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Airbnb removed my negative review

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#281

Post by duped »

kennend3 wrote: post #192
duped wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not inherently bad. Some regulations are dumb and should be challenged by the market, like Uber and Lyft did to taxi companies and the protectionist regulations that kept them from evolving and improving. It's less about removing the review or listing and more about looking at the belief system in the business. If a local government says "this space is for permanent residents only" AirBnB would say, "why?" and w…

keep in mind why some of those taxi regulations were created in the first place. In the not so distance past there was a FLOOD of drivers, few rules and regulations and eventually a "race to the bottom" (too many drivers chasing too few fares). Then the pendulum of regulation swings TOO FAR in the other direction, creating the "medallion" system where these are worth a small fortune. A happy medium is where the marke…

> reasonable regulations to protect both drivers and consumers.

I would rather regulations exist to protect consumers and communities without respect for the business owners/operators' needs. Businesses don't have an inherent right to exist or be profitable and the choice to protect them is one of pragmatism (eg: national defense, airlines, rail).

I think something got lost in my last reply, I don't think companies should flagrantly break laws and feel that governments should take the gloves off more often to slap them with massive penalties for ignoring them. But it's not black and white.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#282

Post by seattle_spring »

cycrutchfield wrote: post #70
chollida1 wrote: post #15

There is an old joke, how do you know that someone is a vegan or does crossfit? You'll know because they'll make sure you know minutes after meeting them. In 2008-2011 on HN if someone worked at facebook you knew because they mentioned it so often. Now you never hear anyone saying they work for Facebook because of all the negative externalities that Facebook and Instagram have had on the world that no one wants to be…

Citation needed for the magnitude of Airbnb’s contribution to “ruining housing and rental markets”

You won't find one. The most cited article I've found shows that the most significant effect Airbnb has on rentals is a 0.5% rise in rental rates in Manhattan. It's not 0, but it's pretty damn close.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#283

Post by oliwarner »

mort96 wrote: post #161
oliwarner wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> have no social media accounts, this was my first stay at an Airbnb See what happens if you ask a bank for a loan with no credit history. Of course these are only tangentially alike, but public history is an important way to distinguish organic reviews from AstroTurf.

That doesn't explain the "We have detected a relationship" thing.

A lot of moderation is made to sound more certain than it is.

"We have a suspicion based on this data we don't have that you might not be a real customer so we're blocking your reviews" invites a whole lot more customer support time than "We're not accepting your reviews."

It is simply cheaper to be firm, however unfair it is when they get it wrong.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#284

Post by seattle_spring »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #102
jeremyjh wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m genuinely interested to hear what are the specific harms you have suffered due to this.

Airbnb greatly contributed to the housing shortage in Vermont.

Is there some unbiased literature you can share that demonstrates this conclusively?

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#285

Post by prepend »

imtyler wrote: post #26

My nextdoor neighbor sold their house last year and now it's an Airbnb. Despite the fact that I live in a house in a normal residential neighborhood, I'm now forced to live next to a hotel. And I have no say in the matter. Super frustrating. I've read people talking about how Airbnb screwed the host or the guest. But few people talk about how it screws the neighbors.

> And I have no say in the matter. Super frustrating

What say should you have in how your neighbor uses their house?

You can live in an HOA with covenants that restrict renting, but that has their own set of problems.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#286

Post by robocat »

prepend wrote: post #261
seattle_spring wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve stayed in 100+ Airbnbs and literally never have paid or been asked to pay an extra fee. I have, however, been surprised several times by hotels charging an extra “resort fee” upon arrival.

You’ve never had to pay a cleaning fee?

They clearly meant a surprise fee, from context. The AirBnB cleaning fee is expected and already included in your bill.

Edit: top context is “That is against AirBnB rules” and “refunded” i.e. AirBnB has explicit rules against surprise fees or bonds, and it can enforce rules.

I am guessing you just responded quickly but it is always good to spend time to try to “Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.” - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#287

Post by double0jimb0 »

pseudobry wrote: post #240

We recently had a maddening experience with Airbnb. We booked a long-term rental (~3 months) while our home got worked on, costing $10k+ USD (so Airbnb made a couple thousand bucks?). During our stay, we paid for our OWN cleaners to clean the house every other week and made of a video walkthrough of the house demonstrating its cleanliness. All went well until after we checked out. The host had been living outside the…

If you paid by credit card, sounds like prime opportunity for a chargeback. The credit card company WILL stand on your side.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#288

Post by kjs3 »

imtyler wrote: post #26

My nextdoor neighbor sold their house last year and now it's an Airbnb. Despite the fact that I live in a house in a normal residential neighborhood, I'm now forced to live next to a hotel. And I have no say in the matter. Super frustrating. I've read people talking about how Airbnb screwed the host or the guest. But few people talk about how it screws the neighbors.

But few people talk about how it screws the neighbors.

This so much.

There's a neighbor on the street with a 'unique' house who decided the way she would make money is AirBnB'ing it to film companies. So...a weekend or two a month (usually Th-Mo), we would have 50-60 cars parked wherever they wanted on our narrow street and sidestreets. We would have vans and delivery vehicles block our driveways and sometimes the whole street for as long as they wanted. They would drive over lawns to position trucks because the street is too narrow for a 20+ foot cargo truck to back into the driveway to unload. They would film until 3, 4, sometimes 5 in the morning with loud noise, dozens of people and floodlights. If we said anything, they would mob us and start filming us trying to get us to lose our tempers. Whenever the cops showed up, they would shut down and play nice until they left, and then crank back up. And every one of them didn't get the required city permits until after we complained.

Lovely people in the film industry. /s

The city has regulations against such abusive behavior but not the resources to enforce, and no real recourse when the film companies basically gave the city the middle finger. They're going to be gone in a couple of days so screw those pesky neighbors. So we became the squeaky wheel to get some action. We eventually had to get a lawyer to get this shut down. And you bet there's a bunch of us at the city council meetings lobbying for better enforcement. It looks like we'll get some new regs passed with more teeth.

And, of course, AirBnB didn't care one bit.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#289

Post by seattle_spring »

neilv wrote: post #220

This post has more hardcore libertarian comments than usual. PERSON: Then, in the morning, we woke to find huge rats scurrying around the bedroom. LIBERTARIAN: The contract was for a place to sleep, and here you admit receiving that. PERSON: And it turned out the owner was running a meth lab in the garage. LIBERTARIAN: What business is it of yours, how the owner uses their property. PERSON: When we told the owner we…

I don't see any comments remotely like what you're claiming. Libertarian, meet strawman.
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