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

How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 129 posts

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#101

Post by chrisandchris »

makingstuffs wrote: post #94
BrenBarn wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I were going to disrupt AirBNB, I'd offer hosts a better percentage with the requirement that the experience is standardized and high-quality. I've noticed more and more apartment rentals appearing on booking.com. I haven't used any of them but I wonder what the tradeoffs are. My impression is overall booking.com is more guest-friendly as their userbase has grown from people staying at hotels, who expect stuff l…

From my experience booking.com is the most guest hostile platform I’ve experienced to the point I try to actively avoid it. I travel A LOT and can book anything from 20 - 40 stays per jaunt. Whenever I have encountered a problem on booking it has always been met with ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ tough shit energy. I remember one specific incident when a hotel had purposefully put me in a noisy room (I saw a sheet on the reception desk…

I think of booking as a tool for finding a hotel. I then always happily book with the hotel directly.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#102

Post by kreyenborgi »

ceejayoz wrote: post #9
kreyenborgi wrote: post #7

Man I'm so sick of trying to find something on Airbnb only to discover by the time I order that the price has doubled. Airbnb these last years went from feeling fresh and adventurous to scammy and dubious

Use the .com.au variant to find listings, as Australian law requires they list the full price, inclusive of tax and fees.

That's one thing, annoying but possible to work with.

What I'm talking about is Dynamic Pricing. Had to look up what really happens: The host sets a rate-range, and Airbnb first gives the low price and then as you click around in the area they notice you're more interested so they increase it towards the high end of the price range (possibly also time of day and such signals?). Then I guess there's a slow cooldown.

Like how a good haggle is made to give you a friendly relationship with the seller, this seems specifically designed to make people hate Airbnb and swear to never use it again.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#103

Post by gameshot911 »

iambateman wrote: post #61

Airbnb’s original promise was magical, thrilling, interesting - get to stay in unusual places that are full of charm and possibility. But that promise was broken for me when Commaleta played back the video of her front door camera and counted that we had 10 people walk in her door, not eight. She proceeded to accuse us of throwing a party, when we absolutely did not, and tried to charge us $1000 extra dollars. At tha…

Were 10 people in fact staying when the listing max was 8?

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#104

Post by secabeen »

scarface_74 wrote: post #99
secabeen wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In Europe most/all of the apartments I've stayed in are basically business apartments (more or less). It's like a long term rental apartment that in best case scenario someone is using as a savings/investment vehicle but on short term. If that the only thing AirBNB offered, I would have much less interest. > I'm pretty sure there are people living in less than sanitary conditions all over the world including Wester…

I just randomly looked at hotels.com for hotels in Cairo and I saw name brand hotels from American brands like Hilton for around $120 a night. Even high end hotels like the Waldorf are $284 a night (I don’t care about fancy hotels personally). Why would I stay in a dirty Airbnb? Not that I would ever use a third party booking site like hotels.com either… I want the place I stay at to be run professionally and it to b…

> Why would I stay in a dirty Airbnb?

Because of what I described above! In summary:

* Desire to have an experience and living environment I can't get at home.

* Desire to have living space beyond 2 beds and a bathroom crammed into the smallest available space.

* Indifference to dirt or wear and tear.

Thankfully, no one is saying that AirBNB should replace name brand hotels, in the same way that no one thinks that every hotel should be a Motel 6. AirBNB/VRBO is just another segment of the industry, and those people who want to stay in an AirBNB can, just as people who want a Hilton can without affecting those people who want to stay in the Ritz-Carlton. This is the beauty of the market!

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#105

Post by secabeen »

crooked-v wrote: post #71
secabeen wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I were going to disrupt AirBNB, I'd offer hosts a better percentage with the requirement that the experience is standardized and high-quality. This is an interesting idea, but it puts the quality level way above what I want to pay for. Hotels are anti-septic and cold. I like staying in an apartment that feels like someone actually lives there. I don't mind a few dust-bunnies under the couch, nor a little dirt be…

> Hotels are like McDonalds, they are designed for the regular customer who wants to get that Hilton-feeling, regardless of if they are in Wichita or Cairo. Stop staying at chain hotels. There are plenty of hotels out there that are what you're looking for, and have an actual business to engage with in case of issues instead of some anonymous lister on AirBNB.

> Stop staying at chain hotels. There are plenty of hotels out there that are what you're looking for, and have an actual business to engage with in case of issues instead of some anonymous lister on AirBNB.

That has not been my experience. It is very hard to find a robust selection of hotels in a major city that has a living room and kitchen. Even when you do, in a part of the city you want to stay in, they are often tiny kitchens, with limited kitchen equipment, and where the cabinets are completely cleared of every food item after every guest. These places also have very antiseptic, uncomfortable furnishings. They are night and day different from staying in most AirBNBs.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#106

Post by secabeen »

toast0 wrote: post #74
appreciatorBus wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it truly is a minority preference, then we need a way to square that with all the people saying they book AirBnB's instead of hotels because of the kitchens. :)

The people who don't need kitchens and just book hotels don't say anything because their needs are met. There are also some hotels with kitchens. Usually they have 'Suites' in their name. I stay at one most holiday seasons, we go and visit my folks and want to have a place where my family can cook without taking over my parents' kitchen. I've stayed places with vrbo, which is pretty similar to airbnb, but older. It's…

> There are also some hotels with kitchens. Usually they have 'Suites' in their name. I stay at one most holiday seasons, we go and visit my folks and want to have a place where my family can cook without taking over my parents' kitchen.

These are okay, but they still have the antiseptic, overly-clean feeling of a space optimized for housekeeping. They will usually have a small couch or two, and maybe a table for 4. I have never seen one with a full dining room with table for 6; a fully stocked kitchen that includes non-perishable food staples, or any outdoor space. These things are common in AirBNB rentals, often at the same or similar price to nearby hotels.

AirBNB and VRBO absolutely opened a new market of accommodations compared to what was available before. These options may or may not be for the previous commenters, but it's silly to state universally that you can or should stay in a hotel instead. It's like saying "I love to ride my bike", and the reply being "you know you could ride a scooter to your destination, or drive a car."

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#107

Post by iambateman »

gameshot911 wrote: post #103
iambateman wrote: post #61

Airbnb’s original promise was magical, thrilling, interesting - get to stay in unusual places that are full of charm and possibility. But that promise was broken for me when Commaleta played back the video of her front door camera and counted that we had 10 people walk in her door, not eight. She proceeded to accuse us of throwing a party, when we absolutely did not, and tried to charge us $1000 extra dollars. At tha…

Were 10 people in fact staying when the listing max was 8?

No, a couple friends who lived in town stopped by for an hour.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#108

Post by maxrmk »

scarface_74 wrote: post #96
maxrmk wrote: post #6

I feel like this is missing a really important factor: how likely are guests to use airbnb again after staying at a listing? A listing could look great online and receive a lot of bookings (so high LTV), but ultimately drive users away from the platform. A certain ad platform I worked on cared a lot about this - offensive ads could get you to quit the site altogether. You might want to count every ad as positive for…

> There are many sites I won't use because the ads are so overwhelming or are often offensive. I hate to sound like the “Do people still watch TV? I haven’t owned a TV in 20 years.” Guy. But why are you seeing ads on the web? Don’t you use an ad blocker?

I used to use one but when I started working on ads it felt hypocritical. I want to support the sites that I use, especially those that don't paywall content. I don't work on ads anymore but have stuck with it.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#109

Post by courseofaction »

iambateman wrote: post #107
gameshot911 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were 10 people in fact staying when the listing max was 8?

No, a couple friends who lived in town stopped by for an hour.

Last month a first time host confabulated $1200 of maintenance charges. Having left the property already, I was in no position to produce evidence that they were fake. Arbitration was hopeless, I canceled my card and won't be using Airbnb again.

Re: How Airbnb measures listing lifetime value

#110

Post by mrweiner »

avidiax wrote: post #45
maxrmk wrote: post #6

I feel like this is missing a really important factor: how likely are guests to use airbnb again after staying at a listing? A listing could look great online and receive a lot of bookings (so high LTV), but ultimately drive users away from the platform. A certain ad platform I worked on cared a lot about this - offensive ads could get you to quit the site altogether. You might want to count every ad as positive for…

> A listing could look great online and receive a lot of bookings (so high LTV), but ultimately drive users away from the platform. I am precisely this kind of churned customer. I have personally booked maybe 3 AirBNB stays, and stayed with family in them on other occasions. The units I pick are always well-reviewed. But in the cities I've stayed in (LA, SF, Rome), the price is really no cheaper than a hotel, and the…

> My impression has been that AirBNB's customers are actually the hosts.

Fwiw, I listened to an interview with Brian a couple of years back where he said that, internally and strategically, they call hosts “partners” and guests “customers.” Which makes sense to me.

Post reply on HN