Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

Because you want to spend the money?

> It could happen to you when you least expect it - be warned.

No, it couldn't. Last time I used an AirBnb was 2017 in Japan and I will never, ever do so again.

Even if two of three places were OK, what came to light about the company as essentially a societal parasite would (and did) stop me of giving them any more business.

But in addition to, in my opinion, bad karma there are very practical reasons to just book a hotel room and not having to put up with a laundry list of crap.

What I mostly resent is having to tiptoe around other guests or neighbors, who are quite rightfully annoyed about an illegal hotel in their shared building.

Then there's the fact that you don't really have an idea into what you actually get. It can be fine, or it can be a pretty crummy place.

Hotels usually also don't hide surveillance equipment, or even if it's specified in a listing I don't want any fucking cameras pointed into my direction in the privacy of a room for which I paid.

There are no additional cleaning charges tacked to your stay. The advertised room rate is what I pay for (save for that insane "resort fee" you only find in America and which is borderline fraud to begin with).

Not only is it extremely convenient to pick up your key at a well staffed reception. The staff can also function as an on-location trouble shooter if something goes wrong.

And that the prices are so good is ancient history at best. In areas with high demand Airbnb prices are usually not cheaper than hotels. Especially when you factor in the hassle and the cleaning fees.

Finally, I can book exactly what I want in the price range I want and know pretty precisely what to expect. If I want to splurge I'll chose the LeMeridien in town, if money is more of a concern I go to the local Ibis.

But you know what? I know that both of them provide a really good bed. Something I never really enjoyed in an Airbnb.

So no, I really don't have to reckon with bad reviews destroying my travel plans.

I don't have any horse in this race (meaning: no economic interest in how AirBnB's stock will perform), but I'd like to say something: irrespective of which company we are talking about, it's much easier to pile on and trash a company, than to root for it; as it's easier to find reasons why the stock should go down, etc.

I, too, had a few issues with AirBnB in the past, of course. But I also used AirBnB as a guest maybe 100 times; and I hosted on AirBnB for several years. I kind of hate to admit it, but I am happy that AirBnB exists, despite it's not perfect by any means.

What I hope is that AirBnB will be able to transform itself into a better company, and that many people will benefit from its existence (not just owning the stock; I mean actually using the service).

What would I do if I had absolute power over the company's strategy?

1) Fix the review system. It's a problem somewhat similar to Covid-19, in terms of "flattening the curve": you want to pursue wrong reviews, false reviews, etc so aggressively that people eventually realize they will get caught most of the time, and will essentially stop doing it. Perhaps create a "protocol" to check in, where the guest can film entering the property for a few minutes, and even leave the video to be reviewed by other future guests. And so on.

2) There are two categories of hosts: the ones that simply do it for business (they buy multiple properties in a city and rent it out 100% of the time), the ones that do it to mingle with guests (a-la couchsurfing). Make it easy to distinguish between the two, and possibly offer a slightly different web experience for guests.

3) Training: help hosts (and maybe guests) learn what's important and essential to provide a great experience; a "udemy" of sort, for AirBnB hosts. And maybe a little for guests too. You become a certified "guest", I give you a discount.

Perhaps the above would mitigate some of the issues that AirBnB had in the past.

Just my 0.02.

For instance, you can't find listings without specifying an arrival and departure date. What if I want to see what's available before committing to an exact date?

I've lived primarily out of aribnbs for about 3 years while working remotely.

Ive had as many horror stories as everyone else but there is a way to get consistently good results on airbnb:

Always assume the worst. If the whole apartment looks beautiful but there are no bathroom pics, assume the bathroom is a dungeon.

If you see clothes in a closet or personal belongings, assume the whole place is cluttered with someone else's mess.

If they don't show the bedsheets, assume they are disgusting.

You get the point.

The places that care about having a good experience show all of these things in detail because they know they are doing better than the rest and it's a selling point. If the place is not painfully documented in pictures, just assume they are hiding the bad parts.