Airbnb removed my negative review • Hacker News Board

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#51

Post by sandofsky » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 4:55 PM UTC

medellin wrote: post #9

Airbnb most recently has continued to ignore requests to remove houses that violate the building’s HOA where i live. People have been turned away when they show up by security as it’s not allowed but the people just try to sneak them in. When reporting this to airbnb they refuse to do anything. I’m getting fairly sick of the laissez faire stances these companies are taking. It’s not just that we don’t want airbnb its…

This isn’t recent. Around 2017, the building where I lived had issues with theft. Tenants knew that the (historic) front door was finicky, but AirBnB people didn’t, so they’d effectively leave it open and packages got stolen. There were other issues with AirBnBs, but long story short, everyone agreed they were against HOA rules and had to go. I reached out to support to see if the building could get delisted. They responded…

“The platform does not have the capability to delist a whole community currently but our Friendly Buildings Program does allow you to have complete transparency and control over home-sharing activity in your community. You would be able to set minimums number of guests, blackout dates, amenity restrictions, or even create a waiting list if you want only a small number of homes to have the home-sharing amenity.

We understand in order to be able to control home-sharing, you would have to allow it in some capacity and change your CC&Rs, which is a process. Since our program establishes a partnership between Airbnb and your community, we would love to support in any way possible or even send someone to propose the idea to your board and fellow homeowners in person.”

So in other words, you either work with them or they let things happen anyway.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#52

Post by mynameisvlad » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 4:55 PM UTC

oliwarner wrote: post #44

elmerfud wrote: post #8

Airbnb removed my positive review and accused me of being in cahoots with the host to leave positive feedback. They said they have found an existing relationship between me and the host. Mind you have no social media accounts, this was my first stay at an Airbnb, I'm from USA and this was in Medellin Colombia, I usually stay at Marriott hotels and I only went with Airbnb because the girl I traveled with suggested usi…

> have no social media accounts, this was my first stay at an Airbnb See what happens if you ask a bank for a loan with no credit history. Of course these are only tangentially alike, but public history is an important way to distinguish organic reviews from AstroTurf.

Since when is a social media account required to do online business?

You also don't need a social account to login, so how would Airbnb even know that user named "John Smith" on Twitter is you?

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#53

Post by 33955985 » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 4:56 PM UTC

I have found that leaving review is generally not worth the effort, nor is reading them. When the system that hosts the reviews is owned by a party that benefits from it, the incentives are skewed so badly that that entire system itself is suspect.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#54

Post by throw_m239339 » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 4:56 PM UTC

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #17

It feels like in the last few years all the beloved, life changing formerly-unicorn-startup offerings came crashing down. They are a mashup of dark patterns, unattractive price hikes, user hostile behavior, lies and trash content. Additionally, the early "mutual trust"/"assume good faith"/"organic"/"non professional"/"human" sentiments disappeared, everything is hyperoptimized by greedy capitalists and uncaring AI. T…

Uber and AirBnB were always shady, both services were heavily subsidized by VC money in order to acquire customers. Now that these corporations went public, they stopped with the charade and are aiming at making as much profit as the business they claimed they "disrupted".

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#55

Post by totallyunknown » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 4:56 PM UTC

This wasn't in Amsterdam?

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#56

Post by mayankkaizen » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 4:56 PM UTC

itake wrote: post #25

raincom wrote: post #2

Any platform that extracts money from X has the incentive to get rid of any negative reviews about X. Reviewers are not the revenue source. That's why AirBnB, Yelp, Glassdoor, etc will get rid of bad reviews for the right price. Read all bad stuff about AirBnB on reddit, you see where airbnb is heading. People should stop using that platform, whenever you find an alternative.

AFAIK, Yelp has not and does not remove negative reviews for the sake of improving a business's score, but they will remove "spam" reviews (like if a celebrity dies at a hospital and their fans leave bad reviews). There certainly have been minor incidents where certain employees have behaved against policy. Unlike Airbnb, if users lose trust in their reviews, Yelp loses their entire business. source: I am ex-yelper.

I've read 100s of comments from variety of sources over the years that Yelp is in the business of extortion. It extort money from restaurants by threatening to remove positive reviews and other such tactics.

Yelp is worse than AirBNB.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#57

Post by duped » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 4:56 PM UTC

medellin wrote: post #9

Airbnb most recently has continued to ignore requests to remove houses that violate the building’s HOA where i live. People have been turned away when they show up by security as it’s not allowed but the people just try to sneak them in. When reporting this to airbnb they refuse to do anything. I’m getting fairly sick of the laissez faire stances these companies are taking. It’s not just that we don’t want airbnb its…

AirBnB's entire business is predicated on skirting regulation. The problem isn't that they don't care, it's that caring would cost them money and invalidate their business model.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#58

Post by John23832 » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 4:56 PM UTC

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #17

It feels like in the last few years all the beloved, life changing formerly-unicorn-startup offerings came crashing down. They are a mashup of dark patterns, unattractive price hikes, user hostile behavior, lies and trash content. Additionally, the early "mutual trust"/"assume good faith"/"organic"/"non professional"/"human" sentiments disappeared, everything is hyperoptimized by greedy capitalists and uncaring AI. T…

While Netflix has their own issues, I don't think I'd put them in the same grouping as [0]Uber, [1]Airbnb, and [2]FB/Meta.

Content that some people dislike is way different than [0]driving taxis out of business, [1]contributing to housing crunch, and [3]driving civil wars/genocide.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#59

Post by dazc » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 4:57 PM UTC

klntsky wrote: post #14

raydiatian wrote: post #6

I had the same experience with VRBO. My "hosts" decided to come home at midnight and fuck loudly in the room next to me while I was trying to sleep, so I left. VRBO first told me I couldn't get my money back, but that I could leave a negative review if I was unsatisfied. The host denied everything, even though it was pretty obviously coming from inside the house, I even had to walk right past the window where they we…

Did they do it in the property you rented? If not, what's your problem exactly?

Since he said they were the 'hosts' I assumed so.

Re: Airbnb removed my negative review

#60

Post by brookst » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 4:57 PM UTC

aliljet wrote: post #19

Airbnb seems to primarily be interested in protecting hosts instead of guests. It's probably much more structural than people realize. I'd really love to know from someone that's deep inside Airbnb why they could allow the service to become such a poor experience for guests(1)? Is it because there's not enough host supply in the system? (1) https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.airbnb.com (1.3/5)

I’ve used Airbnb a few times a year for many years. My anecdotal and speculative belief is that their tools and site hugely favor hosts, but if you have a good history they will make anything right for a guest, and probably just eat the cost themselves to keep both host and guest happy.

For instance, I had a week long stay booked in a “waterfront, two bedroom” in London. I needed the two bedrooms to set up an office that wouldn’t disturb my partner. Arrived at the place, and it was a one bedroom, not waterfront but the building’s communal deck had a water view.

Host was obnoxious about it. Airbnb support couldn’t find me a suitable Airbnb and booked me a two bedroom suite at a VERY nice hotel, worth much much more than I had paid for the rental. I am pretty sure they ate the host’s payout too as the place didn’t re-appear as available.