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Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

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Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#31

Post by fallingknife »

subpixel wrote: post #26
popularonion wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TLDR > It is also revitalizing an unsuccessful experiment the company began in 2016: offering bespoke local activities, or what it calls “experiences.” The next stage, launch date unspecified, involves making your profile on Airbnb so robust that it’s “almost like a passport,” as Chesky puts it > After that comes a deep immersion into AI: Inspired by his relationship with Altman, Chesky hopes to build the ultimate ag…

“ Airbnb must have learned to deal with trust/safety/reputation issues better than basically any other consumer app based company” Not at all. Basically all reviews on Airbnb are positive bc of the threat of retaliation. Your reviews are like your social credit score, not worth threatening to post a negative but honest review.

There is no threat of retaliation for reviews because hosts and guests can't see each other's reviews until the review period is expired or they have already left their own review.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#32

Post by jampa »

CuriousRose wrote: post #20

It amazes me that companies like AirBnB get huge valuations and user bases when the fundamental feature of searching for listings is phenomenally atrocious. - Paginated results that reset and call an API for new results when the map is moved (even to a subset of the initial call such as in a zoom). - Inability to change pagination size. - Inability to hide listings you aren't interested in. - Map only displaying list…

There are even more search issues that sometimes make it unusable:

- Impossible to filter / search by rating, which is a must-have if I am going to travel, no way I am risking staying at a first-time host, a lot of horror stories from forgetting bedsheets to outright scams.

- There is no way to see the precise location, which is understandable for safety in some places (mostly listings in areas with "single-family" similar neighborhoods, like Orlando suburbs, you don't want to advertise your home as "available"). But, in some cities, for example, in Rio, a large radius can make you uncertain if the apartment listing is beachside or in the favela's entrance.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#33

Post by 9283409232 »

Airbnb has been trying to push their "experiences" and they are mostly bad. The ones that were recommended to me were either far out of my target city or very nondescript. I hope more cities start to regulate Airbnb out of existence. I was comparing hotels and Airbnbs for a recent trip and found 25 houses that were Airbnbs owned by the same person. Completely absurd.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#34

Post by 7thaccount »

dbg31415 wrote: post #24

Airbnb started strong, but it has become a minefield for travelers. Scam listings have exploded -- Airbnb admitted in 2023 that it removed nearly 60,000 fake ones, but that's only a fraction of what slips through. Investigations like one by VICE uncovered organized scams exploiting the platform for years, yet Airbnb has been slow to implement meaningful preventative measures. Meanwhile, pricing has grown increasingly…

Yep. A few bad experiences and never again. The idea is pretty nice, but it always adds a layer of stress with the unreasonable cleaning demands and all. Hotels are more consistent and I know what I'm going to get as long as I stick with one of the main brands. I don't have to clean the entire house either.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#36

Post by 9283409232 »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #27
elteto wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the writing is sort of on the wall for airbnb's current business model. Local regulations are finally catching up to them, limiting new listings or applying the same taxes and fees applied to regular hotels. And airbnb's are not cheaper anymore, and many times not any more convenient than a hotel, due crappy hosts and their excessive fees and regulations. Airbnb is still a great option if the location is unde…

AirBNB forced hotels to MASSIVELY upgrade. There used to be very few hotels with kitchenettes, any space really beside just a bed. There's way more suite and kitchenette options. Lots of people travel for longer than just a night or two, or to travel beyond just business, where you might want to be able to actually enjoy being in your private space. Hotels weren't really designed for this. They wanted you to never be…

Maybe I'm just not in the right cities but people say 2 things: Airbnbs are just as expensive as hotels and hotels have upgraded and I never see these two things as true. Airbnbs are typically cheaper than hotels and hotels, at least where I travel are still just a bed and a bath. Extended stay hotels have kitchenettes but extended stay hotels have always had kitchenettes and they were always the most expensive options because they are typically purchased by businessmen who have high budgets.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#37

Post by nine_k »

subpixel wrote: post #28
theGnuMe wrote: post #11

Here is how it should work. When people go on vacation they want an Apple like experience where it all just works. That is what AirBnB needs to sell. The only other person who probably understands this is Richard Branson (and Disney)... call it AirBnB Concierge (or even AirBnB vacations) to blend in the AmEx style angle. It's easy peasy Chesky, make it happen.

People want a hotel like experience where it all just works. Airbnb had novelty, inventory, and savings as its special sauce. Nowadays we all know what a sub-par, overpriced Airbnb is like and it’s worse than a hotel because it’s usually far more inconvenient. So we’re back to a hotel like experienced as the desire: convenience, available, and competitively priced.

AirBnB allows you to find a temporary dwelling in places where hotels are few, or absent.

AirBnB also provides extra capacity when a city or town gets overcrowded due to an event (matches, concerts, convents, etc). Building a proper hotel is much more capital intensive than converting a house or an apartment into an AirBnB place, and back into a normal long-term rent unit, or your own abode, when needed.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#38

Post by bsimpson »

keyle wrote: post #16
spicyusername wrote: post #3

reinvention of Airbnb I cannot for the life of me figure out why these companies don't just stick to their core. AirBnB provides an amazing service, the ability to painlessly book hotels that feel like houses. I guarantee you they are not going to be the next Apple or Microsoft, they're instead just going to dilute the value of their core business chasing things that aren't going to work, instead of focusing on their…

I cannot for the life of me figure out why these companies don't just stick to their core. Because those CEO are unhappy. They want more in their life, they want everything; so that maybe then, they'll be fulfilled. The path to success is made by many failures; and when you get to success, you can't take the success, you can't be 'done', you need more success. It's a long form of chasing the next dopamine rush. He pr…

> “I’m 43 and at a crossroads, where I can either be almost done or just getting started,” he tells me. “There's a scenario where I'm basically done. Airbnb is very profitable. We've kind of, mostly, nailed vacation rentals. But we can do more.”

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#39

Post by aarondf »

theGnuMe wrote: post #11

Here is how it should work. When people go on vacation they want an Apple like experience where it all just works. That is what AirBnB needs to sell. The only other person who probably understands this is Richard Branson (and Disney)... call it AirBnB Concierge (or even AirBnB vacations) to blend in the AmEx style angle. It's easy peasy Chesky, make it happen.

I think https://www.wander.com beat them to it! Wander is what I think AirBnB should've become.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#40

Post by zouhair »

pyaamb wrote: post #35

As bad as they are I'd still want to have them around to keep hotel prices in check

No, I don't care about hotels or hotel prices. People need places to live. You can deal with Hotel prices a bit high. There are millions of people in rich countries right now having hard time paying rent or finding any.
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