Subject: Airbnb (2011) • Hacker News Board

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#111

Post by emodendroket » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 5:09 PM UTC

jMyles wrote: post #51

ddoran wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I typically only live in NYC for 3-10 days at a time That's not living somewhere. That's visiting.

Oh yeah? I'm alive during those 3-10 days. And I'm there. If that's not living, then where do I live? I don't have a long-term lease or anything similar. Do I not deserve the same quality of life and opportunities as people who happened to have been born in the East Village?

> Do I not deserve the same quality of life and opportunities as people who happened to have been born in the East Village?

No, no more than I deserve a passport from every country I have ever traveled to.

Most US states consider you a resident if you stay more than 90 days. That's when you'd be expected to change your driver's license, car registration, etc.

You seem to be conflating the ideas of birthright and residency. I don't think anybody is arguing you shouldn't be allowed to become an NYC resident if you want to; what they're saying is that visiting doesn't make you a resident.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#112

Post by mrnobody_67 » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 5:10 PM UTC

Why didn't VRBO/HomeAway become AirBnB?

It seems there was already a marketplace for short term vacation rentals....

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#113

Post by emodendroket » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 5:10 PM UTC

slededit wrote: post #110

emodendroket wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of what I wonder is how much worse the experience would really be if you were using an app to hail a yellow cab.

Just like when you'd call in dispatch they might come or they might not. Who knows.

No reason you couldn't copy the whole accept, show map, etc. feature set

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#114

Post by inostia » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 5:10 PM UTC

lexs wrote: post #11

zimablue wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there's some truth that these guys dodge/ignore/lobby down regulations, but there's this narrative now that that's all they do. Being able to flag a taxi through an app is amazing, so is being able to rent a flat from a stranger with confidence that it will be give and work out. Regulation arbitrage is only a fraction of their value, and the regulations are often just rent seeking by those with power. Insane…

At least in Europe there were apps to call a taxi and sites to book vacation homes before either Uber or AirBnB came over. But sure ruthlessly minimising personnel responsibilities and costs can be another "value".

I took a MyTaxi in Germany and it was terrible. I absolutely missed Uber when I was in Berlin, MyTaxi was a joke, same with most other taxi apps (i.e. Flywheel here in the Bay Area)

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#115

Post by jMyles » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 5:16 PM UTC

emodendroket wrote: post #109

jMyles wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I said, I think it's time to question whether an environment such as NYC is a realistic place to live for 30 years+ - is that sustainable for our species? I think that the availability of short-term housing in NYC in particular is a net benefit for society, even if it adds an uncomfortable dose of reality for many people who had the extreme privilege of growing up there.

Generation after generation of people have lived in the same locality for about as long as we've had agriculture so I'd say it is pretty sustainable. I think it's odd that a jet-setting tourist should be lecturing the locals about their "extreme privilege."

Did you just call people who take the $14 bus ride from New Paltz to NYC "jet-setting tourists"?

Being born in NYC doesn't mean the city belongs to you. I'm a New Yorker too.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#116

Post by jMyles » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 5:17 PM UTC

jwin742 wrote: post #89

jMyles wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not semantics. It's a simple question: if someone doesn't have a current lease in a particular place, where do they live? Particularly for the purposes of enjoying the privileges that everyone in this thread is claiming they deserve by dint of living in NYC (ie, artificially controlled rent prices such that the rest of us can't utilize the economic opportunities in the city).

Where do you pay your tax to then? That's a reasonable enough definition of where you live.

In New York State. I pay the exorbitant taxes which pay for, among other things, protecting the water from the huge city down the road that I'm apparently "damaging" by living there a few weeks out of the year.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#117

Post by emodendroket » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 5:20 PM UTC

jMyles wrote: post #115

emodendroket wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generation after generation of people have lived in the same locality for about as long as we've had agriculture so I'd say it is pretty sustainable. I think it's odd that a jet-setting tourist should be lecturing the locals about their "extreme privilege."

Did you just call people who take the $14 bus ride from New Paltz to NYC "jet-setting tourists"? Being born in NYC doesn't mean the city belongs to you. I'm a New Yorker too.

In the sense that New Paltz is in New York State, sure, you are a New Yorker if you live in New Paltz. But you're not a resident of New York City, not because of where you were born but because you do not reside there.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#118

Post by dang » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 5:27 PM UTC

ur-whale wrote: post #42

lexs wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in Europe there were apps to call a taxi and sites to book vacation homes before either Uber or AirBnB came over. But sure ruthlessly minimising personnel responsibilities and costs can be another "value".

You quite clearly never lived in Europe. Taxi apps before Uber were either non-existent (still are for most places) or unusable.

> You quite clearly never lived in Europe.

Can you please edit personal provocations like that out of your posts to HN? They add no information and are often wrong. The comment would be fine with just the second sentence.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#119

Post by foldr » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 5:31 PM UTC

>So I think it can scale all the way to the bed and breakfast market

> But I am not sure they can take on the hotel market

Not an inaccurate assessment.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#120

Post by jedberg » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 5:35 PM UTC

mrnobody_67 wrote: post #112

Why didn't VRBO/HomeAway become AirBnB? It seems there was already a marketplace for short term vacation rentals....

Because they didn't do rooms in an already occupied house (and still don't). AirBnb started with renting couches or spare beds. They only moved into whole houses later, after they built up a reputation, and more importantly, built up their system of tracking the reputation of the renters.