Airbnb and security camera disclosure • Hacker News Board

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#301

Post by chii » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 11:15 PM UTC

speby wrote: post #295

rickyc091 wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll add to this as well. I've had two incidents over the past year. 1. I rented a place and was told that I could check-in whenever. When I got there, the key wasn't available and I wasn't able to contact the host. I was essentially just standing around for three hours waiting for Airbnb to respond. Apparently, you can contact them, but it's extremely difficult to call them if you're international unless you want to…

>I rented a place and was told that I could check-in whenever. When I got there, the key wasn't available and I wasn't able to contact the host. This. This happened to me one time and from there on, I will not bother with it again. My time and my travel logistics plus standing around with luggage or whatever else, is worth paying for a proper hotel to never have to deal with that ever again.

The reviews should have some warnings about this sort of behaviour, if it's consistently a problem with the host.

I've used Airbnb many times and have never had an issue. Make sure you only use hosts with good reviews.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#302

Post by rickyc091 » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 11:17 PM UTC

danols wrote: post #300

rickyc091 wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll add to this as well. I've had two incidents over the past year. 1. I rented a place and was told that I could check-in whenever. When I got there, the key wasn't available and I wasn't able to contact the host. I was essentially just standing around for three hours waiting for Airbnb to respond. Apparently, you can contact them, but it's extremely difficult to call them if you're international unless you want to…

The place you booked did not have electricity and you did not get a refund for the prepaid week? I almost find that hard to believe. There must be something I don't understand here.

Sorry, the electricity was out when I arrived. The host told us it was just temporarily due to the construction outside and the neighbors confirmed it was happening a lot throughout the last few weeks. We were never told about this problem. I didn't want to deal with no electricity on and off so I left.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#303

Post by isostatic » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 11:20 PM UTC

seesaw wrote: post #162

philip1209 wrote: post #120

I've lived in Airbnbs full-time for about 18 months while traveling, and Airbnb has lost my trust repeatedly in terms of reliability, safety, and user-friendliness. - Host listing quality has gone consistently downhill. Now, it's many slumlords just trying to make a quick buck rather than support the original community idea or provide a great stay. - Airbnb support response times are horribly slow. They hide their ph…

I may be naive, but I never got the buzz around Airbnb. I had been a user of vrbo (vacation rentals by owner) for a long time, well before Airbnb. I continue to use vrbo, as I rarely see a better deal with Airbnb. Infact even the booking UIs look very similar.

I’ve booked cottages for years, my parents did it for us in the 90s, when the catalog was posted out.

My understanding was Airbnb started as renting out sofas or spare rooms, but is now basically the same as cottages.com, but with more hype, and apparently far worse property owners.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#304

Post by danols » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 11:21 PM UTC

pingec wrote: post #260

Here is my unpleasant story from 2 weeks ago when I was in Bali. I had booked an apartment but the host was not replying to any of my messages/sms/calls. Fearing something was fishy I opened an Airbnb support ticket 3 days before my the checkin date. In those 3 days Airbnb support did not reply to me at all. It was a shitty feeling, I wanted to book another place but I had already paid for this one. 1 day before chec…

How many reviews did the place you booked have?

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#305

Post by madamelic » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 11:23 PM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #236

batmansmk wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airbnb should be liable one way or another of those situations. They should at least inspect the places before accepting them in the network. They should inspect after a complaint. I had a massive rat infestation in my Airbnb in Paris. I arrived at the place at night and I didn't see at first the forced temporary leave notice on the building door for all inhabitants. It took Airbnb 12h to respond to my emergency call…

They should at least inspect the places before accepting them in the network. They should inspect after a complaint. That requires people. Airbnb and its SV brethren aren't interested in using people to solve problems. They believe all problems can be solved with an algorithm. Except when it comes to faking AI.

x.ai isn't SV. ;) It's NYC.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#306

Post by danols » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 11:25 PM UTC

izacus wrote: post #86

The fact that AirBnB even allows recording inside of the rented appartments is utterly mind-boggling to me. I always assumed they'd ban recording or guests outright. Your home (even a temporarily rented one) is pretty much the primary place where you should expect complete privacy at all times.

I am stunned that this is legal in the US. It would surprise me if this is legal in most countries in western Europe. Anyone?

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#307

Post by brokenmachine » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 11:28 PM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #293

MatekCopatek wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like what you described is the main reason for the profitability of most "sharing economy" services. Uber is also advertised as a little side gig you can do when your car is not being used while the real goal is to have a taxi service that isn't subject to the same legislation and unloads more cost on the driver.

I think Uber is a weird edge case in this comparison because of how fundamentally awful traditional taxi services are in many places.

Maybe slightly off topic but I don't get what the point of Uber driver reviews/star ratings are.

The passenger can't pick what driver they get, so who are those reviews helping?

I have a worrying suspicion that it's only so Uber can put pressure on drivers in some way.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#308

Post by richardlblair » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 11:29 PM UTC

chimen wrote: post #3

I'm renting houses/apartments on AirBNB and place cameras outside the homes (to watch who's in front of the entrance door, activity). Placing them inside the home is a real privacy concern - a zone that I would never even consider. The reason for the cameras outside is to watch closely how many people enter as we're constantly fighting prostitution which leads to a pain with neighbors and other stuff.

I had a host make the same claims. When my SO's siblings stopped by for coffee I got a text within 5 minutes demanding they leave.

There needs to be some reasonableness to this. And consistency.

I wrote them an insanely negative review. I also unplugged their router, because fuck them.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#309

Post by carimura » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 11:29 PM UTC

philip1209 wrote: post #120

I've lived in Airbnbs full-time for about 18 months while traveling, and Airbnb has lost my trust repeatedly in terms of reliability, safety, and user-friendliness. - Host listing quality has gone consistently downhill. Now, it's many slumlords just trying to make a quick buck rather than support the original community idea or provide a great stay. - Airbnb support response times are horribly slow. They hide their ph…

just throwing in one more +1 to how absolutely terrible their customer service was to deal with. We had an AirBnb scheduled for 2 weeks once, and I emailed the host saying we didn't need the first week and we'd be there starting the 2nd week and go ahead and keep our money for the first week.

Well the day we were getting ready to go check-in, he cancels saying we were a "no show" with no refund despite multiple written records of his confirmation that we'd be there the second week.

I asked AirBnb to refund us for half, and over and over they'd transfer between agents who had no f*cking clue about the case and just kept regurgitating some cancellation policy and ignoring my obvious evidence.

Finally I took to the social airwaves and kept calling over the course of a week and they eventually relented and refunded something.. and the best part, they never apologized once, in fact they made some absurd 6-year old passive aggressive comment about still being right but they'd refund me anyways -- and the refund was less than half.

I get that two-sided markets are tough, but even having the slightest decency and empathy during the matter would have made a world of difference to me.

Re: Airbnb and security camera disclosure

#310

Post by baby » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 11:31 PM UTC

amerkhalid wrote: post #259

baby wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That makes no sense to me. Airbnb has changed travelling for these reasons: * It is cheaper for the location * It has a kitchen * It feels like a home I don't understand these kind of comments. Can you remember any of the hotel room you've been in the previous years? I can't. Can you remember any of the airbnb you've stayed at? I remember every one of them. There is a true home feeling to them.

Maybe it is different styles of different people. A lot of my friends who stay in AirBnB list same reasons for using it. Also they say that they like to live like locals when traveling. I can respect it but I really don't want to feel like at home on vacation. Hotels give me that feeling of adventure and travel. I have couch surfed and enjoyed it. But that was probably because I was visiting a friend in burbs without…

I really can't relate to that :)

The only hotel I've actually enjoyed staying at was the Marina Bay in Singapore. Other than that hotel rooms always feel meh. Very generic experience.

If you're comparing cost, you probably go for expensive airbnb experiences. I have never encountered a place where airbnbs were not cheaper than hotels (and I've airbnb'ed everywhere in the world).