Anyone else think this is a pretty bad time all things considered?
Airbnb S-1
331–340 of 471 posts
Re: Airbnb S-1
#332Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Does the Netherlands have a rule that you register with the local public security bureau for wherever you are staying? Yes, I believe they do (Vreemdelingendienst).
Not for a holiday though, only when you're planning on living here - which does makes sense.
I couldn't find an official source in English, so I'm just going off what I found here: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/europe-western...
For tourists, it's something that's rarely enforced. And if you stay at a hotel they'll handle it for you (or presumably, maintain records in case the police have questions).
Re: Airbnb S-1
#333It is so frustrating with all those recent tech startups how much they're spending on sales and marketing: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1559720/000119312520... How does one figure whether the business will keep growing without blasting people's faces with ads? If so much spend on ads is required to generate revenue growth then there will either never be profits or the revenue growth will stall (and thus th…
This is a common misconception I see on HN.
To evaluate ad spend, you don't look at just short-term return. There's a reason that "lifetime value" is a critical concept for companies. It's fairly normal in large companies that, in a given year, you may spend more on ads than you gain from those ads - but you expect the customers you gain from them to continue spending over many years.
So you may spend $100 to gain a customer who spends $20 in the first year... then $40 in the second... then $80 in the third... now all of a sudden your return on that was positive, three years later.
These are the kind of ads you want to buy, even if in the short term it looks bad. These large marketing expenses should have compounding benefits over many years. The people who care about the short term like that are not the investors you want and not the people you're trying to please.
Re: Airbnb S-1
#334Earlier 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…
> ”your hotel registers you online so that you don't have to deal with this” If a hotel can do it, surely there’s no reason why Airbnb can’t figure it out?
If a hotel can do it, surely there’s no reason why Airbnb can’t figure it out?
A good innovation for AirBnB would be to automatically notify the relevant tax authorities about their hosts income from illegal subletting, ahem, I mean "renting out a spare room"
Re: Airbnb S-1
#335Earlier quoted context omitted.
Chinese police are not known for a lax attitude to rule breaking when it comes to foreigners
Anecdotal experiences incoming: I am moderately involved with various sinology students from Europe. And have traveled to China personally. Personally I stayed at various AirBnBs within China and registered at the police in Bejing and Shanghai. The host provided a signed letter confirming where we are staying. With that letter I headed to a local police station where I gave the letter and had to fill out a form with…
> someone who looked up a recent political dissident via Baidu and got a visit from the police
......How is anyone okay with this..
Re: Airbnb S-1
#336Earlier 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…
> ”your hotel registers you online so that you don't have to deal with this” If a hotel can do it, surely there’s no reason why Airbnb can’t figure it out?
I do not see how AirBnB can figure it out at all, under their current business model. Their business model depends on not vetting the place of stay and doing bare minimum for deal brokerage. Dealing with this would require them to incorporate all the fine details of hoteling into the business model.
Re: Airbnb S-1
#337Earlier 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…
So my wife is Chinese and from Shantou, a pretty big city in the South. First time I went, of course we stay at her parents house and I tell them that it's required we get registered at the police station. Her uncle, my wife, and I went to four police stations. All refused to register my stay and told me to go the next place. The final one told me that they require to see our marriage certificate (which we didn't hav…
I was going to say that was strange as I've stayed in Nanjing and my wifes small town (of several million people) outside of Nanjing and didn't get denied, but then realized that you didn't have the marriage certificate with you. I do believe that's required everywhere. For native Chinese it's becoming easier to visit other places because the registration system is becoming more digital. That unfortunately has the side effect of making it increasingly more difficult for foreigners since the manual method is becoming less common and therefore more confusing for local police.
It is interesting in the context of AirBnB - with the registration system they can't use the same "it's better to ask forgiveness than permission" approach they used in US. I have seen very successful foreign run businesses, for example a friend who imported steel in China, do really well for many years because the government wasn't interested in their industry, and then all of sudden find himself against several competitors and be completely out of business in the space of 6-12 months. I'm bullish on AirBnB but depending on success in China is a risky strategy.
Re: Airbnb S-1
#338Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 midr…
> dragging my heavy baggage one place to the next for half a day being rejected all over Beijing Yep, one would think that for a government that cares so much about their image they would avoid visitors having to go through this nonsense. For budget travellers to Beijing -- 如家 accepts foreigners last I checked. 7天 used to but they don't anymore as of a couple years ago.
If China really cared about their image they wouldn’t be doing all the things they try to hide.
Re: Airbnb S-1
#339Earlier quoted context omitted.
So my wife is Chinese and from Shantou, a pretty big city in the South. First time I went, of course we stay at her parents house and I tell them that it's required we get registered at the police station. Her uncle, my wife, and I went to four police stations. All refused to register my stay and told me to go the next place. The final one told me that they require to see our marriage certificate (which we didn't hav…
I was going to say that was strange as I've stayed in Nanjing and my wifes small town (of several million people) outside of Nanjing and didn't get denied, but then realized that you didn't have the marriage certificate with you. I do believe that's required everywhere. For native Chinese it's becoming easier to visit other places because the registration system is becoming more digital. That unfortunately has the si…
This is kind of off topic of AirBnB but can you share a little bit more about the registration system in China? By the way you describe it, it sounds like not only foreigners must register with the police when they visit other cities.
Re: Airbnb S-1
#340I like airbnb. They need to get better at weeding out fake/scammy listings, that tend to plague many online marketplaces where things can be listed for free. Maybe some in-person verification system, or a fee that gets refunded if you have a certain number of guests. There are plenty of listings with huge/exclusive homes, yet no reviews and extremely cheap prices. I don't know what people get out of these listings, b…
Just withhold the money they made with Airbnb until they have 3 excellent reviews.
That doesn't make sense for the hosts, for 80% of them it could be months until they see the money from their first booking.
Airbnb already holds the money for 24h after check-in, which is enough to defuse 99% of scams. The problem is the guests that book outside the platform, then claim they were scammed.