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Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

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Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#211

Post by bombcar »

adolph wrote: post #195
bombcar wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of the above makes total sense (to me) when you realize that people don't know how to price rentals at all - just like the average person doesn't know how to price restaurant food. When you know truly how to price (and cost!) something, you know when and where you can offer discounts. If cost to acquire a tenant is $2k, then the discount to preserve a good tenant should be about $2k per tenant turnover time .

> people don't know how to price rentals And "helping" them is a lawsuit magnet: Big landlords are colluding to raise rents, D.C. lawsuit alleges https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38155840

If I had a group of graduate students at my beck and call I'd love to try to factor out what effect single-family rentals have had on the rental market in toto - because once you remove appreciation, they're often losing money each month, which means they're subsidizing the renters (and willing to do so because they're making it up on highly-leveraged appreciation).

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#212

Post by kube-system »

jupp0r wrote: post #176
kube-system wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I think those requirements are perfectly reasonable for the originally intended purpose of the site, which is people renting out their personal homes. I have stayed in several Airbnbs that had the owner's clothes in the closet and pictures of their kids on the wall, and in those situations, it just seems rude to leave dirty dishes in the sink. These places aren't hotels. I agree that doing laundry is a bit o…

That's all fine. The $200 cleaning fee on top of that isn't. The $200 cleaning crew will do the dishes no problem.

Depends on the size of the property.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#213

Post by pjerem »

_yb2s wrote: post #48
mholt wrote: post #22

I'm worried this ban will only affect honest hosts. Anyway, what Airbnb should really ban is hosts charging a mandatory cleaning fee when also requiring their guests to do the cleaning. We just stayed at one this weekend, and like almost all our previous bookings, the host asked us to: - Take off all bedding and towels and start a load of laundry - Do all the dishes and start the dishwasher (but required to hand-wash…

At this point the cleaning fees are just a scam to make the listing fee seem artificially lower. People did the same thing on eBay by making the items almost free but the shipping expensive, until they fixed the eBay interface, e.g. by letting you sort by price + shipping and showing shipping fees before you click.

eBay could have fixed this a long time ago. Most marketplaces (at least in my country) manage the shipping transparently (by taking the shipping fee and providing a pre paid label to the seller).

Idk in the US but I know nobody who still use eBay for anything, I don’t know how they are still alive.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#214

Post by kube-system »

notyourwork wrote: post #148
kube-system wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I think those requirements are perfectly reasonable for the originally intended purpose of the site, which is people renting out their personal homes. I have stayed in several Airbnbs that had the owner's clothes in the closet and pictures of their kids on the wall, and in those situations, it just seems rude to leave dirty dishes in the sink. These places aren't hotels. I agree that doing laundry is a bit o…

Those types of Airbnb's are long gone, now its entirely commercial.

They are not gone, I book them all the time. They're hard to find, but they exist.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#215

Post by sourcecodeplz »

mholt wrote: post #22

I'm worried this ban will only affect honest hosts. Anyway, what Airbnb should really ban is hosts charging a mandatory cleaning fee when also requiring their guests to do the cleaning. We just stayed at one this weekend, and like almost all our previous bookings, the host asked us to: - Take off all bedding and towels and start a load of laundry - Do all the dishes and start the dishwasher (but required to hand-wash…

Vacuum, mop the floors, scrub the toiles and sinks, clean the dust / hairs. Of course there is a cleaning fee.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#216

Post by tensor »

mholt wrote: post #22

I'm worried this ban will only affect honest hosts. Anyway, what Airbnb should really ban is hosts charging a mandatory cleaning fee when also requiring their guests to do the cleaning. We just stayed at one this weekend, and like almost all our previous bookings, the host asked us to: - Take off all bedding and towels and start a load of laundry - Do all the dishes and start the dishwasher (but required to hand-wash…

I've also noticed that now some hosts are able to use external services and require a security deposit not managed through airbnb. Supposedly these are only via "airbnb approved platforms," but I still don't like it as there is no real oversight.

For example, I found one that wanted almost $1000 as a deposit, and had a whole bunch of rules by which they would charge you extra. Not cleaning dishes, or not well enough would ding you $12 per item! Not putting the keys back in the lockbox on time would be $28/h. There was even a db meter that supposedly didn't record audio. The issue is where is the line? What do they consider clean a dish "well enough"? What is the db limit? Can I see the meter?

I just avoided it as it sounded too irritating to deal with and with the deposit outside of airbnb there is no room for argument.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#218

Post by ryukoposting »

xvector wrote: post #16

I almost forgot how annoying Airbnb is until I started staying in hotels again. I will gladly take a smaller property in exchange for dealing with people that have actual hospitality training, daily room cleaning, room service, etc. Hotels are just a nicer experience. I don't want to spend my vacation cleaning the room or worrying about a "host."

Agreed. The Airbnb of today is a far cry from its early days. Back then, the annoyances of an Airbnb were tolerable because rates were competitive with hotels, and you got more space and a proper kitchen.

Nowadays, it really only makes sense if you're renting as a group. Small, affordable Airbnbs just don't exist anymore. Airbnb knows this - just look at their new ad campaign. Not sure if that was inevitable as the company scaled, or if they've just found that they can milk more money out of larger rentals.

All of this being said, Airbnb-esque services exist that offer small apartments at competitive rates. I stayed in one in Detroit for a few days, and it was pretty nice. I think it was called Mint Something. No cameras, either.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#219

Post by JoshTriplett »

jlarocco wrote: post #92
Delumine wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It feels to me that AirBNB hosts are an entitled group of people. They want all the benefits of renting out their place (in most cases, it goes against the original intent of renting a spare room, or family home), but want to make the experience less than ideal for customers. There's a multitude of rules, chores, invasions of privacy (Cameras, decibel monitors, et al). These are supposed to be vacations, not a walkin…

We already have a solution, and they're called hotels. Society forgot why hotels were created, so now we're re-learning it via AirBnB.

"Hotels" does not solve "I'd like to stay in an isolated cabin in the countryside", or various other things that are readily available on vacation rental sites.

(AirBnB has lots of other problems, but "hotels" alone are not a complete replacement for what it provides.)

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#220

Post by kube-system »

bluescrn wrote: post #193
kube-system wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vacation style rentals are generally crappy properties, whether on Airbnb or otherwise. I think Airbnb has become worse as these types of properties have become common on the platform. The best experiences on Airbnb are, and have always been, people's personally owned homes.

And how many nights of Airbnb do nice properties last before being utterly destroyed?

The ones I've stayed in usually have dozens to low hundreds of reviews. They often have picky hosts that don't do instant bookings, and they're the type of properties that wouldn't be physically suitable for parties. And often the owners are in the same property or close by, meet you in person, and they'd know if something fishy was going on.
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