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I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

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Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#601

Post by triangleman »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #421
dfxm12 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say the part I find most disturbing about what I see on Airbnb is ... the presence of cameras in every room. One place we stayed at had obvious cameras on the outside but then just as I’m about to go to sleep I look up at the ceiling and there’s another one in the chandelier above the bed. Yeah, it's policy that you have to disclose any cameras inside the room in the listing. It's not clear what happens when…

Cameras are problematic for AirBnB due to the tremendous scam potential. Consider these scenarios: 1) I'm a scammer. I stay in an AirBnB. Before I leave, I conceal a small camera somewhere in the room, and proceed to make a big deal out of "discovering" it. The room is refunded and the host is penalized or worse. 2) I'm a pervert. I spend the night in an AirBnB. Before I leave, I conceal a small camera somewhere in t…

Maybe hosts should think about such risks before they get into hosting.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#602

Post by dredmorbius »

trentnix wrote: post #510
amiga_500 wrote: post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A company that is based on a tax loophole doesn’t behave ethically?

There may be other reasons Airbnb is unethical, but minimizing one's taxes legally is not unethical.

Who lobbies for those loopholes?

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#603

Post by JetSpiegel »

vkou wrote: post #589
Ayesh wrote: post #559

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking from a hotel owner perspective, this is hurting the business for them. Hotels are expensive to run, and with the booking sites pushing for cancelable bookings, hotels have to make them cancelable as well. When you cancel a room at 5:55PM, the room stays empty pretty much 100% of the time.

Sure, but in the off-season, if you didn't book that room to begin with, most of the time, that room would still be empty.

Why not stay at the hotel and avoid the hassle all together? Is it penny pinching? Irrational ideological prejudice of helping a 'startup'?

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#604

Post by CamperBob2 »

triangleman wrote: post #601
CamperBob2 wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cameras are problematic for AirBnB due to the tremendous scam potential. Consider these scenarios: 1) I'm a scammer. I stay in an AirBnB. Before I leave, I conceal a small camera somewhere in the room, and proceed to make a big deal out of "discovering" it. The room is refunded and the host is penalized or worse. 2) I'm a pervert. I spend the night in an AirBnB. Before I leave, I conceal a small camera somewhere in t…

Maybe hosts should think about such risks before they get into hosting.

Yep. But ultimately what's at stake isn't just a few extra bucks for the host with a spare room or ADU in their back yard, it's the whole AirBnB business model.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#605

Post by hispanic »

JetSpiegel wrote: post #603
vkou wrote: post #589

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but in the off-season, if you didn't book that room to begin with, most of the time, that room would still be empty.

Why not stay at the hotel and avoid the hassle all together? Is it penny pinching? Irrational ideological prejudice of helping a 'startup'?

There's a number of reasons why we choose to stay at Airbnbs instead of hotels. We save money. We break out of the cookie-cutter hotel bubble. We direct our dollars toward individuals and small businesses rather than faceless corporations. We gain access to amenities such as bicycles, beach chairs, etc.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#606

Post by hispanic »

dawnerd wrote: post #374
nathancahill wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I'm in charge of booking a ski trip for ~15 friends each year, and the amount of reading between the lines I have to do to make sure everyone has a comfortable place to sleep is crazy. Tons of places count sofas/pullouts/day beds in the "Sleeps # of People", and they often count the temporary beds as space for 2. So you'll see places that say, Sleeps 16, but there are only 3 or 4 real beds. Hotels have it right…

What ridiculous is when you try searching for 'whole homes' and you end up getting 'apartments' which are nothing more than someones basement. Airbnb seems to encourage this too by letting people put whatever tags they want. It's kind of a joke. In addition, hiding the address makes it hard to double check on google street view. Edit: My workaround is selecting super hosts only, 3-4 bedrooms, 1+ bathroom. Seems to fi…

I suggest reading "whole home" to mean "whole space". In fact, that's basically what I see on Airbnb now - "Entire place". Personally, I have no issue when that turns out to be a separate apartment in a larger house, as long as I'm not sharing the entrance/exit and living space with others.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#607

Post by scurvy »

scurvy wrote: post #50

It's becoming very clear why the company has resisted going public for years. Increased scrutiny and visibility is going to show everyone exactly how shady their business is. You can almost guarantee a FTC investigation within a year of going public. Also, why don't people issue charge backs with their credit card companies? Airbnb customer service might suck, but credit card companies almost always side with their c…

Self reply since I can't edit, but the FBI has recently contacted the article's author. First, FBI investigation for criminal activity. Then FTC case for ongoing consumer deception and fraud due by failing to police their platform and turning a blind eye to obvious criminal activity.

We've passed peak airbnb.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#608

Post by hispanic »

eropple wrote: post #336
205guy wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me it sounds as if you are saying "I want the charm\location\social experience of staying with a local resident AND I want the convenience/professionalism/capital resources of the hotel industry AND I don't want to pay for the convenience/professionalism/capital resources of a hotel." As with software, pick two.

Airbnb has functionally became where it is expected to get the latter two. When I've used Airbnb I have never expected nor cared about the "charm" or the "local resident", it's been a de-facto hotel. If there was a problem, of course I would expect Airbnb to do their job . Why wouldn't you?

I completely disagree. I never start an Airbnb search assuming that the hosts are hospitality professionals. I don't expect hotel-level standards. In fact, my spidey-sense goes into yellow-alert when I come across a listing that appears to be for a hotel.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#609

Post by hispanic »

dboreham wrote: post #160
jancsika wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The main downside for me concerning AirBnb is it takes a long time to analyze the listings to find quality accommodations. How do you corroborate the information on those properties? The clean, affordable, well-placed hotels I've stayed in had reams of reviews and news articles from various sources to confirm they were indeed clean, affordable, and well-placed. The cost of faking all those sources must be orders of…

I only stay at Airbnb's that have at least some reviews. It doesn't take too long to determine if reviews are sock-puppet-generated or genuine. You have to actually stay at the property to write a review, which means paying for the stay since Airbnb process the payment. Obviously you can create wash transactions but the transaction fees would still be significant. Another approach is to sent a question to the propert…

> Another approach is to sent a question to the property manager. That's a great idea. Thanks.

I find it telling that you use the phrase "property manager" instead of "host".

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#610

Post by hispanic »

faster wrote: post #216
julienchastang wrote: post #51

There have been a few threads about AirBnb lately with a lot of people reporting negative experiences so I will add my own $0.02. I have stayed in many AirBnbs. The reason is, I find it is the only way to have a tolerable family vacation is when everyone has their own sleeping quarters. When we are all piled into one (often overpriced and not so clean) hotel room, it makes for less than ideal sleep and everyone ends…

I use a Chrome extension to show the true cost per night on Airbnb. I find the fees variable enough that I want to see the real price as part of my analysis of listings. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/airbnb-price-per-n... There might be others, but this one has worked well for me. No affiliation, just a happy user.

This used to be an issue with Airbnb, but I believe they fixed/changed that a year or two ago. The one line item they leave out of the total price on the search results is "Occupancy taxes and fees", which I can understand.
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