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Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

nytimes.com

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Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#81

Post by tenebrisalietum »

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…

I have a bedroom in my house that I make available through Airbnb. I live in the house so this isn't an investment-for-Airbnb scenario.

I'm totally down for these audits, but expect the auditor to pay the fee like anyone else if he/she stays, or if he/she consumes the timeslot that I could have sold to someone else.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#82

Post by thrwn_frthr_awy »

ogre_codes wrote: post #12

From the comment in the article it sounds like they are trying to offload the cost/ effort of verifying listings to their customers as well: " But he said the process would involve asking users whether the information in certain listings turned out to be accurate " So when he says AirBNB is going to verify every listing, he doesn't actually mean they are paying people to do it...

FWIW, a few months ago they sent someone to my listing in person. They offered me $500 to make the changes they suggested.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#83

Post by [deleted] »

pmoriarty wrote: post #31
ogre_codes wrote: post #12

From the comment in the article it sounds like they are trying to offload the cost/ effort of verifying listings to their customers as well: " But he said the process would involve asking users whether the information in certain listings turned out to be accurate " So when he says AirBNB is going to verify every listing, he doesn't actually mean they are paying people to do it...

How is this an improvement over Airbnb's existing review and complaint mechanisms?

[deleted]

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#84

Post by wyre »

briandear wrote: post #75
situational87 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Did you read the original vice article? The airbnb scam is much more harmful than an erroneous classifieds listing. If someone lies on Craigslist and you're smart enough to find out they did you walk away and all that's lost is time. The scammers on airbnb were promising a better place and then had them stay in a place that might as well be a squat. Wasting time, money, comfort, convince, etc.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#87

Post by verisimilitudes »

djohnston wrote: post #26

More generally, I think we're living in the moment where all successful startups acknowledge the fact that growth means more people, and more people means higher likelihoods of terrible behavior, since humans are on average a terrible organism, at least in relation to the values we espouse.

since humans are on average a terrible organism, at least in relation to the values we espouse.

Surely you recognize the irony in stating this here, considering the pieces of shit who create these startups are responsible for making the world worse at a large scale, purely for their own gain, right?

It's obscene to me how you've written this. These startups ignore major laws, break numerous consumer protection laws as well, purposefully provide mechanisms intended to hurt anyone but themselves, erode societal trust, and even kill people, and yet you're blaming the people these vampires feed from?

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#89

Post by canada_dry »

Anytime I see a story about Airbnb I like to point out: https://www.airbnbhell.com

I found this site after being the victim of the now infamous "oh sorry something wrong with your flat" scam. What was supposed to be an "executive suite" turned out to be a cockroach ridden dump.

Not sure if Airbnb has improved since but they were utterly useless in refunding my money, let alone helping me find alternate accommodations.

I have used Airbnb since, but as a last resort and after way too much effort to separate what might be scams from (hopefully) legit listings.

I agree with the poster further on who says you need to be prepared (have a plan 'b') for the chance that the booking will fall through at the last minute.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#90

Post by tehlike »

lostdog wrote: post #68
djohnston wrote: post #25

My worst AirBnb was let via a proxy agent. The flat wasn't actually rentable even though it was online, and so I showed up to a locked flat, no key, with all of my bags in a new city. AirBnB refunded it and gave me 50 AirBnb Bucks (TM). I only do hotels now, unless someone else is handling the reservation.

The worst thing about AirBnB is that they make no effort to fix the problem. When on a vacation, and we found our AirBnB had fewer beds than advertised, we complained, and then were told that the owner wanted us "out immediately." So now we're stranded in a new city. Great. AirBnB offered to put us up anywhere cheaper than the original price we had booked. Of course, booking 2 months in advance is much cheaper than t…

This sounds like something you can use your credit card to do charge back. Easier to deal with, almost guaranteed to happen.
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