Introducing Airbnb Plus • Hacker News Board

Re: Introducing Airbnb Plus

#21

Post by mrgordon » Thu, Feb 22, 2018, 5:29 PM UTC

get wrote: post #14

Interesting. I wonder what those "checked for 100+ things that guests told us they love" are. Shouldn't the general quality of the listing already be apparent from the ratings? I'm always looking for apartments with a view. That is why I am starting a startup that will help locate these: https://nothingless.github.io/ I will also list if an apartment has a table. Because I need one to work with my laptop on it. What…

No the general rating isn't specific enough as you say. You may want a table, a hairdryer, working wifi, etc. which may not alter the overall rating much.

Re: Introducing Airbnb Plus

#22

Post by ghaff » Thu, Feb 22, 2018, 5:31 PM UTC

southphillyman wrote: post #11

Can't users already grep these type of homes by using price and rating filters? So the premium is based on a "verified" distinction due to an official inspection? I guess that's useful but it may make these kinds of gems harder to book (and more expensive) if they are easier to distinguish.

One would certainly expect that certification or other sorts of quality/service guarantees would allow properties to set higher prices relative to those that don't have them. There are reasons why many people (generally including myself) are more likely to buy used camera gear, for example, from reputable dealers rather than eBay even though the prices are usually higher.

Re: Introducing Airbnb Plus

#23

Post by matte_black » Thu, Feb 22, 2018, 5:31 PM UTC

w-m wrote: post #4

To me the homes, people and their experiences in the video feel artificial. Thus the whole video makes me strangely uncomfortable, even though I am probably in the target audience.

I believe this is an uncanny valley.

Re: Introducing Airbnb Plus

#24

Post by GuiA » Thu, Feb 22, 2018, 5:32 PM UTC

Reliable check-in With Airbnb Plus, you can always check in effortlessly. Every home is equipped with a lockbox, keypad, or a host who is on-call to greet you.

Love the implication that the check in process for their regular listings is unreliable :^)

Otherwise, as others are pointing out, interesting to see where their priorities lie - certainly these high touch experiences are bringing them more money than people renting out a spare bedroom.

I do wonder how much of a pain this must all be for hosts - anyone who’s ever been in a slightly expensive place knows how entitled people spending money can get, and that must be a huge pain to deal with when it’s someone staying in your house making a fuss because you didn’t offer them organic orange juice in the morning. This happened to a friend of mine who hosted someone for a few nights, on regular Airbnb, with no promise of breakfast whatsoever in the first place. Again, people can get really entitled when they’re spending money. She stopped hosting as the result of that experience (they complained about more than the breakfast, but that’s one thing they were weirdly pushy about).

Re: Introducing Airbnb Plus

#25

Post by aestetix » Thu, Feb 22, 2018, 5:33 PM UTC

So they are basically a fancy hotel that skirts regulations?

Re: Introducing Airbnb Plus

#26

Post by thisisit » Thu, Feb 22, 2018, 5:36 PM UTC

Wow. First I was confused and then on reading closer I can only say - what a load of bs. So, they take the same experience and re-package it to charge more money. And here I thought Uber's packaging on some of their ride categories was bs.

Re: Introducing Airbnb Plus

#27

Post by dageshi » Thu, Feb 22, 2018, 5:36 PM UTC

Gys wrote: post #5

Airbnb is trying to make more money by offering experiences (events that generally seem very expensive to me) and moving to a more high-end branding. If I open the website I mostly see the more exclusive places first. I think this opens opportunities at the bottom. A website that focusses on functionality and cheaper rooms. The public is now familiar with the concept. Some people do not want to pay above hotel prices…

I think hotel booking sites are already moving into that market. Agoda has listings for whole property rental that previously would've only been found on Airbnb.

Re: Introducing Airbnb Plus

#28

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Feb 22, 2018, 5:36 PM UTC

matte_black wrote: post #19

whymsicalburito wrote: post #12

This offering looks nice, but half the bullet items listed as benefits were things that I already thought were guaranteed by AirBnB... This seems like an excuse to lower their standards on non-Plus listings.

Agreed, don’t know why we should suddenly pay more for something we once expected for free.

[deleted]

Re: Introducing Airbnb Plus

#29

Post by tspike » Thu, Feb 22, 2018, 5:37 PM UTC

fimdomeio wrote: post #18

Gys wrote: post #5

Airbnb is trying to make more money by offering experiences (events that generally seem very expensive to me) and moving to a more high-end branding. If I open the website I mostly see the more exclusive places first. I think this opens opportunities at the bottom. A website that focusses on functionality and cheaper rooms. The public is now familiar with the concept. Some people do not want to pay above hotel prices…

I would say there's very little motivation for hosts to have cheaper rooms. These services make a bad reviews so high cost to the host that everyone just tries to make it 5 stars. That and in the in the bottom there's always normal long term house renting for very little effort.

There are alternatives to a five star rating system. The old Couchsurfing site did this nicely with open ended feedback and a vouching system.

Re: Introducing Airbnb Plus

#30

Post by dlg » Thu, Feb 22, 2018, 5:41 PM UTC

Gys wrote: post #5

Airbnb is trying to make more money by offering experiences (events that generally seem very expensive to me) and moving to a more high-end branding. If I open the website I mostly see the more exclusive places first. I think this opens opportunities at the bottom. A website that focusses on functionality and cheaper rooms. The public is now familiar with the concept. Some people do not want to pay above hotel prices…

The Overnight app is optimized for this use-case, among other things. (Disclaimer: I’m an investor, but because I think it fills a real need)