Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing • Hacker News Board

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#121

Post by mytailorisrich » Thu, Nov 07, 2019, 3:44 AM UTC

RustyBucket wrote: post #91

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).

In many places (e.g. in Europe) there is no standard definition of bedroom at all. Rather generic room, which is space surrounded by walls.

A kitchen or living room with a bed in it is not a bedroom. This is about the usual understanding of what a bedroom is and whether a listing would be misleading, not about trying to be too clever to screw customers, which does not work in front of a court (in the UK and, I expect, throughout the EU).

Likewise, stating that the property has a stove implies that it is in working order.

Now, I have no doubt that AirBnb might try to fob people off if they complain but that does not mean that they would be correct or even honest in doing so.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#122

Post by mytailorisrich » Thu, Nov 07, 2019, 3:51 AM UTC

Aengeuad wrote: post #117

dickeytk wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be very surprised if that was the case. It's certainly not in the US or UK: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/68/part/X in the US it"s that it needs a window + closet I think.

It should be noted that this act doesn't define what a bedroom is, it only says that a room is available as sleeping accommodation if it's a type of room that's normally used as a bedroom or a living room. This would likely rule out larger kitchens with a bed in them but I'd be surprised if a living room/kitchen combo are ruled out given that studio flats with a combined bedroom/living room/kitchen are fine.

This act defines what should be counted as 'room' for overcrowding purposes.

Now courts are not stupid. In such cases 'bedroom' would take the meaning that is generally understood. A kitchen or living room with beds in them are not understood to be 'bedrooms' if you ask someone at random, and thus advertising "3 bedrooms" when in fact there is only one with beds in the kitchen and living room would most likely be deemed misleading and false advertising.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#123

Post by dawsmik » Thu, Nov 07, 2019, 4:07 AM UTC

jimmaswell wrote: post #115

rhacker wrote: post #111

Please just stop using them. I just passed up on buying a house because the neighbors were - you guessed it, an airbnb. I was lucky to have found out before I got into a contract. It's always great when you find out the reason someone is selling - isn't it?

Why would anybody care their neighbor is an AirBnB?

He likely means they are a poorly managed AirBnB. People often throw parties, are loud, etc... when the host doesnt manage them well.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#124

Post by matheist » Thu, Nov 07, 2019, 4:09 AM UTC

heurist wrote: post #35

lemoncucumber wrote: post #33

I don't see anything about addressing retaliatory negative reviews, which seems like a not insignificant part of the problem as described in the Vice article ( https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-ho... )

That part seemed odd to me, neither hosts or guests can see the others' reviews until after both have submitted (or the review period expires).

If a guest complains to customer support, and support contacts the host about it, then the host can retaliate on the support request.

guest => support: "the place was filthy, I want a refund"

support => host: "guest says it was filthy is that true"

host => support: "lol no"

host reviews guest: "terrible, all they did was complain, beware"

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#125

Post by matheist » Thu, Nov 07, 2019, 4:11 AM UTC

YokoZar wrote: post #47

ogre_codes wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they detached this or made it separate from reviews it would perhaps reduce the fear of retributive reviews from bad hosts. The big problem here is the vast difference between "We are going to verify..." and what they are actually planning. It's just dishonest.

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.

The retaliation is in response to contacting support, it works like this (I posted this elsewhere in the thread too):

guest => support: "the place was filthy, I want a refund"

support => host: "guest says it was filthy is that true"

host => support: "lol no"

host reviews guest: "terrible, all they did was complain, beware"

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#126

Post by tjbiddle » Thu, Nov 07, 2019, 4:12 AM UTC

Good. Living in SEA, the number of times where I want to book an AirBnb and they advertise it as "Entire house" and it ends up being a single room and shared living is ridiculous. It takes me 10x as long to vet out and find a place out here. And even then, I'm disappointed the majority of the time.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#127

Post by cryptozeus » Thu, Nov 07, 2019, 4:27 AM UTC

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…

They may already be doing this , at least for research purpose. Sounds like a good idea but difficult to scale.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#128

Post by break_the_bank » Thu, Nov 07, 2019, 4:41 AM UTC

My worst AirBnb experience was a bait and switch. A different unit in the same building. A lot smaller unit mind you. The host wouldn't agree but sharing pictures with Airbnb, they ruled in my favor and refunded half(after AirBnb service charges).

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#129

Post by Aengeuad » Thu, Nov 07, 2019, 4:42 AM UTC

mytailorisrich wrote: post #122

Aengeuad wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be noted that this act doesn't define what a bedroom is, it only says that a room is available as sleeping accommodation if it's a type of room that's normally used as a bedroom or a living room. This would likely rule out larger kitchens with a bed in them but I'd be surprised if a living room/kitchen combo are ruled out given that studio flats with a combined bedroom/living room/kitchen are fine.

This act defines what should be counted as 'room' for overcrowding purposes. Now courts are not stupid. In such cases 'bedroom' would take the meaning that is generally understood. A kitchen or living room with beds in them are not understood to be 'bedrooms' if you ask someone at random, and thus advertising "3 bedrooms" when in fact there is only one with beds in the kitchen and living room would most likely be dee…

I fully agree, if somebody is falsely advertising a 3 bedroom flat/house on AirBnB they'll lose the court case purely on advertising laws, I was just replying to the linked act since it doesn't really define what a bedroom is at all.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#130

Post by notyourwork » Thu, Nov 07, 2019, 4:47 AM UTC

tjbiddle wrote: post #126

Good. Living in SEA, the number of times where I want to book an AirBnb and they advertise it as "Entire house" and it ends up being a single room and shared living is ridiculous. It takes me 10x as long to vet out and find a place out here. And even then, I'm disappointed the majority of the time.

Plenty of hotels in SEA.