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Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

nytimes.com

111–120 of 188 posts

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#111
Please just stop using them. I just passed up on buying a house because the neighbors were - you guessed it, an airbnb. I was lucky to have found out before I got into a contract. It's always great when you find out the reason someone is selling - isn't it?

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#112
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The closet part is not actually true, it's a commonly believed myth. There may be a few rare localities that require it, but it's not normally required. Rather the definition requires a certain size of the room.

In a certain US jurisdiction I have a room with a bed in it I can call a “nanny’s room” but I cannot call a bedroom on a real estate listing, as the closet for that room is through another door in a sort of hall. In Europe though, where armoires are a thing, and I actually can’t remember living in any home that had a closet in any room with a bed, I don’t see closet being in the definition.

"The International Building Code, which is used in 49 states and Washington D.C., has no requirements for a bedroom to have a closet." https://buyersask.com/edu/code/does-a-bedroom-require-a-clos...

I keep seeing rumors that there are localities that require a closet, but no one ever actually names them.

It may be a persistent rumor in your locality as well.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#113
post #94

AirBnB's existing guest verification process loks onerous, but is trivial to work-around. For some reservations, they demand to have your Driver's License image, both sides (to include he various barcodes, etc.) and some other items. For a friend who did not want the risk of having their full set of data floating around out there, I used some readily available & free tools to make some (self-consistent) edits to the…

I really wish I'd have thought of doing this. I'm really uncomfortable sharing this kind of information. I understand and support what they're trying to accomplish by doing this, but I've learned better than to trust the security and privacy of such data. Thanks for pointing this out!

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be very surprised if that was the case. It's certainly not in the US or UK: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/68/part/X in the US it"s that it needs a window + closet I think.

From sibling comment: In continental Europe, where armoires are a thing, I actually can’t remember living in any home that had a closet in any room with a bed, so I can’t see closet being in the definition of bedroom.

Did you read my comment? I never said closets are a thing in europe. I said that I think it's part of the regulation in the US. More importantly I linked to detailed regulation in the UK that defines what a bedroom is.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#115

Please just stop using them. I just passed up on buying a house because the neighbors were - you guessed it, an airbnb. I was lucky to have found out before I got into a contract. It's always great when you find out the reason someone is selling - isn't it?

Why would anybody care their neighbor is an AirBnB?

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#116

Please just stop using them. I just passed up on buying a house because the neighbors were - you guessed it, an airbnb. I was lucky to have found out before I got into a contract. It's always great when you find out the reason someone is selling - isn't it?

Why would anybody care their neighbor is an AirBnB?

Guests may be loud, lots of moving in and out, parking, late night arrivals, etc.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many places (e.g. in Europe) there is no standard definition of bedroom at all. Rather generic room, which is space surrounded by walls.

I would be very surprised if that was the case. It's certainly not in the US or UK: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/68/part/X in the US it"s that it needs a window + closet I think.

It should be noted that this act doesn't define what a bedroom is, it only says that a room is available as sleeping accommodation if it's a type of room that's normally used as a bedroom or a living room. This would likely rule out larger kitchens with a bed in them but I'd be surprised if a living room/kitchen combo are ruled out given that studio flats with a combined bedroom/living room/kitchen are fine.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many places (e.g. in Europe) there is no standard definition of bedroom at all. Rather generic room, which is space surrounded by walls.

I would be very surprised if that was the case. It's certainly not in the US or UK: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/68/part/X in the US it"s that it needs a window + closet I think.

If this were true, it would mean that many, many bedrooms in New York City are legally not bedrooms.

Re: Airbnb Plans to Verify Every Listing

#120
I like the original premise of AirBnB, where homeowners could rent out a spare bed or their home when they were on vacation. But seems like these days, those homeowners are either all gone, or are being hugely outnumbered by scammers or AirBnB businesses. We (a group of 5 friends) just finished a trip in Vietnam and we used AirBnB3 times. And all 3 times, the listings were not exactly truthful. The worst was a listing in Hanoi that claimed to be able to fit 12 adults. When we arrived, we could only identify 4 queen beds (2 of which were jammed together in 1 room). The other 2 listings we used were in the same complex in Saigon. We booked the listings based on our criteria of having a single home with at least 5 bedrooms. Both listings turned out to be 2 separate apartments. Both are in a complex claimed to be among the first in Saigon to disallow AirBnB. Both times, we had to pretend to the receptionists that we were long term renters. We wanted AirBnB so that we could chill together in a common space. These experiences make use want to book hotels next time...
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