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Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

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Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#2

Post by jamesgagan »

I find this bit particularly damning: "During this call and in messages thereafter, he requested that I shut down the blog altogether or limit its access, and a few weeks later, suggested that I update the blog with a “twist" of good news so as to “complete[s] the story”.

Seems like we are all still waiting for the "good news" ending to this tale.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#3

Post by bignoggins »

I'm using airbnb in Berlin right now. Two days ago I received a knock on my door. Turns out it was the real owner of the apartment and he had the Paperwork to prove it. Fortunately he was nice enough to let us stay without compensation. When I went to the airbnb website to try and call them all I got was a web message box. I filled out a message and sent it on its way but that's a pretty lousy system. Luckily for me my situation is nowhere as bad as ej but airbnb really needs a 24 hour hotline. I've had many good experiences but all it takes is that one time.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#4

Post by ColinWright »

This article on TC adds nothing at all.

Original blog post: http://ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/07/airbnb-nightmare...

HN submission of that blog post for discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2820615

========

ADDED IN EDIT: Clearly this is contentious - it went up to two points, now as I write this it's down to zero, and who knows where it will go next.

Yes, I agree, sometimes TechCrunch adds information, but I claim that in this case it doesn't. Further, I claim that by reading only the excerpts they include, you are not being given the whole picture as written by the blog author. The post is well-written and well-crafted - providing summary excerpts does not give the full impact or the full situation.

And, given that the crunchy bits don't actually add anything, let me quote from http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html where it says:

    Please submit the original source. If a blog post
    reports on something they found on another site,
    submit the latter.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#5

Post by jamesgagan »

ColinWright wrote: post #4

This article on TC adds nothing at all. Original blog post: http://ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/07/airbnb-nightmare... HN submission of that blog post for discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2820615 ======== ADDED IN EDIT: Clearly this is contentious - it went up to two points, now as I write this it's down to zero, and who knows where it will go next. Yes, I agree, sometimes TechCrunch adds informat…

I disagree - people are always interested in TechCrunch's take on things. Indeed, AirBNB used it as their PR channel the other day ( http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/27/on-safety-a-word-from-airbn...) so linking to the TC article certainly has value.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#6

Post by freddealmeida »

jamesgagan wrote: post #2

I find this bit particularly damning: "During this call and in messages thereafter, he requested that I shut down the blog altogether or limit its access, and a few weeks later, suggested that I update the blog with a “twist" of good news so as to “complete[s] the story”. Seems like we are all still waiting for the "good news" ending to this tale.

I'm more disappointed with airbnb screwing this up than that there are bad people using the site. They should have dropped everything to fix this.

I wonder what pg thinks about this.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#7

Post by pseudonym »

jamesgagan wrote: post #2

I find this bit particularly damning: "During this call and in messages thereafter, he requested that I shut down the blog altogether or limit its access, and a few weeks later, suggested that I update the blog with a “twist" of good news so as to “complete[s] the story”. Seems like we are all still waiting for the "good news" ending to this tale.

I don't know what they're smoking over there, honestly. Cut off all contact through their CS to the victim, and then have a cofounder want to "meet them for coffee"? After asking her to take down the blog or give it a positive-twist ending?

I don't know what they're expecting but I'm hard-pressed to think of what they could do worse, short of joking about it on twitter.

Edit: Holy god, I didn't realize the actual timeframe of this was five weeks. AirBnB is going to have to crucify someone for a "bad judgement call" in terms of the sudden Customer Service cutoff if they want to have any positive spin coming off of this, I think.

Also, props to this brave lady for the point-by-point shutdown of their PR statement. I don't know many people who would have the guts to stand up to a company, especially after what she's been through, both from the original incident and AirBnB's response after her initial blog post.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#8

Post by JacobAldridge »

Worth noting that, despite recent large valuations and funding rounds, the founders of Airbnb are still driving their baby and have a massive emotional attachment to it. (As do all business owners.)

This is their first significant black eye (the Craigslist stuff was far more limited in its audience reach), and has the potential to derail a company that's only 2 years old. Of course they're going to be responding emotionally, and unfortunately that means perhaps doing too much or doing the wrong thing (like suggesting to meet for coffee without asking how EJ is coping).

Now, that emotional involvement with the business is considerably less than the emotion of coming home to discover your house has been ransacked, so I'm not trying to compare. I'm just observing that Airbnb's response (for better or worse) is not devoid of emotional triggers either. I do hope EJ is receiving the support she needs and am sure she will get through this. I similarly hope the ongoing support the Airbnb founders are receiving recognises the feelings element of running a large business through the prism of their emotional attachment.

Re: Airbnb Victim Speaks Again: Homeless, Scared And Angry

#10

Post by kooshball »

freddealmeida wrote: post #6
jamesgagan wrote: post #2

I find this bit particularly damning: "During this call and in messages thereafter, he requested that I shut down the blog altogether or limit its access, and a few weeks later, suggested that I update the blog with a “twist" of good news so as to “complete[s] the story”. Seems like we are all still waiting for the "good news" ending to this tale.

I'm more disappointed with airbnb screwing this up than that there are bad people using the site. They should have dropped everything to fix this. I wonder what pg thinks about this.

I'm curious to hear if PG even knew about this before it blew up.
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