Airbnb announces confidential submission of draft Registration Statement

Post by mancerayder » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 11:48 PM UTC

subsubzero wrote: post #74

fourstar wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Short the company -- not the stock. 1. Don't buy the stock. 2. Don't use the platform. 3. Tell others to do the same.

Also, for places you do like, alot of them can be booked without airbnb and they will charge you less as they are not being gouged 30% by airbnb. I always grab business cards/contact info for places I stay at that I really like on airbnb and if I plan on going back I skirt airbnb and deal directly with the houses owner/manager. More money to the owner, less to airbnb and cheaper for you, win all the way around.

Post by mancerayder » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 11:54 PM UTC

dmode wrote: post #92

mancerayder wrote: post #17

I'm upset, after using the platform for a decade, that they remove negative reviews of properties. I learned this recently. That included some of my very tame and reasonable reviews. Makes me want to short the stock when it IPOs, after its initial run-up out of vengeance.

Can you share an example of a place where you stayed at and the negative review was removed ? Would be great to see a before and after screenshot so that people are aware that this is happening

Post by thebean11 » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 11:56 PM UTC

phatfish wrote: post #82

thebean11 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main one to me is network effect. Hosts will join the platform because there are renters there, renters will join because there are hosts.

As soon as a competitor comes along that is better for landlords, renters or has a good marketing campaign people will move. The network effect is not that of Facebook where you would have to convince all your friends and family to sign up and start using a new site/app. I suppose they could just buy the competitor like Facebook does, assuming another large corp is not behind it.

Post by anm89 » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 11:58 PM UTC

mancerayder wrote: post #69

anm89 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really like Airbnb as a company but they are the only one out of the marketplace based unicorns who's unit economics seem really solid to me. I personally would not be against them.

Even in the world of COVID and restricted air travel? I mean there are lots of city people escaping .. but how likely will that continue as cabins and beachhomes become too cold.

Post by hellotomyrars » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 12:17 AM UTC

subsubzero wrote: post #71

asdff wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another dark pattern is hiding the price until you are nearly booking the place. Most people want a cheap stay close to where they need to be, so they look on the prices on the map, which fail to include fees which can be all over the place depending on the host.

And the fees can be extreme. I recently tried to book a place before covid and the cleaning fees etc ended up being $400. I feel like this is a scheme landlords on airbnb are perpetrating which are similar to what used to go down on ebay years ago. For ebay they did not take a cut of the shipping cost(typically their cut was around 10% of the final sale of an item) so sellers would list items at rock bottom prices bu…