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Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

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Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#61

Post by vizzah »

alexandec wrote: post #33

I've had bad experiences with multiple Airbnbs including: - showing up at night with the key not in the agreed location, and not being able to contact the owner until the next day - showing up and someone else was already in the unit - a webcam was plugged in and placed on the bedside table with no warning - conditions in the unit were significantly worse than those shown in the photos All these listings had great re…

Airbnb cheats with bad reviews, so their properties look more attractive.

I came to a rental apartment which was trashed and uninhabitable and left it after a tiring few hours on the phone with Airbnb to convince them not to charge me and finding a place to stay (hotel) in the meantime (They also tried to find a 'suitable' replacement but nothing was comparable).

The host left me a negative review complaining 'I didn't want to vacate the apartment' (!). I was shocked that the host received invitation to write a review on a guest who hasn't stayed.

After numerous emails with Airbnb they confirmed that the host is able to leave reviews in all cases, as well as a guest, but they deliberately didn't e-mail me an invitation. They claimed they did, but after further investigations I found a proof this was deliberate omittance.

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#62

Post by OhSoHumble »

alexandec wrote: post #33

I've had bad experiences with multiple Airbnbs including: - showing up at night with the key not in the agreed location, and not being able to contact the owner until the next day - showing up and someone else was already in the unit - a webcam was plugged in and placed on the bedside table with no warning - conditions in the unit were significantly worse than those shown in the photos All these listings had great re…

Oh cool, I've:

- Had cockroaches and rats scurrying around one my places.

- Another place completely flooded and all the electrical sockets shorted out during a rain storm.

- My host threatened me over WhatsApp because I left a bad review. I showed AirBnB the chat logs and they said they would so something but didn't.

I've stopped using AirBnb.

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#63

Post by cvhashim »

3pt14159 wrote: post #39

I have a friend who got into hosting AirBnbs pretty early. Bought a 4 unit place in a rough part of Toronto that was still pretty close to downtown and lived in one of the units while he AirBnbed out the other three. Occasionally he'd go on a trip and AirBnb out his own unit. It was enough money for him to cover his mortgage and not have to work if he watched his spending. He's bleeding money now and it started about…

Same person ? https://twitter.com/mattlundy33/status/1237772778465636352?s...

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#64

Post by fierarul »

nuggien wrote: post #42

Airbnb is a shitty company. Last october we traveled to Seoul and couldn't find the location of the apartment we booked. Even the local taxi driver couldn't find it after circling the area for ~30 minutes. We called the host during the entire 30 minutes and didn't get through to them. After about 1 hour of time, we decided to call it quits and go book a hotel because it was 10pm at night and our kids needed to sleep.…

[deleted]

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#65

Post by 3pt14159 »

cvhashim wrote: post #63
3pt14159 wrote: post #39

I have a friend who got into hosting AirBnbs pretty early. Bought a 4 unit place in a rough part of Toronto that was still pretty close to downtown and lived in one of the units while he AirBnbed out the other three. Occasionally he'd go on a trip and AirBnb out his own unit. It was enough money for him to cover his mortgage and not have to work if he watched his spending. He's bleeding money now and it started about…

Same person ? https://twitter.com/mattlundy33/status/1237772778465636352?s...

Nope!

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#67

Post by vkou »

Jommi wrote: post #50
alexandec wrote: post #33

I've had bad experiences with multiple Airbnbs including: - showing up at night with the key not in the agreed location, and not being able to contact the owner until the next day - showing up and someone else was already in the unit - a webcam was plugged in and placed on the bedside table with no warning - conditions in the unit were significantly worse than those shown in the photos All these listings had great re…

And then you give a bad review and those places lose their listing? Not sure what you want to do? Pay more so that Airbnb reviews them for you? Are you really up for paying old hotel prices again?

> And then you give a bad review and those places lose their listing?

1. AirBnB doesn't care about adjudicating these disputes, so the host won't actually lose their listing.

2. And if the stars align, and enough people get ripped off, and AirBnB actually takes action against the host, they'll just re-open under a new listing 5 minutes later.

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#68

Post by paulmd »

komali2 wrote: post #12
godzillabrennus wrote: post #2

I’ve used them four times and only had one good AirBNB experience. Hotels are so competitive in price in the markets I’ve visited that I never bother anymore.

My girlfriend and I used to think the same until we started staying at "shared" airbnbs, i.e. where you're staying at actual bed and breakfasts or someone's house as opposed to just a random apartment held by a Chinese superconglomerate filled with 1ply toilet paper. Now we get to have really cool experiences - staying on a couple farms and watching our hosts go to work milking cows or feeding horses, staying in a re…

.... filled with toilet paper, you say...

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#69

Post by vkou »

fierarul wrote: post #64
nuggien wrote: post #42

Airbnb is a shitty company. Last october we traveled to Seoul and couldn't find the location of the apartment we booked. Even the local taxi driver couldn't find it after circling the area for ~30 minutes. We called the host during the entire 30 minutes and didn't get through to them. After about 1 hour of time, we decided to call it quits and go book a hotel because it was 10pm at night and our kids needed to sleep.…

[deleted]

> I assume you were in Seoul for more than 1 day. What stopped you from going to the AirBnB starting the 2nd night? Not answering the call is no proof but I would have insisted to at least see the room I freaking paid for.

Once the person you're transacting with ripped you off, why on Earth would you try to keep engaging with them?

I mean, maybe if you want to waste your time on vacation, by all means, go ahead. I imagine most other travelers have better shit to do.

Re: Airbnb’s loss nearly doubles in fourth quarter, before virus

#70

Post by jariel »

COVID could break them. They're at 1B revenue and losing money, on a 30B valuation?

This is bubble valuation, and with WeWork blowing up and now COVID hitting everything, the stock market in freefall - and that COVID will be materially damaging specifically to AirnBnB - not just indirectly ... the party is over.

This is the inflection point at which AirBnB becomes a 'real company' and has to live within the confines of 'non-bubble-valuations'.

Which is fine, think they will survive but not without changes.

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