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Airbnb expands to experiences

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Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#131

Post by ryuker16 »

madaxe_again wrote: post #92
TheSmiddy wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and if airbnb discover that you are doing this they can see that you are violating the terms of service and stop listing your place.

So then you start a new account and list it again. Change a letter in or the order of the address if needs be to make it look unique. There are many properties which exist multiple times on airbnb. I live in a city in SW England, in a Georgian terraced house - the four stories above me are airbnb. The house next door is airbnb. The house two beyond that is airbnb. This street used to be social housing, now it's an il…

Get with the program... Airbnb your place and move....???? Profit

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#132

Post by dang »

acedinlowball wrote: post #127

Wow... People on this website think so highly of themselves... How old are you showtimes?

Personal attacks are not allowed on Hacker News, regardless of how annoyed you might be by someone else's comment.

We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12985331 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#133

Post by dang »

baybal2 wrote: 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?

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12983095 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#134

Post by dang »

username223 wrote: post #36

> to fully own and provide an Airbnb-branding-appropriate offering. Can you translate that into some human language? Probably not. Here, let me try: people don't like you for legitimate reasons, and you clumsily tried to make that go away. Sorry, dude, you weren't "brand-appropriate." Can you give it another go?

You can't comment like this on HN. Snark is deprecated here and personal attacks are a bannable offence. Please post civilly and substantively, or not at all.

We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12983005 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#135

Post by chris11 »

shard wrote: post #89
chris11 wrote: post #6

Interesting. A startup, BeSomebody, actually just pitched this item on SharkTank. His presentation did not go well at all, and he got no money. But the idea seems really cool. So I'm glad Airbnb is implementing it.

I was a co-founder of a startup which had this concept back in 2011. There must have been some sort of global zeitgeist or something because during that year over 40 competing startups showed up all over the world. Only a few survived, and unfortunately my startup was not one of them. Even the ones that did survive never did that well, Vayable and Viator got acquired, and some small time sites are still dragging on.…

That's a good point about not finding enough local guides. I'd expect people would be less picky about housing assuming the quality and prices were reasonable. But someone wanting to tour wineries might not be ok going mountain biking if that was the only option available when they had time.

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#136

Post by acedinlowball »

princeb wrote: post #68
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To experience the rich capital owners of other countries?

i think would be very cool if there was an app that would do the reverse and enable the have-nots to have what the haves have, even for a short period of time: - private heli trip to a private island villa, - 300' yachts, aventadors, 488s, 911s all free to use, - private shopping sessions (fully paid for) at hermes, chanel, - meet-and-greets w/ robuchon, redzepi etc, - take a whimsical trip to some middle of nowhere…

So your idea is for an app that would allow anyone to have private heli trips to island villas and free-to-use Aventadors for a "totally affordable" price?

Is that right?

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#137

Post by dkarapetyan »

bogomipz wrote: post #123
dkarapetyan wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don't like making choices. It is a cognitive burden especially if you're in a new and unusual place. Unusual to you, not the locals obviously. So having a guide can help and when you revisit the place you can go on a more freeform adventure. I think this is a pretty good idea but not sure how I feel about AirBnB monopolizing the thing. If there is some kind of exclusivity component then the aggregation of "exp…

>"People don't like making choices. It is a cognitive burden especially if you're in a new and unusual place" This is a rather blanket statement and you haven't supported it with any evidence. I also don't believe this is true at all. I don't think there are many people who spend money and time planning a trip and then fly to to some far off place and upon arriving views exploring the place that they traveled to "a b…

It's a well researched phenomenon. You can start here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_fatigue. The brain is a lazy device and making decisions saps resources.

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#138

Post by paulddraper »

erroneousfunk wrote: post #124
lcc wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I highly recommend HelpX to get a really good feel of the lifestyle in foreign countries. Rather than just staying at someone's place like Airbnb, you do light work for your host in exchange for free room and board. You get a place to live in a place where locals actually live, homecooked meals in the local style, when your host don't feel like cooking you get taken out to eat at places where locals actually eat, get…

This sounds tempting, but I have a hard enough time arranging regular visas on international trips, and work visas (even short term ones) sound like a nightmare and a half...

Do you need a work visa if you are being "paid" in kind (board, food, internet access)?

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#139

Post by kofejnik »

vinceguidry wrote: post #120
japanese_donald wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 actu…

This does not apply to Russia, countless other sites allow payment in USD/EUR, so it looks like management decision

Re: Airbnb expands to experiences

#140

Post by ethanbond »

personlurking wrote: post #108
pmh wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, I had a lady cancel her reservation at my place in NYC after realizing it wasn't a professionally operated hotel citing that she'd never experienced such an arrangement on Airbnb.
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