Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Airbnb removed my negative review

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 473 posts

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#321

Post by [deleted] »

nibbleshifter wrote: post #277
ericpruitt wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read they're taken very seriously in some places like Germany and Japan, but in my experience, a lot of people in the USA won't bother reporting noise violations because they know the chances of them being enforced and/or investigated in a timely manner is low.

Enforcement in Germany is quite funny. Lived there for some years. If you have a problem with noisy neighbours you basically must make a "noise diary" with date/time/description of the noise over a period of time before anyone will give a shit. Even then, enforcement varies wildly. Seems to depend where you are, etc. The best person to complain to is building management, but even then, they vary. The next best thing…

[deleted]

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#322

Post by fullsend »

Hosts were originally people with spare bedrooms or extra buildings. Now they are “professionals” who consider themselves grindset “investors”. They will squeeze every dollar they can out, and as a result the quality has collapsed while fees and bad experiences have gone up.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#324

Post by rmason »

seattle_spring wrote: post #246
spacemadness wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I went back to hotels. Airbnb is a scummy company and can’t seem to survive without out of control “gotcha” fees added by either itself or its hosts which now make many hotels cheaper. I also am not obligated to do work for the host with a hotel. Some of the hosts have become super entitled over the years due to Airbnbs policies. It’s a shame as using Airbnb was an excellent experience when it first began…

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.

I've always refused to pay the resort fee and only a single time has the hotel not caved. Course this only works if the hotel isn't sold out.

I tell them its a separate service because not everyone uses it. So if I am not using say the pool or the gym then I shouldn't have to pay it.

The single time I paid the fee was when it included Internet service which I needed. I wrote the CEO of the chain after my stay arguing that charging extra for Internet is like charging extra for electricity or water. Never received a reply.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#325

Post by anikom15 »

troysk wrote: post #77

I had booked an airbnb in Shanghai. On reaching the destination the host said we had to get police verification. She took us to the police station where the police said we cannot stay with her as she doesn't have the required permits. We were in a country where we didn't know the language and airbnb declined to help us as they didn't have any people on ground or provide alternate accommodation. We got the refund but…

While it sucks AirBnB didn’t do anything to help you, I think anyone who goes to a foreign language, third-world country has a responsibility to research relevant laws and have some kind of backup plan when something like this happens.

Tip for the future: buy a good guidebook (or several). They have listings of hotels with price estimates, whether BnB is a good idea or not, and what the legal requirements are how to handle them when things go wrong.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#326

Post by wyclif »

seattle_spring wrote: post #274
wyclif wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is that Twitter is better than it's ever been now, while Facebook and Airbnb continue to deteriorate.

I'm sorry but I literally laughed out loud after reading your comment.

Laugh away, but Old Twitter was run by some pretty scummy people who allowed the FBI and CIA to backdoor the service. It was also a lot slower and broken compared to how fast it is now, especially outside North America (they recently added a lot more server capacity).

Also massively bloated as recently as a year ago. Loads of people working there who didn't seem to do much except tweak icons 2000 times, enforce DEI mandates, and hit their department's budget. Awful. Glad to see the deadwood getting cleaned out, speed enhancements, and new features being rolled out.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#327

Post by empeyot »

luminaobscura wrote: post #151
mbesto wrote: post #128

> i couldn't check in and went elsewhere. > But i didn't want to cave in and called AirBnB. Thankfully, airbnb fully refunded the payment and i was able to find another accomodation in the last minute. I don't recommend this host unless you want a stressful start for your vacation. I'm pretty sure your review got removed because you didn't actually check in. I'm actually surprised the system even let you write a revi…

i wrote the review after receiving an email from airbnb: "You can leave a review for your host even though the trip was cancelled"

It's complicated. It seems Airbnb was forced by some customer protection agency (UK iirc), to always offer the possibility to submit a review in the case of last minute cancellations. It's standard practice though that Airbnb considers reviews from guests who did not stay as irrelevant and removable when requested. OP should appeal the removal in their particular case. It's not impossible to reanimate removed reviews. However, generally, what Airbnb did here makes sense (else e.g. host's would suffer from retaliatory reviews when guests show up beyond check-in time and feel entitled). What people forget: by participating in reviews customers are more likely to engage with the product/plattform again (source: influence or pre-suasion by Robert Cialdini).

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#328

Post by fullsend »

rr808 wrote: post #242
diogenescynic wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think AirBNB is blameless, but so much of this could be avoided by simply building more homes to allow supply to meet demand. US cities have not been building enough homes for decades--this is the main driver of home values going up because scarcity drives prices up. The fact that the President, Congress, and most governors never really address this means it's not going to be solved any time soon. Even in Cal…

Its not just the shortage, its the change in usage. I live in fear that one of my neighbors will become an Air BnB house. Instead of friendly people next door you can grow with, there will be a continual turnover of short term people, parties and clueless behavior.

“People next door you can grow with” how quaint. I feel like I’m listening to a Hobbit from inside the Shire who doesn’t know Mordor has taken over outside. A little boost of positivity.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#329

Post by klntsky »

raydiatian wrote: post #76
klntsky wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they do it in the property you rented? If not, what's your problem exactly?

> it's just low class. The “property” I rented was just some of the space of the original house, like 30% of it. There was a door from “my area” to the living room on the other side that was nailed or caulked shut, and the walls were paper thin. They were right next door and I could hear every word of foreplay. It was fucking gross.

Well you rented the space but not the absence of sound in it. That's what sharing appartments means.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#330

Post by MonkeyMalarky »

streetdumpling wrote: post #314
MonkeyMalarky wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen all the comments about cleaning fees but didn't really believe it until I was looking for a place to spend March break; it's completely ridiculous! How is it that they aren't capped as a % of nightly cost? This is like the outrageous shipping costs of old eBay.

Because an Airbnb listing is cleaned every time a new guest checks in, it doesn't matter whether you stay for one night only or 10 nights. It's a fixed cost to the host.

Then make it a % of a 1 night stay. A $150 cleaning fee is nonsense. It used to be 20-30.
Post reply on HN