Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Airbnb is dead to me

drupaler.drupalgardens.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 236 posts

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#191

Post by skuhn »

jhall1468 wrote: post #100
mahouse wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Airbnb is essentially enabling any joe idiot to run a shit hotel anywhere in the world with zero accountability. You don't say? I don't know what do airbnb users expect, honestly.

I imagine they expect Airbnb to know who their customer is and who their supplier is. Judging by the stories here, they don't.

I think this is a common expectation, but consider this: what did Airbnb get from you when you signed up to rent a room? Not much right? They only get very slightly more than that from the people renting the rooms.

Over time they can weed out bad actors, but there is very little chance that they are going to eliminate them upfront.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#192

Post by dragonwriter »

mfringel wrote: post #190
subpixel wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a recipe for having AirBnB experiences that don't suck: 1. Don't make saving money a prerequisite. Nobody is renting out their place in order to save you money. You get what you pay for. 2. Book early. The good hosts in prime cities book up months out. You don't want to be in a situation where you have limited choices and have to lower your standards. 3. Only book with hosts who have many positive reviews. See…

So, if you're not saving money, why would you go with AirBnB at all?

Better experience? I'm not saying that's actually something you get with AirBnB, but thinking something different than the typical hotel-style experience might be better is certainly one of the reasons that has driven users to alternative rental systems in roughly the same space, like VRBO.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#193

Post by mfringel »

ghaff wrote: post #91
wehadfun wrote: post #57

Unless you are 21 and looking for an adventure use Hyatt, Hilton, ... when dealing with foreign countries especially if you don't speak the local language.

Eh. I'm no particular Airbnb enthusiast--indeed, I've never used it. However, I have stayed at any of a number of non-chain places around the world from the large to the tiny and I've rarely had a terrible experience. (And some of my worst hotel experience were at large chains.) Especially for business travel, I do like a degree of predictability but that doesn't mean I feel a desire to restrict my travel to where I…

I think it's more about "governed by local hotel regulations."

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#194

Post by rfrank »

aianus wrote: post #176
mistermann wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By restricting what companies can and cannot do and forcing them to prove certain risks are genuinely covered before coming in and "disrupting" (aka destroying) industries that have generally done a somewhat decent job of things for decades. I'm just getting tired of people advocating free market principles and proclaiming that industries will police themselves, and then turning around and lying and cheating, with ne…

> to prove certain risks are genuinely covered Why? I'm well aware of the risks of using AirBnB (or being a contractor instead of an employee or whatever) and choose to take them on because I believe I come out ahead overall. Not everyone wants the nanny state watching out for them at every opportunity.

And not everyone wants neighbors who destroy their quality of life because of their perceptions of a "nanny state."

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#195

Post by subpixel »

mfringel wrote: post #190
subpixel wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a recipe for having AirBnB experiences that don't suck: 1. Don't make saving money a prerequisite. Nobody is renting out their place in order to save you money. You get what you pay for. 2. Book early. The good hosts in prime cities book up months out. You don't want to be in a situation where you have limited choices and have to lower your standards. 3. Only book with hosts who have many positive reviews. See…

So, if you're not saving money, why would you go with AirBnB at all?

For many of the same reasons you'd stay at a regular Bed & Breakfast: location, amenities, personal touches, etc.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#196

Post by frandroid »

archagon wrote: post #3

Wow, what a nightmare. I'd like to think that they'd have my back in this kind of situation, but I guess not. Personally, though, I've stayed in almost 40 different European Airbnb rentals over the past year and didn't have any problems. It's not risk-free, but it's certainly better than trawling through the local equivalent of Craigslist. (Granted, I mostly stayed with people renting out a spare room, so there was p…

Renting a spare room is a key differentiator. All these bad experiences in the thread here have one thing in common: they're all for a whole suite. That's basically renting from all these real estate tycoon wannabes.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#197

Post by ghaff »

mfringel wrote: post #193
ghaff wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh. I'm no particular Airbnb enthusiast--indeed, I've never used it. However, I have stayed at any of a number of non-chain places around the world from the large to the tiny and I've rarely had a terrible experience. (And some of my worst hotel experience were at large chains.) Especially for business travel, I do like a degree of predictability but that doesn't mean I feel a desire to restrict my travel to where I…

I think it's more about "governed by local hotel regulations."

That's not what the parent wrote though. He named a couple of large international chains. (Of course "local hotel regulations" may also not amount to much in some places I've stayed but that goes with traveling.)

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#198

Post by secabeen »

scottmcdot wrote: post #157
josefresco wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 34, capable as the next guy and would probably have difficulty re-booking a room, in a foreign country while also being "homeless". In fact, during summer months I'd have difficulty booking a room 5 min from my house last minute.

I agree. It was 5pm and I had my laptop in front of me so I could quickly call hotels in the area to see if they were available. By around the 8th ok-looking hotel, I had found one that had a room available. This would be very difficult for my mother on her slow iPhone 3GS.

Interesting point. I think I'll be sure to carry a paper travel guide (Lonely Planet, etc.) when travelling internationally just for the hotel reviews and phone numbers in case of problems.

10 years ago, when travelling internationally, my first step when arriving in a city was to park myself at a payphone in the train station and start calling places.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#199

Post by superuser2 »

larrys wrote: post #177
deveac wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Airbnb is essentially enabling any joe idiot to run a shit hotel anywhere in the world with zero accountability. You did not leave a rating or review of your unfit rental on airbnb?

So that's great but then you are doing part of the work that airbnb should be doing.

>airbnb should be doing

According to you.

Paying in to something with zero or negative ratings on a reputation-based market always carries risk; it should be priced accordingly.

Re: Why Airbnb is dead to me

#200

Post by jenno »

grishas wrote: post #56

Several months ago, members of my team at work booked various Airbnbs for a large conference in San Francisco. We booked early to get a better deal, and I'm pretty sure a lot of Airbnb hosts didn't know the conference was coming up (or was that big). As we got closer to the conference time, pretty much all of us had our stays canceled on us by the hosts. We were then forced to rebook at significantly higher rates. In…

If you cancel on a guest as a host, Airbnb heavily penalizes your listings. They will be outranked by pretty much every other listing for at least a couple of months. (It happened to me and many other hosts I know.)
Post reply on HN