Airbnb Nightmare: No End In Sight • Hacker News Board

Re: Airbnb Nightmare: No End In Sight

#331

Post by rdl » Fri, Jul 29, 2011, 5:25 PM UTC

AlexandrB wrote: post #297

krschultz wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not exactly the point. An insurance policy for a high risk activity - let's say skydiving - is very well definited. There are statistics on accident rates. There is a pretty defined payout when someone dies. The problem is not the risk level, it's the undefined nature of the problem. AirBnB doesn't know the value of the property they are renting. They don't have a long enough history to figure out what these k…

> Does AirBnB limit their pay out? Yes. And make it clear that the payout is limited in the TOS. That way AirBnB/their insurer assume some well-defined amount of risk and it's not all on the renter. The issue of insurance fraud is tougher though.

The other tricky thing is that they need to negotiate this per jurisdiction. They can't sell insurance directly in most markets without being an insurer, and there are all kinds of BS legacy laws about referring and reselling insurance too. (i.e. you'd need to go to classes and be a registered agent to offer it)

It would be a fun problem to solve for them.

I don't think the actual per-room-night price for, say, $10-20k in contents and $bignum in liability (i.e. my guest burns down the building and kills everyone) would be that high; on the order of $10. 2m nights is enough to have some data, and this is similar to the vacation market.

It could even just be a rider on top of existing homeowners/renters insurance. A nice trick might be to sell renters insurance at the same time, and make money off that (which is IMO something everyone should have anyway, even if they don't use airbnb), with free coverage for airbnb use.

Re: Airbnb Nightmare: No End In Sight

#332

Post by dlss » Fri, Jul 29, 2011, 5:28 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #327

estel wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this fit with the linked article, where the lady in question claims her personal liason at the company hadn't even contacted her in a month? How does that possibly match up with "doing everything they could be doing to help this woman" when she herself clearly feels ignored? Edit: I'm not accusing the AirBNB guys of being bad guys: I don't know them. But this doesn't seem to address, and seems somewhat contr…

Brian told me that someone from Airbnb called her just a few hours before she published this most recent post.

With respect, I don't see how this answers estel's question.

Is she crazy? Did she stop checking email, SMS, and phone? (or maybe change number post break in?) Did you misinterpret what the AirBnB guys told you?

How can these two drastically different accounts make sense together?

(edit: if you only read the TC coverage, the link you are replying to is EJ's account)

Re: Airbnb Nightmare: No End In Sight

#333

Post by mikeleeorg » Fri, Jul 29, 2011, 5:28 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #319

edw519 wrote: post #141

Airbnb & YC, just fix this please: 1. Get a new place for EJ. Furnish it fully. Pay for everything. 2. Help her restore her virtual identity. Use any resources at your considerable disposal. 3. Help her find her irreplaceable stuff. A few private detectives and a small team of scouters can make more progress in 2 weeks that the SFPD can make in a lifetime. Publish pictures of her grandmother's jewelry to enlist a gia…

I've just learned more about this situation, and it turns out Airbnb has been offering to fix it, from the very beginning. From the beginning they offered to pay to get her a new place and new stuff, and do whatever else she wanted. The story Arrington wrote yesterday about Airbnb not offering to help was bullshit. He asked a company spokesman what Airbnb was doing to help her. The spokesman, who'd been told by their…

Having seen & read a lot about Brian Chesky, I really do believe that he is a genuinely nice guy.

But out of curiosity, do you know if EJ's note of Brian calling her, telling her how her blog post story will negatively impact AirBnB, requesting her blog post to be removed/limited/hidden, then asking for a "twist" of good news to "complete[s] the story" is true?

Re: Airbnb Nightmare: No End In Sight

#334

Post by DanHulton » Fri, Jul 29, 2011, 5:29 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #319

edw519 wrote: post #141

Airbnb & YC, just fix this please: 1. Get a new place for EJ. Furnish it fully. Pay for everything. 2. Help her restore her virtual identity. Use any resources at your considerable disposal. 3. Help her find her irreplaceable stuff. A few private detectives and a small team of scouters can make more progress in 2 weeks that the SFPD can make in a lifetime. Publish pictures of her grandmother's jewelry to enlist a gia…

I've just learned more about this situation, and it turns out Airbnb has been offering to fix it, from the very beginning. From the beginning they offered to pay to get her a new place and new stuff, and do whatever else she wanted. The story Arrington wrote yesterday about Airbnb not offering to help was bullshit. He asked a company spokesman what Airbnb was doing to help her. The spokesman, who'd been told by their…

Arrington aside, EJ's own blog post here seems to contradict what you're saying.

The story she paints is one of AirBnB doing as much as they can in terms of damage control, but precious little in terms of repair.

If they've offered to "fix it", and are doing "everything they could be doing", why is she talking about feeling neglected? I quote:

"But the staff at Airbnb has not made a positive contribution to me personally or my situation in any way, particularly since June 30."

Is she lying? Is that what you're telling us? Or is there some grand miscommunication, where even EJ doesn't understand what AirBnB has offered?

Re: Airbnb Nightmare: No End In Sight

#335

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 29, 2011, 5:29 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #319

edw519 wrote: post #141

Airbnb & YC, just fix this please: 1. Get a new place for EJ. Furnish it fully. Pay for everything. 2. Help her restore her virtual identity. Use any resources at your considerable disposal. 3. Help her find her irreplaceable stuff. A few private detectives and a small team of scouters can make more progress in 2 weeks that the SFPD can make in a lifetime. Publish pictures of her grandmother's jewelry to enlist a gia…

I've just learned more about this situation, and it turns out Airbnb has been offering to fix it, from the very beginning. From the beginning they offered to pay to get her a new place and new stuff, and do whatever else she wanted. The story Arrington wrote yesterday about Airbnb not offering to help was bullshit. He asked a company spokesman what Airbnb was doing to help her. The spokesman, who'd been told by their…

[deleted]

Re: Airbnb Nightmare: No End In Sight

#336

Post by pg » Fri, Jul 29, 2011, 5:33 PM UTC

DanHulton wrote: post #334

pg wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've just learned more about this situation, and it turns out Airbnb has been offering to fix it, from the very beginning. From the beginning they offered to pay to get her a new place and new stuff, and do whatever else she wanted. The story Arrington wrote yesterday about Airbnb not offering to help was bullshit. He asked a company spokesman what Airbnb was doing to help her. The spokesman, who'd been told by their…

Arrington aside, EJ's own blog post here seems to contradict what you're saying. The story she paints is one of AirBnB doing as much as they can in terms of damage control, but precious little in terms of repair. If they've offered to "fix it", and are doing "everything they could be doing", why is she talking about feeling neglected? I quote: "But the staff at Airbnb has not made a positive contribution to me person…

I don't know her so I couldn't say.

Re: Airbnb Nightmare: No End In Sight

#337

Post by chailatte » Fri, Jul 29, 2011, 5:35 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #319

edw519 wrote: post #141

Airbnb & YC, just fix this please: 1. Get a new place for EJ. Furnish it fully. Pay for everything. 2. Help her restore her virtual identity. Use any resources at your considerable disposal. 3. Help her find her irreplaceable stuff. A few private detectives and a small team of scouters can make more progress in 2 weeks that the SFPD can make in a lifetime. Publish pictures of her grandmother's jewelry to enlist a gia…

I've just learned more about this situation, and it turns out Airbnb has been offering to fix it, from the very beginning. From the beginning they offered to pay to get her a new place and new stuff, and do whatever else she wanted. The story Arrington wrote yesterday about Airbnb not offering to help was bullshit. He asked a company spokesman what Airbnb was doing to help her. The spokesman, who'd been told by their…

I think it's horrible that pg, a minor minor stakeholder in Airbnb, is handling the PR. Should be founders job. Where is Brian's apology for putting this poor woman's life on hold for 5 weeks?

Any goodwill that AirBnb gained from the namesake of YC has been lost from people I've spoken to.

Re: Airbnb Nightmare: No End In Sight

#338

Post by edw519 » Fri, Jul 29, 2011, 5:37 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #319

edw519 wrote: post #141

Airbnb & YC, just fix this please: 1. Get a new place for EJ. Furnish it fully. Pay for everything. 2. Help her restore her virtual identity. Use any resources at your considerable disposal. 3. Help her find her irreplaceable stuff. A few private detectives and a small team of scouters can make more progress in 2 weeks that the SFPD can make in a lifetime. Publish pictures of her grandmother's jewelry to enlist a gia…

I've just learned more about this situation, and it turns out Airbnb has been offering to fix it, from the very beginning. From the beginning they offered to pay to get her a new place and new stuff, and do whatever else she wanted. The story Arrington wrote yesterday about Airbnb not offering to help was bullshit. He asked a company spokesman what Airbnb was doing to help her. The spokesman, who'd been told by their…

Even if you don't believe they are nice guys...do you really think they are so dumb...

Of course not. I'm not even sure what I said to imply either of those.

The story Arrington wrote yesterday about Airbnb not offering to help was bullshit.

I never read the Arrington story. I was just responding to EJ's blog.

From the beginning they offered to pay to get her a new place and new stuff, and do whatever else she wanted.

Great! Sounds like Airbnb is several steps ahead of most of us here on hn. We just never realized it.

What I meant in grandparent: Difficult situations like this one are also often great opportunities to make things better and learn. This one is a doozy. Looking forward to learning from its resolution.

Re: Airbnb Nightmare: No End In Sight

#339

Post by metachris » Fri, Jul 29, 2011, 5:41 PM UTC

funthree wrote: post #106

urbanjunkie wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, by that logic, if I did get raped, I should be happy I didn't get tortured and killed, right? Basically, nothing should ever bother me, because there's always something worse that could happen.

If you just crossed tracks with a criminal known for killing, then raping and torturing their victims. Then YES, you should be very happy that you avoided more terrible things. I thought this was common wisdom among people, but perhaps it is not shared by everyone. EDIT: Look at the bright side of things.

Right, you'd say "Look at the bright side of things, you didn't get murdered" to a women who has just been raped? That's rather low.

Re: Airbnb Nightmare: No End In Sight

#340

Post by pg » Fri, Jul 29, 2011, 5:42 PM UTC

chailatte wrote: post #337

pg wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've just learned more about this situation, and it turns out Airbnb has been offering to fix it, from the very beginning. From the beginning they offered to pay to get her a new place and new stuff, and do whatever else she wanted. The story Arrington wrote yesterday about Airbnb not offering to help was bullshit. He asked a company spokesman what Airbnb was doing to help her. The spokesman, who'd been told by their…

I think it's horrible that pg, a minor minor stakeholder in Airbnb, is handling the PR. Should be founders job. Where is Brian's apology for putting this poor woman's life on hold for 5 weeks? Any goodwill that AirBnb gained from the namesake of YC has been lost from people I've spoken to.

My whole point is that as far as I can tell he hasn't, and therefore has nothing to apologize for.