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Airbnb removed my negative review

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#131

Post by zbrozek »

miguelazo wrote: post #106
jeremyjh wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m genuinely interested to hear what are the specific harms you have suffered due to this.

Gee, how about having a parade of random people showing up at all hours of the day/night just to start? The erosion of community. Further commodification of housing so that only the rich and upper middle class can buy a house in any city?

That last point - that housing is too expensive - is not something that airbnb causes or can fix. That's a supply side problem and the solution is housing construction. It may marginally exacerbate the symptom by providing liquidity.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#133

Post by raincom »

itake wrote: post #25
raincom wrote: post #2

Any platform that extracts money from X has the incentive to get rid of any negative reviews about X. Reviewers are not the revenue source. That's why AirBnB, Yelp, Glassdoor, etc will get rid of bad reviews for the right price. Read all bad stuff about AirBnB on reddit, you see where airbnb is heading. People should stop using that platform, whenever you find an alternative.

AFAIK, Yelp has not and does not remove negative reviews for the sake of improving a business's score, but they will remove "spam" reviews (like if a celebrity dies at a hospital and their fans leave bad reviews). There certainly have been minor incidents where certain employees have behaved against policy. Unlike Airbnb, if users lose trust in their reviews, Yelp loses their entire business. source: I am ex-yelper.

Here is an example: One Yelp employee had his friend write a negative review for the business that said 'no' to Yelp extortion/tax. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQAAauJlPq0

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#134

Post by pixl97 »

medellin wrote: post #9

Airbnb most recently has continued to ignore requests to remove houses that violate the building’s HOA where i live. People have been turned away when they show up by security as it’s not allowed but the people just try to sneak them in. When reporting this to airbnb they refuse to do anything. I’m getting fairly sick of the laissez faire stances these companies are taking. It’s not just that we don’t want airbnb its…

I would think aggressive enforcement and fines by your HOA would lessen that activity.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#135

Post by jcranmer »

wantsanagent wrote: post #46
medellin wrote: post #9

Airbnb most recently has continued to ignore requests to remove houses that violate the building’s HOA where i live. People have been turned away when they show up by security as it’s not allowed but the people just try to sneak them in. When reporting this to airbnb they refuse to do anything. I’m getting fairly sick of the laissez faire stances these companies are taking. It’s not just that we don’t want airbnb its…

Frankly I'll back AirBnB over an HOA any day. HOAs are a societal cancer.

Given the circumstances mentioned in GP's comment, it appears they are living in a condo, and the HOA is constructed to cover the rules for the use and maintenance of jointly-owned portions of the building. This isn't a case of "HOA is mad that next door neighbor used a wrong species of grass for their lawn."

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#136

Post by ocdtrekkie »

ajhurliman wrote: post #110
wantsanagent wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Frankly I'll back AirBnB over an HOA any day. HOAs are a societal cancer.

I think there's a point to be made about single family dwellings, but it's hard to imagine how a 50 condo building would operate without one. Who takes care of the pool? Or fixes the elevator? The governance is definitely poorly structured, though. In my (limited) experience I've seen a board that gets elected and then proceeds to abuse their power to advance their own financial positions. I think there should be a 3…

My takeaway from dealing with a condo HOA is that condos shouldn't legally exist, because people owning fractional buildings is doomed to result in structural collapse. Elected residents aren't qualified to make decisions about long-term maintenance which becomes more severe and expensive over time, and they have perverse incentives to avoid spending money. Faced with a substantial enough cost, board members can opt to hide problems while they try to sell their own stake in the building.

That's being said, $&@# AirBnB.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#137

Post by raincom »

bjarneh wrote: post #16
raincom wrote: post #2

Any platform that extracts money from X has the incentive to get rid of any negative reviews about X. Reviewers are not the revenue source. That's why AirBnB, Yelp, Glassdoor, etc will get rid of bad reviews for the right price. Read all bad stuff about AirBnB on reddit, you see where airbnb is heading. People should stop using that platform, whenever you find an alternative.

Are there any real alternatives? In my opinion reviews on booking.com seem even stranger...

Pick a hotel chain that you are familiar with. No more $100 a day cleaning charges, no more of cleaning utensils, etc.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#138

Post by LegitShady »

mgkimsal wrote: post #47
LegitShady wrote: post #4

Now you know for sure you can't trust AirBNB to make ethical decisions on reviews, so you know for sure you can't use AirBNB without opening yourself to these problems. That something was against their rules but the operator is still a "super host" is further evidence any AirBNB designated statuss is worthless. So take your money elsewhere.

I wish more people would. Without sharing more public stories like this, there's nothing more some of us can do. My wife used abnb twice: once OK/meh experience, one horrible/abusive. Never again. But that was... 8 years ago. How can I 'take my money elsewhere' when... I'm not giving it to them anyway? I already did "take my money elsewhere" 8 years ago. And I know others who have too, but we're small individual voic…

tell people about it, like OP did.

The more people who know the fewer potential victims AirBNB and their hosts have.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#139

Post by thefounder »

miguelazo wrote: post #106
jeremyjh wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m genuinely interested to hear what are the specific harms you have suffered due to this.

Gee, how about having a parade of random people showing up at all hours of the day/night just to start? The erosion of community. Further commodification of housing so that only the rich and upper middle class can buy a house in any city?

I think the ownership is not encouraged anymore.

Instead we have social mobility so that we can move anytime when better opportunities arise. That may be a good or a bad thing depending on which side you are.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#140

Post by fenesiistvan »

imtyler wrote: post #26

My nextdoor neighbor sold their house last year and now it's an Airbnb. Despite the fact that I live in a house in a normal residential neighborhood, I'm now forced to live next to a hotel. And I have no say in the matter. Super frustrating. I've read people talking about how Airbnb screwed the host or the guest. But few people talk about how it screws the neighbors.

Here in Romania there are different rules if you rent your house this way (hotel style). You have to pay much more for the administration/utilities costs, which has some compensation effect
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