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Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

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Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#171

Post by ghaff »

nobodyandproud wrote: post #83
ceejayoz wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve never seen an AirBnB listing say you have to cook, because it’s assumed.

“BnB” means bed and breakfast, which of course has lost its meaning with Airbnb. I knew someone whose family ran a small bed-and-breakfast (pre-web). I don’t think they cooked all 3 meals but they did at least provide breakfast and brownbag lunch.

In my experience, and I've stayed at a lot of them, BnBs usually have a hot sit down breakfast but it's not universal. I've certainly stayed at BnBs where the host is politely but firmly clear they're not there to entertain you and there will be coffee out in the morning and feel free to grab some yogurt from the fridge. While there is usually fruit and muffins that you can grab for lunch, they don't usually provide a brownbag lunch as such and rarely dinner.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#172

Post by Spooky23 »

mcculley wrote: post #124
Spooky23 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It changed when it turned into a big VC thing. All of the “Uber for X” models are fundamentally evil at scale. The founders vision is irrelevant to the investors need for return. The business model is to grow until the market is saturated, and then become one of the 3-4 entities that dominate their niche. VRBO chalked out the “vacation home” scope, hotels do their thing, so AirBnb dabbles in everything, but owns the…

It started as being intended for VC, right? I remember YC being an investor and Paul Graham saying great things about the founders. Certainly they must have been counting on growth. Did they plan to just capture every airbed? Or to do to hotels what Uber did to taxis (both good and bad)?

I don’t know. In the absence of specific details, I try to be generous in my assessment of founders.

I imagine that it could have pivoted in many directions. That’s really the tragedy of AirBnb. It seems like a platform that could have been more.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#173

Post by smugma »

bell-cot wrote: post #158
stewx wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no good reason AirBnb could not offer proper support. Showing contempt for your customers like this is a choice.

Might you tell us about any large, modern, fast-growing businesses which happily limit profits, so they can pay for high-quality customer support? Yes, it's "a choice". Sadly, it's an overwhelmingly popular choice.

Zappos, from inception to 1B acquisition and beyond.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#174

Post by 988747 »

nebula8804 wrote: post #146
mudrockbestgirl wrote: post #16

It's not surprising at all. All of these review-driven P2P marketplace businesses end up with the same problem. After the initial phase of early adopters that offer generally high quality products, a flood of fake or low-quality listing tries to squeeze money out of the platform. These people are not listing their homes on Airbnb, they are trying to make a living by extracting as much money from the platform as they…

Ever since the worker shortage started, the quality of traditional hotels has gone down the hole. I have traveled far more this year than any other year in my life and my anecdotal experience shows that below 4 star the quality has just nosedives so much so that you don't know what you are getting until you show up and end up feeling lucky or totally screwed. And I am referring to hotels in America(Las Vegas, Los Ang…

I spent vacations in California this year, and noticed the same: housekeeping is every 5 days instead of everyday, hotel bars/restaurants are either closed or turned into fast foods (menu consists only of burgers, sandwiches and salads), amenities like gyms are closed. And all that for prices that are significantly higher than before the pandemic.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#175

Post by ghaff »

itsoktocry wrote: post #170
MikePlacid wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hotels are great. You got to be kidding? Last time I’ve used AirBnb it was a 1 bedroom half of the house, shady, private area with a creek, private yes - but in a walking distance to the downtown. I had a full kitchen, an office place to put my computer and monitor in and a personal, fast Internet connection. I even had a shed to put my bicycle in without a need to drag it into the house. The host configured the lo…

Some hotels are good/bad. Some Airbnbs are good/bad. Tremendous insight. Did you even read the article? The point is, staying at the Hyatt in a major city isn't a crapshoot.

I'd add the nuance that you can end up with a pretty crappy experience at a 3+ star chain hotel for whatever reason. Usually though it's something that doesn't matter all that much at the end of the day like a room with minimal natural light.

But generally speaking midrange business hotels are utterly unexciting--which is to say they're predictable which is what I'm looking for from my hotel in general when I travel. I'm probably not there for the hotel experience.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#176

Post by sg47 »

My recent experience

I rarely write bad reviews but this place deserves one. Here's a list of things that didn't go well for us. 1. Unit is advertised as having a pool but there's a disclaimer hidden somewhere that amenities are not accessible to guests. Had multiple emails back and forth to understand that it's closed only after labor day weekend. 2. Unit has a kitchen but we were told that it doesn't have pots and pans. Again, a lot of back and forth. We packed a lot of utensils since we have some food allergies and can't eat restaurant food. In the end it turned out to have all the essential kitchen utensils. Wasted a lot of our time and caused unnecessary stress. 3. Unit does not have an air conditioner and it clearly states that there's no air conditioner. What was not mentioned is that the unit traps a lot of heat and is essentially unlivable at night. Our first night there, we couldn't sleep till 4am due to the heat. The fans were useless. 4. That night we discovered that the upstairs toilet was broken. We had to go downstairs every time we needed to use the bathroom that night. I tried to fix it in the morning but it was futile. 5. In the morning, I went to use the gas stove and saw a note that a lighter was needed to use the stove. Sadly, there was no lighter to be found in the unit. When I called the host, they said they'd reimburse the lighter which wasn't very helpful. I had to make a 30+ minute trip back to town to get a lighter. I missed my meal schedule which wasn't great. Someone had left a lighter outside the door when I was gone but forgot to tell us or knock the door. 6. Someone came to take a look at the toilet and said it was broken and that they needed a maintenance person to fix it. No maintenance person came that day. They reached out to me once to ask about a good time to fix the toilet but I wasn't at the unit and the place does not have cellphone signal. Out of the blue, the maintenance person sends me a text "+1 ( (Phone number hidden by Airbnb) : Go ahead give me more tickets I’m on a roll fixing everything lol Sorry wrong person Me: No problem. Looks like the toilet isn't still fixed" 7. The place continued to be unlivable at night. We did not get any sleep on all 3 nights. Woke up sleepy and dehydrated all 3 mornings. 8. For all this inconvenience caused, the response from the host was pathetic.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#177

Post by ghaff »

988747 wrote: post #174
nebula8804 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever since the worker shortage started, the quality of traditional hotels has gone down the hole. I have traveled far more this year than any other year in my life and my anecdotal experience shows that below 4 star the quality has just nosedives so much so that you don't know what you are getting until you show up and end up feeling lucky or totally screwed. And I am referring to hotels in America(Las Vegas, Los Ang…

I spent vacations in California this year, and noticed the same: housekeeping is every 5 days instead of everyday, hotel bars/restaurants are either closed or turned into fast foods (menu consists only of burgers, sandwiches and salads), amenities like gyms are closed. And all that for prices that are significantly higher than before the pandemic.

Hotels have definitely cut back on servicing rooms. Although honestly? I not infrequently stay in "serviced apartments" that are only cleaned once a week. And that's just fine. The housekeeper is more likely to interrupt me to clean the room than provide a service I actually care about.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#178

Post by jfzoid »

omgomgomgomg wrote: post #126

Oh my, oh my, how the tune has changed on hn and social media on this and uber. Whereever people sense they can make a buck or save a buck, laws amd regulations be damned. I have never swayed an inch off my view. I knew first hand how this affects housing prices and wear, I live in a severly affected area and pay the price for it, literally. Same for uber. Neither is cheaper than the previous thing, hotel offers bett…

> Just because some tech bros with sexist issues can make an app and a service without customer service does not mean jack shit.

this is an ad hominem attack and not helpful -- Kalanick's personal problems are separate from Uber's product and services

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#179

Post by ptero »

Hotels are not without failure, too. I stayed in both the hotels and AirBnbs often (as a rough guess ~75 hotel stays and 30 airbnb stays) and saw hotels full on arrival late at night, noisy rooms, electrical failures and one flood from a guest upstairs, who managed from room 6XX vacate rooms 5XX 4XX 3XX and 2XX -- quite an achievment!

I may be lucky, but all my AirBnb stays were pretty good to excellent. I book for convenience, not trying to beat the hotel on price and prioritize listings with long, consistent history.

In general, having several rooms where a jetlagged family member can turn on the light and read without waking everyone else is a huge feature. So is having a full kitchen, so for me the AirBnb has been a clear net positive option. My 2c, others may have a different experience.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#180

Post by 988747 »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #140
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But a new host might not get any guests if they don't have a review on this site, and if the guests avoid them, then no one will review them. The new host needs to price their listing substantially below competitors, to the point where some poor bloke is willing to take a risk, in order to build up a review base.

But then won't they have to jack up the price, after earning a sufficient threshold of trust, to compensate for the huge losses their making at the beginning? i.e. price their beds the same as hotels, or higher?

No, they can't do that, because, you know, competition. Basically, those few weeks/months of below market rate prices are the cost of bootstrapping your business. Of course, if, over time, you acquire stellar reputation, then you probably can price yourself slightly higher than competitors based on that. But that's very unstable state.
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