Comment by erikb | Hacker News Reader

Comment by erikb | Hacker News Reader

Being a little disillusioned about the world these days I would assume this has a purpose.

My guess is this: Booking.com already knows that they are fighting a losing battle against AirBnB. So instead of trying to win it seriously, they go to make the biggest profit they can out of their situation by strongly focussing on the idiots. With idiots you have two advantages:

(a) they stay anyways no matter how shitty you treat them. They have different reasons but one of them is that they are simply used to your service and don't want to learn a new one.

(b) they believe at least some of the stuff you put on these websites.

(c) in exchange for not feeling like a total loser for a moment they are willing to pay more.

For an observant booker this website is really less and less useful. For once you can try the alternative and get a much better experience, and on the other you can often just book a room on-site after you arrive. When Booking.com just hands out a reserveration without prepayment don't think the hotel wouldn't give your room to someone else if enough customers arrive at their desk first. Money now is better than (maybe) money later. The only exception may be when you go to the big fair of your industry and the whole town is booked out.

In Europe, I would say the opposite is happening. AirBnB is being pushed out of or held down in many cities by local authorities. In the last two years I have stayed 50 nights or so in rooms booked through Bookings.com or Hotels.com and only 2 nights in rooms booked through AirBnB, and it's now almost two years ago. I had a good stay in the ArBnB booked apartment but the only reason I used AirBnB in the first place was that I couldn't find a hotel in the city since all hotels were booked. Most people I know have never or only once used AirBnB.

AirBnB is fun to try but I wouldn't rely on someones apartment for my vacation.

> AirBnB is fun to try but I wouldn't rely on someones apartment for my vacation.

Especially when the host might just cancel at the last minute. In that case, all the customer gets is a refund on the accommodation, but not on the full trip which might be ruined.

US, China, Germany here. I only stay in AirBnB or the Chinese competitor, after the last 3 attempts with Booking.com were too bad.

This has not been my experience living in Amsterdam. Airbnb seems to be growing despite all the regulations that the municipality is trying to put in place [0]. And at least in my social group, Airbnb is vastly preferred to hotels, because of the more personal experience and getting to live in a real neighborhood.

[0] http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2017/08/amsterdam-airb...

> "My guess is this: Booking.com already knows that they are fighting a losing battle against AirBnB."

For a two or three day trip AirBnB isn't practical, and it's not as if AirBnB is perfect either. At least with a hotel I know there is a basic minimum standard and I have some level of consumer protection.

I go direct to the Hotel's own site wherever possible but often they don't have a facility to book online easily and, where they do, the price is often the same anyway.

Chain hotels are the exception but you often need to book and pay well in advance to get any real saving.

> Booking.com already knows that they are fighting a losing battle against AirBnB.

lol

Booking.com and AirBnB have different markets: fixed-overhead operations competing on a commodity, and owners selling a unique-experience short-term let. There's some overlap (owner-operated B&Bs), but they're insignificant.

AirBnB's real value is that they created a market, not that they're going to eat hotels. Booking.com will be fine as long as 2+ giant hotel chains exists.

> Booking.com already knows that they are fighting a losing battle against AirBnB

Maybe I am wrong, but I though Booking also lists apartments for rent? At least in Romania, I know people that rent to tourists usually publish their offers on both websites.

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