Airbnb asks people to donate money to landlords, backlash ensues • Hacker News Board

Re: Airbnb asks people to donate money to landlords, backlash ensues

#111

Post by iratewizard » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 1:47 PM UTC

sleavey wrote: post #14

This was really short sighted given Airbnb have claimed since the beginning to regulators, local authorities and the public that they exist only to provide a platform for people to rent out their spare rooms when it's convenient for them. Their core claim is that they are not a hotel company, which is how they manage to skirt so many hotel regulations. Built into these claims is the assumption that the owners of the…

Hotel regulations are by and large rent-seeking behavior (irony?). For example, OTA's have created several rules that only exist to protect their profits. Hotels have to have the same price on all listing websites including their own, so it doesn't matter if one OTA charges 40% as their cut. You're not allowed to bake their overhead into your bottom line.

Despite the wild-west nature of vacation rentals like this, people often prefer it over traditional hotels. Maybe it's the free market saying all this regulation meant to entrench the incumbents has hit its critical mass.

Re: Airbnb asks people to donate money to landlords, backlash ensues

#112

Post by wil421 » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 1:48 PM UTC

mchusma wrote: post #92

mathattack wrote: post #21

This seems counter-productive. Housing costs are up because of AirBnB. I’m not thrilled, but that’s the market. The market needs to reprice. Folks who bet on the market would get rich if the bet paid off. Let them sell their places, and someone else can rent them out in the future. Call me callous but I don’t feel the need to bail out someone who charged me $500/night on a place with a $3000 monthly payment. I entere…

Housing costs are not up because of Airbnb, they are up because of government regulation. If we wanted housing to cost to buy a house in the US to be $100k average, we could do it almost overnight by lifting regulations unrelated to safety. With existing automation tech (produce like industry instead of custom each time) we could get it to $50k. In 10 years we could make housing affordable if we had the societal will…

There’s already a massive industry around manufactured homes. Trailer homes are at the bottom end and “normal” looking ones at the top end. They cost about the same if not less than what you quoted. Most places I’ve seen them are rural areas.

Zoning and NIMBY issues are mainly a West coast problem. The South, Midwest, Southwest, and a good part of the Northeast are not even close to the West coast.

Re: Airbnb asks people to donate money to landlords, backlash ensues

#113

Post by spaetzleesser » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 1:58 PM UTC

MrPowers wrote: post #51

zwirbl wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully agree with most criticisms, but fees for the final cleaning of the room (usually only once per 1 or 2 week stay) are oftentimes separate from the room (or apartment) price, but they have to be advertised

When you searched Airbnb for prices they wouldn't include cleaning or additional services. For my first few years using Airbnb, this wasn't a problem, but then folks began hacking the search algorithm and charging huge cleaning fees to get included in more searches. You'd select a place for $500 and find it was $700 when checking out. I started going back to hotels cause they were cheaper than Airbnb.

”You'd select a place for $500 and find it was $700 when checking out”

Noticed that too lately. It’s become pretty difficult to search for something by price because a lot of places almost double the price after cleaning fees.

Re: Airbnb asks people to donate money to landlords, backlash ensues

#114

Post by setgree » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 2:00 PM UTC

mdszy wrote: post #33

setgree wrote: post #22

I would prefer a world in which we didn't call some people griping on twitter "news". Two popular HN pieces have recently touched on how journalists and newspapers give twitter too much weight: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23833267 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23827073 All I'm seeing in this article is a few people trying to get that dopamine rush of engagement by dunking on "landlords" (not that all…

"some are just folks renting an extra room out" That's a landlord.

I think I should have said "full-time" or "professional" landlord. I had thought that the word had a connotation of it being a full-time gig, but I was wrong.

Re: Airbnb asks people to donate money to landlords, backlash ensues

#115

Post by cowllin » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 2:01 PM UTC

One of the few here it seems who is actually an Airbnb host (a Superhost actually).

For three years, I've managed my grandma's home in Wisconsin as a way to generate income for her and allow the house to stay in the family. It has been our vacation home for four generations and we certainly would have sold it by now if not for Airbnb income during the months of June, August, September each year.

I am trying to earn enough to buy the home and then will continue Airbnb'ing (keeping July for family time) to pay much of the mortgage.

Just an anecdote admittedly, but hopefully one demonstrating that not all hosts are evil landlords, and I would not be surprised if some of our (repeat) annual guests were interested in sending us a card/support because of the relationships we've worked to build and maintain with them.

Re: Airbnb asks people to donate money to landlords, backlash ensues

#116

Post by iJohnDoe » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 2:06 PM UTC

spuz wrote: post #32

I really wonder how much pressure AirBnB must be feeling from hosts in order to go through with this idea. There's no way that they have done thinking it would not have some downsides. I really would like to know how they calculated that going through with this idea would be a better option than doing nothing.

My guess is that AirBnB is on the verge of collapse and this is one of a few last ditch efforts to keep things going.

If there are no properties or less properties on AirBnB because those properties were foreclosed on then AirBnB seizes to exist.

Re: Airbnb asks people to donate money to landlords, backlash ensues

#117

Post by mattmanser » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 2:08 PM UTC

cowllin wrote: post #115

One of the few here it seems who is actually an Airbnb host (a Superhost actually). For three years, I've managed my grandma's home in Wisconsin as a way to generate income for her and allow the house to stay in the family. It has been our vacation home for four generations and we certainly would have sold it by now if not for Airbnb income during the months of June, August, September each year. I am trying to earn e…

I can't really understand how you see yourself as 'good' in these circumstances?

Look at it from another perspective. You've got a property sitting empty for most of the year, driving up property values, so you can have a holiday on e a year.

You're making poor use of that property, and you want people to give you money, even though you could sell it? You need Zero help, you are not in a position of needing food, your children hungry, or being kicked out of your home. You create no, or at least negligible, employment for others.

You essentially think people would want to give you money so you can go on holiday next July?

Re: Airbnb asks people to donate money to landlords, backlash ensues

#118

Post by ip26 » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 2:11 PM UTC

monkeynotes wrote: post #62

sleavey wrote: post #14

This was really short sighted given Airbnb have claimed since the beginning to regulators, local authorities and the public that they exist only to provide a platform for people to rent out their spare rooms when it's convenient for them. Their core claim is that they are not a hotel company, which is how they manage to skirt so many hotel regulations. Built into these claims is the assumption that the owners of the…

I have somewhat of a 'not in my backyard' opinion of Airbnb. I have admittedly used the service multiple times, but since I moved into a new house I've changed my view on the business model. Our neighbour Airbnbs multiple rooms in his house full time. He barely has parking for 3 cars, 2 cars if you don't want to be boxed in. However he rents out room for 6 people. He constantly has business moving through his house,…

Using AirBnB sometimes doesn't automatically make you a NIMBY, IMO. If an ordinary family of four stays in a secluded single family home for a weekend, that's not really the incarnation of AirBnB that many people have a problem with. It's the modern flophouse in the middle of a regular neighborhood that is really driving problems.

Re: Airbnb asks people to donate money to landlords, backlash ensues

#119

Post by cowllin » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 2:13 PM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #117

cowllin wrote: post #115

One of the few here it seems who is actually an Airbnb host (a Superhost actually). For three years, I've managed my grandma's home in Wisconsin as a way to generate income for her and allow the house to stay in the family. It has been our vacation home for four generations and we certainly would have sold it by now if not for Airbnb income during the months of June, August, September each year. I am trying to earn e…

I can't really understand how you see yourself as 'good' in these circumstances? Look at it from another perspective. You've got a property sitting empty for most of the year, driving up property values, so you can have a holiday on e a year. You're making poor use of that property, and you want people to give you money, even though you could sell it? You need Zero help, you are not in a position of needing food, you…

Mostly fair points, but figured I'd clarify a bit.

"You've got a property sitting empty for most of the year, driving up property values, so you can have a jolly holiday."

My grandmother (the homeowner) lives there more than 6 months each year. She spends the rest of her time in a retirement community.

It's a town with We have two maintenance people and one cleaner from the local community that we partner with; it is extremely common to have these "old school" side gigs up there as it is such a vacation-driven community.

Re: Airbnb asks people to donate money to landlords, backlash ensues

#120

Post by dhosek » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 2:14 PM UTC

bagacrap wrote: post #93

Nasrudith wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't just property but also jobs and industries. Look at the vastly disproportionate amount of tears for coal miners. That feeling seems to apply to any way to make a living that they react hostility to being told is risky. Because everything is an investment and everything is a risk including not taking one. I suspect it has to do with Calvinism essentially and the religious fixation of work as righteous and a g…

I'd rather live in a society that held work as righteous rather than idleness. It seems to be a problem currently that we're paying many workers more to stay home than they'd normally make on the job, and their personal attitudes towards work are not enough to overcome this inverse monetary incentive. As Musk put it, the economy is not just a free flowing cornucopia of "stuff" that everyone has to squabble over. You…

If someone makes less money working than they do on unemployment, the problem isn't that the unemployment payment is too generous, it's that their wages are too low.