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Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

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Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#81

Post by DanBC »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #24

Why do people find it surprising that companies who exist mainly on the premise of ignoring laws/regulations they find inconvenient, won't eventually ignore laws/regulations that you think worthwhile (ie Uber and sexual harassment and AirBnb and paying for damages). In addition, I find it interesting that the host is only sending a bill for $8000. It seems as if he is only trying to get paid for his damages and not e…

If his neighbours suffered damages they are free to sue AirBnB to recover their losses.

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#82

Post by PeterisP »

supercanuck wrote: post #34
jsiegz wrote: post #29

Bribes are generally illegal. This should be "compensates," not "bribes." "Bribes" is just hyperbole. This is standard practice for a lot of businesses in a similar space.

bribe would be accurate since they were offering payment outside their remediation process they setup. Instead of simply offering payment in exchange for the damage per their guarantee, they wanted something in return: Silence.

Bribe would be accurate if they were offering payment outside someone else's remediation process.

Apparently payments+NDA are part of the remediation process that they actually set up in practice.

There's also no reason to assume why a private remediation process should be universal and the same for everyone, it's not a court - it would be unfair to close down options that they advertised, but it's completely reasonable to offer extra options on a case-by-case basis if they want, even if they weren't included in the advertised remediation process.

The only thing that's might be viewed as dishonest is that their statement "The Host Guarantee will reimburse eligible hosts for damages up to $1,000,000." doesn't explicitly mention that certain conditions apply on how the Host Guarantee is implemented; though it does say 'eligible hosts' which quite likely is explained in the full Host Guarantee text as 'hosts that, among other things, agree to an NDA'.

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#85

Post by PeterisP »

michaelt wrote: post #26
rdl wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There should be a separate "AirBnB for parties and events" option. If I had a space designed for such activities, being able to rent it out on the same platform would be great.

Loads of pubs, bars, hotels, village halls, restaurants etc rent out space for parties and events. This thing took place in London, a market which is reasonably well supplied with such things.

As the market shows, renting out a space that's actually intended for parties and events is much more expensive than a one-night apartment rental.

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#86

Post by st3v3r »

zipppy wrote: post #65
Marazan wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, if some chooses to live next to a hotel then that's there choice. If a unlicensed hotel opens next to them (i.e. an airbnb rental) then they have been impinged on.

That's a slippery slope; if my neighbors plant tulips and I HATE tulips, I don't get to sue for damages, even if the tulips weren't there when I moved in.

Yeah, no. That's not a slippery slope. That you just being obstinate.

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#87

Post by tptacek »

The irony of YC's flagship startup forcing exploding term sheets on their customers is a bit much to take.

[ps]

Airbnb's statement concluding this story says that this interaction fell short of their expectations. Maybe they can go a bit farther. Can they commit (just a comment here would suffice) to not using the exploding-settlement tactic with their clients? Maybe all they'd really need to say is that nobody outside their counsel's office will ever be authorized to put an explicit time limit on any offered settlement.

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#89

Post by pstuart »

tptacek wrote: post #87

The irony of YC's flagship startup forcing exploding term sheets on their customers is a bit much to take. [ ps ] Airbnb's statement concluding this story says that this interaction fell short of their expectations. Maybe they can go a bit farther. Can they commit (just a comment here would suffice) to not using the exploding-settlement tactic with their clients? Maybe all they'd really need to say is that nobody out…

YC likes rules to be broken, right?

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#90

Post by tptacek »

jsmthrowaway wrote: post #79
kazinator wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not unusual for settlements to have conditions attached, which makes this NDA thing somewhat less outlandish than it seems at first. For instance, if you settle with an insurance company after a car accident, you may have to sign something which says "that is it", waiving your right to sue anyone for anything more. If the person is properly compensated 100%, but keeps talking, it can be argued that their materia…

There is no settlement involved, because there is no legal claim, technically. None of the logic around legal settlements comes into play at all, so the devil's advocacy here is misguided. The NDA is outlandish and is clearly designed to shut him up and cover up the mishandling of the case. This might be different under UK law, but if he had sued you might have a point. Then I'd expect gag, non-disparagement, forefei…

I think the logic is pretty much identical. Abnb could, of course, simply refuse to pay anything. His recourse would be to the courts. The most likely outcome of that would be a settlement. The highest-dollar settlement would likely include confidentiality terms.

The incentive structure Abnb is creating here is not great, though: if you know their settlement terms will include confidentiality, and you know they have to settle somehow no matter what, your incentive as the aggrieved party is to get your story on the record immediately, before contacting Abnb, so that what you disclose can't violate their NDA. That's exactly what Abnb doesn't want to have happen.

They should probably just be up front about the fact that they'll pay a bonus to clean up the PR.

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