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Airbnb S-1

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Re: Airbnb S-1

#441

Post by azylman »

H8crilA wrote: post #431
azylman wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, companies have ways to do this with a decent amount of precision and accuracy based on existing user behaviors. They can often even be detailed enough to know that LTV differs depending on the channel that the customer was acquired by (e.g. organic vs. Facebook ads vs. search ads) and tailor their ad spend accordingly. I don't know what AirBnB's numbers are, companies aren't required to disclose this and they gu…

Yeah but as an investor why would you buy this stock, and at which price level if so? My point of view is that of an investor - how would I know if they're compounding up or down. Is it a zero? Is it great? All you're saying is "trust the management". I am not saying they're doing a bad job, I am merely saying that it looks difficult to tell. Remember, the management has a huge incentive to sell you the stock regardl…

I'm not saying "trust the management", I'm telling you how an investor would think about it. High spend on marketing can absolutely be justified. Additionally, there's rarely enough public info to allow any investor to independently verify whether it's justified in a specific scenario or not. But if an investor thought that there was positive ROI on that spend, they're not going to fret too much about how large that amount is - as long as it's bringing in a positive return.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#442

Post by alexpotato »

achow wrote: post #294
alexpotato wrote: post #229

> Mr. Stephenson’s offer letter provides for an initial base salary of $600,000, an initial target bonus of 75% of his base salary, and a one-time hiring bonus in the aggregate amount of $2,400,000 While I've received signing bonuses in the past, I was not aware that you could get a signing bonus that was 4x of your base salary.

This could easily be to compensate for unvested Amazon stock that he maybe leaving behind.

Wouldn't they just do a 1 for 1 trade in AirBnB stocks or at least RSUs or options? That would seem preferable from an "aligning of interests" perspective.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#443

Post by seanmcdirmid »

eythian wrote: post #355
garmaine wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's not really registering with the police, though they probably get access to the information. When you do it you go to the council building and register there (at least when I last did it several years ago), so it's more like registering with the city. This means that things like local taxes and such go to you automatically. I do know a lot of people who aren't registered where they live, because they're illegally…

Ya, the latter doesn’t really work in Switzerland, where they bring in swat if you aren’t registered properly, much to my shock.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#444

Post by kenneth »

silverpepsi wrote: post #305
kenneth wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 midr…

Never had this issue, but then again granted I stay with the nicer hotels typically part of a western chain.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#445

Post by wombatmobile »

fakedang wrote: post #423
wombatmobile wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I couldn't help myself because I'm sure it's a bug and I can't stand to let a bug go so I persisted with technical support. One guy got it and traced through what happened. He's escalated it to the subject specialist. It's an important bug. The "Smart Pricing" is broken, or at least in 3 cases of mine it was, and the documentation in the guides for Hosts is discordant. Airbnb S-1 Page 191 > Serving Our Stakeholders >…

Wow, you're quite the sceptic lol. Good work there.

Well, there's no scepticism required. The Airbnb documentation for hosts explains how the pricing works, and it didn't work that way. It certainly didn't work like "Smart Pricing".

Xmas/NYE is the middle of summer in Australia. My pad is right next to the beach in a nice part of South East Queensland, and everything like it is already booked out for Xmas.

If you have access to my account data, which the support team does, Airbnb FAQ Articles #503 and #1168 are all that's required to establish that the pricing made in the offer to my guest is the result of a bug, which I have characterised in writing.

But how to establish that with Airbnb and get a resolution? I've been trying for 4 days..

When I read the S-1 with the beautiful sentimental story of the evolution of Airbnb, I couldn't help but post here. Not because I'm pissed, but because I believe in the story promoted by Paul Graham about these people. It would be great if they could retain some of their essence by responding to this incident instead of blocking it with bureaucracy.

They do have good customer support people, and evidently they have retained their culture, but it doesn't facilitate responding to bug reports from hosts in a timely manner. As the support guy told me, without reports, they'd never know about pricing bugs. Surely this is an important one, given that "Smart Pricing" is a feature in the S-1, and hosts are considered important stakeholders in the prospectus.

I've got to wait until the subject specialist verifies the bug and reports it to engineering. If engineering verifies the bug and reports back to the subject specialist, who might then report back to the support guy, who might then consult with his supervisor about whether they can compensate me or my guest somehow, this could all work out fine. So long as that happens before 21 December, no problem. Otherwise, I better cancel the booking before then and find a new guest, and hope the woman who thought she got a bargain can find somewhere else to stay for Xmas. Or just disregard my feelings for this guest and be more detached about hosting. And other people's bugs.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#446

Post by shafyy »

garmaine wrote: post #433
mcntsh wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK there's a direct connection between the church you are apart of and the government via Kirchensteuer. As it relates to ethnicity, you're right. I can no longer edit my original comment though.

I think you can say “no religion” though and then not pay your tithing taxes, no? There’s no requirement that if you are Jewish you register as such (but then, your synagogue misses out on money).

Yes exactly, you can easily opt out from the church tax (of course, ideal it should have been opt in).

Re: Airbnb S-1

#447

Post by shafyy »

mcntsh wrote: post #346
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.

As an American who now lives in Germany, it does make me think how the U.S works at all without this "registration". There are times where you fill out government forms with your address, but there's no way to know for sure where someone is living at any given moment. As far as the "government" is concerned (which government? state, local, federal? AFAIK it's all pretty decentralised) I'm still living at the place I…

Yes I guess it's the cultural differences. But in reality, if the US government wants to find out where you live, they're going to find out :-)

Also, as another child comment said, filling out religion and gender is optional, and no form ever asks for race (at least in Germany and Switzerland I know that for sure).

On the other hand, having better data about citizens makes a lot of things more efficient and fair in government and politics. As I said, I think the US Census is a disaster and always leads to unfair outcomes for minorities and lower class people.

But I agree, it would be better if they woulnd't ask for religion at all.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#448

Post by shafyy »

kube-system wrote: post #394
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.

The US census is also intended to count people without an address. Also, in the US it is state governments that are the authority for most things pertaining to where people live: property and rental law, identification cards, property taxes, voters registration, etc. Most states do require people to change their voters registration and drivers license when they move between states. It’s not that strange that you don’…

In reality, there are a lot of problems with the Census that in the end unproportionally effect minorities and lower income folks negatively.

It's the same in Germany and Switzerland (and I think in a lot of other European countries): You register with your local government when you move, not the federal government.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#449

Post by mcntsh »

garmaine wrote: post #433
mcntsh wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK there's a direct connection between the church you are apart of and the government via Kirchensteuer. As it relates to ethnicity, you're right. I can no longer edit my original comment though.

I think you can say “no religion” though and then not pay your tithing taxes, no? There’s no requirement that if you are Jewish you register as such (but then, your synagogue misses out on money).

Hmm I've read stories of people getting in trouble for being members of a church and not paying their church tax.

Re: Airbnb S-1

#450

Post by yisonPylkita »

shafyy wrote: post #447
mcntsh wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an American who now lives in Germany, it does make me think how the U.S works at all without this "registration". There are times where you fill out government forms with your address, but there's no way to know for sure where someone is living at any given moment. As far as the "government" is concerned (which government? state, local, federal? AFAIK it's all pretty decentralised) I'm still living at the place I…

Yes I guess it's the cultural differences. But in reality, if the US government wants to find out where you live, they're going to find out :-) Also, as another child comment said, filling out religion and gender is optional, and no form ever asks for race (at least in Germany and Switzerland I know that for sure). On the other hand, having better data about citizens makes a lot of things more efficient and fair in g…

They’re asking for your religion because it makes a difference in your taxes and days free of work
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