Airbnb Announces Intention to Become a Publicly-Traded Company During 2020 • Hacker News Board

Re: Airbnb Announces Intention to Become a Publicly-Traded Company During 2020

#141

Post by random42 » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 4:28 AM UTC

jfk13 wrote: post #96

puranjay wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I genuinely like Booking.com's interface. I've learned to read the dark patterns so I don't get forced into a bad deal. But once you go past that, they offer all the information you actually need to make a decision

The fact that you feel the need to mention that "I've learned to read the dark patterns" speaks volumes about booking.com. And not in a positive sense.

I believe their point was that the "UX is good (conditions applied").

Also, If you have not tried, I'd recommend giving the (android) app a go, bias aside, its one of the smoothest look-to-book experience I've had.

Re: Airbnb Announces Intention to Become a Publicly-Traded Company During 2020

#142

Post by systematical » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 4:29 AM UTC

Spooky23 wrote: post #128

avar wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirBnB clearly uses low room rates and high service fees to pull you in, but there's a legitimate reason to display it like that. The cleaning fee is fixed. So maybe you start out thinking you'll stay 5 days, but end up staying 10. If they showed "all inclusive" rates you'd have confusion in the other direction. What you thought was the cheap hotel suddenly isn't because the cleaning fee for the two is very different…

AirBnb employs all sorts of clever people. It’s pretty easy to show an average rate that incorporates the various fees and make the detail available later.

A junior-level developer could do this. You don't need any serious brainpower to pull this off. They have all the pricing already. They omit the fees purposefully.

Source: I've worked as a Sr. Engineer at an OTA for the last 5 years.

Re: Airbnb Announces Intention to Become a Publicly-Traded Company During 2020

#143

Post by systematical » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 4:32 AM UTC

I was heavy Airbnb, I'm now 50/50. If traveling solo I prefer hostels, they are cheaper and I get to meet people from all walks of life. Some of the best experiences of my life have come from being in a hostel. I once nabbed a cheap ticket to Tomorrow Land while at a hostel in Belgium, the person's friend couldn't make it. That's just one of many.

Re: Airbnb Announces Intention to Become a Publicly-Traded Company During 2020

#144

Post by 0x38B » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 4:48 AM UTC

oftenwrong wrote: post #80

FreeHugs wrote: post #70

I am a big time traveler. When AirBnB appeared on the scene, it was a life changing event for me. So much better then hotels. Since then, AirBnB have not added anything that benefits me. But booking.com have catched up massively. To the point that I prefer booking.com again these days. I would have never expected that to happen. Some of my pet peeves with AirBnB: AirBnB's reviews are not chronological. So you have to…

How many of these pet peeves are held by the average AirBnB user? I would guess "none". These are the kinds of complaints that "power users" have because they use websites like tools. Average users don't. My mother would look at the first three reviews and consider that in-depth research. The next time she uses AirBnB, she won't notice re-listings, or removed reviews. In short, I don't think these kinds of issues are…

I usually read the description and judge the personality of the host based on that; I stayed with some fantastic hosts recently, and when they asked me why I booked (it was their first), I told them: great, personal description. Had worked for me as a good filter in addition to reviews.

Re: Airbnb Announces Intention to Become a Publicly-Traded Company During 2020

#145

Post by foobandit » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 4:59 AM UTC

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #137

baby wrote: post #110

I really really love Airbnb, and I've mostly stayed at Airbnb and ignored hotel in the last 5 years perhaps. I now find hotels dirty, impersonal, and a chore to stay at to be honest. Now, I've become increasingly irritated by Airbnb's pricing tactics. They are blatantly lying to you when it comes to how much you're going to pay. I have two recent examples if you are not used to booking Airbnb: * 99$/night room end up…

I feel the opposite and love hotels. If I wanted to clean up after myself like all my Airbnb hosts demand I’d just stay at home. I grew tired of all their demands (stripping all the beds before leaving, really?, washing all dishes, really?) and just started staying in hotels again and never looked back.

I've stayed in ~70 Airbnbs over the last few years and have never gotten those sorts of demands. That seems unreasonable and I'd just ignore them.

Re: Airbnb Announces Intention to Become a Publicly-Traded Company During 2020

#146

Post by basementcat » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 5:02 AM UTC

oarabbus_ wrote: post #90

FreeHugs wrote: post #70

I am a big time traveler. When AirBnB appeared on the scene, it was a life changing event for me. So much better then hotels. Since then, AirBnB have not added anything that benefits me. But booking.com have catched up massively. To the point that I prefer booking.com again these days. I would have never expected that to happen. Some of my pet peeves with AirBnB: AirBnB's reviews are not chronological. So you have to…

>I am a big time traveler. So who wins in 2020?

We're all time travelers; most of us travel forward at a rate of about 1 second per second.

Re: Airbnb Announces Intention to Become a Publicly-Traded Company During 2020

#147

Post by kochikame » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 5:04 AM UTC

SilasX wrote: post #68

I think 2020 misses the window to strike when the IPO market is bubbly. Lyft and Uber timed it just right -- and those won't be the only four-letter words their investors will be screaming!

Except both the the Lyft and Uber IPOs have been relative flops... not sure how that can be considered "timing it just right"?

Re: Airbnb Announces Intention to Become a Publicly-Traded Company During 2020

#148

Post by Lucadg » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 5:34 AM UTC

baby wrote: post #110

I really really love Airbnb, and I've mostly stayed at Airbnb and ignored hotel in the last 5 years perhaps. I now find hotels dirty, impersonal, and a chore to stay at to be honest. Now, I've become increasingly irritated by Airbnb's pricing tactics. They are blatantly lying to you when it comes to how much you're going to pay. I have two recent examples if you are not used to booking Airbnb: * 99$/night room end up…

It always shows average prices to me when I insert people and dates, so it probably behaves differently according to users/markets or it does a/b testing.

Re: Airbnb Announces Intention to Become a Publicly-Traded Company During 2020

#149

Post by cylinder » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 5:38 AM UTC

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #137

baby wrote: post #110

I really really love Airbnb, and I've mostly stayed at Airbnb and ignored hotel in the last 5 years perhaps. I now find hotels dirty, impersonal, and a chore to stay at to be honest. Now, I've become increasingly irritated by Airbnb's pricing tactics. They are blatantly lying to you when it comes to how much you're going to pay. I have two recent examples if you are not used to booking Airbnb: * 99$/night room end up…

I feel the opposite and love hotels. If I wanted to clean up after myself like all my Airbnb hosts demand I’d just stay at home. I grew tired of all their demands (stripping all the beds before leaving, really?, washing all dishes, really?) and just started staying in hotels again and never looked back.

Seriously my first and only airbnb experience was a luxury house in Spain. He left a negative review because we didn't clean? What? He had a cleaner meet us and we paid a cleaning fee. We dropped all the towels by the washing machine. We were given no clear instructions. Who pays all this money to then worry about cleaning an entire house on holiday? I can't stand Airbnb and would rather use a specialist holiday rental agency dedicated to the area I'm headed to.

Re: Airbnb Announces Intention to Become a Publicly-Traded Company During 2020

#150

Post by oarabbus_ » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 6:02 AM UTC

mbesto wrote: post #108

oarabbus_ wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>1) Impending recession Eh I have heard this for the last 5 years

Look, say what you want, but nearly everyone in the finance community (public equities, private equity, etc) knows this is coming. You're right, it's impossible to know when exactly, but there's hardly any doubt it's coming soonTM.

But everyone in the finance community has been saying that loudly since mid 2017 when we reached an 8 year bull market. As they say, economists have predicted 12 of the last 5 recessions.