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Unbundling Airbnb

peterfabor.com

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Re: Unbundling Airbnb

#61

Post by bin_bash »

mg wrote: post #56
eezurr wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hotels have solved this problem. Each brand more or less offers the same quality across the US. You only need to see a few photos to know what options you have. Most of the rooms are the same design, same furniture. And its common for them to have desks and computer chairs. Consistency. Why are you still using airbnb?

Can you link to an example? The type of standardized hotel room you describe sounds like the small rooms that are made to sleep during the night and leave during the day. Not for "living" in a foreign city.

I’ve had decent luck with Residence Inn. Full kitchen and separate bedrooms.

The sofa mattresses are terrible though.

Re: Unbundling Airbnb

#62

Post by hnbad »

vlovich123 wrote: post #49

I think I missed how the article’s initial premise is worked around by Wander. How is it avoiding competing with AirBnB unbundling itself (ie Luxe)? Isn’t that basically what the author says not to do? Is the only difference that Wander managed to acquire a large VC round?

The premise is that Wander is "10x better".

Whether or not that is true is of course a matter of opinion, but as I'm not in the business of spending upwards of $1k a night on accomodation, I don't think I'm the target audience and thus in no position to make that judgement.

Re: Unbundling Airbnb

#63

Post by ISL »

breakfastduck wrote: post #42
baxtr wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, not true. Travel agencies controlled the access to the booking systems. That was their only role in the value chain. So basically, they would put in your dates, look for options and then make a booking with your detailed info. Help, guidance, recommendations, curation were MOSTLY off the table. They are and were of course exceptions. But in the end, quality selection IS a new proposition.

I don't think this is the case at all. Curation was the entire purpose of a travel agency.

In the 80s/90s, travel-agents had a terminal that would allow them to search for and book travel much as one would do with Google Flights/Expedia/Travelocity today. Access to those networks cost real money, so travel agents became middlemen.

Many agents did curate trips (or sell packages), too. In the best case, if your trip went sideways, they could also assist in rebooking/other options.

Re: Unbundling Airbnb

#65

Post by chronofar »

eezurr wrote: post #53
mg wrote: post #18

Every time I travel, I spend insane amounts of time browsing AirBnB to find a suitable place. For example, I miss a "good table" option on AirBnB. I have to manually discard over 90% of the listings after looking at the images because there is no table suitable for work. That is so time-consuming. It's not that I want to work at home all the time, but still I need a proper table to put my laptop on. A proper chair an…

Hotels have solved this problem. Each brand more or less offers the same quality across the US. You only need to see a few photos to know what options you have. Most of the rooms are the same design, same furniture. And its common for them to have desks and computer chairs. Consistency. Why are you still using airbnb?

They also very rarely have kitchens or washer or dryers for long term stays, or monthly discounts (advertised at least). If you’re just there for a few days stay over sure hotels are a fine choice, if you’re staying for a while they often won’t be particularly well suited, and finding one that is will take just as long as searching AirBnB.

Like the person you responded to I also spend a great deal of time searching for suitable long term stays. I think there is a large gap in the market for reliable brands/services with solid customer service (which AirBnB lacks) and amenities for modern longer term tech travelers (desks (ideally standup), fast wifi, kitchens, suitable space for 2 to work separately, washer/dryer, etc). If I could just look in a city and say “oh there’s a X there around an area I want to visit, I’ll just book that” it would be oh so nice.

Re: Unbundling Airbnb

#66

Post by el-salvador »

mg wrote: post #18

Every time I travel, I spend insane amounts of time browsing AirBnB to find a suitable place. For example, I miss a "good table" option on AirBnB. I have to manually discard over 90% of the listings after looking at the images because there is no table suitable for work. That is so time-consuming. It's not that I want to work at home all the time, but still I need a proper table to put my laptop on. A proper chair an…

> I had really bad stays at places that got 100 reviews and an average of 4.7 stars.

One red flag I always look for is a stream of comments mentioning only "good location" and nothing else.

Re: Unbundling Airbnb

#67

Post by lenova »

mg wrote: post #18

Every time I travel, I spend insane amounts of time browsing AirBnB to find a suitable place. For example, I miss a "good table" option on AirBnB. I have to manually discard over 90% of the listings after looking at the images because there is no table suitable for work. That is so time-consuming. It's not that I want to work at home all the time, but still I need a proper table to put my laptop on. A proper chair an…

> Hosts can remove bad reviews.

That part isn't true. Airbnb doesn't allow hosts to remove negative reviews.

I used to Airbnb my place, which was well reviewed. I had one negative review from a problematic guest that I felt was unfair, and when I contacted Airbnb to have it reviewed, they were very explicit about not removing reviews regardless of the situation.

Re: Unbundling Airbnb

#68

Post by el-salvador »

city41 wrote: post #52
dazc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried this via Airbnb in Spain and ended up moving from place to place instead. I never actually found a location where I could work properly, to the extent that I rented a separate office some of the time. Patchy internet almost always, cheap furniture, base level electricity that would trip out if you had two appliances running at the same time, and #1 problem NOISE all of the time. I'm not sure that Airbnb is th…

I've never had a good Airbnb experience. There is simply no incentive for hosts to provide good accomodations. On the flip side, hotels that cost as much as typical Airbnbs provide a drastically better experience. After paying a fortune for yet another lousy Airbnb a couple weeks ago my wife and I agreed we'd never use Airbnb again.

I prefer hotels or apart hotels too.

I've never had a perfect-five-star Airbnb experience either, but all my reviews have been very positive.

Airbnb guests and hosts need to get good reviews so there is an incentive to give better than real reviews in both ways.

One of the best ways to read reviews is looking for what reviews don't mention. Like no reviews mentioning the place is quiet or clean or having comfortable beds.

I would say I've had better experiences at Airbnbs attended by the property owner (like people who rent their extra room), than those attended by a co host or a subletting company. These are easier to find in non touristic destinations.

There's those that "game" the pictures so it looks nice and colorful, but have bad quality furniture and cheap dollar store everything. Those are better to avoid

Re: Unbundling Airbnb

#69

Post by geoduck14 »

el-salvador wrote: post #66
mg wrote: post #18

Every time I travel, I spend insane amounts of time browsing AirBnB to find a suitable place. For example, I miss a "good table" option on AirBnB. I have to manually discard over 90% of the listings after looking at the images because there is no table suitable for work. That is so time-consuming. It's not that I want to work at home all the time, but still I need a proper table to put my laptop on. A proper chair an…

> I had really bad stays at places that got 100 reviews and an average of 4.7 stars. One red flag I always look for is a stream of comments mentioning only "good location" and nothing else.

>One red flag I always look for is a stream of comments mentioning only "good location" and nothing else.

You say that, and I believe you mean it, but that could actually be a good sign. Example: I'm looking for a place to stay that is close to the beach. I need the location to be good - if the interior of the BnB is bad, that isn't a big deal.

Additionally, my definition of "close to the beach" is unusual. There are plenty of places "10 minutes away", but we need to read the reviews and look at maps for public access. I have a lot of small children, and my wife and I are mapping out how far a walk it would take to "get sandy"

Re: Unbundling Airbnb

#70

Post by geoduck14 »

dorchadas wrote: post #22
philihp wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One contributor to Airbnb's success was making things like this accessible to international travelers. It's that whole "live like a local" vibe.

"live like a local" while actively helping to destroy local communities. Such a great vibe!

It's the American dream!
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