Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

361–370 of 573 posts

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#361

Post by neves »

dizhn wrote: post #237
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…

I am currently on vacation in the Mediterranean and find a hybrid model to be the best of both worlds. We strictly use booking.com (we need to find a hotel at 6pm and check in at 7. Same thing the next day.Airbnb would never work.) Booking.com lists apartments too. I would imagine there's a huge overlap with airbnb properties. This way you're using the better company (they helped me out a bunch of times. And the list…

Booking costumer service is a lot better. In it you find a great ally in negotiating with the property. But Airbnb...

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#362

Post by paradox242 »

taneliv wrote: post #239
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…

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. If the kids are not toddlers any more, booking a place where you share the apartment/house with the host (or maybe other travelers) can also be a great experience. I mean, it's an adventure, and those can also go poorly, but our experiences have been just excellent. And at those bottom-of-the-barrel prices mentioned earlier. Definitely not something that hotels offer.

That sounds like a living hell to me.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#363

Post by BLenkomo »

rightbyte wrote: post #318
BLenkomo wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Yes its a lot of effort to scrape some website which might change its UI.

Also an UI is not a scraping API.

Also yes you also need proof. Just putting it online is not a problem. Even doing temporarily because you are really away for a period is fine.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#364

Post by Loughla »

shlant wrote: post #323
eadmund wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

That's not real. People don't live like that. That's just engagement slop for tiktok.

Also, I would argue that it may not be common, but it's much more likely with airbnb versus a hotel chain. Two reasons; more access to the space without witnesses, and the owner is more likely to know if their preferred gender is going to occupy that particular space.

Meaning, hotel staff can be walked in on by other hotel staff, and there is no guarantee that the attractive person you want to see nude is going to get room 203. Whereas you can see who is renting your Airbnb, and you have access to it by yourself all the time.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#365

Post by abxyz »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #343
shlant wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Agree. OP is weird. Google tells me: > Airbnb prohibits indoor security cameras and recording devices, including audio, in most listings globally. It should not be difficult to find a security camera. (Microphone is a different matter.) If you find one, you can report to AirBnB, and I am sure the renter will be immediately delisted. And, it is probably just plan illegal in many jurisdictions.

Security cameras (like Google Nest) are not the concern people have: hidden cameras are. It is possible to rig an entire property without any chance of guests finding the cameras. The scale at which it happens is a question (and varies based on country) but the illegality isn't the issue. The dissemination of videos and photos secretly recorded of guests and their children is the issue. There are people in prison for doing this but the damage is done, videos and photos of their guests are online forever.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#366

Post by jillyboel »

landgenoot wrote: post #356
jillyboel wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

In Europe, this is mostly called an aparthotel. Or look out for keywords like suites or residences. This is different from Airbnb's where they abuse a residential building for short term stays.

> this is mostly called an aparthotel

Which is quite different from, and far more expensive than, a hotel which GP was talking about.

> This is different from Airbnb's where they abuse a residential building for short term stays.

As allowed by local regulations, so not quite abuse. Sure it used to be the wild west several years ago but it's been cracked down on since.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#367

Post by snowwrestler »

genewitch wrote: post #284
fireflash38 wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on the location you get a bunch of people basically who own a vacation home they get priority to use and rent out the rest of the time. Which is honestly rather nice for both the guests and the hosts. That was my preferred experience too - well maintained and lived in just enough to make sense. Some places do cheap out on "perks" that seem there only to boost themselves in rankings/filters, but otherwise be…

We did this in the 80s and 90s so this is not something unique to airbnb, airbnb just did it "on an app". When I say "did this" I mean rented a duplex or house for a couple weeks for a vacation.

VRBO did whole-house vacation rentals in the U.S. well before AirBnB. Still around and works well. I’d say we book about half the time through VRBO and half the time through AirBnB.

AirBnB’s differentiator on launch was “rent just one room” in an owner-occupied dwelling. Remember when it was “the sharing economy”? There are still listings like that, but I think most of the money is in whole-dwelling rentals now.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#368

Post by johnbatch »

jillyboel wrote: post #314
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…

> 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.

I staid at a hotel in Lisbon [1]that had a kitchen and washing machine. (And a kids club that would watch the kids)

There ended up being an issue with the dryer not drying. So the hotel staff took a laundry basket of clothes and delivered them washed and folded the next morning. That level of service would not have happened in an Airbnb.

[1] https://www.martinhal.com

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#369

Post by isaacremuant »

ricardobeat wrote: post #311
isaacremuant wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Experience wise for the customer, because I've been in both, not that much. Also there's a lot of Airbnb that are family businesses and BnBs that aren't so that's just a romantic moot point.

There's interest in painting these strawmen by people who didn't use the service or just tried to get cheap stuff and didn't pick good places, which can happen with booking.com or google maps. The govs love blaming their failings on apps and regulations mean market capture by certain entities.

It's funny how you can call for Airbnb's to be banned to solve the housing crisis but you can't call for stopping hotels being built everywhere which are then used to house refugees/socially disadvantage people in a beautiful money making cycle for government contractors, to just name one thing happening in at least a few European countries.

The anti Airbnb narrative is tired and dishonest.

Re: Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

#370

Post by theshackleford »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #343
shlant wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Agree. OP is weird. Google tells me: > Airbnb prohibits indoor security cameras and recording devices, including audio, in most listings globally. It should not be difficult to find a security camera. (Microphone is a different matter.) If you find one, you can report to AirBnB, and I am sure the renter will be immediately delisted. And, it is probably just plan illegal in many jurisdictions.

> And, it is probably just plan illegal in many jurisdictions.

Yes because of course nobody would ever do anything illegal.

Post reply on HN