I guess I am in the minority, but I have never understood this business. You would have to pay me to stay in someone else's house vs a hotel.
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Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away
21–30 of 237 posts
Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away
#22The article mentions a rape in an Airbnb in New York. The suspect had keys, presumably picked up from a lax key exchange in a nearby bodega. The cops were called and Airbnb was notified. Airbnb payed for a hotel, offered to fly the victim's mother out, paid for their return flight, and paid $7 million to the victim. The perp was caught by police shortly after the incident. Part of the payout was that she couldn't tal…
Whatever shortcuts ABB is taking, how are they responsible for a rapist?
Let’s say i absentmindedly leave my door unlocked at home and someone comes in and raped me. Am I partially responsible for my own rape because I left the door unlocked?
Why isn’t it 100% the fault of the rapist?
Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away
#23I guess I am in the minority, but I have never understood this business. You would have to pay me to stay in someone else's house vs a hotel.
So you would never stay in a beach house, lake house, or mountain lodge? Also in urban environments, the locations of private houses are sometimes much better: near parks, neighborhoods, restaurants, etc.
Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away
#24While this is indeed a terrible thing, I fail to see a strong correlation to the fact that the attacker entered the building due to the keys being at the counter. That is a possible reason along a million more, such as the fact that the attacker could force the door's lock, get someone else from the building (an accomplice?) to give him illegal access.
Pointing the blame at Airbnb therefore feels odd. Things like these can also happen (and they do, probably even more often) at your own place, and would you sue your landlord if so? Whether these things are more probable to happen at Airbnb is also a very hard thing to prove. IMO your own place might be riskier as an attacker can study your routine over time, which opens up more security holes.
These type of attacks are probably outside anyone's control and I don't think the Airbnb places have an implicit responsibility to ensure a higher level of security than you have at your own place (it can be a Airbnb luxe feature, though?)
Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away
#25While this is indeed a terrible thing, I fail to see a strong correlation to the fact that the attacker entered the building due to the keys being at the counter. That is a possible reason along a million more, such as the fact that the attacker could force the door's lock, get someone else from the building (an accomplice?) to give him illegal access. Pointing the blame at Airbnb therefore feels odd. Things like the…
"They caught him and emptied his backpack, pulling out three incriminating items: a knife, one of the woman’s earrings, and a set of keys to the apartment."
Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away
#26I guess I am in the minority, but I have never understood this business. You would have to pay me to stay in someone else's house vs a hotel.
It’s really a nice option when traveling with a large family. If you’re spread across four or five hotel rooms, you really spend much less time together than in a large house with a big common space. Plus most AirBnBs are just dedicated rental properties. It’s pretty rare that you’re actually in anyone’s house anymore.
The pre-AirBnB version is called an Apartment Hotel.
Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away
#27I guess I am in the minority, but I have never understood this business. You would have to pay me to stay in someone else's house vs a hotel.
Have you tried it? Prices have shot up, but back in the day, you could get a whole small house with a kitchen, laundry room, and multiple bedrooms, nicely appointed and clean for less than a three or four star hotel room.
It was a pretty great value proposition. Still some bargains to be had, but much less so now.
Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
That Airbnb take responsibility for its service offering end-to-end, in this case the key exchange. From the article it's obvious the company has no ethics and has tried to cover up shoddy/lax business practices from the beginning, so another alternative that could have helped is Airbnb being liable for damages in the millions/billions until they learn their lesson, or fold if they don't. Oh, it might also have been…
The did take responsibility. That's what the money was for. Except it went to the victims rather than Attorney General and regulatory agencies. Do you feel the same moral indignation about crimes committed in hotels? Here are NYC stats from 2017: > In 2017, there were 2,656 hotel crimes reported city-wide, compared to 2,223 in 2015, a 19.5-percent increase... This includes felony assaults, which soared 51.9 percent,…
Do you feel the same moral indignation about crimes committed in hotels?
Yes. Sorry, I would share stats about Airbnb crimes with you but the company keeps most secret by paying people off.
Second, if you want Airbnb compared to hotels, then the firm should be paying all applicable hotel/rental taxes and following all respective hotel regulations, but they don't because Airbnb markets itself as a "platform".
A trivial issue is I don't know of a hotel in New York that would have the key exchange be at a bodega.
Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away
#29I guess I am in the minority, but I have never understood this business. You would have to pay me to stay in someone else's house vs a hotel.
It's less true now than it was a few years ago, but it's often a cheaper option.
Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away
#30The article mentions a rape in an Airbnb in New York. The suspect had keys, presumably picked up from a lax key exchange in a nearby bodega. The cops were called and Airbnb was notified. Airbnb payed for a hotel, offered to fly the victim's mother out, paid for their return flight, and paid $7 million to the victim. The perp was caught by police shortly after the incident. Part of the payout was that she couldn't tal…
Whatever shortcuts ABB is taking, how are they responsible for a rapist? Let’s say i absentmindedly leave my door unlocked at home and someone comes in and raped me. Am I partially responsible for my own rape because I left the door unlocked? Why isn’t it 100% the fault of the rapist?
Buying a transportation ticket or renting a room from a hotelier is a frightfully risky activity on its own. There have historically been limited reasons to trust either transporters or hoteliers as you'd only interact with them once and you may never have come into contact with someone who used their services.
Hence there is a "duty to guests" in most hospitality law. That requires that the proprietor maintain a property reasonably free of forseeable risk.