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Airbnb S-1

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Re: Airbnb S-1

#201

Post by zkid18 »

elamje wrote: post #136
carlineng wrote: post #112

A few random observations I found interesting: - Looks like they are significantly leaner now as a result of COVID. Cost of revenue is at an all-time low in Q3 (17% of revenue on p164). There's a lot of focus the drastic cuts to Sales and Marketing, but it looks like there's a fair amount of increased discipline across the board. - It's interesting that Operations and support looks to be very similar in both the firs…

A fun anecdote about AirBnB in China: 2 years ago I travelled to Beijing and Shanghai and intended to stay in an AirBnB. AirBnB had tons and tons of listings in both places, all of which had specific instructions to tell the neighbors you were “a friend” and not staying there with AirBnB. At the time, and possibly still so, AirBnB was not operating legally in those particular places, and I presume most of the country…

I researched a bit how Airbnb scaled in China two years ago, not sure how the things are going now.

Obviously there are tons of competitors in that area in China. They have far more employees and use typical Chinese aggressive marketing. The most notable one, Tijia cooperates with the main travel providers - CTrip, Expedia, Qunar. For me as a foreigner Airbnb works well, although in some rural areas it's better to go with Tijia.

Airbnb entered the Chinese market in 2015 – the same year in which Tujia became a unicorn. The global giant has been slow to expand in China, with 80,000 listings compared to Tujia’s 400,000. Indeed in 2017, Airbnb Inc's founders were moments away from merging their China business with Tujia. Chesky decided to block the deal out of concern that it would harm the Airbnb brand.

Afaik, Airbnb focuses on the quality of its listings. The company has visited thousands of houses and removed those that do not meet quality standards. The company launched Airbnb Plus, a premium service. The company works with opinion leaders and adapts its products to the market. Thus, apartments can be ordered through mini-programs in WeChat, and checkout using WeChat Pay and Alipay.

Link to article in Bangkok Post: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/special-reports/1475857... (2017)

Re: Airbnb S-1

#202

Post by julianlam »

BMorearty wrote: post #190
firekvz wrote: post #181

Airbnb was cool when it was a place to share with hosts and rent a bed and a breakfast during my trips, allowing me to save some money and meeting some cool people. now it’s just a boring business of terrible managed apartments with really bad amenities and problems that make you lose time and totally diverges you from the whole concept of hassle-free vacation/renting. My last 5 airbnbs were apartments fully setted u…

My experience has been really different from yours. After my first stay in an Airbnb five years ago I learned I needed to be more careful about reading the reviews and the descriptions. Since then I’ve only had positive experiences. The places I stay in are usual run by an individual, not a manager (and when it is a manager it’s clear up front). The service has been fantastic and the places have been beautiful. My la…

You've hit the nail right on the head.

When I first started using airbnb, I would run into these awful listings because I was scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel.

On a visit to Boston, I once stayed in a cheap AirBnb in the bad part of Methuen, MA, where the local grocer knew I was from out of town because I paid in cash and not food stamps.

My wife, on the other hand, always reads the reviews and I've never had a single bad experience travelling with her.

If you go by price you get what you pay for. This isn't a failing of AirBnb, its how life works.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#203

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

pembrook wrote: post #163
elpakal wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious why you think AB&B qualifies as a "tech" company

It's a marketplace business, all internet marketplaces are tech companies because they simply aggregate buyers and sellers while owning none of the assets/inventory/risk being transacted on the platform. Airbnb is just a website with a ToS. There is zero marginal cost to Airbnb for servicing a new listing. Do you also question whether Ebay is a "tech" company?

> zero marginal cost to Airbnb for servicing a new listing.

Don't underestimate the cost of customer support (on both ends), dispute resolution, ...

Re: Airbnb S-1

#204

Post by jariel »

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #165

In my view, AirBnb made the travel pie substantially larger. More people can afford to travel when rooms in far away places can be rented for small amounts. If the choice is not traveling at all vs. putting up with the friction of finding the property and getting the key, reviewing the house rules and then stripping the bed and taking out the trash before you check out, many people will choose the convenience hit and…

It's mostly regulatory arbitrage, same as Uber.

If cities and townships were to have looser regulations on hotels - which evidently they should, given the vast demand and 'mostly' it's not excessively problematic for communities - then AirBnB wouldn't exist because hotel prices and types would have much more variety and competitiveness, and so would listings.

If anyone could just get in their car and tell the local dispatcher 'they want to drive tonight' - probably Uber would have never been able to come to fruition in the first place.

I'm not saying that either company is good or bad, or that the regulations are good or bad, rather, that the underlying business models depended on a kind of civil regulatory asymmetry.

Personally, I wish cities would adjust their regulations to be more appropriate, I don't think there needs to be an Uber or AirBnB.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#205

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

pembrook wrote: post #163
elpakal wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious why you think AB&B qualifies as a "tech" company

It's a marketplace business, all internet marketplaces are tech companies because they simply aggregate buyers and sellers while owning none of the assets/inventory/risk being transacted on the platform. Airbnb is just a website with a ToS. There is zero marginal cost to Airbnb for servicing a new listing. Do you also question whether Ebay is a "tech" company?

> Do you also question whether Ebay is a "tech" company?

Yes.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#206

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

mym1990 wrote: post #147
elpakal wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious why you think AB&B qualifies as a "tech" company

Airbnb's main offering is its software and its ability to create a market between consumers and producers through that application. I imagine it is also a company that is heavily invested in its software engineering workforce and all the resources that support/flow from that. To note, it feels like 'tech company' is a bit ambiguous these days and doesn't necessarily have great clarity.

I would suggest the following:

* a car company makes cars that it sells to consumers or other businesses

* a tortilla company makes tortillas that it sells to consumers or other businesses

* a chip fabrication company makes chips that it ...

... you see where I'm going with this?

* a tech company is a company that makes technology that it sells to consumers and other businesses.

Amazon is a tech company, but only because of AWS, not the marketplace or its own retail operations.

AirBnB is not a tech company. Neither is Ebay.

Maybe we need a new term like "tech-dependent company" to describe most of what are currently termed "tech companies".

Re: Airbnb S-1

#207

Post by tahoeskibum »

callmeed wrote: post #33

I heard a podcast discuss the possibility of AirBnB offering shares or options to superhosts (like me) ahead of the IPO–essentially as a "thank you" to the people who helped build the marketplace. Anyone have thoughts on if that is possible or plausible?

I just got an email from AirBnB outlining their plan to offer shares to hosts as a part of the IPO with first dibs to hosts that first came on the platform.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#208

Post by RhodoYolo »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #203
pembrook wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a marketplace business, all internet marketplaces are tech companies because they simply aggregate buyers and sellers while owning none of the assets/inventory/risk being transacted on the platform. Airbnb is just a website with a ToS. There is zero marginal cost to Airbnb for servicing a new listing. Do you also question whether Ebay is a "tech" company?

> zero marginal cost to Airbnb for servicing a new listing. Don't underestimate the cost of customer support (on both ends), dispute resolution, ...

Airbnb's customer service on cancelations and disputes have all been relatively fast in my experience so I imagine they invest heavily.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#209

Post by RhodoYolo »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #206
mym1990 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airbnb's main offering is its software and its ability to create a market between consumers and producers through that application. I imagine it is also a company that is heavily invested in its software engineering workforce and all the resources that support/flow from that. To note, it feels like 'tech company' is a bit ambiguous these days and doesn't necessarily have great clarity.

I would suggest the following: * a car company makes cars that it sells to consumers or other businesses * a tortilla company makes tortillas that it sells to consumers or other businesses * a chip fabrication company makes chips that it ... ... you see where I'm going with this? * a tech company is a company that makes technology that it sells to consumers and other businesses. Amazon is a tech company, but only bec…

Would you call Tesla a tech company?

Re: Airbnb S-1

#210

Post by contingencies »

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #165

In my view, AirBnb made the travel pie substantially larger. More people can afford to travel when rooms in far away places can be rented for small amounts. If the choice is not traveling at all vs. putting up with the friction of finding the property and getting the key, reviewing the house rules and then stripping the bed and taking out the trash before you check out, many people will choose the convenience hit and…

More people can afford to travel when rooms in far away places can be rented for small amounts.

Maybe some areas. In Europe, Asia and Australia I have always found AirBNB more expensive than hotels which incidentally waste less of your time, have better signage and access, and can provide value-added services like multiple contactless keys, key replacement, waste disposal, laundry, holding luggage and local recommendations. Oh, and they support three sometimes-killer features: payment on arrival, cash, and pre-inspection of rooms.

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