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Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

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Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#321

Post by hoseyor »

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…

Do you mind elaboration on at least what region of the world you are talking about? I think this whole main thread is suffering from the globalism v diversity collision; we are a global group of people trying to compare regionally, nationally, local, or even personal experiences that differ so widely that it regresses into noise.

My experience is that e.g. it used to be a lot easier in the USA to find hotels that even just had a kitchenette or even a pay to wash “laundromat” (which is what I assume you are referring to), but maybe that is also just my personal experience. But my sense is that those offerings have been in stark decline especially over the last decades, and especially outside of the inland western half of the country that in some places is still a kind of real America that has not yet succumbed to con job level corporate practices.

It seems fairly accurate to include AB&B in those who have succumbed to “enshitification” for whatever of the several reasons that may be. In the case of AB&B it feels like MBA Wall Street types pressed to slide or chip away at ever more standards to drive “growth” and/or “cost cutting”, the only two real tricks the number monkeys have in their bag.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#322

Post by pas »

lolinder wrote: post #141
manwe150 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In corporate lingo, I think their “core business” is any vacation rental? Partnering with hotels could perhaps have been a viable path for them to grow that and still fit with their business acumen. But I use other platforms for that service now.

What kind of partnership with hotels could they have made that would have set them apart from the dozen options I already have for booking hotels?

There's no need to be super different. AirBnB has a huge userbase, cashflow, reputation, etc... they ought to provide a good search and booking service to users. (And there's all the potential for adding more and more upsell points and value-added services. From flights, insurance, car rental, local activities, museum and national park tickets to ... whatever they are now fucking around with, like fitness and food.)

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#323

Post by shlant »

eadmund wrote: post #319
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.

is this even a widespread problem? kind of reminds me of the tiktoks of "hotel safety tips"[1]. Makes me think these levels of paranoia are unique to the US

[1] https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/hotel-safety-hacks-t...

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#324

Post by itake »

jdminhbg wrote: post #306
cameldrv wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I have never stayed in a hotel room that had a washing machine.

Maybe regional. This is common in mid-tier hotels in Asia and hostels across the world.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#325

Post by rightbyte »

ricardobeat wrote: post #305

> but whenever they needed to find a portrait photographer, a personal trainer, or someone to cook their meals Oh, the disconnect. Your average person rarely hires services like this, maybe a handful of times over a lifetime.

Good people are hard to find these days.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#326

Post by xav0989 »

lifestyleguru wrote: post #317
mykowebhn wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 organi…

Where it’s the law for the lodging provides to have a copy of ID, you either consent to have them make a copy of your ID or you don’t get a place to stay. You don’t get to not consent and also get a place to stay.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#327

Post by shlant »

standardUser wrote: post #191

I used to be a big defender of AirBnB due to the many amazing experiences I've had with them over the years. But since then I've had several experiences that matched the negative feedback I had been hearing from other people, especially with US-based rentals, and now I'm a skeptic at best. The CEO knows exactly what the problem is because he spells it out in the article... > Chesky explains that historically, people…

> especially with US-based rentals, and now I'm a skeptic at best.

I have been using AirBNB for years (top 5% guest at one point) with virtually no issues (that weren't quickly resolved by support) and I imagine my experiences are this way because I am almost never in the US. I would love to see a poll on how people rate AirBnB broken down by where they usually stay.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#328

Post by vjerancrnjak »

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…

online reviews are inflated for everything

bribes or people just commenting "great" on avg or below avg offerings

If someone rents a place with scheduled roof repairs, not informing AirBnB or customer, they should be eternally banned. I couldn't even get a full refund. I can't imagine actual hospitality places with a long tradition around Mediterranean to ever do something like that.

I feel like it's very similar with everything:

* suitcases without nice silent rubber wheels, even premium suitcases have loud plastic ones,

* airplanes are a chore, descending into madness over time,

* eternally inefficient software, becoming slower and slower on faster hardware,

* tiktok guitarists without skill showing off their montaged videos earning a living through popularity,

the majority is voting out quality and care out of everything.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#329

Post by lifestyleguru »

xav0989 wrote: post #326
lifestyleguru wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 organi…

Where it’s the law for the lodging provides to have a copy of ID, you either consent to have them make a copy of your ID or you don’t get a place to stay. You don’t get to not consent and also get a place to stay.

Look up "spanish hotel/hostel fined for copying guest id". They certainly are not allowed to copy documents of EU citizens.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#330

Post by jdminhbg »

sjsdaiuasgdia wrote: post #310
jdminhbg wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never stayed in a hotel room that had a washing machine.

Plenty of hotels have washers/dryers for guests to use, sometimes having a laundry room on each floor of the hotel.

I haven’t seen one on each floor, either, but that’s still not as convenient as one in the room that’s yours so you can run it while you’re out to dinner or overnight while you sleep. It’s shared so you have to plan around it.
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