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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

#41

Post by ethbr0 »

sschueller wrote: post #14

If only there was some regulation for such services that would require some sort of standard. You know some sort of licensing by the state. /s This is what you get when you skirt laws, artificially lowering prices to kill competition and exploit workers. Stop complaining, it's your own doing for supporting this type of economy. Only because maybe some of those existing laws were cumbersome or outdated doesn't mean yo…

It seems to work better with Lyft et al., probably because there's a larger supply of "normal people who are interested in driving", better economics around renting the asset (vehicle), and the driver (aka host) having to be physically present in the vehicle.

The scaled AirBnB model was always questionable... at some point, you've literally signed up everyone normal with a quality rental. But you still need to increase supply, which means taking what new hosts/properties you can get.

Did AirBnB ever fool with the McDonald's model? I.e. own the property/land, but provide financing to hosts who want to manage and work it? The economics on that might work out in certain areas, if they were smart about it. And it would directly target the "increase quality supply directly" problem.

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

#42

Post by CalRobert »

I'm not a huge fan of airbnb but I don't know of a great alternative for their services. When my family and I travel we want something that is a home, designed for kids, with spaces to cook, hang out, and near or in town (but not surrounded by loud drunks) so we can do things without driving. Ideally in a situation where a screaming baby isn't going to annoy too many other people. Hotels are miserable at this, and when I try to find places like this on a site like booking.com I find... the same places I find on airbnb. Perhaps part of the problem is cities forcing hotels to be in locations that suit them, and not the people travelling.

I've stayed in many absolutely wonderful homes on airbnb and as a travelling family it's vastly superior to staying in a hotel. We're staying in one in Utrecht for New Years'; I can't wait.

The author's points are valid (if you have little kids, there's a great Shaun The Sheep episode about a converted sheep barn that comes to mind reading this article) but I can't think of anything remotely as good as airbnb for travelling families, except for airbnb clones like vrbo.

_mostly_ miserable. There are some exceptions. They're usually very expensive.

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

#43

Post by vertis »

sschueller wrote: post #14

If only there was some regulation for such services that would require some sort of standard. You know some sort of licensing by the state. /s This is what you get when you skirt laws, artificially lowering prices to kill competition and exploit workers. Stop complaining, it's your own doing for supporting this type of economy. Only because maybe some of those existing laws were cumbersome or outdated doesn't mean yo…

Artificially lowering prices? You mean basic supply and demand?

The regulations aren't guests responsibility the hosts and airbnb should be compliant.

AirBnB and competitors are very important despite their flaws. Standard rentals are too inflexible for long term (month long) travellers and the hotel industry is either too expensive or not designed for long term stays.

As a digital nomad, I've had my share of bad accommodation (and really really good ones as well). Usually I just write them off and leave early, or identify stuff within the first day, that's very important. If you think you're going to be unhappy with the product you have to back out quickly.

False information or problems at the start of the accommodation, like broken items, are a deal breaker. This has been quite rare, and it might be the hundreds and hundreds of nights of stays but the two times I've had to contact AirBnB support it's gone in my favour (that's not to minimise the experience of the OP).

More often the bad experiences with AirBnBs are more subtle. Items that are just not comfortable or kitchens that don't really have what you need to cook.

Of the 65 hosts I've stayed with, 2 were bad enough to leave (as mentioned), and probably 2-3 more were the suffer through variety. That's not a bad percentage really.

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

#44

Post by jgilias »

If you still want/need to use AirBnB for cheaper travel, renting a room instead of a whole apartment is actually better. Then the host is an actual host and the reviews are more meaningful. I’ve gotten to know some pretty cool people that way. It’s a trade-off of course, as the set of potential issues is different.

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

#45

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

SnowHill9902 wrote: post #36

She goes to fix the fuses wet from having a shower and possibly barefoot?

Although that seems foolhardy, there should be no chance of electricity flowing through the reset button/switch if regulations are followed (which is obviously why there are regulations around domestic electricity wiring).

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

#46

Post by siquick »

2rsf wrote: post #39
kwhitefoot wrote: post #27

When I try to find a place to stay on Airbnb it looks like the prices are higher than what I can find on hotels.com or booking.com. And the web site is useless. There is no option to sort by price, the filters for maximum price don't work. It's going to have to be cheaper than a hotel or B&B to make it worth taking the risk and I'll have to be able to find it without scrolling all the way through the site. So far I h…

The pictures changes as your family grows, needing two or three hotel rooms or only special family rooms makes Airbnb more affordable. Unless something has changed in the last months I always found a direct hotel order cheaper and easier than booking/hotels dot com, not to mention fake rates, irrelevant reviews or non existing rooms.

You can book apartments and homes on Booking

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

#47

Post by moreira »

netsharc wrote: post #34
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…

Makes me think that there's a market for a 3rd party website for reviews for AirBnB hosts (and probably guests). But a new host might not get any guests if they don't have a review on this site, and if the guests avoid them, then no one will review them. An idea would be for a host to pay a refundable deposit, and the website could indicate them as so, "We have no reviews for this host, but they have guaranteed with…

Or review faking services. Ultimately, there's no real good way to trust stuff on the internet based on what "others like you" are saying.

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

#48

Post by dsego »

coffeeblack wrote: post #26
dsego wrote: post #3

> The toilet was in a constant state of flowing. Just press the flush a few times or whack the water tank. Common problem with tanks in european households. If there is no water to flush, just fill a bucket, washbowl or pot with water and flush that way. Honestly, I stopped reading after this, seems like whining from someone without skills to deal with adulthood. Hey, maybe a lightbulb also burned out.

Not sure what “common European household” you live in, but that is commonly not a problem over here.

Had issues with several geberit and other cisterns, all started leaking after some time.

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

#49

Post by shoulderfake »

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…

No post body was provided.

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

#50

Post by dsego »

JadoJodo wrote: post #35
dsego wrote: post #3

> The toilet was in a constant state of flowing. Just press the flush a few times or whack the water tank. Common problem with tanks in european households. If there is no water to flush, just fill a bucket, washbowl or pot with water and flush that way. Honestly, I stopped reading after this, seems like whining from someone without skills to deal with adulthood. Hey, maybe a lightbulb also burned out.

> Honestly, I stopped reading after this, seems like whining from someone without skills to deal with adulthood. In the case where the terms of the living arrangement are “you can stay here 30 days for free, but you’ll need to take care of any issues you come upon yourself.”, this would be an appropriate response. In this case, as mentioned in the article, they are “you can stay here for 30 days for $3,000”. Totally…

Sure, and as a potential home buyer in croatia, I have my qualms with airbnb and wealthy young western tourists causing every dump to be rented out and driving up real-estate prices. I just think that writing about a leaking flush tank like it's some kind of emergency doesn't make the case against airbnb hosts stronger.
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