporate behavior. If you have gone through the same thing, maybe we can file a class action lawsuit.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which would probably be pretty unsuccessful. Who's going to use and recommend WhiteBnB to their friends? Well, yeah, neo-nazis. But that's a pretty niche market and AirBnB only works if they are big enough to make the two sided market work.
It's not about WhiteBnB. It's about WhomeverIWantBnB. I am white, European, affluent, from a popular country and was rejected many times by AirBnB hosts (most of them blacks or women), so what? I looked elsewhere. It's really their right to provide accommodation to whomever they wish, it's their property. If AirBnB doesn't want them, they'd go elsewhere and AirBnB will go the way GitHub is going. Most hosts are featu…
Where, exactly, would one be able to objectively measure this disadvantage using published data?
I don't know if this is really a tractable problem. At the end of the day, either airbnb lets hosts decide who stays or doesn't. If they don't let hosts decide, they'll likely lose a ton of hosts, since having someone stay in your home is a very personal thing and a huge risk. If they do, then they're going to have significant discrimination problems as long as people are discriminatory, i.e., basically forever.
I did Airbnb for my personal residence for a few years, I was a "Super Host" three years in a row. These policies, while officially new, have been slowly edged in for a while and is the reason why I no longer use Airbnb. Why? 1.) Airbnb is still a new concept to a lot of people. Hosts need to time to work with a guest to make sure they know how the arrangement is suppose to work. Airbnb use to have a 'respond within…
Before arriving in some foreign place I want to know if the host is reliable. The host wants to know if they can trust me to be in their home. Ratings are helpful but no substitute for finding out what type of person you're dealing with. Even though I'm a pretty private person I prefer connecting with hosts on social media beforehand. I definitely want a voice call, even though all the expectation setting needs to be in writing on airbnb.
Both sides need to show themselves and accept being judged. Hosts need to be able to refuse without needing to justify their decisions. Otherwise there can never be enough trust to share valuable properties.
I don't know if this is really a tractable problem. At the end of the day, either airbnb lets hosts decide who stays or doesn't. If they don't let hosts decide, they'll likely lose a ton of hosts, since having someone stay in your home is a very personal thing and a huge risk. If they do, then they're going to have significant discrimination problems as long as people are discriminatory, i.e., basically forever.
Yes, but a huge number of AirBnBs are de facto hotels. And hotels mitigate risk with insurance and can't (and shouldn't) discriminate. There's nothing personal about running a hotel (or a whole chain of them as evidenced by the number of properties being managed/run by some AirBnB hosts).