I wonder if there are instances where people signed the NDA and took the money, that we have not heard about.
Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment
191–200 of 232 posts
Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
File a police report, then go to small claims court. I think the limit for small claims is $7k, but it might be higher now.
OP is in England. Do they have small claims courts?
It would seem so: https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview
Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment
#193What's going on here? The first half of the story sounds like routine corporate incompetency. Representatives don't read your stuff, can't be bothered to follow their own procedures, and screw you over. Unacceptable but, alas, fairly common when dealing with big companies. The NDA is where it goes off the rails. He's entitled to that money, so why would they try to put conditions on it? I'm sure they're not thrilled…
It's a legal settlement of a claim for money damages. Those usually do come with a confidentiality clause.
Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not unusual for settlements to have conditions attached, which makes this NDA thing somewhat less outlandish than it seems at first. For instance, if you settle with an insurance company after a car accident, you may have to sign something which says "that is it", waiving your right to sue anyone for anything more. If the person is properly compensated 100%, but keeps talking, it can be argued that their materia…
There is no settlement involved, because there is no legal claim, technically. None of the logic around legal settlements comes into play at all, so the devil's advocacy here is misguided. The NDA is outlandish and is clearly designed to shut him up and cover up the mishandling of the case. This might be different under UK law, but if he had sued you might have a point. Then I'd expect gag, non-disparagement, forefei…
> there is no legal claim
There might not be a lawsuit, but this sure sounds like a legal claim.
Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
An exploding offer is simply one that has a deadline set so short that the recipient must accept or reject on the spot. In startup funding, they're intended to prevent you from comparing an offer to other potential offers from other investors. In the Airbnb case, they're intended to prevent you from consulting with a lawyer or further appraising your damages.
I'd call it a poison pill. Consider what it most likely is trying to prevent you from doing, and then go do that instead of what condition the poison pill is attached to.
I don't object to you calling it that, but it is literally the thing people are talking about when they refer to "exploding offers" from venture capitalists, which is the irony here.
Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment
#196Is it correct that the article asserted damages assessed at USD 8K but offered to reimburse just under USD 2K? I could be overreacting to this, but I had a really strong reaction to this article. I'll preface relating this by stating that in pretty much everything, I would usually side with the large company or startup. Just my point of view. I'm not overflowing in sympathy for people complaining about dealing with c…
The fact that they're trying to chisel this customer out of a few grand suggests to me that host compensation must be a real cost center for AirBNB... which is actually worse than if it were just really bad customer service, because it means that the chances of this happening to your apartment are much higher than advertised. Neither way, of course, is a good look.
AirBnB is a company I want to IPO more than any other just so I can see their finances. The idea is so simple, so universal, and (theoretically) so profitable that I was surprised that they only just became profitable. I assumed the company had been printing money for years, back before they had to deal with lawsuits, regularly avoided taxes, and when everybody still loved them.
It doesn't surprise me that they're profitable at this stage, but the fact that it took them so long to get there on a completely unlevel playing field (competitors pay taxes, have better customer service, own physical property, etc) makes me seriously concerned about the future prospects of this business.
I obviously don't have the data, but it seems people are growing to like them less and less. Whenever founders have a sense of entitlement (I've met Brian and Joe - they came across as arrogant) it doesn't end well when they suddenly have to play by the same rules as everyone else. AirBnB is way too big that they can shirk the law anymore, and as the public grows to dislike them more their lobbying efforts will become increasingly futile (just look at what happened in New York).
Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
My neighbors don't have a problem with me running the airbnb. They do it themselves, too, or at least like having the option to. The balcony was a mess but it wasn't damaged, nor did it cost anything to clean.
>nor did it cost anything to clean // Free time!? You're not getting that time back you know, perhaps it cost little; I gather from this you're not an experienced landlord.
I cleaned it myself.. it took like 10 minutes. It was pretty annoying. We are good friends.
Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment
#198This email exchange reads like something from Black Mirror. https://nyoobserver.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/emailexchang... It's amazing he didn't go and firebomb AirBnB. This kind of communication would leave me incandescent with rage.
Firebombing might have been a bit much but that conversation makes me wonder WTF is going on at AirBNB, it's like two people talking on entirely different wavelengths with the CSR not even taking the most cursory interest in the supplied documents. Incredible, especially given that the host has already done his best to limit the amount. So essentially AirBNB's guarantee that they cover damage done by guests is hollow…
AirBnB is known for being shady. Everybody knows that many AirBnB listings are illegal but allowed because profit, except when they're silently removed just before public data release[1].
Making a profit over illegal listing is all fun and game until someone dies due to that illegal rental not being up to safety code as with that canadian woman in Taiwan[2] but as long as you conveniently offer 2 millions dollars to the heirs and not mention it the safety report it should not hurt business that much, let's top it with a PR stunt of offering carbon monoxide detector for good measure.
Let's not forget that the host protection was added after a similar trashed apartment PR crisis[3] at first capped at $50,000 then later upgraded to $1,000,000. Let's not forget either that the first answer to the host was that she would not receive any money from AirBnB.
There are numerous horror stories of dealing with AirBnB where the refused to pay until the press runs the story [4], or being evicted due to guest abuse[5], some are more exotic such as using the place for prostitution or this guest turned into squatter that the host had to find a way to evict on her own[6]. There's even a website dedicated to collecting those horror stories: airbnbhell.com
So yeah, if you're unlucky and your AirBnB experience is not smooth, be prepared for more non-smoothness from AirBnB but if your case is high profile enough, going to the press usually helps to solve the case.
[1]: http://insideairbnb.com/how-airbnb-hid-the-facts-in-nyc/ and https://www.recode.net/2016/2/10/11587752/did-airbnb-purge-p...
[2]: http://www.aswllp.com/content/images/Taming-The-Digital-Wild...
[3]: http://allthingsd.com/20110801/airbnb-apologizes-and-offers-... and https://techcrunch.com/2011/07/29/airbnb-victim-speaks-again...
[4]: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-an-airbnb-guest-trashed-a...
[5]: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/17/airbnb-orgy_n_49788...
[6]: http://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-host-cant-get-squatter...
Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment
#199Bribes are generally illegal. This should be "compensates," not "bribes." "Bribes" is just hyperbole. This is standard practice for a lot of businesses in a similar space.
We put quotes around that word in the title. I'll add an explanation here in a bit. Edit: ok, here's an explanation. We put quotes around "bribes" because that's the tiniest intervention I can think of that still addresses your concern. Why so tiny? That takes a while to explain, so read on if you want to understand how we approach this. The title breaks the HN guidelines ( https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines…
This is the smart way of dealing with this kind of situation. Better have light moderation than risk being seen as taking a partisan stance and protecting your own interest.
Then again bribe does not feel out of place. Offering direct deposit money outside of the official documented channel is akin to giving cash under the table. Even more when the recipient has to ask repeatedly to use the proper channel.
Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
This doesn't read as a settlement to me. It reads as "if you want the rest of the sum you are entitled too, you have to sign this NDA so you won't be able to further tell the public how we've tried to not reimburse the damage".
In fairness I haven't read the contract between this host and airbnb...but very unlikely is anyone "entitled" to any funds legally. Rather, airbnb likely has a provision for a claims process to evaluate these types of incidents, make determinations and if applicable make an offer to settle the claim. But the host is not unilaterally entitled to any funds. Now if the host is unsatisfied with the terms of the settlemen…
Is there room for such a term as "strongarm tactics" in your lexicon? And how do we feel about the gross imbalance in power between AirBnB and an individual?