Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

elvinyung wrote: post #2

In case anyone missed the context, this is probably related to https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-ho...

Thank you for the reference :).

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#5

Post by n9 » Wed, Nov 06, 2019, 8:20 PM UTC

Tech company indicates a "plan" to do something that they implicitly assured everyone that they'd be doing from the get go. I question how much effort, cost and what the timeline would be to build the logistics to realize this goal and, given their past performance, how many more vectors for scams they will create along the way. They have profited from the risk that they have pushed out to their customers, I'm not sure that they will actually do anything substantive, but feel certain that they will make it seem as though they are.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#6

Post by deadmik3 » Wed, Nov 06, 2019, 8:50 PM UTC

unrelated to the article but it is really dumb that ny times doesn't have anchor linking right to specific headlines if they're going to put every article on the same page. I was wondering why this linked to an article about Kim Kardashian before I scrolled halfway down the page, past every ad of course...

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#7

Post by trustfundbaby » Wed, Nov 06, 2019, 8:55 PM UTC

Should have been doing that from the get go, but better late than never.

I'd like to see specifics though, how often do they plan to do these verifications?

What happens if someone puts up a listing just to get verified, then cleans it out and goes about business as usual?

What about hosts that let their place fall into disrepair over the years? etc

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#8

Post by abawany » Wed, Nov 06, 2019, 8:57 PM UTC

deadmik3 wrote: post #6

unrelated to the article but it is really dumb that ny times doesn't have anchor linking right to specific headlines if they're going to put every article on the same page. I was wondering why this linked to an article about Kim Kardashian before I scrolled halfway down the page, past every ad of course...

This is a link to a daily NYT newsletter (Dealbook), which is why I think you saw the strangeness. Here is the direct link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/business/airbnb-verify-li... .

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#9

Post by abawany » Wed, Nov 06, 2019, 8:58 PM UTC

Direct link to the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/business/airbnb-verify-li... .

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#10

Post by binarysolo » Wed, Nov 06, 2019, 9:02 PM UTC

This kinda makes sense - esp since housing inventory is a recurring revenue generator.

That being said, I am curious how much of the inspection cost they'd pass on to the lister -- it seems like getting a guy out to check each listing is gonna be $25-$100 an inspection depending on how many places you can lump together, so someone's gotta pay the costs there.

Maybe the end result will be an "AirBnB-verified" badge and increased search exposure (a la Amazon FBA/Prime listings have better ranking, or like one of those a pay-to-play Alibaba approved vendor kinda badge that creates financial downside for people who spuriously list lots of fake listings)? At which point I can see the choices for AirBnB hosts become "pay X to get verified" or basically don't get traffic.

Am also curious how this would play out more as plenty of under-the-table renters (barred from AirBnBing by their HOA) would end up getting enhanced visibility of their activities due to these verifications. The whole obfuscating address thing on AirBnB seemed to be a huge hack to get around HOA/landlord/legal rules so extra verification would seem to hurt some core, grey part of the business too.