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Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

nytimes.com

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Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#71

Post by libria »

RHSeeger wrote: post #67
greggman2 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that simple > does this listing have a stove Guest: Well yes but it doesn't work. Or, well yes but the flame shut off after 2 minutes AirBnB: Sucks to be you but it has a stove so not a lie > does this listing have wifi Well yes but they say it's only got 1meg data so it will run out in probably 2 days and we booked the place for a month. AirBnb: Sucks to be you but it has wifi so not a lie > does this listi…

I'm be curious if you could have pushed back on the bedrooms one. The term "bedroom" has a legal definition in many places (ex, must have door and closed).

Door + closet + fire-escapable window are a few reqs around here.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#72

Post by fierarul »

thepangolino wrote: post #64
paulgb wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially since the Vice piece that sparked all this strongly implies that this is already happening: > Even some of the positive reviews of Becky and Andrew’s Chicago rentals seemed odd, especially those left by other pairs of hosts. Kelsey and Jean, for example, said Becky and Andrew were “awesome and communicative guests.” But they themselves were based in Chicago, where it seemed they had at least two properties…

That doesn’t seem strange at all to me. A friend of mines regularly rents their place on Airbnb. Then in turn they rent a cheaper property and pocket the difference.

For every odd situation I see in HN comments there comes somebody like you saying: "why, I just did that yesterday!".

A location getting good ratings from other people in the same city that rent 2 other apartments is so odd it should be denied by default and require manual approval. The odds of collusion are quite high. Of course sellers would help each-other with good ratings! Even at the actual cost of paying for a night (in AirBnB fees) it might still be worth it if you want good ratings.

So, no, this is pretty strange.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#73

Post by dzhiurgis »

umvi wrote: post #14

Would it kill AirBnB to do random (or even algorithmically-determined) audits? Auditor signs up for a night in your house. Let's say your listing has fake pictures or fake amenities. Or you try to bait and switch the auditor by having them stay in some crappy other property because the main listing "is having plumbing problems". Bam, audit failed, your account is frozen, your listings are removed, and you are banned…

Freeze? If they do an audit like that they better sue these criminals to at least a year in jail.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#74

Post by alteria »

YokoZar wrote: post #49
noodle wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Particularly since Airbnb is a two way system. I once stayed in a place where I was basically being told to give them 5 stars or else they'd give me 1 star for being a difficult guest.

How were they planning on doing this? They don't get to see the rating you gave until after their review of you is finalized, and vice-versa.

Not all guests know that ratings are hidden until reviews are completed. And for those that know, maybe they were planning on guilting them into it?

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#75

Post by briandear »

situational87 wrote: post #50
duskwuff wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is deeply disappointing, and makes me worried that fraudulent hosts will work around the issue by having a co-conspirator book their room to "verify" the listing.

It's almost like we are intentionally bending over backwards to avoid hiring some human beings to do some real fucking work. When did this become the mantra of every tech company? Any time a job is created it's viewed as an unfortunate mistake or side effect? Who are we even building all this for?

Are you suggesting hiring employees to check every single listing on AirBnB? Does Craigslist verify every listing? For that matter, have newspapers ever done that with their advertising? AirBnB is a marketplace connecting buyers and sellers. Suggesting that a newspaper for instance send an employee to verify that an advertised car in a classified ad is precisely correct is a bit ridiculous but that’s what you seem to be suggesting with AirBnB. How is this any different than a student newspaper running ads for rooms for rent? On the hotel side, Booking.com doesn’t physically verify every hotel room listed either. Overstating amenities or even outright lying is as old as real estate and has nothing to do with “tech.”

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#77

Post by briandear »

greggman2 wrote: post #62
YokoZar wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirBNB reviews are unpublished until both sides either finish their review or time out. It is simply not possible to read a bad review and then write a bad review in retaliation.

I believe it is possible for the next host to read your review of previous hosts. Why rent to anyone who ever left a bad review? In other words there is an incentive not to leave bad reviews.

As someone that owned a commercial holiday property, this is a real concern. I had instant booking, so I didn’t really care what prior reviews said, however there are some real jerks who are chronically unhappy. We got a 1 star review once because one of our holiday cottages didn’t have a salad spinner. Another complained because the outside air temperature was too hot — in August, in Provence. There are people that would complain about a beach having too much sand. Legitimate failures were taken seriously, but the vast majority of our “negative” reviews were just insanely silly. One person even complained that the free bottle of Rosé we gave them wasn’t chilled enough. One guest complained that the pool was too cold (in August,) while that same month, someone complained that the pool wasn’t cool enough.

I am delighted to be free of that business.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#78

Post by Analemma_ »

situational87 wrote: post #50
duskwuff wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is deeply disappointing, and makes me worried that fraudulent hosts will work around the issue by having a co-conspirator book their room to "verify" the listing.

It's almost like we are intentionally bending over backwards to avoid hiring some human beings to do some real fucking work. When did this become the mantra of every tech company? Any time a job is created it's viewed as an unfortunate mistake or side effect? Who are we even building all this for?

The promise to investors of "tech companies" is zero marginal cost, and hence infinite scalability. As soon as you have to have to incur meatspace costs per transaction instead of doing it all in software, these sky-high unicorn valuations go out the window.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#79

Post by rancor »

situational87 wrote: post #50
duskwuff wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is deeply disappointing, and makes me worried that fraudulent hosts will work around the issue by having a co-conspirator book their room to "verify" the listing.

It's almost like we are intentionally bending over backwards to avoid hiring some human beings to do some real fucking work. When did this become the mantra of every tech company? Any time a job is created it's viewed as an unfortunate mistake or side effect? Who are we even building all this for?

Don't be silly. Real work would mess up the scam, which works roughly like this: 1) Build a software system that appears to perform a real-world function. 2) Offer that real-world function at a loss. 3) Founders and early investors collect sweet, sweet bagholder dollars. That, of course is a Ponzi scheme, but the S-1 makes it all legal!

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#80

Post by Teever »

libria wrote: post #71
RHSeeger wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm be curious if you could have pushed back on the bedrooms one. The term "bedroom" has a legal definition in many places (ex, must have door and closed).

Door + closet + fire-escapable window are a few reqs around here.

How does that definition work on the 30th storey of a condo building?
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