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Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

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131–140 of 237 posts

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who would describe their parents (the kid’s grandparents) as “babysitters” in this context? (It’s a genuine question, might be some cultural differences at play, but in my family this would be a family trip with a grandparent, not a family trip with a “babysitter”.)

I was trying to speak generically to cover all options. Friends of mine travel with an au pair AND grandparents.

> Friends of mine travel with an au pair AND grandparents.

Sounds absolutely reasonable! Do they differentiate in any way between the grandparents and the au pairs, or do they, for instance, also share accommodations?

Also how do you separate the grandparents from the au pairs in the family photos???

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who would describe their parents (the kid’s grandparents) as “babysitters” in this context? (It’s a genuine question, might be some cultural differences at play, but in my family this would be a family trip with a grandparent, not a family trip with a “babysitter”.)

I was trying to speak generically to cover all options. Friends of mine travel with an au pair AND grandparents.

> Friends of mine travel with an au pair AND grandparents.

Surely you understand this is completely out the reach of almost everyone in society?

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#133
post #52

Is anybody else kind of over AirBnb? I loved it for a while, but now prices have gone way up, the "cleaning fees" are exorbitant and make navigating/browsing a minefield, and I've had a few sketchy incidents (which were, admittedly, a side effect of choosing the cheapest place I could find), including one where the apartment manager came in, went through our clothes and _stole the bed_. I've found myself just using h…

Hotels are usually easier and cheaper EXCEPT if you actually want a whole house. Traveling with kids and a babysitter requires like 3 rooms and having a kitchen is a huge plus. So for that, its really good.

>Traveling with kids and a babysitter

what? i make what i thought was good money but this is absurd to me

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#134
post #52

Is anybody else kind of over AirBnb? I loved it for a while, but now prices have gone way up, the "cleaning fees" are exorbitant and make navigating/browsing a minefield, and I've had a few sketchy incidents (which were, admittedly, a side effect of choosing the cheapest place I could find), including one where the apartment manager came in, went through our clothes and _stole the bed_. I've found myself just using h…

i never understood the appeal over a hotel in the first place

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed! I lead a nomadic lifestyle between my campervan and staying in short term rentals and it has gotten to the point that all of the various sites are now a minefield on many fronts. Between scams, poor pictures and fees, it really is a huge challenge. My last rental in West Seattle was a super cute little house that I found on Zillow and I was lucky because it was owner rented, which saved us both on all those p…

Would you mind talking a bit about your lifestyle? I've been tossing around the idea a bit and in particular I'm curious about how much the van cost to setup and what you do for Wifi.

Sure! As for cost... well... it really depends on what you get. I'd say a decent starter is cost of the van + 30-60k for the build out (including labor).

AT&T has an unlimited 4G for business plan that is only about $100/month. They accept 'consultant' as a business (I went into a store to simplify the process of setting up the account). Get a mifi (Netgear M1)... it has 2 ports for a mimo antenna. Get an omni directional antenna and the shortest cables you think you need. That should get you coverage in most places. I've taken my daily zoom calls on the tops of mountains in the middle of nowhere. There is a newer Netgear 5G mifi out now too, but I haven't looked into it yet as I'm ok on 4G and 5G coverage, especially in remote areas, isn't that great yet.

I spent 2 years on a small motorbike going all through super remote areas of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and living out of hotels and short term rentals. Living in a van is easy after that. =)

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hotels are usually easier and cheaper EXCEPT if you actually want a whole house. Traveling with kids and a babysitter requires like 3 rooms and having a kitchen is a huge plus. So for that, its really good.

> Traveling with kids and a babysitter I'm pretty sure you already know that travelling with personal domestic staff is a vanishingly tiny niche requirement of the super-rich.

I don't have personal domestic staff but I have the same requirement: somewhere I really can live like at home and cook for myself and my family. In Switzerland this is called «Ferienwohnung», «résidence locative» and «appartemento per le vacanze». Even my parents rented holiday homes when I was a child.

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was trying to speak generically to cover all options. Friends of mine travel with an au pair AND grandparents.

> Friends of mine travel with an au pair AND grandparents. Surely you understand this is completely out the reach of almost everyone in society?

Except for the target demo of this website.

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the same logic, every hotel is a big building that's not an apartment building. But travelers have to stay somewhere...

> By the same logic, every hotel is a big building that's not an apartment building. Many times Hotels are located in areas that are zoned commercial and not residential. So no, hotels really are not competing with housing the way AirBnb is.

OK, but apartment buildings can be in areas that are zoned commercial too...

(Unless they're zoned exclusively commercial - but I don't know how common that is.)

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#139
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you would never stay in a beach house, lake house, or mountain lodge? Also in urban environments, the locations of private houses are sometimes much better: near parks, neighborhoods, restaurants, etc.

I remember doing house rental vacations with my family in something like 1987. Why do so many people seem to think Airbnb invented this? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.

who said AirBnB invented house rentals? OP said they would never stay in someone else's house on vacation.

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Friends of mine travel with an au pair AND grandparents. Surely you understand this is completely out the reach of almost everyone in society?

Except for the target demo of this website.

Even a line Googler doesn't normally have domestic staff do they? Or am I completely out of touch with how most of tech live?
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