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Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

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Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#41

Post by mikeash »

What's going on here? The first half of the story sounds like routine corporate incompetency. Representatives don't read your stuff, can't be bothered to follow their own procedures, and screw you over. Unacceptable but, alas, fairly common when dealing with big companies.

The NDA is where it goes off the rails. He's entitled to that money, so why would they try to put conditions on it? I'm sure they're not thrilled to have him talking, but it's not like they have a choice in the matter. Once someone who is allowed to use their brains got involved, the result should have been a quick payment and an end to the saga.

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#42

Post by dvdhnt »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #24

Why do people find it surprising that companies who exist mainly on the premise of ignoring laws/regulations they find inconvenient, won't eventually ignore laws/regulations that you think worthwhile (ie Uber and sexual harassment and AirBnb and paying for damages). In addition, I find it interesting that the host is only sending a bill for $8000. It seems as if he is only trying to get paid for his damages and not e…

> It seems as if he is only trying to get paid for his damages and not even considering the damage and disruption to his neighbors (who unlike the host are wholly blameless in this manner).

I don't agree with this. Obviously, if a bystander's property was damaged, this would be true, however, the idea of being paid for a "disruption" is silly. It's called life and it's full of annoyances. I'd argue the people angling for compensation because they're annoyed probably fall into the jerk and freeloader category more than someone who is willing to forgo reimbursement for his damaged property in order to warn the public about a potential pitfall.

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#44

Post by diminoten »

supercanuck wrote: post #18
diminoten wrote: post #15

A lot of confusing points to this story. I'm not defending AirBnB, but this story does baffle on a number of levels. > (they came with a professional sound system) How do you not see this coming, from a host perspective? Big red flag. How this get anywhere near as far as it did? "Well I figured the professional sound system was going to be fine in my apartment complex." > Neighbors called the police five times and so…

> but why is AirBnB fully responsible for this? Because they are literally committing to it as part of their service offering: >We’re committed to creating a safe and trusted community around the world. Though property damage is rare, we understand you may need protection. The Host Guarantee will reimburse eligible hosts for damages up to $1,000,000. a https://www.airbnb.com/guarantee

Yes, I did say I get that.

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#45

Post by ethbro »

diminoten wrote: post #16
rdl wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. "which came to a total cost of around £6,400 (about $8,000)" (from TFA). I'm arguing more for $50k+. The GBP/USD difference isn't significant. (For anything less than $10k or so, as long as it was at all substantiated, AirBNB should just pay -- at worst, ban the host. The PR hit from this article is probably $500k already?)

> The PR hit from this article is probably $500k already? I highly doubt that.

It doesn't take many full-time rentals to be pulled to make $500k, especially with the type of halo properties that AirBnB probably loves to list.

But who would also be a bit concerned after reading an article that AirBnB's damage guarantee wasn't followed through on in a clear and reasonable manner.

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#46

Post by supercanuck »

twblalock wrote: post #40
supercanuck wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

bribe would be accurate since they were offering payment outside their remediation process they setup. Instead of simply offering payment in exchange for the damage per their guarantee, they wanted something in return: Silence.

Asking for confidentiality about the terms of a settlement is common, and there is nothing wrong with it.

sure, just like there is nothing "wrong" with calling it a bribe. They wanted something outside of their official process.

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#47

Post by AlexandrB »

mcbruiser3 wrote: post #6
CptJamesCook wrote: post #4

Airbnb guests constantly rent my place to party. It's been a problem for years, at both of my homes. I block many of them, but can't detect them all. The other day an airbnb guest held a party, and they trashed my neighbor's balcony (below mine). They need to get partying off the platform. It's terrible for neighbors and hosts, and it's not even much revenue; the partiers usually book for one night. Regular guests on…

Seems like most of the complaints about Airbnb that result in new ordinances banning short term rentals probably originate from bad guests (or irresponsible hosts who allow bad behavior and ignore the impact to their neighbor's peace) who are ruining it for everyone else.

Yes. It's almost like hotel regulations happened for a reason and not because "the man is out to get entrepreneurs".

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#48

Post by diminoten »

CptJamesCook wrote: post #17
diminoten wrote: post #15

A lot of confusing points to this story. I'm not defending AirBnB, but this story does baffle on a number of levels. > (they came with a professional sound system) How do you not see this coming, from a host perspective? Big red flag. How this get anywhere near as far as it did? "Well I figured the professional sound system was going to be fine in my apartment complex." > Neighbors called the police five times and so…

Airbnb is at fault because they do nothing to discourage partying on the platform. As a host, I am in a never-ending battle to keep partiers out of my home.

Okay sure, that's a fair point, but are you really not finding this story to be fairly incredible? I just find it astounding that a group of partiers could possibly even lock themselves in a home they're being kicked out of and the police wouldn't be able to dislodge them, and then on top of that none of the partiers would be charged or held responsible in any way.

I guess I'd rely on my government to protect me at this point, to some degree.

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#49

Post by terms »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #24

Why do people find it surprising that companies who exist mainly on the premise of ignoring laws/regulations they find inconvenient, won't eventually ignore laws/regulations that you think worthwhile (ie Uber and sexual harassment and AirBnb and paying for damages). In addition, I find it interesting that the host is only sending a bill for $8000. It seems as if he is only trying to get paid for his damages and not e…

>It seems AirBnb attracts the jerks and freeloaders.

It is up to the person that wants to Airbnb her/his place to make sure the people who are taking residence in her/his property are decent. It is not Airbnb who attracts the jerks and freeloaders.

With that said, their handling of this scenario (assuming everything that has been said in the article linked is true) was not good.

Re: Airbnb “Bribes” Host with Cash Under NDA After Partiers Destroy Apartment

#50

Post by diminoten »

ethbro wrote: post #45
diminoten wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The PR hit from this article is probably $500k already? I highly doubt that.

It doesn't take many full-time rentals to be pulled to make $500k, especially with the type of halo properties that AirBnB probably loves to list. But who would also be a bit concerned after reading an article that AirBnB's damage guarantee wasn't followed through on in a clear and reasonable manner.

"Many" is such a relative term in this context, your comment basically has no meaning. I doubt we'll ever be able to quantify the damage, one way or another, that this story has caused AirBnB.

Perhaps in a vain effort to get someone else to give me a sanity check, is this story not incredible for some additional reasons beyond the terrible AirBnB response? I feel like everyone's just taking for granted the things the guest did in the rental space, but how the hell does someone get away with behaving like that, ever?

Shouldn't the guest and his fellow partygoers all be in jail? They ignored/disobeyed the orders of police officers, refused to vacate a private residence after clearly breaching contract (IANAL, I don't know the precise terms here), violating what i assume to be plenty of noise statues... Shouldn't the owner of the rental space also be going after the person/people responsible for trashing his home (responsible being defined here as the literal people who did the damage)?

What this is telling me is that there's simply no way for an AirBnB host to ever come after me for doing anything in their home. That can't be true...

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