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Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016

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Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016

#131

Post by dudurocha »

ucaetano wrote: post #120
stale2002 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think of it this way. Imagine if airbnb took its 1 billion dollars and bought bars of gold, and put those bars of gold in a vault. Is airbnb losing money, because it now has 1 billion dollars less in cash, and 1 billion dollars more in gold bars? No, it is not.

Actually, IIRC (and correct me if I'm wrong) for accounting purposes, gold counts as "cash & cash equivalents", so if it bought $1B in gold bars, AirBnB's cash wouldn't change.

Gold as a commodity (bonds). Gold bars are not liquid.

Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016

#132

Post by calbear81 »

nradov wrote: post #63
Tloewald wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole system of review curation that infests online markets is a problem waiting to be solved. Right now we basically have to parse reviews on the 4.4-5.0 scale because anything outside that is meaningless. It's amazing to go read a novel rated 3 stars (because it operates outside this loop) and find it transcendently good.

Instead of asking customers to give numeric star ratings, perhaps a better option would be a short list of Yes / No / Unsure questions. Were there clean sheets on the bed? Were there any cockroaches? Did the appliances work? Etc. Such questions are more objective and less prone to inflation.

The new review flow on Airbnb asks for more details about specific aspects of a listing.

Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016

#134

Post by chrisper »

alleycat wrote: post #96
zeroer wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirBnB reviews are massively inflated. A 4.5 average means you should carefully read between the lines of what the previous guests wrote. A 4 average means you should probably reconsider staying. Hades itself would probably rank around 3.5.

I think a better tell would be displaying the ratio of people who actually reviewed vs the ones who didn't. When people don't like a place they'll usually not review it at all.

People actually review. Otherwise you won't be able to see what the other person wrote about you.

Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016

#135

Post by ucaetano »

dudurocha wrote: post #131
ucaetano wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, IIRC (and correct me if I'm wrong) for accounting purposes, gold counts as "cash & cash equivalents", so if it bought $1B in gold bars, AirBnB's cash wouldn't change.

Gold as a commodity (bonds). Gold bars are not liquid.

Bonds can be considered cash equivalents if they have short maturity.

Gold is highly liquid, and from what I've read, it can be considered (in bullion) cash equivalents, except for banks, that due to Base 3 regulations can only consider part of their gold holdings as cash equivalent for liquidity purposes.

Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016

#136

Post by BeetleB »

kilroy123 wrote: post #15

I'm not surprised to see Airbnb became profitable. They've expanded everywhere. I nomad around and always use Airbnb, I've booked places on several continents. However, I'm definitely feeling the effects of their growing pains. For example, many people have bought places to only rent on Airbnb full-time. Most of these people suck at being an hotelier. It's clear people get lazy and are just trying to make money. Thin…

>Think about how many hotels you've stayed at that were less than stellar?

Very often. I'm counting motels, because I'm comparing the same price points.

My experience with AirBnB has been both positive and negative. For the negatives, I never felt I got less than what I paid, and motels would have been more expensive. For the positive, it has always been cheaper than a motel.

I got to stay in downtown San Diego, renting a whole apartment, for a really good deal. No hotel would have been that cheap.

It was a nice apartment, not a super cheap-o place. And free parking.

I will say I don't demand too much. I'm not the type of person who wants fancy service. Just make it clean. And offer basic stuff (tissues, soap, etc).

Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016

#137

Post by datasage »

JimDabell wrote: post #122
alleycat wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a better tell would be displaying the ratio of people who actually reviewed vs the ones who didn't. When people don't like a place they'll usually not review it at all.

I recently booked a place in an apartment complex, and when I arrived, there were big signs at all the entrances saying it wasn't a hotel, that it was for residents only, and anybody found to be renting daily/weekly would be arrested as trespassers. I was only staying there for a couple of nights and didn't have time for the hassle of arguing with Airbnb at the time, so I just took the risk. After my stay, I reported…

Best bet is to report it to the condo association or property management company. AirBNB will basically turn a blind eye to those kind of rentals.

Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016

#138

Post by Taek »

golergka wrote: post #106
nradov wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of asking customers to give numeric star ratings, perhaps a better option would be a short list of Yes / No / Unsure questions. Were there clean sheets on the bed? Were there any cockroaches? Did the appliances work? Etc. Such questions are more objective and less prone to inflation.

They also require more time, and most people don't bother to leave reviews anyway.

1. Require each person to answer one specific question per listing. Yes/no/almost

2. Ask each person a different objective question, intentionally filling in the gaps.

3. After a few people, you have an objective, relatively thorough view of the house, but you've not burdened any of your users with more than one question per stay.

Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016

#139

Post by [deleted] »

ryen wrote: post #82
baus wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It goes both ways. I'm an Airbnb host and renter(1). Mostly I have had good experiences, but I have had more problems on the hosting side lately. I take pride in my property and lived there myself for years. But I've gotten guests who nit pick everything and then ask for a refund. I had one guest ask for a refund because there was snow in Tahoe, and they stayed for the full time anyway. Another guest wanted a refund…

Clearly those are lame asks from the renter. Does Airbnb assist you in those situations? If you forward those requests to Airbnb support will they prevent a bad review from showing?

[deleted]

Re: Airbnb raises $1B at $31B valuation, became profitable in 2016

#140

Post by BeetleB »

mdc2161 wrote: post #44
kilroy123 wrote: post #15

I'm not surprised to see Airbnb became profitable. They've expanded everywhere. I nomad around and always use Airbnb, I've booked places on several continents. However, I'm definitely feeling the effects of their growing pains. For example, many people have bought places to only rent on Airbnb full-time. Most of these people suck at being an hotelier. It's clear people get lazy and are just trying to make money. Thin…

Dealt with similar issues as both a host and a guest. The biggest problem to me is poor expectation setting. There are hosts that run BnB quality services, ones that run a mock-hotel like you described, and ones that just rent out a spare room in their apartment. As a guest, it'd be great to know what I'm walking into. As a host, having guests that understand they are staying in my home and NOT a hotel would be great…

>As a guest, it'd be great to know what I'm walking into. As a host, having guests that understand they are staying in my home and NOT a hotel would be great.

Usually, the description and previous reviews gives you all you need. When it doesn't, I simply ask the host. It's never been a problem.

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