They were settling into their Airbnb. Then they found a hidden camera

washingtonpost.com

I have stopped using Airbnb in part because of this issue. I also grew weary of the random and sometimes arduous “check-in” processes, which is different for every location as it is designed by the host. A recent one I did started like this: there is a key under the mat, that lets you in to the apartment garage, go in there and on your left there are key locks hooked on the fence, find the blue one and enter code... It’s just not a pleasant experience, especially after a long day of travel.

Sounds like a good opportunity for AirBnB to standardize and develop a specific hardware implementation for this similar to Amazon's locks. My initial impression is that AirBnB wouldn't be interested in taking on that risk, but then again I'm surprised Amazon is willing to take it on since they have so much less to gain than something like AirBnB.

AirBnB is much more like the other sharing economy services, where the only thing they provide is the marketplace and connect the supply with demand, however this is an awfully low bar and therefore invites competition. My hope is that, gradually, these sort of companies will transition into more of a franchise / partnership model, where they provide more support for the suppliers. A standardized way to get access to the property is one simple example of a benefit to all parties.

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