Comment by brucehart | Hacker News Reader

Comment by brucehart | Hacker News Reader

Does this whole concept creep anyone else out? Forget downgrading to a three-star hotel, I would rather sleep in my car than share a private room with a stranger and I'm a younger guy who is generally not too concerned with my own safety. I would guess that only a very small percentage of women would be willing to do this.

Not only is safety a concern but also just personal habits as well. How do I know the person I'm sharing room with would not come back to the room drunk at 2:00 AM? Or spend over an hour occupying the bathroom in the morning? Would someone assigned to share a room with me mind if I stay up to watch the end of a basketball game on TV or that I snore?

My thoughts too. But I guess if you compare it to (what I believe to be the norm with) hostels then this concept is not too far off. But the thought of hostels also creeps me out. I'm not even that keen on the traditional B&Bs where you get a private room but share a bathroom. I enjoy my space when doing things like sleeping and showering.

Well from my perspective I agree. Definitely.

But this is the type of thinking that also got a well known VC [1] to not invest in airbnb even after PG strongly suggested that investment. (Which was documented in an email exchange back and forth that I can't easily find. Anyone?)

So with something like this maybe the idea is not to think "why won't this work" (which is an easy exercise) but "why would this work"?

I think a large part of it working would be the feedback system [2] and social constraints which is what makes many of these things possible.

[1] Fred Wilson

[2] As I learned many years ago the difference between buying a product from a company on ebay (which you can give seller feedback) and buying the same product from the same company off ebay (where the seller doesn't have as much motivation to do the right thing because you don't have the stick of feedback and reputation for motivation).

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