Go ahead, sell your soul.
Airbnb expands to experiences
111–120 of 147 posts
Re: Airbnb expands to experiences
#112CTO 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 can't throw money at adventure market and expect to gain traction".
Eh, yes you can. Not to say they'll make it this time, AirBnB has been trying this (or something like it) for years, they might well fail. But not because money can't gain traction :)
Re: Airbnb expands to experiences
#113I am very happy to hear that! The app I developed drop!in ( http://www.idrop.in ) exists in a similar segment and is doing well for the year. (Accenture Customer Innovation Award Finalist, 300K+ Events) . The more companies go into this segment it will help me increase awareness for the solution. If someone is interested in buying it let me know dropin_at_tenqyu.com !
I have no idea why this is being downvoted now.
Dunno either. Congrats to your success. Cool app btw.
Re: Airbnb expands to experiences
#114Earlier 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.
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 a…
I love Airbnb. I use it almost exclusively (maybe 95% of the time) when I travel and I travel often. I even met my ex-co-founder through staying at his Airbnb. Bearing this in mind I think Airbnb is barking up the wrong tree here. A classic case of a solution looking for a problem. Airbnb are trying to solve a problem with this new move but not one based on a market need like their initial idea. The problem they are trying to solve is they've run out of growth in one market and are obsessed with trying to continue their hockey stick growth so they look to new markets. Lots of companies do this and they all inevitably fail. Doing this rips the soul out of companies and dilutes their value proposition. Growth is great until the delusional need to continue it at all costs becomes a curse. It looks like this is where Airbnb have arrived.
Edit: I just played around with it a bit more and maybe I was a bit harsh. I'm definitely not the target market for this and will never use though I can imagine there is a sizeable number of people who would enjoy this. That said it should definitely be a new app. It doesn't make sense to put it in the main app.
Re: Airbnb expands to experiences
#115So, does it mean that when I get a message from "Kate from Berlin" it is not longer "an accommodation" but "an adventure"?
Re: Airbnb expands to experiences
#116I have had great experiences using couchsurfing. Never have anything near to this using airbnb.
Re: Airbnb expands to experiences
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
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...
I presume they are capturing your phone number for nefarious marketing reasons...
Re: Airbnb expands to experiences
#118This is awesome. My wife and I are planning a round the world trip to celebrate our last college tuition payment. We've talked about becoming 'Citizens of the World' and eschewing the canned tourist experiences to instead live the same lifestyle as the citizens of the countries we visit: Stay in a neighborhood instead of a high-rise hotel, shop at the same grocery stores, eat the same home-cooked meals, get around vi…
My wife and I did the same for all of 2014 and 2015, living out of airbnbs, one month to the next.
Nothing but amazing people and experiences and nothing but 5 star reviews in both directions, with us singing Airbnb's praises all the way.
And then last week, I tried to find a place for new year's, and discovered that Airbnb had deleted my account without notice and without cause. It is impossible to contact a human being without an airbnb account, and we are effectively blacklisted from doing business with the company.
Checking online, this is hardly an isolated case, so do yourself a favor and have a backup plan for that eventuality.
Re: Airbnb expands to experiences
#119Earlier 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…
> 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 basic services like healthcare or educating your kids.
Yes, this is what the term "global citizen" means.
Re: Airbnb expands to experiences
#120I'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.
It's a fairly common practice for states in autocratic regimes to force foreign businesses operating in their country to cut them in on the action with currency hijinx. Currency exchange rates are often purposely kept low for precisely this reason. Even if it's the exchange company ripping them off, at least half is going into some bureaucrat's pocket.
It's a cheap way for the regime to reward supporters without actually having to come up with any real dough. Anyone supporting the regime has safe, easy means of exploiting currency arbitrage whereas ordinary people are policed heavily. Show up at the airport with a suitcase full of US dollars and depending on your political status the customs agent will either close it back up and send you on your way, or perp-walk you straight to jail after confiscating your haul. (guess where it's going?)
It's also why one of the first demands the IMF makes on broke states before they'll lend them money is to let the official currency rate float.