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The Moment Of Truth For Airbnb As User’s Home Is Utterly Trashed
71–80 of 243 posts
Re: The Moment Of Truth For Airbnb As User’s Home Is Utterly Trashed
#72Lets see if YC changes this title too...
For future reference, title is currently: "The Moment Of Truth For AirBnB As User’s Home Is Utterly Trashed " Previous submission's title changed from: "AirBnB: Crimes committed against a host" to "Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned"
pg often asks people to change the title if they're editorialising. I posted the Nissan Leaf campaign page with the title "We don't need Flash(TM) anymore for anything ever!" and he emailed me and said "don't editorialise in titles" and changed it to "Nissan Leaf".
Re: The Moment Of Truth For Airbnb As User’s Home Is Utterly Trashed
#73When someone first told me about AirBnB I immediately dismissed it - just like Fred Wilson did. It fell in the group of ideas which I just find puzzling because the concept is totally alien to something I would want to do/buy/participate in. I don't get why anyone would want to rent out their couch or spare room to a transient stranger - even 'vetted' within a community (and we can see that vetted is very lose here)…
Well, AirBnB certainly didn't create the idea that someone would rent out their home to a stranger, they just made it easier. My grandparents were renting out ski houses in Tahoe for a few days at a time 50 years ago.
And a few hundred dollars? The people I rented from in Paris were pulling in over $4k a month through AirBnB per property and they owned several.
If they simply charged a refundable deposit against damages like your average vacation rental, made people sign a damage contract and AirBnB secured the identity so you could prosecute someone if they destroy a place completely, a lot of these problems would go away.
Re: The Moment Of Truth For Airbnb As User’s Home Is Utterly Trashed
#74"I spoke to Airbnb about EJ’s situation. They won’t reimburse her for damages, they say, and they do not insure against losses. They are helping police track down the person who did this, but their help ends there." ... Fuck. That. I don't care what the long-term implications are, I don't care about precedent, I don't care about policy, I don't care about cost . If my business does this to someone I make it right . E…
Where do we draw the line on decency?
* Guest trashes the place, takes off with host's camera, iPod, laptop, jewelry - should AirBnb chip in for the cost?
* Guest scratches a hardwood floor that's pretty expensive to fix - should AirBnb chip in for the cost? Or just buy a rug to cover it? What if it's some Mongolian oak that's custom-ordered at $5000 per sq.ft.?
* Guest overflows the toilet, causing some floor damage and a call to plumber - should AirBnb pay for just the floor? Or cover plumber's visit?
* TV is not working on guest's departure, guest claims to never have touched it, owner says it worked perfectly before the guest arrived - should AirBnb just buy a new TV?
Re: The Moment Of Truth For Airbnb As User’s Home Is Utterly Trashed
#75> I spoke to Airbnb about EJ’s situation. They won’t reimburse her for damages This is bad news. They're going to backtrack on this. The sooner they do it, the better for them politically. I understand the problems of setting a precedent. And there really is no getting around the fact that the hosts do have the final responsibility for screening travelers (and travelers for screening hosts). But rightly or wrongly, t…
Techcrunch is just the beginning. Douse this now. Ensure everybody knows that this experience was an outlier and that Airbnb exists for its users; make the girl whole.
Re: The Moment Of Truth For Airbnb As User’s Home Is Utterly Trashed
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
For future reference, title is currently: "The Moment Of Truth For AirBnB As User’s Home Is Utterly Trashed " Previous submission's title changed from: "AirBnB: Crimes committed against a host" to "Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned"
pg often asks people to change the title if they're editorialising. I posted the Nissan Leaf campaign page with the title "We don't need Flash(TM) anymore for anything ever!" and he emailed me and said "don't editorialise in titles" and changed it to "Nissan Leaf".
The counterargument here being that blog post's title was so generic sounding as to potentially not bring enough attention to the importance of the issue. The HN submission's original title didn't misrepresent the contents of the blog post in any way and helped attract more attention to the issue.
Re: The Moment Of Truth For Airbnb As User’s Home Is Utterly Trashed
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
At the least, I hope someone starts a fund for this girl. I'd contribute. This is a terrible story.
Makes me think— Who says someone else has to insure Airbnb? Let's say they add an invisible $1 insurance fee to each booking, that goes into a fund to pay interim damages only when an actual crime is committed. Cases like this are so rare, and although the damage is horrific to one person the dollar amount is trivial on the scale Airbnb operates. Seems like a perfect case for a shared risk pool that actually works ra…
This opens Airbnb up to the risk of significant insurance fraud. Insurance companies have the infrastructure to deal with it, but Airbnb doesn't - and presumably doesn't want to build it.
Re: The Moment Of Truth For Airbnb As User’s Home Is Utterly Trashed
#78"I spoke to Airbnb about EJ’s situation. They won’t reimburse her for damages, they say, and they do not insure against losses. They are helping police track down the person who did this, but their help ends there." ... Fuck. That. I don't care what the long-term implications are, I don't care about precedent, I don't care about policy, I don't care about cost . If my business does this to someone I make it right . E…
Where do we draw the line on decency? * Guest trashes the place, takes off with host's camera, iPod, laptop, jewelry - should AirBnb chip in for the cost? * Guest scratches a hardwood floor that's pretty expensive to fix - should AirBnb chip in for the cost? Or just buy a rug to cover it? What if it's some Mongolian oak that's custom-ordered at $5000 per sq.ft.? * Guest overflows the toilet, causing some floor damage…
I'm willing to go on record as saying the line is drawn at a sociopath willfully destroying someone's home and stealing their identity.
It's pretty simple. If the user can't pre-screen and validate the guest's identity before renting, the onus is on Airbnb to ensure that they will not destroy your home.
Besides, that's the only way this company can work at scale. Without trust in the system, who will use it?
Re: The Moment Of Truth For Airbnb As User’s Home Is Utterly Trashed
#79> I spoke to Airbnb about EJ’s situation. They won’t reimburse her for damages This is bad news. They're going to backtrack on this. The sooner they do it, the better for them politically. I understand the problems of setting a precedent. And there really is no getting around the fact that the hosts do have the final responsibility for screening travelers (and travelers for screening hosts). But rightly or wrongly, t…
As was pointed out before, it's not possible to get insurance for this - homeowner's insurance specifically disclaims damage from renters, and it's generally not legal to rent your premises like this unless you comply with all the hotel rules, so AirBnb can't take out insurance either. All they can do is self-insure, and if they start paying out, people will realize "Hey, I can get a new TV if I let my friend come an…
What AirBNB could do is help the victim sue the criminal for damages in court. Lend her the support of their legal team.
Of course, the odds that the criminal has anything left to take are low...
Re: The Moment Of Truth For Airbnb As User’s Home Is Utterly Trashed
#80> I spoke to Airbnb about EJ’s situation. They won’t reimburse her for damages This is bad news. They're going to backtrack on this. The sooner they do it, the better for them politically. I understand the problems of setting a precedent. And there really is no getting around the fact that the hosts do have the final responsibility for screening travelers (and travelers for screening hosts). But rightly or wrongly, t…
As was pointed out before, it's not possible to get insurance for this - homeowner's insurance specifically disclaims damage from renters, and it's generally not legal to rent your premises like this unless you comply with all the hotel rules, so AirBnb can't take out insurance either. All they can do is self-insure, and if they start paying out, people will realize "Hey, I can get a new TV if I let my friend come an…
"Hey, I can get a new TV if I let my friend come and trash my old one".
Fraud is a problem with all insurance policies. Deductibles and investigations go a long way to curtail it.
They can also set the premium high enough to cover the costs and get to claim that it's available if the homeowner chooses, even though most won't do to the high price. It's a feature that would make them stand out among their ever growing competitors.