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

bloomberg.com

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

#91

Post by ineedasername »

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…

As a reminder, the code block formatting you used is only supposed to be used for code. It renders any text of moderate length extremely difficult to read on mobile.

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

#92

Post by hkmurakami »

JenrHywy wrote: post #54
Brendinooo wrote: post #4

I'd imagine there's a sizable group of people who think Airbnb is only worth it if the price (and maybe location) is significantly better than a hotel, and that seems to be less true as the company matures.

It's also about facilities. Having a full kitchen and separate rooms makes a world of difference when you're traveling with kids.

There seems to be two market segments for solo/duo travelers and families/large groups.

I’ve done the latter with big groups of friends and renting a nice house for a week is a great experience. But I think vacation rental homes of this sort existed well before airbnb

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

#93

Post by dwnvoted2hell »

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…

Just the virus? I got tired of playing the game. I might save save 20 dollars in some instances but then have to throw something heavy in the way of the door so that other "guests" didn't break and steal stuff in the middle of the night. A business model without healthy standards isn't much of a business model.

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

#94

Post by klyrs »

jariel wrote: post #70

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…

I'm suddenly concerned about my booking in May...

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

#96

Post by lumost »

JenrHywy wrote: post #54
Brendinooo wrote: post #4

I'd imagine there's a sizable group of people who think Airbnb is only worth it if the price (and maybe location) is significantly better than a hotel, and that seems to be less true as the company matures.

It's also about facilities. Having a full kitchen and separate rooms makes a world of difference when you're traveling with kids.

Anecdotally, I've seen luxury/boutique hotels respond to the kitchen/separate rooms appeal by offering those features at competitive prices.

On the other end some hotel brands are pioneering smaller "pod" units to be more competitive with shared rooms/tiny apartments.

I'd generally assume that the economics of maintaining a 10-100 unit hotel are universally better than managing 3 single-family homes if you can maintain "feature-parity".

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

#97

Post by amiga_500 »

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…

> He's bleeding money now

Maybe he should work instead of leeching off his community.

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

#98

Post by wnissen »

cgurke wrote: post #88
jcims wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but to GP's point what are their costs? Marketing and a website? The last place I went to book for 3 days had almost $90 in 'service fees'. ???

International customer service in many languages.

Serious question, have you ever used AirBnB's customer service? It's so spare as to be nonexistent. They make Google look high-touch. The host is providing 95% of the service. AirBnB is only there if the host won't answer messages or there is some colossal problem with the listing. I've had several dozen stays and only invoved AirBnB service on maybe 5 of them. AirBnB should be making money hand over fist since essentially they're providing a pricey listing service.

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

#99

Post by amiga_500 »

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…

More fool you for trying to save money in an unregulated sector.

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

#100

Post by amiga_500 »

alexandec wrote: post #80
vizzah wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I had an experience where an Airbnb host canceled on me at the last minute because they "forgot" they had double-booked the apartment on a competing service. I was unable to leave a bad review because I had not stayed in the apartment. I contacted Airbnb and they confirmed that this is their policy. They claimed an automated message would appear on the listing indicating the host's cancellation -- but it never did.

A company that makes all its money on a regulatory loophole didn't care? I'm surprised!
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