Just When I Was Ready to Give AirBnB a Try • Hacker News Board

Re: Just When I Was Ready to Give AirBnB a Try

#51

Post by ximeng » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 1:49 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #40

ximeng wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might want to try on a trip where it's just you and in a place where you know you can get a hotel if things don't work out. It becomes higher risk when you're bring kids / partner too and have to keep everyone happy. AirBnB / couch surfing style sites are likely to work better for people with somewhat flexible schedules that can accommodate potentially being stranded and having to find a hotel at the last minute.…

AirBnB isn't a couch surfing site. It competes directly with sites like VRBO. I'm not even remotely interested in meeting the typical person who wants to let out a room, but I'm happy to pay a decent premium over a midrange hotel to get an apartment instead of a hotel room, and have been happy every time I've done that.

I didn't say it was a couch surfing site. There are plenty of people who you wouldn't want to meet, but I've also seen a phd running a high tech startup on it, who might be more interesting.

If you're going somewhere regularly you can try a place once and then decide whether you want to stay there more often. There are some nice apartments as you say.

Re: Just When I Was Ready to Give AirBnB a Try

#52

Post by nhangen » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 2:03 AM UTC

Problem is you can't rate a host unless you've stayed there, so in this case, the OP couldn't rate the host as bad because he didn't end up staying there.

This is an issue that needs to be addressed, but overall, I love Air BnB.

Re: Just When I Was Ready to Give AirBnB a Try

#53

Post by nickpinkston » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 2:28 AM UTC

I use AirBnB for tons of cheap startup travel - AmA ;-)

Great: an AirBnB host got me a slot to speak at Ignite SXSW Good: $30 a night in a private room in Boston in a great building near MIT - always go there Still Good: I've booked the night before and never had people flake.

Bad: I once had to stay in a disgusting house the smell like rodents - my honest review prompted mega-psycho bitch response - I had to edit my previous post to warn people that she did that too - which sort of means the system works I guess...

Re: Just When I Was Ready to Give AirBnB a Try

#54

Post by Duff » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 2:34 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #42

makmanalp wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about the pictures thing, but the reputation system works pretty damn well. I buy stuff off of ebay regularly and find that especially high profile sellers do everything they can to keep their reputation up, because otherwise they lose potential clients. You just really do need to ingrain into the community that a good reputation is essential, damnit, and don't buy from someone that doesn't have one. The…

I was under the impression that reputation on eBay was gameable, so much so that I actively avoid eBay.

EBay's reputation system is a joke People routinely create fake accounts, farm for reputation by making lots of low-value purchases, then wait a few weeks until you cannot browse the details of their purchase history.

Once that happens, they move from buying or selling recipes for $0.99 to trading laptops, scam a few people, then vanish.

Re: Just When I Was Ready to Give AirBnB a Try

#55

Post by Duff » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 2:39 AM UTC

wildmXranat wrote: post #27

Whoa, with no ill thought towards the AirBnB guys, I need to say that their service must not be very popular with women. While backpacking with a small group in Europe, the biggest obstacle to staying in some hostels was the discomfort amongst the women. First and foremost thing on their mind, was security and safety. How does a service like AirBnB attempt, if at all try, to fix this issue ?

I agree. I'd be very nervous if my wife were a regular user of AirBNB.

IMO, this service will slowly transform into a platform for independent hotels and real BNB's. Especially since the prices are so high -- why would I want to deal with people when I can stay in a nice hotel in a central business district for approximately the same price?

Re: Just When I Was Ready to Give AirBnB a Try

#56

Post by potatolicious » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 2:52 AM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #31

callmeed wrote: post #16

UPDATE: Less than 2 hours after submitting a ticket to AirBnB, one of their staff members called me on the phone. That alone is quite impressive and shows that they care about these issues. She gave me some good tips (which most of you have already mentioned): (1) use people with good review, (2) use people with high response rates, etc.

As an update that gives me even less confidence in the system. Imagine you started using paypal when it first came out, got ripped off and then paypal messaged you saying 'hey, next time try using someone with a higher rating'. All it shows is that they've got no handle on vetting and by the sound of it absolutely no clue how they're going to start dealing with it either. The other messages here saying contact 5-10 p…

It's similar to eBay - they give you the necessary information to make an informed decision... but don't tell novice users how to use this information.

For eBay, how important is a seller's rating? What should I weigh more heavily, raw points or percentage? Does the Power Seller badge really mean anything? What if the guy sells $5 trinkets normally but is trying to rip me off with a $5000 item? The list goes on, there's no education, only trial by fire.

It seems like AirBnb is falling into the same trap. AirBnb needs to come up with its own measurement of reliability/sketchiness and show this to the user, either explicitly or in search ordering. Users/postings that drop below a certain bar (or just plain unproven users) need to be marked for novice users so that they know to tread more carefully.

Re: Just When I Was Ready to Give AirBnB a Try

#57

Post by Jd » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 3:06 AM UTC

potatolicious wrote: post #56

mattmanser wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an update that gives me even less confidence in the system. Imagine you started using paypal when it first came out, got ripped off and then paypal messaged you saying 'hey, next time try using someone with a higher rating'. All it shows is that they've got no handle on vetting and by the sound of it absolutely no clue how they're going to start dealing with it either. The other messages here saying contact 5-10 p…

It's similar to eBay - they give you the necessary information to make an informed decision... but don't tell novice users how to use this information. For eBay, how important is a seller's rating? What should I weigh more heavily, raw points or percentage? Does the Power Seller badge really mean anything? What if the guy sells $5 trinkets normally but is trying to rip me off with a $5000 item? The list goes on, ther…

It's not a trap -- there is no way EBay can provide all of the necessary information that would stop people from getting scammed since someone would simply try a new trick that wasn't listed in the documentation. It isn't simply "trial by fire," but suspicious until proven otherwise, a general tact that works well on the internet and among strangers that want your money.

Anyways, most of this is common sense. Examine the number of positive reviews in the past six months. Examine the ratio of positive to negative. Examine the nature of negative reviews. If buying something expensive, verify some other items sold were also expensive. Buy via paypal or something else that includes buyer protection.

People will have to learn the same sort of way to navigate airbnb.

Re: Just When I Was Ready to Give AirBnB a Try

#58

Post by netcan » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 3:52 AM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #44

netcan wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"However, it’s (the internet) very new to us. Newsreaders still feel it is worth a special and rather worrying mention if, for instance, a crime was planned by people ‘over the Internet.’ They don’t bother to mention when criminals use the telephone or the M4, or discuss their dastardly plans ‘over a cup of tea,’ though each of these was new and controversial in their day" Douglas Adams, 1999 http://www.douglasadams.…

Nowadays, people are plotting revolutions and toppling governments "over the Internet". So if anything, it's just gotten worse.

Usually they are plotting revolutions "on social networks" and "using twitter" to coordinate strikes.

Re: Just When I Was Ready to Give AirBnB a Try

#59

Post by rdl » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 4:00 AM UTC

Ugh, cut and paste error on this (the stupid story about google from techcrunch). I hate it when Hacker News server restarts and thus I can't submit a comment on a window/tab I've had open for a while, sigh.

I intended to post:

I've had great luck with AirBnB in some markets (Japan, USA) and bad luck in others (Thailand). It's great if you're flexible, but for business travel, or if you're arriving late at night after a flight is delayed, it's really convenient having a 24h hotel desk and simple checkin.

The biggest friction with AirBnB for me is the key exchange and "onboarding" process at a new property. I hope there is a technological solution to this.

Re: Just When I Was Ready to Give AirBnB a Try

#60

Post by nedwin » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 4:01 AM UTC

I think peoples use of AirBNB is all about their capacity for risk/adventure.

A good friend has had hookers and druggies stay at his place through AirBNB, but people who were otherwise quite nice people. Just because they had a different life style didn't make them dangerous and he's still renting his room out.

We've had three people stay at our place so far and they've all been awesome. Next month half our rent for our three bedroom house will be covered by one AirBNB tenant and we'll make a new friend.