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Airbnb’s Stunning IPO

nytimes.com

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Re: Airbnb’s Stunning IPO

#41

Post by whimsicalism »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #36
whimsicalism wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't guarantee, but my bet is the majority of people vacationing in Airbnbs aren't being distant. The marginal impact on deaths now is probably lower than it was in March, but only barely.

I’ve stayed in Airbnbs many times (zero since March) and have not even once met my host in person.

I'm not talking about interaction with the host, I'm talking about the general risks of traveling and then going to a new place where you are interacting with the people shortly after traveling.

My claim is that most of these people are not going on exclusively nature-exploration vacations, they are going to see people or to patronize their businesses.

Re: Airbnb’s Stunning IPO

#42

Post by andy_ppp »

grailed wrote: post #8

I hear a lot of talk surrounding their "moat" and many skeptics are questioning whether or not they will be able to maintain their competitive advantage. However, it feels like Airbnb has solved a truly hard problem: how to make people trust your service. People are using this app to go stay in random people's homes. How often do you hear people talk about being murdered in uber? I still hear it. How often do you hea…

I’ve had nothing but bad experiences with Airbnb and hosts who are basically trying to rinse as much money as possible for as little effort as possible. I’m not sure after a long journey I want to wonder around the Edinburgh fringe again, trying to decipher Scottish, while the wind is going crazy and there are millions of people floating around just to get keys. I think Airbnb is great if there are 15 of you sharing a flat but a lot less good if you’re a couple who want their lives to be simple. I really do not get why it’s so popular, it’s barely cheaper than a hotel after cleaning and service fees - and 100% less convenient.

Re: Airbnb’s Stunning IPO

#43

Post by tempsy »

grailed wrote: post #8

I hear a lot of talk surrounding their "moat" and many skeptics are questioning whether or not they will be able to maintain their competitive advantage. However, it feels like Airbnb has solved a truly hard problem: how to make people trust your service. People are using this app to go stay in random people's homes. How often do you hear people talk about being murdered in uber? I still hear it. How often do you hea…

There was a very big story last Halloween about an Airbnb house party in Orinda, CA that resulted in a mass shooting and 5 deaths. That started their crack down on house parties.

Re: Airbnb’s Stunning IPO

#44

Post by thedz »

grailed wrote: post #8

I hear a lot of talk surrounding their "moat" and many skeptics are questioning whether or not they will be able to maintain their competitive advantage. However, it feels like Airbnb has solved a truly hard problem: how to make people trust your service. People are using this app to go stay in random people's homes. How often do you hear people talk about being murdered in uber? I still hear it. How often do you hea…

> They've solved the trust and the brand issue, and _that_ is their moat.

I think they've solved it better than their competitors, but I'm not sure that they've solved it broadly for people using hospitality services.

For better or worse, one bad experience tends to sour people that I've talked to on the overall host-driven places to stay. Whereas for hotels and other more traditional forms, that seems to be compartmentalized to specific locations ("ugh, the hilton in boston") or chains ("I'm avoiding all Marriots from now on").

Re: Airbnb’s Stunning IPO

#45

Post by bagacrap »

fennecfoxen wrote: post #7
boringg wrote: post #4

Talk about setting the wrong price for their stock. Looks like airbnb just handed over boatloads of money to wall street.

They already priced well above the expected range. It's highly unlikely they would have been able find subscribers for the 51,551,723 shares of the offering at the post-IPO price, before the IPO.

yea, but they wouldn't have needed to sell 51,551,723 shares at that price, just 24,343,869

Re: Airbnb’s Stunning IPO

#46

Post by jeffbee »

zwieback wrote: post #3

and I thought they were struggling because everyone is staying home due to Covid...

They are struggling. They IPO not due to the health of their business, but because so many dupes are putting their dumb money on the table these days.

Re: Airbnb’s Stunning IPO

#47

Post by rezz »

whimsicalism wrote: post #13
zwieback wrote: post #3

and I thought they were struggling because everyone is staying home due to Covid...

I think the interior of America has given up on distancing.

Maybe ease up on the costal holier than thou sentiment. I’m in Miami right now and 90% of the people I’ve met are tech / finance types from NYC doing blow inside of clubs until 4am.

Re: Airbnb’s Stunning IPO

#48

Post by WanderPanda »

FruityCoconut wrote: post #32
whimsicalism wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this is not some great engineering feat with Airbnb and has much more to do with classism and the type of person who typically owns that beautiful vacation home you want to stay in.

Also you're unlikely to see the owner, they certainly won't be inside with you, you can leave any time, you're likely to be with others, and they can't change your location. Contrast that with an intoxicated young woman climbing alone into a stranger's car where he has a lot of control - including being able to lock the doors or take her to a remote/unfamiliar location. Even with all the checks and measures in place,…

> they certainly won't be inside with you

Not true, we once stayed in Pisa, Italy, and the (absolutely messy) appartment was shared with the host and her son. It was quite awkward at times but we still enjoyed the stay

Re: Airbnb’s Stunning IPO

#49

Post by BoiledCabbage »

tempsy wrote: post #29
whimsicalism wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leading economists disagree with you: https://twitter.com/BloombergTV/status/1337400042668306435 > the investors who bought the IPO allocation got an immediate 100% return but that is not at the expense of the company. Could they not have allocated at higher?

all he said was it makes the stock market look bad when some people double their money in a day. has nothing to do with whether Airbnb was screwed over by wall street. no one can predict the public market appetite in this environment. Airbnb was arguably richly valued at $50B as is and is richly valued at $100B. Setting your price too high and then crashing your stock is worse for the company due to tax implications…

> Setting your price too high and then crashing your stock is worse for the company due to tax implications and overall investor sentiment.

Raising double the money is a bad thing due to "investor sentiment"? What tangible negative impact does that have on Airbnb. You're gonna need to explain this one. Because it really sounds to me like repeating a talking point told by a counterparty.

Re: Airbnb’s Stunning IPO

#50

Post by [deleted] »

andy_ppp wrote: post #42
grailed wrote: post #8

I hear a lot of talk surrounding their "moat" and many skeptics are questioning whether or not they will be able to maintain their competitive advantage. However, it feels like Airbnb has solved a truly hard problem: how to make people trust your service. People are using this app to go stay in random people's homes. How often do you hear people talk about being murdered in uber? I still hear it. How often do you hea…

I’ve had nothing but bad experiences with Airbnb and hosts who are basically trying to rinse as much money as possible for as little effort as possible. I’m not sure after a long journey I want to wonder around the Edinburgh fringe again, trying to decipher Scottish, while the wind is going crazy and there are millions of people floating around just to get keys. I think Airbnb is great if there are 15 of you sharing…

[deleted]
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