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Ahead of IPO, Airbnb achieves profitability for second year in a row

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Re: Ahead of IPO, Airbnb achieves profitability for second year in a row

#201

Post by fergie »

gringoDan wrote: post #69
conanbatt wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What im not sure about is Airbnb's moat. They have a great brand name and all, but their service is very limited: 15% is a very large cut to take on these transactions. What prevents another company from doing the same at 12% and costing 50% to operate?

Nothing prevents another company from doing that, but all of the hosts & guests are already on Airbnb. Two-sided marketplaces are very difficult to start, but once they have some momentum, it's even more difficult to unseat them. Look at Craigslist - terrible UI, hundreds of startups have tried to challenge it in the past 15+ years, and yet it's still my go-to when I need to sell some old furniture.

Does it actually have a terrible UI though? The UI is certainly basic and dated, but its so usable and distinctive.

You could argue that Craiglist's brutalist aesthetic is its genius.

Re: Ahead of IPO, Airbnb achieves profitability for second year in a row

#202

Post by venantius »

hawaiianbrah wrote: post #194
venantius wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main thing is that Airbnb has a global economy of scale - having more hosts in Japan actually does benefit their guests who reside in New York year-round. Competitors to Airbnb similarly must achieve global scale in order to compete in a serious way. There are one or two meaningful exceptions (China, possibly the US domestic market), but essentially any Airbnb competitor must achieve global scale in order to be a…

Why not? A New Yorker who visits Japan needs a ride around town as much as they need housing? Ok, maybe not quite as much. But they do benefit.

It’s not nothing, but the difference is at least an order of magnitude.

Consider: I am probably 0% likely to book an Airbnb in my own city. Almost all of my Airbnb’s will be somewhere else, so I only really care about remote stock.

By contrast, something like 90%+ of my Uber rides are going to be local. In many of the places I might travel to, I don’t need Uber at all (the location is rural/suburban, the public transit system is cheap and effective, cabs are widely available, etc).

Re: Ahead of IPO, Airbnb achieves profitability for second year in a row

#203

Post by rubber_duck »

welder wrote: post #134
warp_factor wrote: post #113

I'm a regular user of Airbnbs AND hotels. I usually prefer staying in hotels and will look for Airbnb only as a second choice. Reasons are: - Price is usually higher on Airbnb. - Airbnb crazy fees for multiple people, cleaning scam, outrageous service fees etc. - Inconvenience to not have a 24H reception where I can get my keys. The real genius of Airbnb is that they convinced a lot of people that they shouldn't look…

> Price is usually higher on Airbnb Only in Asia. In Western countries Airbnb is almost always cheaper than hotels. I still use Airbnb in Asia because you get nicer places with more space.

>In Western countries Airbnb is almost always cheaper than hotels.

In my experience traveling across Europe it depends - for example just last month I was in Vienna and Marriott was cheapest on the days we were looking (apples to apples comparison). But then in Budapest AirBnB was cheaper. Got the best deal on booking for Amsterdam and London. You still need to go trough multiple sites if you're looking for the best deal.

Re: Ahead of IPO, Airbnb achieves profitability for second year in a row

#204

Post by metz999 »

atombender wrote: post #118
cc439 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue that CL actually has a fantastic UI, it presents all the information you need, and nothing you don't, in a format that is quick to read. The only feature it's missing (or was missing the last time I needed it) is a map based list of housing for rent so you can simply filter out 90% of the listings that you'd never consider based on location anyways. That and a "prevent all Craigslist stereotypes from respon…

But it's not about presenting information. It's a completely different experience. AirBnB handholds the traveller from the moment they start looking to when they're going on the trip. CL just presents an ad, and lets the parties email/text on their own. AirBnB handles the financial transactions, with all that that entails, and CL does not. AirBnB facilitates the communication between the landlord and the customer. Th…

Is it impossible to generate fake reviews, fake rental transactions, multiple accounts, etc. on air bnb?

The perception of safety could be more dangerous for some using air bnb as opposed to those on CL who are fully aware that there is no safety net nor hand-holding.

Re: Ahead of IPO, Airbnb achieves profitability for second year in a row

#205

Post by mcrae »

speedplane wrote: post #187
baddox wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like an awful experience, but I would guess that you’re much likelier to be a victim of theft at a hotel than at a residential home.

> I would guess that you’re much likelier to be a victim of theft at a hotel than at a residential [AirBnB] home This seems like a made up guess, hotels have security and 24x7 surveillance and staffing. Further, at a hotel, there are folks you can turn to. AirBnB's service department is invisible. AirBnB's online complaint process feels more like a trial which places the burden of proof on the customer, rather than a…

I rented a place with AirBnB in NY once. I knocked on the door and the guy answered with a lit joint in his hand. Another was passed out on the couch. Gross, unclean bathroom.

But whatever shit happens. It was cheap so maybe buywer beware.

What was surprising was the flacid and uncaring support from AirBnB. They insisted on charging for time stayed (the evening of check-in) and refused to refund their fees and the cleaning fees. Why? Made no sense to me given Amazon's eagerness to make refunds for goods with actual COGS.

Haven't done it again since and I travel > 100 days a year.

Re: Ahead of IPO, Airbnb achieves profitability for second year in a row

#206

Post by distances »

ben_jones wrote: post #55
notahacker wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that whilst AirBnB have undeniably executed well, Booking.com is at least as well placed to go after AirBnB's market as the reverse (AirBnB-type rooms, apartments and villas at competitive prices do exist on Booking.com albeit in much smaller numbers, they also have a strong brand and hosts aren't tied to a single platform). The other interesting comparison point is Sabre: completely…

The difference to me as a consumer is that Booking has commoditized its customer support to an infuriatingly low quality. Admittedly I don't use Air BnB often but I will go miles out of the way (literally and figuratively) to avoid dealing with their systems requiring "travel insurance" for what used to be simple customer service requests.

What kind of customer service requests are you thinking of? As I've used booking services quite extensively, but never actually had any need to contact customer service.

Re: Ahead of IPO, Airbnb achieves profitability for second year in a row

#207

Post by distances »

dajohnson89 wrote: post #83
jimbokun wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm assuming "technology" means the UX in this case, and it is absolutely a big part of the reason I keep coming back to AirBNB while I plan an upcoming vacation with multiple stays. I can find places with the constraints I'm looking for quickly, and conveniently see them laid out on a map. The UX on other sites I've tried make it more difficult to find places where I want to stay.

AirBnb's excellent UX wins me over. What pushes me away, is the hidden fees (service, cleaning, extra $ for 2+ guests, etc).

Interesting, as I find AirBnb's mobile UX somewhat worse than Booking/Hotels. Especially the map view is next to non-functional, always scrolling to wrong places and unintuitive swiping between properties. Could be issue only on Android though, as I haven't tried the iOS app.

Re: Ahead of IPO, Airbnb achieves profitability for second year in a row

#209

Post by 75dvtwin »

magnetic wrote: post #160
warp_factor wrote: post #113

I'm a regular user of Airbnbs AND hotels. I usually prefer staying in hotels and will look for Airbnb only as a second choice. Reasons are: - Price is usually higher on Airbnb. - Airbnb crazy fees for multiple people, cleaning scam, outrageous service fees etc. - Inconvenience to not have a 24H reception where I can get my keys. The real genius of Airbnb is that they convinced a lot of people that they shouldn't look…

Do you have kids? There's something really nice about being able to cook in an AirBnB, after the kids have taken their showers and are in their PJs, and all sit around the table as a family, and then have them do the bed routine shortly after, perhaps after watching a bit of TV. At a hotel, you generally have to at least exit your room to go to the restaurant in the hotel... which breaks the whole "family groove" and…

Serviced apartments and corporate housing companies offer fully services apartments.

https://www.bridgestreet.com/

You can cook there, etc -- they are fully serviced (eg you get cleaning people once or twice a week, beds are made and replaced and so on).

Usually these apartments are in clusters, and areas of a country that are well policed (at least in my experience).

I also prefer apartments if I stay somewhere for more than a week, or with family.

Re: Ahead of IPO, Airbnb achieves profitability for second year in a row

#210

Post by fro0116 »

atombender wrote: post #118
cc439 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue that CL actually has a fantastic UI, it presents all the information you need, and nothing you don't, in a format that is quick to read. The only feature it's missing (or was missing the last time I needed it) is a map based list of housing for rent so you can simply filter out 90% of the listings that you'd never consider based on location anyways. That and a "prevent all Craigslist stereotypes from respon…

But it's not about presenting information. It's a completely different experience. AirBnB handholds the traveller from the moment they start looking to when they're going on the trip. CL just presents an ad, and lets the parties email/text on their own. AirBnB handles the financial transactions, with all that that entails, and CL does not. AirBnB facilitates the communication between the landlord and the customer. Th…

Exactly. The kinds of transactions that take place by the thousands (just guessing, might be off by an order of magnitude or two?) on a daily basis on AirBnB, i.e. guests giving complete strangers money over the internet in advance to stay in their homes, and hosts inviting complete strangers over the internet into their homes in the first place, simply has no chance of ever becoming mainstream on a platform like Craigslist.

This is precisely because they're the kinds of transactions that most people would never even consider to take part in without first being able to establish a certain level of trust in the other party.

I think this is probably the biggest competitive advantage for AirBnB against challengers in the space. Bootstrapping a 2-sided marketplace is hard enough to begin with, but doing so while building up a network of trust among users so they can comfortably partake in transactions with a high trust-barrier is even harder.

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