Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode • Hacker News Board

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#311

Post by ricardobeat » Wed, May 14, 2025, 10:09 AM UTC

isaacremuant wrote: post #272

cosbgn wrote: post #268

Airbnb is, in my opinion, one of the companies with the biggest negative societal impact. Airbnb complementary destroyed some great places and rural cities around the world, because of them: - Food/Restaurant prices go up - Food/Restaurant quality goes down - Real estate price goes up - Dirtiness goes up - Bugs and other animals thrive - Quality of shops goes down, everything is disposable - Quality of building/mater…

> mass tourism wouldn't be possible without Airbnb. Have you not travelled before Airbnb is a thing in a place? There were always similar alternatives? The blame game with Airbnb is the most ridiculous thing ever. Completely unfounded to try to blame so many things such as the housing crisis. Oh, that is just Airbnb. Just ignore that you still have problems due to taxes, government policies in places where there's vi…

There is a massive difference between a bed-and-breakfast and what AirBnB offers. Old-style B&Bs are (family) businesses, open all year round, and registered with tourism entities, much like a hotel.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#312

Post by dspillett » Wed, May 14, 2025, 10:12 AM UTC

mykowebhn wrote: post #281

cobertos wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had this experience too. Booked on AirBnb with someone who was about the same price as the hotels. Turns out the hosts were just employees of some letting company. They wanted photo ID, a deposit, and sign a second contract in a _separate website_, which I declined. Contacting AirBnb support they said this was fully allowed and I should have read the description harder. I did get a full refund but was told it was o…

Just note that in a lot of countries, like Spain, the rental or hotel establishments are required by law to collect a lot of your information. It feels totally intrusive, but it's the law unfortunately.

Also, in places where there are such requirements, someone not following them and requesting the information could be a significant red flag. What other ordinances are they ignoring that could affect your safety or just your enjoyment?

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#313

Post by rightbyte » Wed, May 14, 2025, 10:17 AM UTC

makeavish wrote: post #181

jen729w wrote: post #159

> Chesky figured that Airbnb’s experience in attractively displaying homes, vetting hosts, and responding to crises could make it more trustworthy than competitors and therefore the go-to option for virtually anything. Online reviews are totally broken. I recently spent a week at an Airbnb in the Gold Coast, Australia. The property was rated 5* but was tired and worn. The photos must have been 5 years old before a so…

I too had similar experience. I booked a 4.9 rated property with 30 reviews. But experience was really poor and I rated 1 stars post checkout. The propery owner reachout to me asking for explanation but I wasn’t in any mood to discuss. Hours later they filed fake complaint to Airbnb that I rated poorly as I wanted late checkout and asked money to remove review. Airbnb removed my review post that. I had a flight to ca…

Ye reviews doesn't work when the reviewed know who reviews and what they say.

It is technically possible to add a delay or whatever such that the land lord doesn't know who gave the review.

And there are social problems too. It is like you never give anyone anything but 5/5 if some app make you rate someone, unless maybe the worker try to murder you. A 4 is a 1.

But I think landlords are in a way better position vs AirBnB than gig workers are versus their employers.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#314

Post by jillyboel » Wed, May 14, 2025, 10:18 AM UTC

cameldrv wrote: post #241

freddie_mercury wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the people who say hotels are better than AirBnb aren't traveling with kids. Having an actual kitchen when you travel with kids is great. Having actual separate bedrooms so we don't have to go to sleep at 8pm when the kids go to sleep is great. Being able to do laundry without tracking down a laundromat or pay exorbitant hotel prices is great. Having a living room or similar area with at least a few square me…

There are plenty of hotels where you can get multiple rooms and a washing machine. When traveling with kids, one big advantage of hotels is predictability. The last thing I want to do when I'm pulling in after a long flight an hour past the kids' bedtime is to deal with potentially dealbreaking problems with the place. In a hotel, they generally have maintenance on staff and extra rooms to switch into in case of prob…

> There are plenty of hotels where you can get multiple rooms and a washing machine

Ok... Can you show me some like that in the EU?

> This is all not to mention being asked to strip beds, take out trash, etc, after you've paid thousands of dollars, including cleaning fees for the place.

Just don't do that.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#315

Post by lifestyleguru » Wed, May 14, 2025, 10:21 AM UTC

meva wrote: post #293

neya wrote: post #248

I never book AirBnB's because they refuse to address the core issues of privacy within the homes - such as owners installing hidden cameras. So many private videos are shared from AirBnB's and yet they do nothing about it - simply because they're just the glorified middlemen here and don't have actual staff who physically vet their locations. This is why hotels rule are preferred. IF I book a room in Hilton, I know f…

I booked an AirBnb in Spain, no cameras mentioned in the listing. When I arrived, I found two, one of them pointed at the bathroom door, so most of the bathroom was visible when the door was open. Also, even though photos mostly matched the apartment, the address in the listing was not the real address. The host directed me to a different address in private messages. Reported it all to AirBnb, they ignored it.

Cameras in short term rentals in Spain is another level of insolence. If you rent over airbnb and booking in Spain there WILL BE camera(s) in the apartment. They will frivolously say "it's disabled right now". I have no idea how they are not sued into fucking oblivion. I know about "ocupas", but I am not "ocupas" and I'm paying you 100 euro per night for this shithole with cameras inside.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#316

Post by pas » Wed, May 14, 2025, 10:27 AM UTC

mykowebhn wrote: post #281

cobertos wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had this experience too. Booked on AirBnb with someone who was about the same price as the hotels. Turns out the hosts were just employees of some letting company. They wanted photo ID, a deposit, and sign a second contract in a _separate website_, which I declined. Contacting AirBnb support they said this was fully allowed and I should have read the description harder. I did get a full refund but was told it was o…

Just note that in a lot of countries, like Spain, the rental or hotel establishments are required by law to collect a lot of your information. It feels totally intrusive, but it's the law unfortunately.

Sure, but I expect AirBnB to handle this. (At least clearly communicate the requirement, cite the relevant statutes, link them, explain them, and help both parties be compliant while respecting users' privacy and hosts' time.)

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#317

Post by lifestyleguru » Wed, May 14, 2025, 10:28 AM UTC

mykowebhn wrote: post #281

cobertos wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had this experience too. Booked on AirBnb with someone who was about the same price as the hotels. Turns out the hosts were just employees of some letting company. They wanted photo ID, a deposit, and sign a second contract in a _separate website_, which I declined. Contacting AirBnb support they said this was fully allowed and I should have read the description harder. I did get a full refund but was told it was o…

Just note that in a lot of countries, like Spain, the rental or hotel establishments are required by law to collect a lot of your information. It feels totally intrusive, but it's the law unfortunately.

I had some random folks in hostel reception taking full photo with their private smartphone of my id document "for the police", despite I clearly said I do not consent to have a copy of my document taken. Spanish hosts are absolutely shady and sloppy privacy wise.

EDIT. Spaniards don't take it personally. There is a war at the EU borders and there are waves of scams and various predatory behaviours, plus usual organised scams from Balkans, China, and India. Visitors will not be happy about their documents being scanned.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#318

Post by rightbyte » Wed, May 14, 2025, 10:28 AM UTC

BLenkomo wrote: post #271

pembrook wrote: post #267

Airbnb is a giant example of what happens when you go too far into thinking you can solve real world issues with software UI. Or run a hospitality business without doing any real hospitality. Yes, a marketplace is a dream business from a profitability perspective, but it’s too easy to forget the marketplace is not the actual product that people come to the marketplace for. It doesn’t matter if you have 5000 overpaid…

I don't think anyone at AirBnB wanted to solve a real world issue. They wanted to disrupt a market, same as uber, and did this by circumventing laws and breaking everything. There is a reason why we have zoning laws: To protect housing for people. AirBnB broke this. Took my city munich / germany years in curt to get the data from AirBnB. While Covid, plenty of reports came up how suddenly good flats in good locations…

> Took my city munich / germany years in curt to get the data from AirBnB.

This is so strange. Why can't the beurocrats just read the listings as everyone else? Is it too cumbersome to prove an apartment is sublet?

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#319

Post by eadmund » Wed, May 14, 2025, 10:29 AM UTC

levocardia wrote: post #139

Maybe I'm in the minority but I've generally had very good -- or at least, "good as I expected" -- experiences at AirBnbs, even recently. Sometimes I've stayed with rich friends who book nice places, and the experience is, as expected, very nice. Many other times I have stayed at bottom-of-the-barrel places, which were, as expected, bottom of the barrel flophouses. But tolerably so, and true to the advertisement (fun…

My issue with Airbnb stays is privacy. I don’t trust that the vendors (they’re really not ‘hosts’ nowadays) have not placed cameras and microphones throughout the rooms. I do trust that most (not all!) hotel owners don’t.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#320

Post by pas » Wed, May 14, 2025, 10:32 AM UTC

OccamsMirror wrote: post #206

darkerside wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only way to compete against the economy of scale was the original thesis of AirBnB. People were renting out their primary homes to bring in an extra stream of income. It was never going to be mainstream profitable to buy a normal apartment and rent it out on AirBnB.

> It was never going to be mainstream profitable to buy a normal apartment and rent it out on AirBnB. It was never meant to be. It definitely has been though. Lots of people making much more money renting out AirBnBs rather than using their property for long term leasing. Which has obviously compounded the housing issues most cities are currently experiencing.

Cities ossified to unimaginably bad levels, which clamped down demand for large-scale construction, which significantly contributed to the productivity of said industry stagnating since "forever".

Compared to these structural problems short term tourist rentals are a complete red herring.