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Airbnb S-1

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Re: Airbnb S-1

#301

Post by wolco2 »

busterarm wrote: post #278
easyKL wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can say that while staying with locals I never registered or being asked to. And it went like this for a couple of months. Not only with Chinese, but also expats. I mainly got my accomodation though CouchSurfing (I wasn't aware of BeWelcome nor TrustRoots back then) The hosts seemed to have guests very often and we were never asked to pretend to be friends from home or anything. This happened not only in the main c…

Yes, many people do in fact break the law and get away with it. This should not be surprising.

If it is common then why did you say this was dangerous?

Re: Airbnb S-1

#302

Post by garmaine »

hehetrthrthrjn wrote: post #236
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the Netherlands have a rule that you register with the local public security bureau for wherever you are staying? I really don't see AirBnB working in China because of that.

No, only if you're planning on living in the Netherlands for 3 months or more.

As an American it is so weird that a country would require you to register with the police at all, no matter your length of stay.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#303

Post by Torn »

wolco2 wrote: post #301
busterarm wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, many people do in fact break the law and get away with it. This should not be surprising.

If it is common then why did you say this was dangerous?

Chinese police are not known for a lax attitude to rule breaking when it comes to foreigners

Re: Airbnb S-1

#304

Post by yowlingcat »

josephjrobison wrote: post #111
wholien wrote: post #12

huh > Most of our guests discover Airbnb organically, with approximately 91% of all traffic to Airbnb coming through direct or unpaid channels during the nine months ended September 30, 2020. Anyone know what % of traffic to Bookings and Expedia (and others) are paid vs unpaid? 91% unpaid seems really high, and I wonder if it's because Airbnb is so differentiated / people want to "Airbnb" a place (vs. "stay somewhere…

AirBnb took the opposite approach of Expedia, Booking, VRBO, etc. Instead of focusing on SEO and paid search like the incumbents, AirBnb focused on brand. Great breakdown by Casey Winters on the strategies - https://news.greylock.com/four-strategies-to-win-big-with-lo... - showing that there are different strategies, and not one absolute best.

Great article. But I think that saying "AirBNB focused on brand" is almost literally a misinterpretation:

"Brand is an extension of the Airbnb model, not its own strategy. If the product doesn’t deliver on a differentiated experience, brand building usually does not create loyalty."

This post seems to say that AirBNB didn't just focus on brand, but they innovated on /somehow/ making booking UX "10x" (let's leave the ostensible 10 aside for a moment and just say "a lot" instead) better than incumbents. But that requires a durable product advantage, one that consistently creates a differentiated experience. It's more accurate to say that brand is a downstream side effect of the core product than a sole or primary focus.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#305

Post by silverpepsi »

kenneth wrote: post #255
busterarm wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems incredibly dangerous as visitors on a tourist visa are required to register themselves with the local police within 24 hours of arriving at their destination. Trying to stay under the radar seems like it courts risk of deportation, as I've known _lots_ of folks who got a visit from police at their place of stay who were not aware of this. Virtually all of them settled things fine but it was more headache t…

This is why I always stay in a hotel and not with friends or Airbnbs whenever I visit China. I'm not bothered to deal with registration and the hotel takes care of it.

Nevermind that around 90% of hotels in China do not allow foreigners. It was not a fond memory dragging my heavy baggage one place to the next for half a day being rejected all over Beijing (experienced it in Shanghai and Guangzhou too)

Of course the wealthy here would never know, most places priced in the top 20% expensive accept foreigners. I was a poor student and also worked as a teacher($400/mo) looking for midrange accomodations, not to spend a month's pay on a weekend trip

Re: Airbnb S-1

#306

Post by TheSmiddy »

j8hn wrote: post #281
TheSmiddy wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just finished staying in an airbnb for a month in China and didn't have to go to the cop shop. I've now just rented an apartment and did the registration no issues, they didn't highlight any gaps on my travel record so I assume it was all above board.

According to the law, you have to register with the local authorities. Technically a law was broken, unlikely it will be used against you unless they make it a prerogative.

Yes, I believe I was registered. Airbnb takes a copy of my (and any fellow friends staying with me) passport and does a few extra checks compared to stays I've had in Australia. Having said that I was staying in a pseudo-serviced apartment so it may have just been a normal hotel that was advertising on Airbnb.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#307

Post by pembrook »

princeb wrote: post #300
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?

this is an amusing question actually. is cme group a tech company? it is literally marketplace technology. eurex and xetra, nasdaq, nyse, bats, lse all those guys as well. if you want to go a bit further, jpm, morgan stanley, goldman, barclays and so on are also tech companies, since they're one layer over all these marketplace tech companies, but with their own internal marketplace technology on top of it. anyway, i…

Everything can be both tech and not-tech if you want to argue semantics (ie. If you use a computer to do your job, is it tech?). That's not useful.

But I find the zero marginal cost qualification useful. These companies are fundamentally different than companies that are further out on the marginal cost spectrum.

Take for example CME, NYSE, Nasdaq, etc. Pure zero marginal cost. Virtually unassailable positions for the marketplace niches they dominate.

Then compare that to JPM, Morgan Stanley, Goldman (farther down the spectrum). While they do offer software products in trading, retail, etc...they also offer lots of high touch, high human cost investment banking services. Not the same thing.

It doesn't really matter if you IPO with JPM or Goldman. The bank will make lots of fees but it will be proportional to their man hours worked. No obvious winner.

By this definition, you could say they do some tech, some old school professional services.

As a "tech worker," I find this useful when examining which employers to work for. It determines how much leverage I can have in affecting my employers business. Far and away, the best jobs I've had are at companies on the extreme end of the zero marginal cost spectrum (pure tech, by this definition).

To use banking as an example, you can go from zero to $1B quite quickly in the software (zero marginal "tech") side of the business. Look at SoFi or Plaid.

Meanwhile, on the old school professional services side, imagine how hard it would be to get to $1B there.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#308

Post by jashmatthews »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #137
tonyhb wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airbnb own and operate HotelTonight, which is a foray into hotels. It can (and I think certainly will) get there. Anecdotally, HotelTonight is my go-to for booking any hotel, any time.

If it's Hilton/Hyatt/Marriott/IHG/Choice/Wyndham, you can go to the hotel brand's website, you will get the same room for cheaper if you are part of the free hotel rewards program. You're also more valuable to the hotel since you'll be paying netting the hotel more income than someone coming from HotelTonight (since the hotel doesn't have to pay HotelTonight commission), therefore more eligible for perks or upgrades.

Due to rate parity clauses member rates on OTAs like Expedia basically match the franchise reward rates. They’re often the same rate plans in the software hotels use for managing their rates.

I checked Hilton SF downtown for next week and it’s $91 on HT and $95 on Hilton Honors rewards pricing.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#309

Post by dheera »

Reason077 wrote: post #249
elamje wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Curious, what makes these things so hard for westerners? The Didi app (for example) is translated into English, isn’t it? Is it just a matter of incompatible payment systems?

Yes, payment systems.

Until recently WeChat Pay and AliPay could only be used with Chinese bank accounts in China, and to get a Chinese bank account you need to get a Chinese mobile number first.

If you are a frequent traveller and read Chinese, it isn't especially hard to get a mobile number and bank account other than preparing to waste half a day standing in lines. After that, life is heaven for you because you now have access to all the convenience of the myriad e-commerce websites and apps.

Any other visitors would have tough time getting train tickets, booking accommodations, renting bicycles, hell, even buying from vending machines or automated convenience stores, because people really don't use cash anymore, but the system is really only designed for domestic users without much thought for short-term visitors and tourists.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#310

Post by maerF0x0 »

godelmachine wrote: post #72

>> the board of directors reduced Mr. Chesky’s base salary from $110,000 to $1, set his target bonus at $0, and granted him a long-term, multi-year equity award comprised of 12,000,000 RSUs (the “Multi-Year Award”). Its quite surprising that CEO of Airbnb should make just $110k/ annum in base salary before the company goes public. I would expect it to be around $500k.

Also the high paid CEO tax of SF likely means he can avoid the tax in future years by granting a lot today...

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/11/overpaid-executi...

as I understand it the value of the RSUs is on the _grant date_ for such purposes. (and not at vesting)

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