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Airbnb S-1

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Re: Airbnb S-1

#381

Post by adamcccc »

dustinmoris wrote: post #376

Personally I think AirBnb had its time. To me AirBnb is like a hotel, except: - No gym, sauna and other SPA facilities included - No breakfast buffet, restaurants or room service available - No room upgrades available - No early check in/late check out available - No 24/7 access available - No reception desk 24/7 available where I can ask for good recommendations, learn a bit more about the place without feeling awkw…

Airbnb hosts do do some of this stuff - ie. 24/7 checkin is available if you filter for it, as well as other facilities.

But I do agree that it's becoming harder to justify Airbnb use. As it's popularity has risen, it feels like, what was once a cheap stay in someones house, is now the same price as a nice bed & breakfast. And with Hotel's seeing the lost footfall, the gap between a private room in a strangers home and a hotel room with much more privacy has become smaller and smaller.

I've used it every week for about 8 years now for my accommodation when working away but couldn't see using it much in the future

Re: Airbnb S-1

#382

Post by joseakle »

dustinmoris wrote: post #376

Personally I think AirBnb had its time. To me AirBnb is like a hotel, except: - No gym, sauna and other SPA facilities included - No breakfast buffet, restaurants or room service available - No room upgrades available - No early check in/late check out available - No 24/7 access available - No reception desk 24/7 available where I can ask for good recommendations, learn a bit more about the place without feeling awkw…

To me it sounds like there are several startup opportunities there.

How would a solution to each of those for airbnb look like?

Re: Airbnb S-1

#383

Post by TeMPOraL »

Lucadg wrote: post #379
dustinmoris wrote: post #376

Personally I think AirBnb had its time. To me AirBnb is like a hotel, except: - No gym, sauna and other SPA facilities included - No breakfast buffet, restaurants or room service available - No room upgrades available - No early check in/late check out available - No 24/7 access available - No reception desk 24/7 available where I can ask for good recommendations, learn a bit more about the place without feeling awkw…

You are not talking about Airbnb here. You are saying a whole industry which existed well before hotels, before Airbnb and will exist after Airbnb is not a good fit for you.

That industry was somewhat small before. For it, AirBnB was its Eternal September, as everyone and their dog suddenly became landlords of their (often rented!) home.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#385

Post by TrackerFF »

dustinmoris wrote: post #376

Personally I think AirBnb had its time. To me AirBnb is like a hotel, except: - No gym, sauna and other SPA facilities included - No breakfast buffet, restaurants or room service available - No room upgrades available - No early check in/late check out available - No 24/7 access available - No reception desk 24/7 available where I can ask for good recommendations, learn a bit more about the place without feeling awkw…

Airbnb is GREAT if you:

- Want to rent an entire house in some specific area

- Want to rent something as cheap as possible / on a strapped budget.

Very cheap travel/plane tickets and accommodation has made international travel very accessible for a lot of people around the globe. So I can absolutely see why some people swear to using airbnb - but for me? I'll rather pay the extra $50 for a hotel room. That's chump change for peace of mind, IMO.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#386

Post by morelisp »

garmaine wrote: post #350
shafyy wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an European, it seems weird that in the US you don't need to register your address at all, leading to this last-cenutry 10-year Census process.

> leading to this last-cenutry 10-year Census process What are you referring to? We have a every-ten-year census mandate built into our constitution. It’s been an ongoing thing since the 18th century. The census results are mostly kept private and anonymized, with only aggregate data being shared.

In other countries the role of the census is significantly lessened in modern times because basic population questions can be answered with "instantaneous" (in terms of when it was measured, if not when you get the results) data. The idea of waiting increments of 10 years to get basic counts of where people are living / moving to / from seems ridiculous. Deeper demographic information is usually handled via sampling, and does not require the nationwide (and especially this time, logistically taxing) mobilization of census-takers.

I do agree it would be difficult for the US to shift to such a system given the requirement is constitutional rather than merely a procedure of the civil service.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#387

Post by jbverschoor »

TrackerFF wrote: post #385
dustinmoris wrote: post #376

Personally I think AirBnb had its time. To me AirBnb is like a hotel, except: - No gym, sauna and other SPA facilities included - No breakfast buffet, restaurants or room service available - No room upgrades available - No early check in/late check out available - No 24/7 access available - No reception desk 24/7 available where I can ask for good recommendations, learn a bit more about the place without feeling awkw…

Airbnb is GREAT if you: - Want to rent an entire house in some specific area - Want to rent something as cheap as possible / on a strapped budget. Very cheap travel/plane tickets and accommodation has made international travel very accessible for a lot of people around the globe. So I can absolutely see why some people swear to using airbnb - but for me? I'll rather pay the extra $50 for a hotel room. That's chump ch…

Airbnb often is more expensive than hotels.

But yes, for an entire house for a group of 4 - 6 people, it's great.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#388

Post by fumblebee »

Totally anecdotal, but in the early years of Airbnb, I was a staunch advocate of their mission and execution. Fast forward to now and several negative experiences with the firm (which have only really happened over the last couple of years) have left me wary of the company, especially having had great experiences with other services like Booking.com. That said, for the chief product that Airbnb mediates - rooms or apartments instead of hotels or hostels -, they're top dog. Alternative options in this space are mighty slim if you're looking beyond non-sketchy options, perhaps because barriers to entry, by way of building large-enough user and hosts bases, are _really_ difficult to build up.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#389

Post by x87678r »

Dragonai wrote: post #312
maltelandwehr wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trust, inventory, and demand are not that easy to copy. Most people probably don’t want to check a dozen different sites (convenience) or don’t know which sites they can trust.

I'd also like to add that Airbnb has become a pretty widely adopted verb. Once a brand becomes a verb, overtaking and unseating that degree of brand recognition becomes a feat that I can't recall has ever been done before.

I did a search and Xerox, YoYo, JetSki, Windsurfer, Velcro, PC seem a good start. Brands that still are used like Uber, Google are still new.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#390

Post by dustinmoris »

Lucadg wrote: post #379
dustinmoris wrote: post #376

Personally I think AirBnb had its time. To me AirBnb is like a hotel, except: - No gym, sauna and other SPA facilities included - No breakfast buffet, restaurants or room service available - No room upgrades available - No early check in/late check out available - No 24/7 access available - No reception desk 24/7 available where I can ask for good recommendations, learn a bit more about the place without feeling awkw…

You are not talking about Airbnb here. You are saying a whole industry which existed well before hotels, before Airbnb and will exist after Airbnb is not a good fit for you.

I was speaking specifically of AirBnb because a clean, good reviewed room in a central location in any city comes almost at the same cost as a hotel room minus all the other things. Here is the thing, my wife and I did an around the world trip for an entire year and we did not stay once at an AirBnb. I checked AirBnb in every new country and every time it lost against a hotel or a hostel. Most AirBnbs were priced at the level of a hotel room, so if we wanted to splash out (after roughing it for a few weeks) then we booked a hotel for the price of an AirBnb and if we wanted something cheaper than a hotel then hostels beat AirBnb by miles every single time. Especially outside Europe many hostels were offering an unbeatable experience where you could get so much more comfort and value for little money than what the cheap AirBnbs had to offer. If during an entire year of travelling we didn't book an AirBnb once (despite trying) then this speaks for itself IMHO - at least from my point of view.
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