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Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

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Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#261

Post by bobthepanda »

nzoschke wrote: post #218
karaterobot wrote: post #208

I don't think the interesting part of this article is that there are bad AirBnB hosts. I'm sure there are. I don't think they are the majority, and I'm basing that on my overwhelmingly positive experiences as a guest. So, that part of the article doesn't ring true to me. The interesting part is how much of a hellish experience AirBnB support was. If you're staying in an AirBnB, you likely do not have the time to spen…

This. A bad AirBNB can affect a customers health and safety. How can they justify taking days to come to a resolution? In this case I also wonder why the author didn’t take faster action themselves. Immediately move out into a new hotel or rental and sort out a refund later. Probably the root cause to both inaction is money. Airbnb doesn’t want to pay for a prompt help desk and for a customer friendly refund Policy.…

Keep in mind that hindsight is 20/20. The author may have been able to pay for an airbnb or a hotel but not both at the same time, which is what they would’ve had to do in this situation.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#262

Post by stickfigure »

nrmitchi wrote: post #256
stickfigure wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> our condo expressly forbid short term rentals, and had language around minimum length of stay and lease approval requirements. It only stopped when we started fining them $1000 per incident. At least this part sounds like the system working correctly?

A system, but not AirBNBs system.

It's unreasonable to expect AirBNB to enforce your HOA rules. That's a private contract between you and your neighbors.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#263

Post by InitialLastName »

Tarsul wrote: post #185
noasaservice wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All these (AirBNB, Uber, etc) e-companies do is take what's illegal, add "internet", and somehow is legal until the authorities can see through the shit-show. And of course, while the grift is going, the execs and shareholders get rich. But everyone knows when the gig is up. Evidence: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/11/uber-doordash-plunge-as-labo...

Thank you for saying this. Sometimes I feel like I'm insane in that no one seems to acknowledge that many of these businesses are simply skirting real regulations because "internet" as you say so succinctly (e.g. PayPal skirting banking laws, Uber skirting Taxi laws, Amazon skirting tax laws etc.). Thankfully, it didn't/doesn't work in every country/case but it's apalling how often it did work. btw. I'm all for inter…

> Amazon skirting tax laws

Never forget "skirting consumer product safety regulations and trademark protections". Their entire retail business at this point is no more subject to regulation than buying "designer" handbags off some dude's street stand.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#264

Post by VBprogrammer »

ghaff wrote: post #167
VBprogrammer wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My sister uses AirBnB quite frequently because her and her partner are both Vegan. Having a kitchen is a big advantage over hotels.

There are suite hotels with kitchenettes if that's a priority.

This might be an option in a lot of downtown areas but not on the outskirts of London (the hotels are mostly airport / motel types) or in the middle of nowhere in Scotland where 4 of my sister's previous Airbnb rentals have been.

Her last one was incredible. A lovely little 3 bed home with a hot tub in the garden room.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#265

Post by madaxe_again »

fareed79 wrote: post #21
mudrockbestgirl wrote: post #16

It's not surprising at all. All of these review-driven P2P marketplace businesses end up with the same problem. After the initial phase of early adopters that offer generally high quality products, a flood of fake or low-quality listing tries to squeeze money out of the platform. These people are not listing their homes on Airbnb, they are trying to make a living by extracting as much money from the platform as they…

basically, author expects calibrated minimal services, good support, and a minimal standard of quality. This is what you call a classic hotel/lodge. I fully agree with you, and those living close to these miserable BnB businesses surely would agree as well. This "model" is rotting city centers and popular places. AirBnB will never care about that poor lady. AirBnB will know how to make her anger disappear into the ze…

I don’t know why I’ve had such a different experience to others, but in both cases where I complained to Airbnb when a host was unable or unwilling to offer a resolution, Airbnb made things right for me - in one case even covering the parking ticket I’d ended up with from the host’s crappy instructions, in the other, the listing was removed as the issues were too egregious to number.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#267

Post by AlwaysRock »

Timja wrote: post #150

The problem with AirBnB is the rating system. I have booked many dozens of apartments on AirBnB and my approach these days is: 1: Never book an apartment with less than 50 ratings 2: Never book an apartment with an average rating of less than 4.8 stars The problem is that AirBnB has set up their system so that even complete garbage apartments have average ratings of over 4.5 stars. Because of that, people still book…

Airbnb also makes it difficult to rate someone poorly without being rated poorly yourself. You get almost no recourse if you do get a bad review.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#268

Post by pessimizer »

aliqot wrote: post #163
nebula8804 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't win in this race. Do research in your tourist destination to avoid these places? Well Youtube is full of influencers pushing garbage info, Reddit is being quietly stuffed full of authentic sounding comments and you might as well forget Yelp/Tripadvisor. It seems like a massive scam perpetuated at all levels of the stack.

Holiday! Inn! Express!

A franchise is very comforting. All of those consistent, comfortable minimum standards constantly checked by employees from checklists; the excellent insurance; the ability to speak to someone in charge when something goes wrong and get a nearly instant reply... comforting. When I stay in them, I don't even have to wonder if I'm raising residential rents in the area (although I'm certainly raising commercial ones.)

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#269

Post by jamiegreen »

wcarron wrote: post #259
scarby2 wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tourists are included in city planning The reason AirBnB exists is that tourists are not properly accounted for in city planning and not properly serviced by hotels. There's a huge demand for what AirBnB provides (Serviced and short term accommodation). Hotels are inadequate for longer stays or where you just want the comforts of home, a good middle ground is the "serviced apartment" concept found in some places (e…

> a good middle ground is the "serviced apartment" concept found in some places (entire apartment blocks reserved for short term rentals) You mean a hotel? Hotels are not inadequate for longer stays. If someone desires the comforts of a home, they can move there and actually rent/buy a home. > The reason AirBnB exists is that tourists are not properly accounted for in city planning and not properly serviced by hotels…

>You mean a hotel? Hotels are not inadequate for longer stays. If someone desires the comforts of a home, they can move there and actually rent/buy a home.

What about a middle ground. If I go somewhere for 2-4 weeks? For that length of time I kind of want a proper kitchen, which I won't get in a hotel, but obviously it is not long enough to actually rent/buy a home.

Re: Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

#270

Post by aembleton »

spapas82 wrote: post #241

The OP seems to have spend like $3000 for a month. What's very puzzling to me is why not go to a decent hotel? I'm positive that you can easily find 3 and even 4 star hotels for less than $100 per night in Portugal. This question is not specifically about the OP but in general about people that pay so much money for an Airbnb when they can have a room in a nice hotel for the same (or even less) money. I'm not talking…

The problem with a hotel is that you have less space to relax and you can't cook for yourself. You might be able to get one with a small kitchen but they will probably be >$100 and likely not as featurefull as the ones you get in an Airbnb.

I prefer to have my own kitchen if I'm staying for more than a few days as I don't like eating out all of the time.

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