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Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

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Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#61
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of the last $5,000 I’ve spent on AirBnB, not a single dollar was spent on a legal host.

Uber and AirBnB have revealed that the Western World is far more lawless than we had imagined. Who knew you could just 'start running cabs'. Even city hall says 'no' ... they just keep going. It's really bizarre. Irrespective of whether or now we should allow AirBnB and Uber it's crazy that civic institutions seem to have no control. If I was mayor and we decided 'no' on Uber I would be fining Uber millions and indiv…

The defining feature of a cab is that you can hail one down on the street. If you summon one through an app, it’s a car service, it a cab, and car services have never been subject to the same regulations as cabs.

The real reason mayors don’t crack down on Ubers is that their constituents love them and any mayor that tried to outright ban them would become very unpopular very quickly. Welcome to living in a democracy.

Airbnbs are somewhat more tenuous politically because the people who use them are from out of town and don’t vote in local elections.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#62
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of the last $5,000 I’ve spent on AirBnB, not a single dollar was spent on a legal host.

Uber and AirBnB have revealed that the Western World is far more lawless than we had imagined. Who knew you could just 'start running cabs'. Even city hall says 'no' ... they just keep going. It's really bizarre. Irrespective of whether or now we should allow AirBnB and Uber it's crazy that civic institutions seem to have no control. If I was mayor and we decided 'no' on Uber I would be fining Uber millions and indiv…

This is not new. Meanwhile many of those same cities declare themselves sanctuaries and refuse to cooperate with federal immigration law.

The US has always been partly "wild west", for better or worse.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#63
post #46

Not an employee but overall I am quite bullish on Airbnb as ironically they will be the definition of a what a post-covid travel company will become. Couple points in their favour: 1. Work from home becomes work from anywhere: The WFH trend is here to stay and will grow. If you have an option why not stay anywhere in world and work vs. close by home? I expect we will see a big % of WFH markets be global travelers. Pr…

> If you have an option why not stay anywhere in world and work vs. close by home? I expect we will see a big % of WFH markets be global travelers. Well, if a business is allowing their employees to work from home due to COVID, they don't want them traveling off abroad and being classified as tax residents of various countries. If people are moving to cheaper cities or locations in their own country, getting a long t…

FWIW in most countries you dont become tax resident until you've been there more than 3 months, in some cases 6.

source: I work(ed) for an international company and missions were somewhat commonplace, you get paid from your subsidiary unless you're there for longer than 3mo.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#65
post #46

Not an employee but overall I am quite bullish on Airbnb as ironically they will be the definition of a what a post-covid travel company will become. Couple points in their favour: 1. Work from home becomes work from anywhere: The WFH trend is here to stay and will grow. If you have an option why not stay anywhere in world and work vs. close by home? I expect we will see a big % of WFH markets be global travelers. Pr…

> If you have an option why not stay anywhere in world and work vs. close by home? I expect we will see a big % of WFH markets be global travelers. Well, if a business is allowing their employees to work from home due to COVID, they don't want them traveling off abroad and being classified as tax residents of various countries. If people are moving to cheaper cities or locations in their own country, getting a long t…

>Well, if a business is allowing their employees to work from home due to COVID, they don't want them traveling off abroad and being classified as tax residents of various countries.

You would need to stay somewhere 6+ months in a year to be classified as a tax resident so I don't see that being relevant to Airbnb.

1-3 month work from different places would be what I would be doing right now if my wife wasn't pregnant, but as someone who did it when the lockdown started (moved from inland to island for 2 weeks) the cut they take on that duration makes it worth searching local advertising sites. The bigger issue is that most rentals suck for work compared to a decent home office set-up

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#66

Eh maybe this is a good idea. Airline and hotel stocks have been up and people are planning for the end of COVID-19 by Jan. So by Jan they could of reached their old level's plus raised cash in a cash strapped world. I doubt anyone believes airbnb is going to flop anytime soon.

By Jan? Says who? If there is no vaccine, there is no chance any of such activities going to happen without consequences.

[deleted]

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#67
post #34

Could they be running out of cash, and given COVID-19 is not dying down in the U.S., could the investors are forcing a cash-out? In this case most of the employees will be wiped out right?

Airbnb is actually doing very well right now, and is essentially fully recovered if not growing, same as the competitors like VRBO. There's been a huge surge in nearby getaway trips. https://www.financial-world.org/news/news/business/6074/cali...

In my country most hotels (and love hotels) are still closed. So for those who want to do local travel outside the cities Airbnb and house rentals are the only option.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#68
post #36

Didn't AirBnB just take out a huge loan on less-than-stellar terms? https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/15/airbnb-ups-its-debt-by-1bn... Not to mention how the company is getting hammered by the coronavirus, in addition to having to face the reality of having used shady tactics to prop up positive reviews over the years. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-ho... This sounds like they're trying to cas…

What do you mean by "shady tactics to prop up positive reviews over the years"? I'm an employee and we have very strict policies around review fairness. If anything, most review-related complaints come from hosts who want to have negative reviews removed due to perceived unfairness. By policy, negative reviews are rarely if ever removed this way much to the chagrin of hosts. Reviews are usually ranked chronologically…

[deleted]

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#69
post #46

Not an employee but overall I am quite bullish on Airbnb as ironically they will be the definition of a what a post-covid travel company will become. Couple points in their favour: 1. Work from home becomes work from anywhere: The WFH trend is here to stay and will grow. If you have an option why not stay anywhere in world and work vs. close by home? I expect we will see a big % of WFH markets be global travelers. Pr…

Covid is going away in 6-12 months. I wouldn’t stake a long term business proposal on it.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#70
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of the last $5,000 I’ve spent on AirBnB, not a single dollar was spent on a legal host.

Uber and AirBnB have revealed that the Western World is far more lawless than we had imagined. Who knew you could just 'start running cabs'. Even city hall says 'no' ... they just keep going. It's really bizarre. Irrespective of whether or now we should allow AirBnB and Uber it's crazy that civic institutions seem to have no control. If I was mayor and we decided 'no' on Uber I would be fining Uber millions and indiv…

> Uber and AirBnB have revealed that the Western World is far more lawless than we had imagined.

What an extraordinary extrapolation.

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