211–220 of 254 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If she hasn't had the locks changed by now, She did. I don't see why you need to speculate on that point; in her first blog post that brought this whole mess to our attention, she said "Although I had the locks changed" ...
I think you meant to say this to the parent comment, which suggested "EJ" might be scared because the thieves still had her keys.
Just in case anyone's curious, CouchSurfing has been around a bit longer than AirBnb and they have their own safety tips and tools: http://www.couchsurfing.org/safety.html Here's the AirBnb page about safety: http://www.airbnb.com/home/safety CouchSurfing is similar in that it's about strangers staying at people's places. The biggest difference is that people let others stay at their houses for free. Usually both par…
I'm given to understand that couchsurfing usually occurs when the host is present, which IMO is a risk-mitigating behavior.
a.) It reduces the risk that something happens (e.g. burglary) b.) It increases the impact if something happens (e.g. armed robbery, murder, rape)
There are a few glaring, obvious questions to which I have not seen any answers so far - or maybe I have missed them: Why was it difficult for Airbnb to immediately have the person that trashed the place arrested? Don't they have the person's identity - address, credit card information, phone number, IP address? Don't they run a basic credit check when a person signs up to rent a unit listed on the site? Or at least…
I've been wondering this as well, and I didn't see it mentioned in any post thus far. It seems like the most obvious step to do; if police can get the CC number from AirBnB, that should be enough to resolve the SSN. Assuming the info isn't stolen, the criminal is going to have a problem. I'm not an AirBnB user, so maybe I'm missing something.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This already happens on classified ad sites, people regularly go into strangers homes to purchase a wide range of goods with close to zero pre-checks. And yes people do get killed when they turn up at someone's house with 5k in cash to buy a car. Doesn't seem to have stopped the classified business from working...
Then why do we need airbnb at all? Use craigslist for hotels too. The big issue here is that airbnb claims from the start that they are more than just classifieds, giving people a sense of security which is false.
Website more pretty. They also have an intro video with a lady talking. Craiglist does not have a pretty site or video with a lady talking.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everyone is different. I had my place burglarized some years back and I never felt safe again in the place. I suffered many sleepless nights and would awaken at any sound. This was no way to live "at home" so I moved out and have since lived in "more secure" buildings (condos). It's not a fun experience so I can empathize with anyone that has been through it and isn't the same after. In effect you really do feel viol…
Yes it can happen and people deal with it differently. Though I would assume in your case that you didn't hand over the keys of your house to the burglars.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or perhaps, as in the case of the person in this story, the only help they offered was free nights in airbnb locations. It's easy to imagine she wouldn't accept more of a product she no longer trusts when what she's looking for is security. In the end, the only guideline we have for what they may have offered her is what they offered this person in a similar case.
Maybe. I don't think free Airbnb nights is a good idea to compensate this person. Regardless of their technical liability, Airbnb should make "EJ" whole with respect to her property and the costs she's endured as a result of being estranged from that property. It's hard to believe the total dollar amount for that could be worse than the PR. But nobody knows exactly what's transpired here except for "EJ" and Airbnb.
There is a reason why subletting is forbidden in leases and a reason why insurance companies won't pay damage claims if they think you are operating a hotel out of your house.
This new account (of a home trashing occurring 1 month ago, of which Airbnb had knowledge) doesn't seem to reconcile with what Airbnb told EJ: "I do believe the folks at airbnb.com when they tell me this has never happened before in their short history, that this is a one-off case."
I don't see how either of these cases can be viewed as "minor", personally.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They also have a spiffy web-site and app that does a nice job showing off properties and assisting you in finding the properties you want. But yeah, they are essentially just middlemen. They benefit from keeping the buyer and seller apart until the deal is done and they get their cut.
And that exact benefit is the source of trouble.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
But the result is that Airbnb is taking a PR beating. So if EJ is intentionally misconstruing the facts (or Airbnb for that matter) it is important and relevant. Look, I'm not saying they [Airbnb] are doing everything right. But at the same time, the renters have got to take on some responsibility for handing out their keys to strangers; yes that's what you're doing, is that a surprise? This isn't all on EJ or all on…
No, it wasn't when the inquisition came, it was in response to the airbnb post. We've gone through this already, llambda. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2823714 .
There is a deep ethical problem with starting or funding airbnb, in my opinion: The fraction of people with enough sophistication and resources to be good, safe, hosts and guests is a tiny, tiny fraction of the people in the world. It is absurd to think that airbnb could ever scale to justify its investments if only those sophisticated users were customers. The model relies, therefore, on large numbers of hosts and g…
What about all of the good that AirBnB does for the large majority of people who use the site? Is there a deep ethical problem with letting people supplement their income, while also letting travellers have a cheaper option for a night/weeks stay? The vast majority of people who use AirBnb benefit from it.