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Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

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Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#61

Post by manmal »

edoceo wrote: post #2

Stunt or Stand? So much noise right now it's hard to tell. Hope Time demonstrates this as a genuine move. BigCo with lots of PR weight can really keep the story at the top (or push it over the top)

I don't want to downplay their contribution. It's awesome, period. If you squint your eyes though, it looks like a growth hack, similar to their original Craigslist indexing hack. Getting people who offer their homes in cases of emergencies to sign up might lead to them renting out their homes later on. Plus there's the free publicity. It's a win-win for everybody involved.

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#62

Post by petervandijck »

cronjobber wrote: post #31
chandsie wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an employee, so for what it's worth, this isn't something out of the blue. Airbnb has a disaster response program that gets activated all the time for natural disasters and other tragedies - https://www.airbnb.com/disaster-response We're choosing to activate it in response to the executive order because it goes directly against our company mission to let people belong anywhere. I'm sure PR was part of the decisio…

Stunt, then, as AirBNB isn't providing any free housing. You're just going to browbeat people who offered "housing to displaced neighbors and relief workers" to underwrite "your" provision of housing to people who are neither neighbors nor relief workers.

Let's be clear: if you are taking a public stand against the president of the United State who is known to be vindictive, you are taking a stand. ALL OF THEM. It is never just a stunt, because a stunt means there's no risk.

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#63

Post by petervandijck »

loceng wrote: post #9
nerfhammer wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not PR. PR would never be so controversial. This will inevitably stir heaps of outrage from Trump supporters and the Trump administration. It's as much a gesture to make themselves and their own employees feel good. With something on the order of 40% of tech workers born outside of the United States who may be really scared right now, they may actually genuinely care about their coworkers! And this has the poten…

How is this controversial for a company who wants to look good to everyone around the world? Perhaps it's controversial if you think Airbnb only cares about the U.S. market, however if you look more holistically then it's a tiny majority who might be bothered by this.

Let me count the ways:

1. It is controversial to employees who support Trump.

2. It is controversial to investors who support Trump.

3. It is controversial to clients who support Trump, and now might stop using AirBnB.

4. They are taking public stance against the president of the US who is known to have a vindictive streak (and his businesses are their competition). How motivated will Trump be to sign legislation that hurts AirBnB?

Do you think this is an easy decision?

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#64

Post by PutinIsEvil »

ssijak wrote: post #36

Why have not you done that before for existing homeless people or other people in need? This just smells like ugly marketing scheme. I mean, it is good if someone in need is helped, but why now and why that wording and scope to only refugees?

PR

Nobody cared about the 6 month ban on Iraqi refugees in 2011. This is all manufactured chaos.

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#65

Post by ivan_gammel »

forgetsusername wrote: post #51
ivan_gammel wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make biased judgement without knowing how the service actually works. If you had a look at the disaster response page of Airbnb, as just did I, you'd find that the UX flow is different. You select the disaster first and then offer your housing, which means the hosts are informed about their potential guests.

> You select the disaster first and then offer your housing, which means the hosts are informed about their potential guests. Yes, you do. What is AirBnB's role besides providing the platform?

That's good itself because providing the platform is their core competence and they use it for public benefit. But if you think that it's not enough (for what?), they are also using their PR resources to spread the word and reach potential hosts who can participate.

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#66

Post by ivan_gammel »

syshum wrote: post #52
ivan_gammel wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's dumb argument, sorry. Disaster relief is temporary and help is provided to people who suffer from external circumstances. Housing for homeless is a daily job for the government and it is different, significantly bigger problem, for which the solution is not affordable for any single private organization or person. Private organizations have limited resources and they have the right to choose whom to support fi…

Governments have, and should have, limited resources as well. Where do you think the government obtains its resources.. From private organizations and individuals. Thus if the problem is to large for Private Organizations and Individuals to handle collectively, then it is to hard for government as well Housing for Homeless is also a job the government continually fails at and is infact today primary provided for by p…

It's indeed hard, but it's exactly one of the purposes the government exists for. It's their job which they have to do to justify their existence. You cannot blame any private for-profit organization for not taking the government's job and spending its money for something else.

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#67

Post by devb »

ssijak wrote: post #41
ivan_gammel wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's dumb argument, sorry. Disaster relief is temporary and help is provided to people who suffer from external circumstances. Housing for homeless is a daily job for the government and it is different, significantly bigger problem, for which the solution is not affordable for any single private organization or person. Private organizations have limited resources and they have the right to choose whom to support fi…

Well, US gov (Clinton and Obama) created this refugees in the first place. They are all coming from the areas that this administrations ruined in one way or another.

There's a small eight year gap in your list there.

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#68

Post by ssijak »

devb wrote: post #67
ssijak wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, US gov (Clinton and Obama) created this refugees in the first place. They are all coming from the areas that this administrations ruined in one way or another.

There's a small eight year gap in your list there.

yeah I forgot him, just wanted to say that it is not new politics or just Obama but many recent presidents

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#69

Post by syshum »

ivan_gammel wrote: post #66
syshum wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Governments have, and should have, limited resources as well. Where do you think the government obtains its resources.. From private organizations and individuals. Thus if the problem is to large for Private Organizations and Individuals to handle collectively, then it is to hard for government as well Housing for Homeless is also a job the government continually fails at and is infact today primary provided for by p…

It's indeed hard, but it's exactly one of the purposes the government exists for. It's their job which they have to do to justify their existence. You cannot blame any private for-profit organization for not taking the government's job and spending its money for something else.

I dont believe at any point I blamed any private for-profit organization for anything

I was taking issue with the assertions that government is the sole, best or even most competent venue to address a social problem like homelessness. I was taking issue the the assertion that government somehow has more resources than the Collective Individuals and Businesses it derives its resources from

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