Airbnb is more successful than ever. Why is everyone so mad at it? | Hacker News Reader

Airbnb is more successful than ever. Why is everyone so mad at it?

washingtonpost.com

24 pointstekdude20 comments

I used to live next to an airbnb and it sucked. Guests are constantly loud at night, make a mess in the hallway and steal packages. It was a nightmare and one of the main reasons I searched for a new apartment.

Similar - I lived in a condo and the house behind us applied for a zoning exception. Minimum 1 week short-term rental exception. We didn’t oppose, it seemed reasonable. All was well, until this summer.

A college fraternity rented the house via AirBnB for two months. Parties every night waking us up constantly. They somehow knocked down a 100’ length of fence between our property and theirs. Left trash on the street, ravaged by racoons - I was still picking up old mini bottles up until we sold last month.

I tried being neighborly and politely asking them to respect the neighborhood… they drunkenly tried to fight me. I tried engaging zoning, nothing could be done. I tried engaging AirBnB support - they promised to send off to the owner to inform them. Weeks went by, nothing. Problems night on night affecting multiple condo buildings.

I, finally, decided to engage in clandestine activities which caused them to abate their outside ragers.

Finally, the week after they paid their last payment the host terminated their stay - I know because I could hear them screaming at the host on speaker-phone: “Well I’m sOrRy on pissed on your own!”

I now understand that the owners have some strong financial incentives to ignore shitbags… never again will I tolerate AirBNB zoning requests.

Going through it now. Signed a new 1 year lease. Realized I was living next to an Airbnb about 2 weeks into the new lease.

Awful experience. Constant noise. Partying. Kids and babies crying. Leaves garbage outside their door. Cleaners making noise. Constant check ins and check outs.

In general, the feeling that random strangers coming in and out is not a good one in a private residence condo building.

I travel frequently in small and large groups. AirBnb is usually cheaper when traveling in a large group, when you need multiple bedrooms and shared spaces. Hotels are usually cheaper when traveling in small groups (3-4 people).

Recently, I have noticed hosts charging significant cleaning fees and also keeping a chores list, which can range from starting the dishwasher (understandable) to removing the sheets from the bed, keeping the used towels in the laundry area, etc, taking out the trash, etc.

Moreover, if you don't finish any chores, the hosts have the power to rate you poorly. AirBnb does not help even when hosts leave misleading reviews.

AirBnB recently announced that they are implementing changes to address that specific issue: https://news.airbnb.com/airbnb-is-introducing-total-price-di...

Well, if you rent a 2-3 bedroom apartment at 75% of hotel rates, you can make a lot of $$ in the extended summer season for vacationers = shop local, cook in kitchen. For the dead season you can rent to tech educators, week/month by week/month at 50% of hotel rates. This things were bought with corporate loans at 1.5% = they make a lot. A bit less now as rates floated up. Local managers runs the show, clean etc, you even charge a cleaning fee as they depart. Hotels are screaming - how does the city find them, the cities hate them? They would need an army of inspectors with repeated visits etc. The B&B and corporate types make sure they do not rent to party groups. These stealth rentals have locked up 10-15% or rentals are are one of the major driving factors in the housing shortage. Business taxes and hotel taxes are one way. Hotels pay both of these in addition to realty taxes.

Before airBNB I used to rent cabins quite often on the California coast where you would probably spend $350-$500 for a weekend. That amount right now is just the cleaning fee. Maybe better for owners and airBNB to have fewer guests who pay more but it sucks for consumers.

It does not suck for consumers, maybe for some but not as a whole. I rented cabins in cali for a lot cheaper depending on location and other types of properties. I think you're probably looking for vrbo.

Hotels of a similar price have less space and you have to deal with a lot of hassle and less privacy. Rentals before airbnb required interacting with renters and dealing with them a lot more, I have no problem paying more to avoid that mess. It is also safer in my experience and allows me to pick from a wider range of options.

My theory is that consumers (not neccesarily you) that figured things out and where the socio-economical landscape was suitable for them dislike stuff like uber, airbnb and uber-eats but it also opened up goods and services for people that are willing to pay but these things were made complex and inaccessible to benefit middle men and other interested parties.

How do hotels have less privacy than airbnb?

Hotel staff get in, for most needs you have to go out of your room. With airbnb, unless you choose a private room, renting the whole house or apartment means you don't have to worry about other people. Of course like hotels there are bad airbnb hosts that spy on you or intrude on your stay (that's what reviews and ratings are for)

That's fair. Did not think about that.

For me AirBnB still provides the better value proposition - and with the whole amount now being used for filtering results, it'll make prices more competitive.

My wife reserved a house, six months into the future. Her health took a bad turn and she tried to cancel, four months before the rental date. Zero refund. Really shitty business practices “leaving refunds up to the owner.” Screw Airbnb, I hope they crash and burn.

If the owner re-booked someone else on your date after you told them you could probably swing a credit card chargeback.

You can do a credit card chargeback but large companies like to do the shady tactic of banning your account forever because some 'suspicious activity' has been detected by automated systems on their end. Of course that you can call your lawyer and sue them but they conveniently allow you to appeal: All you have to do is send a photo of your face, your documents, and a text describing why you think you should not have been banned, maybe a blood sacrifice if they feel like it. In exchange they give you the hope that one day someone will review these things and lift the ban, but right now you will have to wait a few weeks until you forget about it because their systems are overwhelmed (as they have always been) since they are a big company.

This didn't happen with Airbnb for me (it was another equally big company in different sector) but I did learn an interesting lesson about how big companies treat users who know they can chargeback when they get billed incorrectly. It might not even be evil but they will not waste extra resource on getting your problem solved because they will always have more important things to do.

In the past I've used airbnb at various ski resorts. I now only book directly or stay at a hotel. A few reasons why I do not use airbnb:

- Cleaning fee and nothing is clean. Quite often owners are banking the cleaning fee.

- Chore list. I'm paying $1000's to stay at these locations... I'm not going to do chores for you.

- No customer service.

- Camera's in common spaces. Just feels like your being watched.

I know nothing about Airbnb's numbers but the thesis just doesn't make sense to me. It seems like this is a whole article around a hashtag.

The easiest explanation is that not everyone is mad at it. Assuming that airbnb is growing, and the ratio of bad experiences to good stays constant, the absolute number of bad experiences is also growing. Both hosts and guests that have had bad experiences are being more vocal. The viral hashtag probably helped aggregate all these experiences together but there's no data in the article that shows that the ratio of bad experiences is growing.

For me it was the bedbugs. Maybe I am too picky.

I hate these article titles. There does exist a world where a part of the population likes things and the other doesn't.

Take a look at Austin sometime.

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