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Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

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Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#431

Post by cultofmetatron »

casenmgreen wrote: post #52
bombcar wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirBNB "when it started" was quite likely to find you quirky and cheap options. Now it's commoditized and a business, and the quirky and cheap options are few and far between. Part of the degradation is both the company, the sellers, and the buyers - back in the very beginning it wasn't well known and most of the customers were well behaved - I'm not sure that's entirely the case now, as the customer base has grown.

I'm a digital nomad. One luggage, no permanent home, been fifteen years. I used to use AirBnB all the time. They gradually become more and more, well, "large company". Governments gradually made AirBnB illegal or effectively illegal, largely or wholly killing off AirBnB in given cities, or countries. For example, it used to be about impossible to get into Amsterdam, because of rent control and renting regulations; no…

> The one and critical thing AirBnB got right was building into their platform the expectation owners would offer discounts for stays over a week, or over a month.

I'm also a digital nomad. new country every 1-3 months and I completely agree. I'd love to find an alternative but the one month discount is critical for keeping my costs fairly low. booking doesn't even allow you to book over 30 days.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#432

Post by matsemann »

lotsoweiners wrote: post #403
klinquist wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6 beds (comprising of 4 different sizes of beds/sheets) make it quite wasteful if a bed is not used. It already takes ~5 hours to clean the home.

Ewww…hosts like you are the reason Airbnb gets a bad rap. I don’t think any reputable hotel would find it ok to not clean the sheets on both queen beds in a room if only one “looked” used. Logistics of cleaning should be built into your pricing and scheduling and not be a chore or something the guests have to think about.

You've never seen hotel staff clean a room, lol. You'd be surprised.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#433

Post by username332211 »

squokko wrote: post #411
mlrtime wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And why shouldn't I be able to rent out my apartment for a week if I go on vacation? This was supposed to be the intent of Airbnb and is still a valuable resource if available.

Why shouldn't your neighbors be able to use their powers as voters to lobby their government to pass laws preventing their quiet suburban street from being used as a distributed hotel?

Your framing is such a good defense of the arbitrary and thoughtless use and abuse of political power. "Use your power as a voter", what could go wrong?

Why shouldn't our neighbors use their powers as voters to keep their peaceful suburban street from being used as housing for migrants, minorities and other undesirables? I'd bet that'll affect housing desirability far more than short term rentals.

Why shouldn't they use their power as voters to ban the construction of affordable homes in their vicinity?

Why shouldn't we use our power as voters to proscribe alcohol in their town? What could go wrong?

Your power as a voter isn't supposed to be the power to arbitrary meddle in other people's business.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#434

Post by matsemann »

lucisferre wrote: post #196
mholt wrote: post #22

I'm worried this ban will only affect honest hosts. Anyway, what Airbnb should really ban is hosts charging a mandatory cleaning fee when also requiring their guests to do the cleaning. We just stayed at one this weekend, and like almost all our previous bookings, the host asked us to: - Take off all bedding and towels and start a load of laundry - Do all the dishes and start the dishwasher (but required to hand-wash…

They should ban any hosts that require guests to do cleaning to be honest.

Why? Lots of people would rather do a little themselves to get the price down. Why should your preference dictate how everyone does it?

And it varies from market to market what's the norm. For instance for cabins in Norway, the norm for a long time was that the renter brought their own bedding and cleaned everything, mopped the floor etc before leaving. Long before airbnb was a thing.

Should an American company decide that this Norwegian way of doing it is no longer ok..?

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#435

Post by mplewis »

username332211 wrote: post #433
squokko wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why shouldn't your neighbors be able to use their powers as voters to lobby their government to pass laws preventing their quiet suburban street from being used as a distributed hotel?

Your framing is such a good defense of the arbitrary and thoughtless use and abuse of political power. "Use your power as a voter", what could go wrong? Why shouldn't our neighbors use their powers as voters to keep their peaceful suburban street from being used as housing for migrants, minorities and other undesirables? I'd bet that'll affect housing desirability far more than short term rentals. Why shouldn't they…

What do you think a community is if not a group of people who decide on a common way to share resources and build harmony?

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#436

Post by scheme271 »

cultofmetatron wrote: post #431
casenmgreen wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a digital nomad. One luggage, no permanent home, been fifteen years. I used to use AirBnB all the time. They gradually become more and more, well, "large company". Governments gradually made AirBnB illegal or effectively illegal, largely or wholly killing off AirBnB in given cities, or countries. For example, it used to be about impossible to get into Amsterdam, because of rent control and renting regulations; no…

> The one and critical thing AirBnB got right was building into their platform the expectation owners would offer discounts for stays over a week, or over a month. I'm also a digital nomad. new country every 1-3 months and I completely agree. I'd love to find an alternative but the one month discount is critical for keeping my costs fairly low. booking doesn't even allow you to book over 30 days.

I think a lot of landlords are worried about letting anyone stay more than 30 days. That's usually when tenant's rights kick in and removing someone becomes a complicated process with housing court and potentially months without rent.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#437

Post by rtpg »

mlrtime wrote: post #401
scarface_74 wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that’s how it should be - a hotel is a business in a commercial zone with professional management, pays taxes and doesn’t negatively affect home affordability

And why shouldn't I be able to rent out my apartment for a week if I go on vacation? This was supposed to be the intent of Airbnb and is still a valuable resource if available.

I think the idea is that your neighbors didn't sign up to live next to total randos. How valid that argument is is up for debate.

And it's not like you can't still rent out to friends or the like. Just totally financializing and anonymizing that interaction turns it into a different sort of interaction. Social trust is a thing, and avoiding having _every single human interaction_ pass through some broker and be financialized is not the worst.

But really... a touch of social proof never hurts.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#438

Post by Doxin »

casenmgreen wrote: post #52
bombcar wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirBNB "when it started" was quite likely to find you quirky and cheap options. Now it's commoditized and a business, and the quirky and cheap options are few and far between. Part of the degradation is both the company, the sellers, and the buyers - back in the very beginning it wasn't well known and most of the customers were well behaved - I'm not sure that's entirely the case now, as the customer base has grown.

I'm a digital nomad. One luggage, no permanent home, been fifteen years. I used to use AirBnB all the time. They gradually become more and more, well, "large company". Governments gradually made AirBnB illegal or effectively illegal, largely or wholly killing off AirBnB in given cities, or countries. For example, it used to be about impossible to get into Amsterdam, because of rent control and renting regulations; no…

> For example, it used to be about impossible to get into Amsterdam, because of rent control and renting regulations; no supply of places to let. Then AirBnB came along, and everyone and their dog let places on AirBnB. You could get in, and at a good price. Then AirBnB was essentially banned, and now you can't get into Amsterdam.

Slightly off topic, and not aimed at you in particular but at tourists in general: For the love of god visit other cities than Amsterdam. Amsterdam is expensive and overcrowded. There's a whole country worth of interesting places to visit instead.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#439

Post by squokko »

username332211 wrote: post #433
squokko wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why shouldn't your neighbors be able to use their powers as voters to lobby their government to pass laws preventing their quiet suburban street from being used as a distributed hotel?

Your framing is such a good defense of the arbitrary and thoughtless use and abuse of political power. "Use your power as a voter", what could go wrong? Why shouldn't our neighbors use their powers as voters to keep their peaceful suburban street from being used as housing for migrants, minorities and other undesirables? I'd bet that'll affect housing desirability far more than short term rentals. Why shouldn't they…

Yes, all of those should be legal. And other voters can oppose them. For example, by electing national politicians who can pass laws like the Civil Rights Act or the Fair Housing Act.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#440

Post by chgs »

klinquist wrote: post #358
MissTake wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that abhorrent myself. What YOU pay for your cleaners is up to you. Stop nickel and dimming your customers - if you charge a cleaning fee then there's zero moral rights in my mind that you have to ask customers to also clean. Just up the nightly rates and build it in. When's the last time you stayed at a Hotel and found you got hit with a 'Room Cleaning" fee? What's next - a fee for allowing Heating to be used…

My cleaners travel 25 mins each way to my remote home and spend 5 hours cleaning. In a hotel, with identical setups in each room, they can do a lot more work in that time. My checkout list is clearly defined in my listing, which is doing great based on my ratings and bookings. The cleaning fee is not hidden. I would re-evaluate if I were not successful.

Doesn’t sound like it’s your home, sounds like it’s your business.
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