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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

#411

Post by steveBK123 »

stickfigure wrote: post #390
denton-scratch wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's reasonable for AirBnB to verify that their hosts are in compliance with the law. I am a landlord: I let a single house, to a family. New regulations came in on 1st September, requiring the property to be registered. I already had a valid gas safety certificate, expiring in 2 months, and an electrical safety certificate good for two more years. Registration also required an energy performance certificate, which I…

HOA rules aren't law. But it's also unreasonable to expect AirBNB to keep up with the uncountable legal jurisdictions of the world. Every locality - down to the city block - could have different rules. If your neighbor is violating the law, that's your neighbor's fault. If you want to do something about it, you have the power.

Why is it that when a broker shows an apartment they can be expected & liable for showing illegal units/terms/etc, but when Big Tech apps which replace their jobs at scale do it.. "it's hard" so "they shouldn't be expected to"?

It really isn't that hard, and they don't even try because it would reduce their revenue. We can argue if they need to enforce block by block HOA & condos/coops rules.. but they aren't even trying at more macro levels like state/town laws.

I live part of the year in a large summer town with ~100k residents. It has clear, well known rental laws that have been on the books longer than AirBnB existed. For example the minimum lease term is 2 weeks. Yet, of course, if I go to AirBnB and search in town, there are 100 homes being offered by the day. Meanwhile if I go to any of the brokerages to be shown rentals, they only offer month/summer/year length rentals.. because its the law.

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

#412

Post by steveBK123 »

stickfigure wrote: post #390
denton-scratch wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's reasonable for AirBnB to verify that their hosts are in compliance with the law. I am a landlord: I let a single house, to a family. New regulations came in on 1st September, requiring the property to be registered. I already had a valid gas safety certificate, expiring in 2 months, and an electrical safety certificate good for two more years. Registration also required an energy performance certificate, which I…

HOA rules aren't law. But it's also unreasonable to expect AirBNB to keep up with the uncountable legal jurisdictions of the world. Every locality - down to the city block - could have different rules. If your neighbor is violating the law, that's your neighbor's fault. If you want to do something about it, you have the power.

Taking it a step further, even large jurisdictions like NYC with 8M people have 1000s of AirBnB listings that are not following even the basic parameters of local law.

"New York City: Rentals under 30 days are prohibited unless the host is present on the property."

OK, great, well why are there daily/weekly AirBnB rentals of "entire apartments" all around NYC with host descriptions like:

During your stay William is available via text or phone if you have any questions about the space. I will try my best to preempt any questions by leaving detailed instructions about the operation of the space.

During your stay I’m available everyday from 9 am until 12am to answer questions and help with anything you might need if I don’t reply fast, feel free to call me

During your stay Will have an open line of communication and on-site support Response rate: 100% Response time: within a few hours

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

#413

Post by MikePlacid »

itsoktocry wrote: post #170
MikePlacid wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hotels are great. You got to be kidding? Last time I’ve used AirBnb it was a 1 bedroom half of the house, shady, private area with a creek, private yes - but in a walking distance to the downtown. I had a full kitchen, an office place to put my computer and monitor in and a personal, fast Internet connection. I even had a shed to put my bicycle in without a need to drag it into the house. The host configured the lo…

Some hotels are good/bad. Some Airbnbs are good/bad. Tremendous insight. Did you even read the article? The point is, staying at the Hyatt in a major city isn't a crapshoot.

> Some hotels are good/bad. Some Airbnbs are good/bad. Tremendous insight.

I do not know how you’ve managed to extract that insight from my post. The experience I’ve described with AirBnb is not possible with any hotel, Hyatt included.

> The point is, staying at the Hyatt in a major city isn't a crapshoot.

Take a look at Hyatt San Francisco, for example. See that the ground floor is occupied by some public areas exclusively? So I should either leave my bike in the place where it can be stolen, or to put it into my room via an elevator. Now it’s starting from $285, and $295 give you are a cottage in San Francisco on AirBnb: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6523507?check_in=2022-11-29&che...

So to be more precise:

- hotels, I can survive then, no prob. I can even survive Hyatt SF with my bicycle.

- AirBnbs give me pleasure. Get up, open the door to the garden, birds chirping, the creek floating, my favorite turnovers in the stove ready in 20 minutes, my laptop connected to Ethernet, my bicycle ready nearby - I can just jump on it and ride… Which of you “nicely regulated” hotels can give me all that?

To be fair, I’ve managed to get some pleasure from a hotel too. Now and then. A different pleasures though. And all of these hotels were in Japan.

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

#414

Post by astura »

geijoenr wrote: post #308

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 a…

>being offered to sleep in what looked like a maintenance closet because the room I had booked was no longer available

This bait and switch scam seems somewhat common-ish on Airbnb

https://www.vice.com/en/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-host-...

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

#415

Post by Firmwarrior »

vertis wrote: post #157
scarface74 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For reference: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33286238 > 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. Most of the major hotel brands have chains intended for long term stays. My wife, son and I stayed at one for five months a few years ago when we moved out of our apartment and decided to get a house…

Yeah, we've stayed in accommodation like this as well. Often very shitty experiences in business aparthotels. Always good to have a list though.

I used to stay at Hyatt House pretty regularly, and it was a great experience

Lately it's sucked just like every other hotel, since they don't clean the rooms and the employees are all overworked and stressed out. Still better than having to deal with all the huge fees and shenanigans from AirBNB IMO

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

#416

Post by Firmwarrior »

joyeuse6701 wrote: post #397
dazc wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're vacationing there's no way you'll feel anywhere near a "sense of being a resident". Some other residents will have broken plumbing, bad smells and cockroaches. You are living as they are?

True, this very much may the common experience of the community I stayed in, but it was not advertised as such, nor was it priced that way either.

"Roach Infested Hellhole - $30/night"

Sold!

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

#417

Post by Firmwarrior »

Nextgrid wrote: post #78
ThunderSizzle wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, the pendulum already swang on food apps. I found it way too expensive and promoted too much personal laziness. I dont mind paying for a real service, but these apps have also encouraged tipping culture, which was already going crazy. Now everyone wants a tip. Just charge me the real cost, pay them a real wage, and if no wants to pay for it, then society doesn't want it.

In some cases they even stole tips. Given that the precedent of no significant legal consequences for such theft has already been set, I no longer trust the tipping feature even if I otherwise would've been fine with tipping.

Yeah, it's infuriating

Until I gave up on rideshare apps, I was carrying around a pile of cash and pre-tipping drivers 20% in cash up front in order to get decent service.

Fortunately I discovered a decent local airport ride business that offers car seats and no attitude. It's barely more expensive than Lyft and works really well.

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

#418

Post by mcculley »

marssaxman wrote: post #391
astura wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They make hotels for extended stays with kitchens - Homewood Suites, Embassy Suites, and Candlewood Suites are the big chains. I lived in a Homewood Suites for three months. It was fine.

AirBnB homes are so much nicer than those sterile corporate chains. It is not the same experience.

I prefer my linens to be sterile.

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

#419

Post by cudgy »

archagon wrote: post #337
dorchadas wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ent…

If a local wants to open their home to me, even if it’s a second home, why should that make me feel “entitled” to enjoy a taste of local life? (Ignoring Airbnb slumlords, which should probably be fought with regulation and/or Airbnb policy changes.)

What about what the neighbors of the local’s home want? Do you want new neighbors every few days moving in to your neighbor’s house? Wouldn’t you be worried about your family‘s safety given the velocity of people going in and out of your neighbor’s house?

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

#420

Post by ycombinator_acc »

mcculley wrote: post #37
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…

This is a useful way to think about how markets/platforms evolve. I have yet to use Airbnb. But it seems that the target customer has changed. I have been aware of them since they first showed up on Hacker News. They were pitched as renting an airbed where hotels are not a useful choice. That target customer is a demographic that I had aged out of before they started. If they were still marketing only to very young p…

Are you saying there are no bedbugs in hotels? If so, I have bed news for you.
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