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Airbnb expands to experiences

airbnb.com

101–110 of 147 posts

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#101
post #17

Is it now a yet another pizza delivery/haircut scheduling app? Really, you should try that. You will make more money than on those "food anthropologist" thingies. ------- Ouch, -18? Are you downvoting me with your whole team?

You've underestimated the number of pizza delivery/haircut scheduling app developers on HN.

Hey I had that idea , who violated my nda

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#102

CTO of an adventure experience start up here. Wanted to share my thoughts. The adventures are curated specifically by Airbnb it looks like. They are mostly urban adventures so it doesn't cater to the adventure type. Overall the app is great. Little Netflix but it's nice. The major issue with this and what we've seen is real adventures are really hard to get. Most of the outfitters have trust issues with technology be…

You must be terrified of this .

Not at all. They will cater exclusively to urban adventures. Branching out to real guided adventures will take them a long time. Trust me. Guides doing backcountry adventures are a whole different breed. It also takes an understanding of how permitting and licensing works for parks not to mention the exclusive land permits.

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#104
post #52
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I learned about AirBnB's origin story via an episode of NPR's How I Built This [1], the original idea of AirBnB was a kind of "stay somewhere with a local and experience the place not as a tourist" experience. The fact that this kind of idea never went away even when everyone else found that AirBnB fullfilled a different requirement doesn't surprise me. [1] http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-thi…

Right. The original idea is now trashed. Airbnb doesn't care if someone is operating a 20 bunk bed dorm room that they don't actually live in, as long as they get a cut. It couldn't get further from living like a local; it's just an AirBnHostel.

I, too, work at Airbnb, and I'm also a host. A very significant majority of us care a great deal about the quality of the stays booked through us (I can't speak for everyone here, but if they don't care, I would question why they work here). Although there's not much of a reason to be public about it externally, it's a pretty regular occurrence to see poorly reviewed listings warned or failing to improve after that are removed for consistently poor reviews. We take a lot of pride in facilitating meaningful experiences between guests and hosts.

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#105

CTO of an adventure experience start up here. Wanted to share my thoughts. The adventures are curated specifically by Airbnb it looks like. They are mostly urban adventures so it doesn't cater to the adventure type. Overall the app is great. Little Netflix but it's nice. The major issue with this and what we've seen is real adventures are really hard to get. Most of the outfitters have trust issues with technology be…

The word "adventure" doesn't appear even once on the Airbnb Experiences page. I think they are two completely different things.

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#106
post #87
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, people wanting to learn about the world should go to Somalia and North Korea to round up their experience?

The notion of global citizen is misguided in the first place, because there is no global entity to be a citizen of, at any socio economic level that matters. Sure you can say that you're a creature of Mother Earth, we're all brothers and sisters united by a common bond, all that; at the end of the day you're still paying taxes to a very specific, non "global citizen" government, and depending on that government for b…

> The notion of global citizen is misguided in the first place, because there is no global entity to be a citizen of, at any socio economic level that matters.

Well duh. I'm pretty sure people who use this phrase are well aware that they're not literally becoming citizens of some world entity.

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#107

I'd rather prefer them to first stop skimming 50% on foreign exchange. Just today saw this screenshot in my fb feed, someone's reservation cost was converted at 100 rur/eur, whereas market rate is around 70 now. And they force payment in rubles, like if Russians don't have enough problems already.

I seriously doubt they are skimming. It's most likely the company that is actually doing the currency exchange that is overcharging AirBnB and they are pushing the cost onto the end user.

no way they'd allow someone profit off their users like that without getting a huge cut for themselves

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#108
post #67
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. The original idea is now trashed. Airbnb doesn't care if someone is operating a 20 bunk bed dorm room that they don't actually live in, as long as they get a cut. It couldn't get further from living like a local; it's just an AirBnHostel.

To expand a little on my sibling (prawn's) comment, I don't think the original idea is trashed, but travelers do have more options now. I've stayed at an "AirBnHostel" as well as "AirBnVacationHomes", but most of the time, I've stayed with hosts who like to hang out and share their city/lives. It's relatively simple to discern which type of AirBnB you're getting from the host's description, and from the cities I've r…

Strange. I mean, we only have our own experiences to go by, but every time I've used Airbnb (throughout Europe) it's always been with a host who doesn't live there and shows no desire nor feels any obligation to show their city (much less talk) to the traveler outside of handing-off the keys. Even when their profile might say differently. They were all way more Hotel than Hospitality Club, so to speak.

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#109
post #7

Funny, the experience of "Send yourself an SMS to get our new app." instead of just linking to Google Play for people in Spain is that it doesn't accept spanish number format. Instead it asks for one extra number and if you pad it with a zero, it throws an error "Unfortunately, a server error prevented your request from being completed". So much for the Airbnb experience. Even better that if you turn of JavaScript, t…

From my smartphone it shows Google Play and App store badges, maybe it's from the desktop only that it asks for your mobile number?

Which is silly, since you can install the application on your phone from the computer. I don't need an SMS to see a link...

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#110
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're interpreting it too charitably. If you're Italian and send me a request, which I refuse on the sole basis that I hate Italians, no matter how politely, I am certainly acting with bias.

Actually, it can be a lot worse. I had an apartment booked in st Petersburg, had been for months. My wife, Latvian, handled communication, in Russian. Show up. Dude is visibly shocked and upset that I'm not Russian. Proceeds to "angliski blad" and "velikaia schwinoi" me, tells us apartment is closed for renovations starting today. In Russia this is a problem - when you get a visa you have to list your accommodation -…

Just wanted to add, as my comment seemed harsh against Russians - I've had a very mixed experience in Russia over the years. In cities, very mixed bag, muscovites are generally assholes but laugh about being assholes, st Petersburg clearly feel like they're under invasion. Go deeper though and people are warm and kind - we found ourselves being inexplicably adored in random small villages in the urals by the old babushkas sweeping the empty dusty streets. I had a night I'll never forget with a bunch of mobsters in Volgograd - and I met the Russian Slim Pickins as a highway cop near Astrakhan. Taught me to swear and beg for mercy in Russian, and let me go - despite the illegal-on-every-planet manoeuvre I'd just pulled.

Airbnb I've also had some great experiences with - in fact most have been - but it only takes one really shitty situation to sour ones perception. I'll probably use them again but it's still an issue they have to get on top of one way or another.

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