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Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

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Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#451

Post by happymellon »

endisneigh wrote: post #17

In my experience Airbnb isn’t even cheaper, just has more “interesting” housing available. Back to the topic - removing listings isn’t a sufficient enough punishment imho. And how would you even prove it from the guests side? Take a picture I suppose? But how do you stop bad actors? Not sure what the correct solution is. Someone who wants to spy can purchase a spy camera which is very abundant these days.

> In my experience Airbnb isn’t even cheaper, just has more “interesting” housing available.

For me it has absolutely nothing to do with being cheaper, but simply hotels generally don't cater for families. I have an under 10, and either I go to bed by 9 because that's when they want to go to bed, or I make the stay up and we all have a really shitty time as they are too exhausted to enjoy it.

Two rooms with an adjoining door would work, but most hotels don't have this. AirBNB is simply the only option.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#452

Post by matsemann »

MissTake wrote: post #445
matsemann wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My cleaning fee is for washing the bedding, mopping the floors, wash inside the oven, was inside the refrigerator, vacuum all floors, wash all floors, clean every surface, scrub the shower, scrub the toilets, clean the sink and mirror, etc etc. None of which I expect guests to do. So it's not double dipping. You've been explained why you're wrong ten times now, and still drone on about it. Maybe airbnb just isn't for…

This is a public forum. If I have a strong feeling on something, why do you feel I should not talk about it? It is your opinion that I am wrong. It is not a fact that I am wrong. You say you have a cabin - I’ve booked Cabins in the Hocking Hills area of Ohio (not via Airbnb). They’ve never had cleaning fees. If they can handle this, why can’t you?

> If they can handle this, why can’t you?

Ohh my god, come on, you've been explained this a hundred times by now. It's not that I can't handle it. It's that it's fairer for everyone if the price is set based on the actual cost.

My cabin costs $200 a night to rent, and $100 to clean. If you stay 2 nights that's $500 total, or $250 a night. Do you suggest I just should set the price to $250?

But what then for those renting for 7 nights? Normally they pay $1500. But with your scheme it will be $1750. Or I would have to eat the cleaning cost for those staying 2 days, making no money and instead just pulling it from the market and everyone loses.

The customer doesn't even see the cleaning fee. They see a total price. Then it's up to them to decide if they think it's worth booking or not.

Perhaps this is because I live in Europe, where all costs must be up front. Hence there is no scamming going on here. And I don't care what a cabin on the other side of the world does. I do what makes sense in my local market (people here even bring their own bedding!!). Get it into your head that people want freedom to choose a stay that fits them. If you don't want to care about this, then just don't book.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#453

Post by extraduder_ire »

Scoundreller wrote: post #154
tentacleuno wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they've worked around that too -- now sellers typically include a [completely unrelated] 0.99p item as an option in the listing, which then moves them to the top of the price-sorted view.

Or on aliexpress, on items you’d usually buy multiples of, set the shipping to $cents for the first item, then it jumps to $$$ once you add a second to your cart. Sometimes I’ve just bought individual items from several sellers as a workaround.

I usually go through the checkout process multiple times, if it works out cheaper, since I don't pay credit card fees per transaction. The buy it now button and multiple browser tabs are very useful for this.

I'm more annoyed by 90% of the search results disappearing when I sort by anything other than "best match".

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#454

Post by geon »

extraduder_ire wrote: post #447
brailsafe wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the average person doesn't know how to price restaurant food Could you be more specific?

I think they're referring to estimating what restaurant food "should" cost, based on what it is. Rule of thumb I heard years ago was aiming to sell for about 3x what your ingredients cost you plus tax, but that may have increased since.

You should raise prices until you are not quite sold out. If you are at max capacity, you are by definition not charging enough.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#455

Post by pas »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #351
sschueller wrote: post #256

I find it sad how Airbnb has taken a market that worked (in many places) and re introduced all the problems that have been resolved through decades of regulations being put in place for hotels etc. Chances of finding a camera in a hotel room are near zero while at Airbnb you have no idea what kind of pervert the renter is. At this point prices for Airbnb have rissen so high why not get a hotel? It's like we don't lea…

Most people these days get a hotel anyways. Also I only took a airbnb once in my life. Anybody who takes airbnbs regularly has for sure slept on somebody else's dried body fluids.

Well, maybe. Hotels are big (so they definitely capture a big chunk of the tourists), but in big dense cities building hotels is a lot harder than spinning up apartments for booking/airbnb.

And. I guess I'm not alone in preferring apartments. (And nowadays with lockboxes and WhatsApp-savvy rentors/lessors the lack of a reception desk is not a problem.)

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#456

Post by MissTake »

matsemann wrote: post #452
MissTake wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a public forum. If I have a strong feeling on something, why do you feel I should not talk about it? It is your opinion that I am wrong. It is not a fact that I am wrong. You say you have a cabin - I’ve booked Cabins in the Hocking Hills area of Ohio (not via Airbnb). They’ve never had cleaning fees. If they can handle this, why can’t you?

> If they can handle this, why can’t you? Ohh my god, come on, you've been explained this a hundred times by now. It's not that I can't handle it. It's that it's fairer for everyone if the price is set based on the actual cost. My cabin costs $200 a night to rent, and $100 to clean. If you stay 2 nights that's $500 total, or $250 a night. Do you suggest I just should set the price to $250? But what then for those ren…

“And I don't care what a cabin on the other side of the world does”

And there’s the rub. You’re getting very emotive about the subject whereas I am approaching it simply as a customer experience issue.

When I book the cabins I get a cheaper price the longer I stay.

The issue would therefore seem to be that the Airbnb doesn’t provide you the flexibility you desire. The cabin’s I’ve stayed at are owned by different people but rented out by a company that handles such properties in a reasonable manner.

And besides, you continue to ignore my initial first statement: That I feel it’s immoral to charge a cleaning fee AND expect customers to do cleaning.

The original post I replied to stated that they expect the customers to strip the bed plus more cleaning tasks, AND they charge a $200 Cleaning fee.

Even the Airbnb CEO stated he felt that it was wrong to expect customers to strip the bed.

The Cabins I stay are request that when you leave the property you have gathered plateware etc. into the kitchen, and towels etc are left in the shower, and all furniture is left in the basic state you found it.

That takes all of about 10 minutes - which is fine by me. All costs in cleaning and maintenance is taken out of the rental fees.

So no, in my “scheme” costs are not higher because the company I rent through handles rates accordingly.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#457

Post by alistairSH »

dawnerd wrote: post #269
cameldrv wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the fundamental problem with AirBnb as a business instead of a side gig. The hotel has massive economies of scale in cleaning and other things, because they have dozens of rooms on site. If one room gets totally trashed, they just won’t use that one until they get around to cleaning it. If a guest checks out late or wants to extend their stay, they just put the next guest in a different room. Also the cleanin…

This may be true for hosts with one property but it's becoming more and more common for management companies to own a lot of properties on airbnb. The whole economies of scale have been figured out.

It's really kind of wild. We rented a house on the Chesapeake Bay last summer. Newly remodeled (was very run down the year before - we've visited this town several times) with decent finishes. The manager runs a little real estate empire, either owning or managing rentals all along the I-64 corridor in VA (VA Beach through the Blue Ridge). She also runs a consulting business for people looking to get into the vacation home ownership game.

I used to dream about owning a vacation home, but my parents bought a beach house about 15 years ago. They'd rent it peak season, but keep it for family use on the shoulders through winter. It was fun for a few years, but eventually the constant upkeep and expense wore them down and they sold it. Renters can be real animals - constant stream of broken furniture, stolen kitchenware and decorations, and just plain weird stuff like broken bathroom mirrors. Really opened my eyes, at least to a money-making rental property.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#458

Post by vidarh »

endisneigh wrote: post #17

In my experience Airbnb isn’t even cheaper, just has more “interesting” housing available. Back to the topic - removing listings isn’t a sufficient enough punishment imho. And how would you even prove it from the guests side? Take a picture I suppose? But how do you stop bad actors? Not sure what the correct solution is. Someone who wants to spy can purchase a spy camera which is very abundant these days.

Convenience, for me. A flat is better than two rooms when travelling with my son and my girlfriend, for example. For families it has plenty of upsides in places where family rooms or suites are hard to come by.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#459

Post by AniseAbyss »

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.

Because contrary to what tourists think Amsterdam is not a theme park. Normal people live and work there.

When tourists come home drunk at four in the morning they wake up families who have to get up at 7 to go to work and school. There is a reason why we seperate tourists in hotels.

AIRBNB stopped catering to digital nomads and went straight into the hotel business.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#460

Post by scarface_74 »

casenmgreen wrote: post #449
scarface_74 wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s a good thing that laws are being passed to make it mostly impossible for AirBnbs to be in residential areas and to make it easier for residents to find affordable houses instead of tourists

I may be wrong, but I think the real solution is to increase supply, not constrain demand. Indeed, constraining demand acts to constrain a factor which acts to encourage supply.

In a tourist spot, long term renters are going to be paying less per month than short term tourist.

I don’t know anyone who would want a bunch of Airbnbs intermixed with their residential areas

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