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

#151

Post by puranjay » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 7:02 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.

It gets the job done. But maybe that's not the UX itself but Booking.com's usual "no payment, free cancellation" deals. I often just find a hotel that looks okay and book it straight away. I check out the reviews later and cancel if something doesn't look right.

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

#152

Post by davnicwil » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 7:31 AM UTC

jliptzin wrote: post #134

davnicwil wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the same way. Some of my fondest travel memories are staying in airbnbs. But in the past few years, at a seemingly accelerating pace, what an airbnb is has changed. In the last few years when I've used them, not all but almost all of them have simply been unlicensed hotels run by investor-landlords who aren't present and at best will pay someone else to come meet you with a key, but usually just leave it in a…

The problem is the old airbnb that you describe would probably cap at a few billion $ market cap. The one with investor-landlords optimizing everything and squeezing out every last bit of profit gets airbnb closer to that juicy $35B exit that their investors are looking for.

Oh I agree, sure. Actually put that in the last paragraph. I don't blame them, business is business, and perhaps there's an argument that the growth enables the marketplace to exist at all because otherwise it wouldn't large enough to be self-sustaining. Perhaps the earlier model just wasn't, was subsidised by VC money, they realised that and just pushed on with what could work.

I've listened to a few podcasts from years ago with the founders and you can hear the excitement in their voices talking about the early vision and what it could be. And it was like that, years ago. It had its own problems, but it really was something truly great that wasn't really easily accessible before at any kind of scale.

I just imagine the founders coming with me to some of the places I've ended up staying, and imagining what they'd think, how disappointed they'd be at what it's become. How different it is from their original vision. They're probably not disappointed with how their business is doing, but for sure, the vision has evaporated along the way to enable this.

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

#153

Post by goatinaboat » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 8:09 AM UTC

kochikame wrote: post #147

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"?

Right for the VCs, not for retail investors

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

#154

Post by 2rsf » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 8:15 AM UTC

Having more than one kids gives Airbnb an edge over most hotels in the price per person category.

The normal pricing range in hotels is 2 beds are normally priced (a small kids is optionally included) but anything more than that requires more rooms or a suite.

At Airbnb the price per person becomes much more reasonable, and that's before the ability to find the kids something to do since most places have TVs, a streamer and some game stuff.

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

#155

Post by asdff » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 8:16 AM UTC

oarabbus_ wrote: post #150

mbesto wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Things are even more shaky now with the trade war and the fed. SP500 has been plateauing since April.

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

#156

Post by michalu » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 9:33 AM UTC

travisjungroth wrote: post #101

michalu wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's ridiculous statement considering their profits are rather fragile as that's before regulation and the size of the last years earnings equals about half the current valuation by NASDAQ's median P/E.

“profits are rather fragile” != “exit scam”. I think you just don’t know what this term means. An exit scam is where an established business keeps taking orders, but stops delivering product and pockets the difference. It’s also sometimes used (especially in cryptocurrency) when someone takes all the held funds and runs off. Do you really believe Airbnb’s IPO meets either of these criteria? They’re going to keep deli…

Well, let's say I use the term "loosely" ... I believe they're going to go bust in the coming years with coming regulation and shrinking market and there is no more growth of principal for the shareholders, in fact it's overvalued. To successfully dump it on retail, you need a "story" and a good marketing and presenting the stock as something that it's not in this case, and I think people involved are aware of it.

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

#157

Post by artr » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 9:43 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…

Airbnb knows exactly what they're doing and will comply with regulation only if it needs to:

You'll see different rates on different pages on EU, Australia (where drip pricing is illegal) and USA versions of the site for the same property.

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

#158

Post by cheriot » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 2:27 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #85

cheriot wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> negative externalities that Airbnb has on rental vacancy and land values Is that an externality of AirBnB or poor city planning? Cities are eager to build offices and advertise to attract tourists, but convince themselves they don't need more residential construction. Fixing the underlying cause will work better than banning the symptom.

> Is that an externality of AirBnB or poor city planning? I'd say both. Poor city planning leads to it happening, but AirBnB exacerbates the problem. And for a politician, regulating AirBnB is much easier and a lot more understandable by the electorate. Explaining how they should be reelected because of changes they made to fundamental housing policy that will take 30 years to materialize is a hard sell.

It doesn't take 30 years to build new homes. As soon as California forced cities to allow ADUs they were built in large numbers. Add duplexes, three plexes, etc and we'll get even more.

The thing about regulating symptoms is that it's cathartic without accomplishing much.

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

#159

Post by blaser-waffle » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 4:12 PM UTC

rainyMammoth wrote: post #105

I used to only use Airbnbs a couple years ago. Lately the service really became horrible: Last minute cancellation, soulless places run like an industry. prices on the same level or even more expensive than hotels. Customer support is also completely unresponsive. I'm now going back to hotels 90% of the times where I can expect a consistent quality of services. They grew too fast and got arrogant in the process. I ho…

> Lately the service really became horrible: Last minute cancellation, soulless places run like an industry. prices on the same level or even more expensive than hotels. Customer support is also completely unresponsive.

This has generally been my experience. It's very hit-or-miss, and some places were fantastic... but others weren't. I got jerked around a lot and ended up paying rates roughly on par with local hotels.

At least with the big name chain hotels I can generally predict what I'm going to get, what it will cost me, and I can easily harangue, bitch, complain, and possibly sue the actual chain. AirBnB makes it harder to seek a resolution, if needed.

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

#160

Post by canada_dry » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 4:46 PM UTC

rainyMammoth wrote: post #105

I used to only use Airbnbs a couple years ago. Lately the service really became horrible: Last minute cancellation, soulless places run like an industry. prices on the same level or even more expensive than hotels. Customer support is also completely unresponsive. I'm now going back to hotels 90% of the times where I can expect a consistent quality of services. They grew too fast and got arrogant in the process. I ho…

After I experienced a couple bad bookings I found out about: airbnbhell.com It's full of horror stories from both owners and renters. And the gist seems to be: once Airbnb has your money (fee) they really couldn't care less about what happens.

I recently stopped using them after they asked to send in facsimiles of government ID to continue using their services (after being a customer with all 5 star reports over many years).