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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

#301

Post by dazc »

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…

> 1: Never book an apartment with less than 50 ratings

The only good experience I've had was with a place that had zero reviews. I got to the point where i figured the review system was so unreliable and unfit for purpose that I would just take a chance and it worked.

I found a lot of those place with multiple good reviews were mainly from people who had stayed two nights and as part of a group where a cheap place to sleep was their number one criteria.

Mostly everyone else is just doing the ebay thing where I give you a good review and you give me one back since there is zero incentive to give an honest assessment that your next host will read and consider you a trouble maker.

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

#302

Post by denton-scratch »

ghaff wrote: post #171
nobodyandproud wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“BnB” means bed and breakfast, which of course has lost its meaning with Airbnb. I knew someone whose family ran a small bed-and-breakfast (pre-web). I don’t think they cooked all 3 meals but they did at least provide breakfast and brownbag lunch.

In my experience, and I've stayed at a lot of them, BnBs usually have a hot sit down breakfast but it's not universal. I've certainly stayed at BnBs where the host is politely but firmly clear they're not there to entertain you and there will be coffee out in the morning and feel free to grab some yogurt from the fridge. While there is usually fruit and muffins that you can grab for lunch, they don't usually provide…

I've been to hotels like that: yeah, there's a breakfast room; but breakfast is a plastic cup of coffee, a roll, and a packet of cornflakes.

I hate staying in hotels, but one benefit is getting a nice hot breakfast served to you.

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

#303

Post by ghaff »

denton-scratch wrote: post #289
ghaff wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I had to visit my employer in Ottawa (I live in the UK). They booked me into a suite hotel, because there was an international conference in town, and all the smaller rooms were booked. So I got a huge TV, a kitchenette, a double bedroom with another huge TV, a bathroom with his-and-hers basins, and a single bedroom. The next morning I discovered a second bathroom, like the first; and a utility room with a washer and…

The suite hotels in the US often don't have a bar and limited or no food service at night. Though there are exceptions. (Marriott has been upscaling Residence Inn in many cases--probably because they have so many suite brands after acquiring Sheraton.)

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

#304

Post by humanistbot »

hourago wrote: post #102
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…

> App Store app reviews, restaurant review apps and food delivery apps. Fortunately it's not a big deal if these are scams. It's just a few dollars. Tourists traps excel on this niche of scam. They serve bad food at high prices, but quite often not so bad or expensive as to be illegal. The only reason this business exist is because most people would visit them just once, customers are replaced each day with new arriv…

Amazon customers have the benefit of free returns, pretty much no questions asked within 30 days. I want to buy some commodity like an AC adapter or an SD card, I'll buy 3 or 4 different options and usually at least 1 of them will be OK, then I'll return the rest. If I only need 1 item and have multiple that work fine, I'll give positive reviews to the ones I return, which I feel is the least I can do for the seller.

With AirBNB and tourist traps, there are no refunds and the nature of the sale/service means you often can't find an alternative if you've decided to take the loss.

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

#305

Post by bmj »

bell-cot wrote: post #158
stewx wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no good reason AirBnb could not offer proper support. Showing contempt for your customers like this is a choice.

Might you tell us about any large, modern, fast-growing businesses which happily limit profits, so they can pay for high-quality customer support? Yes, it's "a choice". Sadly, it's an overwhelmingly popular choice.

And it's a popular choice because the consumers often don't seem to care. Many are willing to accept poor customer service in the pursuit of lower prices for goods and services.

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

#306

Post by FireBeyond »

jongunter1 wrote: post #271

Not surprised by this article. I lived in Airbnbs for 19 months during the pandemic and can share three similar horror stories. Airbnb's response was terrible. In one case, I had no water for three days and sewage leaking into the bathtub; Airbnb was totally unsupportive. In another case, the unit was run down and had no hot water; Airbnb was not able to help me so I actually had to shell out my own money to cancel t…

> Airbnb support did not seem to care that the host was breaking the law, and did the bare minimum to support.

Looking the other way while their hosts break the law is what made Airbnb what it is today.

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

#307

Post by dorchadas »

scarby2 wrote: post #243
dorchadas wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but it'll force them to go to places that are actually planned to accommodate them. Tourists are included in city planning, believe it or not, but they're not expected to be taking up the actual residential places of the city. That's why areas are zoned for hotels and there's regulation around them.

> 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…

No, they are accounted for. The issue is entitlement on the side of tourists -- thinking they should have access to all the local amenities and stuff they do at home, while on vacation. This was a problem, but it was never a huge problem, from how I understand it, before AirBnB. Basically AirBnB changed the expectations for tourists, at the harm of the local communities.

> however there are times when you want an entire house, not an apartment.

It's not your home, why should you deserve a house over someone who lives there?

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

#308

Post by geijoenr »

I was an enthusiastic user of Airbnb until I faced the reality of the platform on a trip to Seul. After being offered to sleep in what looked like a maintenance closet because the room I had booked was no longer available for the first time contacted Airbnb support. Apart of the fact that the experience was infuriating and frustrating, I am pretty sure 80% of the time it was a bot replying my messages not a support agent. I never got a full refund and I decided it was not worth the trouble, since then I just book hotels.

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

#309

Post by bmj »

bambax wrote: post #232
specproc wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hotels are great. They create jobs, they don't distort property markets in the same way as AirBnB, and you get breakfast!

Absolutely. The exception is when you're a large family, or even a not so large one. Most hotels have no good/affordable solution for parties larger than 2. But when traveling as a couple, or alone as this lady is, there's no reason not to choose a hotel. Much better experience overall, and nowadays usually cheaper as well.

We tend to use Airbnbs when road tripping/caravaning with others. It is significantly less expensive than getting two hotel rooms. When its just my spouse and I, we almost always use hotels, because there is far less risk involved (though it is still possible to find hotels that not well-kept).

That said, we've used about two dozen Airbnbs over the years, all in the U.S., and have never stayed in a place that was not exactly what we expected based on the listing.

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

#310

Post by ghaff »

mancerayder wrote: post #215
berkes wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> will be back in the hands of the people who actually live in the cities. There apparently is a real demand to rent such places for short terms like holidays or trips. Banning AirBnB, or AirBnB going down, won't remove that demand.

There's a real demand, but at one point the cost becomes too steep. The cleaning and service fees are being universally complained about. It definitely reduced some demand, especially since some of it seemed to have started recently - last year ? For long weekends, it becomes a very bad deal: the overhead of big service fees that are usually more than 1 day's rental, then you tack on the cleaning which can be 125-225…

>cleaning which can be 125-225 typically

I agree with your point. Cleaning fees tend to make it hard to consider AirBnB for a weekend. That said, assuming the host doesn't just do it themselves, they're going to get a housekeeper in, rates are up for that sort of service, and that's about what it costs.

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