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Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

news.airbnb.com

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Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#91

Post by throwanem »

xtracto wrote: post #81
outcoldman wrote: post #64

I know some people are very excited about that, and some think that is going to be a new norm. I have not worked for the corps for at least 4-5 years, but before that I always assumed there are only small amount of people who can really work for company remotely. I definitely saw people calling that they are going to work from home, but saw very little work to be done that day. Which probably means that people used t…

>You are at new place, you going to work like 4-6 hours instead of 8-9 hours. I remember some studies mentioning that the real productive time in a daily 8 hr shiFt was 4-6 hours. If that's so, then it's completely doable. Hopefully someone has a fresh link to one of those studies.

Just a heads up, I think you may have typoed "shift"...

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#92

Post by vmception »

cube00 wrote: post #80
carlivar wrote: post #71

I like that he specifically mentioned open floor plans. This is the number one reason why I don't want to return to the office. I kinda do want to go back. But I need my privacy and some quiet. I can't do the open floor plan ever again.

It always annoyed me that they couldn't even be honest and say it was save rent, they had to make it seem like open floor plan was a positive thing because it "increases collaboration" It's not enough you want to be cheap but you want to make it seem like you're doing it for our benefit.

I think a lot of founders and their friends are using the office as a replacement for a healthier separate social circle and social life that they lack (a lot of people lack that, and they do too), so for them they're really just hanging out and like the potential for “increased collaboration” for that reason

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#93

Post by ajkjk »

carlivar wrote: post #71

I like that he specifically mentioned open floor plans. This is the number one reason why I don't want to return to the office. I kinda do want to go back. But I need my privacy and some quiet. I can't do the open floor plan ever again.

Obligatory reminder that this stance isn't universal and some people do like open floor plans (such as myself).

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#94

Post by akhmatova »

cube00 wrote: post #80
carlivar wrote: post #71

I like that he specifically mentioned open floor plans. This is the number one reason why I don't want to return to the office. I kinda do want to go back. But I need my privacy and some quiet. I can't do the open floor plan ever again.

It always annoyed me that they couldn't even be honest and say it was save rent, they had to make it seem like open floor plan was a positive thing because it "increases collaboration" It's not enough you want to be cheap but you want to make it seem like you're doing it for our benefit.

Actually I think they were sufficiently self-deluded to believe that "increases collaboration" rap all along.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#95

Post by tjr225 »

adam_arthur wrote: post #73
tjr225 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you don’t seem to understand is that people move to hcol areas for leisure. There is a fundamental reason they are expensive in the first place. Seattle for instance is surrounded by ocean, national parks, mountains. Same thing with the Bay Area. It’s not gonna get cheaper. Nebraska is not going to magically spring up natural beauty and culture.

Yes, every city has a work component and a leisure component. The work component of a given city was largely irreplaceable, while leisure can be substituted by many cities. If you worked in tech, SF was the pinnacle location to live for your career. If you were in Finance, it was NYC. There was no exception to this. You can live in any of dozens of cities and still get an enjoyable life/leisure. It's not equivalent a…

I have two points I think: there are more components than you are giving high COL areas credit for, and that even if high COL see some sort of exodus, this is not good for low cost of living areas.

I have been working remote for startups since 2019 and for whatever reasons, you could attribute this to low interest rates I suppose in your favor, things have gotten INSANELY more expensive. NYC, Boston, DC, Seattle, SF, LA, Miami I don't think they are getting any cheaper. These are Americas Elite Cities and thats going to command a demand that might seem to defy logic.

However I think people genuinely love living in these big HCOL cities. Otherwise it would defy all reason why they have been population centers for hundreds and hundreds of years. Take for instance Amsterdam; has Amsterdam gotten cheaper in the last 500 years?

To my second point, even if we are lucky and the money gets spread around a little bit what happens to the person working for 7$ an hour at the Hyvee in the Ozarks just because a small flurry of people from San Francisco and Seattle decided to settle there? What happens when he can't afford the property taxes on his paid off home anymore because a a random demand driven spike has increase the value of the properties around him to a point where he can't afford his property taxes anymore?

What happens when he can't afford his medical bills because of this? I've seen what happens and its a hunched over old dude outside of a tent on the streets of Seattle.

This isn't really the tech workers fault or the locals fault, but the fault of our government to account for inequality. Just something I've been thinking about. I just don't think that remote work is going to make life easier for anyone in the short term, except for the already spoiled white collar worker.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#96

Post by xtracto »

jcims wrote: post #65

When does the definition of talent extend beyond developers and system architects and product delivery? Airbnb’s support organization, particularly with respect to guest advocacy, is abhorrent. I was just recently in a situation where a host rejected the rental price after booking, and convinced the support team that i agreed to the adjusted price, which was then charged against my card. (To be fair there was some me…

Something similar happened to me this last February: I had a 5 week rental in Baja Sur (Mexico). Due to a serious medical emergency (covid booster vaccine gave me ischemic lacunar stroke) I was hospitalized 2 days before my trip and hence had to cancel it. You can imagine, in the middle of the hospital brain fog and all, I just cancelled through the standard process without thinking twice.

Days later after I was stable and out of the hospital, I found out that the cancellation gave me back I think $200 usd of the around $2000 I had paid....

At some level I kind of felt it as abusive. But I'm sure there are enough small prints somewhere to which I agreed to that explain why it's OK. And given my health issue I decided not to worry about that (puts things in perspective haha). I was more sad that I had to cancel the vacation/trip my wife and I planned, due to that emergency.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#97

Post by dinvlad »

ajkjk wrote: post #93
carlivar wrote: post #71

I like that he specifically mentioned open floor plans. This is the number one reason why I don't want to return to the office. I kinda do want to go back. But I need my privacy and some quiet. I can't do the open floor plan ever again.

Obligatory reminder that this stance isn't universal and some people do like open floor plans (such as myself).

For sure - although it's always interesting to hear what people like or not about it, and how they work around issues like distractions/attention scatter and the pure "don't watch over my shoulder when I need to check HN". Maybe it all depends on personal sensitivity to such things and the ability to focus/zone in to the music, but that still feels like a coping mechanism rather than something that naturally comes to most (and I'm saying that despite being able to hyper-focus myself, after many years in an open environment).

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#98

Post by xtracto »

throwanem wrote: post #91
xtracto wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You are at new place, you going to work like 4-6 hours instead of 8-9 hours. I remember some studies mentioning that the real productive time in a daily 8 hr shiFt was 4-6 hours. If that's so, then it's completely doable. Hopefully someone has a fresh link to one of those studies.

Just a heads up, I think you may have typoed "shift"...

Haha thanks, gives a whole different meaning.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#99

Post by quadcore »

xtracto wrote: post #81
outcoldman wrote: post #64

I know some people are very excited about that, and some think that is going to be a new norm. I have not worked for the corps for at least 4-5 years, but before that I always assumed there are only small amount of people who can really work for company remotely. I definitely saw people calling that they are going to work from home, but saw very little work to be done that day. Which probably means that people used t…

>You are at new place, you going to work like 4-6 hours instead of 8-9 hours. I remember some studies mentioning that the real productive time in a daily 8 hr shiFt was 4-6 hours. If that's so, then it's completely doable. Hopefully someone has a fresh link to one of those studies.

Pretty sure 6 hours is even more productive, at least for experienced people.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#100

Post by refurb »

chrischen wrote: post #16

Have laws caught up for this new way to work yet? Last ai checked there are non-insignificant legal and tax issues for small businesses to have employees in other states.

No, laws haven't yet caught up.

A good example is working remotely in another country. The US does not allow foreigners on a visitor visa to work remotely. It's a bit of a gray zone, since if you fly into the US for a business meeting, that's not regarded as "working in the US". But flying in for 1 month and working remote the entire time is.

Same with California income. Working in Nevada and then decide to work remote from California? That's CA income and taxable by CA. But of course people rarely even mention they're working in another state and rarely pay taxes owed.

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