Subject: Airbnb (2011) • Hacker News Board

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#131

Post by mkolodny » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 6:34 PM UTC

jl2718 wrote: post #101

This is just from memory. Correct me if I’m wrong. 2005: mobileride.com in Boston, phone-based ridesharing with voluntary cash exchange, shut down in 2006 with regulatory warnings 2006: zipcar hires some of mobileride team and enters rideshare business with shared zipcar rentals among BU students 2007: zimride starts with pre-arranged rideshare at Cornell, works with campus transportation directly to keep it legal. 2…

2000: Craigslist creates a "rideshare" platform

https://web.archive.org/web/20000620091420/http://www.craigs...

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#132

Post by bluntfang » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 6:34 PM UTC

jMyles wrote: post #59

bluntfang wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're strawmanning. It doesn't matter if you think people should live there for 30+ years, because that's what's already happening.

Yeah, well, those of us who live there for I don't understand the strawman - what argument did I mischaracterize in an attempt to make it appear weaker for the purposes of responding to it?

You're ignoring the fact that 30million people already live there by posing that people shouldn't be doing that in this day and age. It doesn't matter what your opinion of those 30 million people are, the fact is that it is the current condition.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#133

Post by iMuzz » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 6:36 PM UTC

Did PG make an angel investment in Airbnb?

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#134

Post by rebuilder » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 6:47 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?

You do not, as a visitor, deserve the same opportunities as people who live in a place permanently, IMO. What would governance and city planning look like, if that were the case? How do you build a community if you have to give equal consideration to people who want to spend their lives contributing to that community and to people who prefer to just visit every now and then?

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#135

Post by tedmiston » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 7:16 PM UTC

foldr wrote: post #119

>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.

For my own usage, they've taken the hotel market for personal travel. I don't think their hold is as strong in business travel yet.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#136

Post by paxys » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 7:19 PM UTC

foldr wrote: post #119

>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.

IMO they are chipping away at the hotel market for group (>2) travel at least.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#137

Post by tedmiston » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 7:19 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....

Personally I only even think about VRBO for group trips in vacation rental type areas. I think I've booked 10x the trips with Airbnb, more than half of them for just me solo.

Not sure how VRBO's mobile presence compared to Airbnb when Airbnb started gaining traction but that could be a factor?

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#138

Post by gcb0 » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 7:24 PM UTC

tedmiston wrote: post #135

foldr wrote: post #119

>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.

For my own usage, they've taken the hotel market for personal travel. I don't think their hold is as strong in business travel yet.

until you find yourself in customer care hell.

I've rented a fake room (lied about size, noise, etc. and had three honest-looking reviews) and I was talking to a rep in the US, in english. Meanwhile the host was talking to a service rep in the country i was in, in french.

In the end, the US rep promised me a credit and help. But then the France rep flagged my account. Now i could not book anything until i reactivated a credit card. Even the US rep now couldn't help me until I did that. It was a Saturday. I needed until Tuesday to validate any credit card via their statement methods. Twelve international calls later, and there was nothing they could do. at all. And I was a several-year long customer with 5star reviews all around.

Ended up on the street, with three bags, hunting last minute hotels and paying counter price. Never used airbnb ever again. The savings is not worth the risk.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#139

Post by gcb0 » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 7:25 PM UTC

deleted_account wrote: post #80

This pg quote has an r/LateStageCapitalism vibe to me: "They just arrived back from NYC, and when I asked them what was the most significant thing they'd observed, it was how many of their users actually needed to do these rentals to pay their rents."

For me it was how PG pushed the investor with the "they WILL get hotels" line. Expected more data and less gut feeling from Ycombinator.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#140

Post by stillsut » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 7:34 PM UTC

dustingetz wrote: post #19

This is bullshit. I fund my startup by consulting 1-2 months per year at 40k/month. Zero people think it is impressive. But $25k of Obama cereal makes a better story.

It is an impressive accomplishment; but like GPA, not an indicator-of-success in venture.