Dear AirBNB, No Thank You for the XXX Freak Fest
dearairbnb.tumblr.com
dearairbnb.tumblr.com
The investors in ABNB will eventually probably raise a toast in memoriam of those caught up in the disruption.
Maybe AirBnB needs to create educational video instructions on how to act as both a Host and a Guest. Hosts and Guests seem to be uninformed on how to behave and these common sense practices don't really seem to be common, for whatever reason.
For Hosts:
How to Violate Your Lease Agreement by Renting Out Your Apartment the Right Way
Dealing with Cockroach Infestations
For Guests:
How to Clean Up Properly After an Orgy
How to Blend In at an Apartment Community You Don't Belong At
You answered your own question here. It's a bit mystifying why you're giving AirBNB a complete pass here when they were the ones that set up the connection.
It's possible for both parties to be at fault.
It reminds me of the recall formula outlined in Fight Club.
edit: clarification
AirBNB should not be responsible for controlling a vague group of data trackers, rental and management companies, and landowners, and what secret lists they create. How are you supposed to stop somebody from creating a list?
And we don't actually know why this man has been blacklisted. Is it perhaps because nobody wants to get involved with somebody with a history for negative media exposure?
There is this site where people put movies and films they have got a license to see but not a license to distribute. That site got busted for assisting in the illegal activity that their users did, primary because they turned a blind eye to the problem.
According to this [1]:
> The blacklist is actually a database of suits filed by landlords and compiled by tenant screening companies.
So it's basically the same as Experian, Equifax, and other credit rating agencies. And it's the same kind of scam in the end.
What AirBnB could potentially do is get together with him to figure out how to appeal the entry based on the applicable regulations. But that's not what I'd call them fixing the issue.
[1] http://www.npr.org/2014/12/14/367833532/tenant-blacklist-can...
But Airbnb should have e.g. rented a hotel room for him until the situation is resolved, and they didn't do it...
I'm not sure why you find that hard to understand. It was obvious from the post.
Not that I would ever let strangers stay in my place, but I would expect the same thing.
If I were to consider renting my place on AirBnB, I would consider the people staying here to be my guests, not ABnB's. While I believe there is some concern with how the company represents themselves, the fact remains that it's his apartment he chose to rent out. Illegally, I might add.
If you rented a room to someone referred by a friend, and that guest trashed your place... would you expect your friend to make restitution? (Personally, I would downgrade my trust in that friend's opinion, but I don't think I would hold them liable...)
No, I wouldn't expect a friend to make restitution at all - unless, of course, my friend had done this sort of thing millions of times, knew I was likely subjecting myself to the risk of eviction (probably completely inadvertently), and didn't bother to say a damn thing to me.
If, instead of warning me about the stupid risk I was taking, my friend highlighted things designed to make my behavior seem risk-free (like, say, a million-dollar property damage guarantee), well, then I might feel a little differently. If my friend had built a multi-billion-dollar business off of the risky behavior of me and others like me, then I know I would feel differently.
But this is a moot point, because friends don't let their friends engage in risky behavior without at least making them aware of those risks. Someone that does that isn't your friend at all.
If it did, then his issue should be with: the owner suing him and the companies linking his case to the blacklist. AirBnB could help him out with place to stay, court costs, etc. - but you can't expect them to "just fix" it. They've got the guarantee and as far as I know, he got the money to compensate for the incident itself.
If it didn't, then... the blacklist works. I don't approve of how it works, but these are the current rules. Effectively the party is irrelevant - he's on the blacklist for breaking the subletting rules.
Before your post, my best guest was that they damaged his apartment, costing him money that he couldn't recover, and when he tried to get Airbnb's help, they sent out word that he was uncooperative and got him blacklisted.
The XXX Freak Fest is not the problem, and AirBnB already compensated for that, which is why the post is not entirely obvious.
That and the... interesting writing style.
http://nypost.com/2014/11/11/embattled-manhattan-doc-faces-a...
http://nypost.com/2014/03/28/comedian-outs-pr-execs-affair-a...
http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2012/03/23/the-strange-tal...
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/airbnb-orgy-victim-sues-...
Welcome to bumps on the "sharing economy" road.
Edit: it appears property management companies are using public court records to screen this person, preventing them from renting. That's not an AirBnB problem, that's a fair housing legislation problem.
I foreclosed on my underwater town home. Should I need to live in my car because my credit report has one negative item on it in 16 years? (Rentals of course pull your credit)
Housing is a regulated industry for good reason. Property managers are free to use data sources such as in this case, but there needs to be an appeal process. Otherwise, we'll start to have a class of people who a defacto homeless due solely to historical data.
"That may be true, but even so I was subletting."
The tenant left a huge mess when he moved out. I told the manager that I removed everything from the fridge, cleaned it thoroughly then put back in the fridge everything that did not belong to me.
I was invited to rent some other apartment in the same complex but oddly was not permitted to stay in the apartment I was subletting.
A couple weeks later the tenant called me on the phone to demand compensation for all the cleaning, hauling and dump fees he had to pay.
"I had to sell my truck," he said.
"I removed everything from the apartment that belonged to me," I replied.
"I understand" he said woefully. I never heard from him again.
This experience made me a lot wiser about how I search for housing. There were many red flags such as his response to my requirement that my new place be near public transit.
"There's a bus stop nearby, I'll pick you up in my truck."
"nearby" in truck miles is a lot closer than in walking miles.
Does anyone exactly what AirBnB's legal requirements/jib-jab is on this stuff?
Now the question is why hasn't he sued the crap out of the tenant who lied to him and decided to have a sex orgy in his apartment?
I'd say that's a pretty penny. Certainly a non-trivial amount. Further damages to "reputation" can probably be tacked on.
I understand why he was blacklisted, and if his contract is anything like I suspect, it's his own fault. He can buy a place and rent it out instead, but doing it with other peoples property without their concent is asking for trouble.
> implying one can file a lawsuit against a pimp and/or
any associated prostitutes, and that anyone would have
access to their actual lawful identityThis is absolutely reckless.
Also, the use of the word "you" isn't quite appropriate, since I've never used these websites. One should use an indefinite article.
THE dildo, never... YOUR dildo.
_The_ barrier to Airbnb being effective in the first place was people being comfortable with frequent, low barrier transactions where they let strangers into their house. I would agree with the poster, Airbnb does need to fix this. It's core to their model.
Kidding aside, not making people aware of these risks and trumpeting a '$1,000,000 Guarantee' (that only happens to cover property damage) just creates an illusion of risklessness -- one that takes advantage of the greedy and stupid.
Normally when a company takes advantage of the greedy and stupid, most of HN pitches a fit. What's different this time?
Well is there a problem with that? What would you do with the guarantee to improve things? Even if they gave him some extra money as an apology it wouldn't help his being blacklisted.
http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2012/03/23/the-strange-tal...
I would like an app like this in the event I ever need to prove my location. And I think it would be cool to see where I go on a map.
But, all joking aside, "For the increasingly few of us who haven't used a Google account on a smartphone (or who currently haven't signed in), what you'd be looking at is your Location History plotted on a map. Unless you've actively taken steps to stop it, Google has been automatically recording of your location every 45 seconds and time stamping each coordinate." [0]
[0] http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2015/02/19/4183553...
If you've got the right version of android and the right settings, go here: https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0
More: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3118687?source=gs...
The author dares to call it "my apartment", but you don't get evicted from your own apartment. He is the one who abused someone else's property in the first place.
Edit: I truly don't understand all the downvotes. Here's someone who illegally exploits someone else's apartment for profit, and clearly feels no responsibility for his role in the whole affair. What is so abnormal about the fact that no one wants to rent to this person anymore?
If I borrow your car, rent it to someone I don't know who then proceeds to crash it, would you then consider met the victim or the a-hole who abused your trust to make fast buck and got your car totalled?
Thanks for propagating the mythos.
At the end of the day, it was a mistake for the author to use AirBNB, and now he is paying the price.
Why should regular people not be able to rent out the space they don't need to regular people that need it?
The people who thought it was appropriate to trash the place should be made to cover the damage they wrought to the OP's life. That is the fairest solution.
Because he doesn't own the property. I severely doubt that his landlord is letting him sublet his apartment for less than 30 days.
Why not? It doesn't matter. If you don't _own_ the land, you don't make the rules. Hell, even in my townhome that I own, my HOA / local laws do not allow me to sublet due to zoning restrictions.
If I didn't agree to the law, I could have bought a different house. But I like the location, so I agreed to it. (I don't really care for AirBNB or subletting anyway). But these are the sorts of things you need to take responsibility for if you want to be a functioning adult.
If you're gonna waste my time, I'm not gonna bother with a serious response.
I can think of at least one thing my neighborhood doesn't have to worry about... Sex Orgies coming in through AirBNB.
Another note is that AirBnB doesn't make it easy to track sex criminals. My neighborhood has published the location of all sex offenders and we've got that covered. If you have people moving in / out every week or so, you won't offer those kinds of guarantees in the neighborhood.
Furthermore, parking is limited and is better distributed amongst the neighbors when subletting is not allowed. Finally, by encouraging only long-term leases (1-year or longer), the neighborhood attracts high-quality tenants who tend to care about their neighbors.
There's a reason why zoning laws exist. In particular, hotels and other temporary arrangements attract drug deals, prostitution, and other unsavory characters.
I can guarantee you that "illegal prostitution" was on the mind of city planners when they zoned out the place. Maybe not quite "sex orgies", but it'd be within the neighborhood (oh I'm so punny...)
It seems as though he's in the right, and that AirBNB is still screwing him over, so why mention those things?
The AirBnB Tenant screwed him over. Why would AirBnB have any responsibility over the tenants?
Because there's a person in between there. The one at fault is the murderer: the man holding the gun. NOT the gunsmith.
Similarly, AirBNB is not responsible for the tenant's misbehavior. What am I missing here?
They may not have any legal responsibility.
But consider the message sent to potential renters. Does AirBnB really want this horror story out there, scaring away customers?
In the end, AirBnB's message has to be "we make renting to strangers safe" or else nobody would rent with then. But a lot of people in this thread are saying "he took the risk and paid the price". So which should a potential renter believe?
It also implies if he had a snowball's chance in hell of prevailing in a lawsuit against AirBNB he'd have filed it.
When a few people pay a huge price for something that "everyone" is doing, it is simply unfair. The people who have been sued for downloading music are a similar example.
In my opinion, AirBNB should fix this situation because they can. It isn't fair for one renter to bear the brunt of the pushback while the company continues to make huge profit.
It isn't about blame, it's about each side's ability to right what is an unfair situation.
Look through my previous comments. I'm no fan of AB or most of the sharing economy's big players, but this is the sort of thing that will continue to happen and why basing a business model on the backs of people's bad risk evaluations is tenuous. These models won't hold up without the downside being felt directly by the app providers. But, then where's the fun/money?
My perspective from the host POV is that you really have to do your own vetting of guests beyond anything AirBnB will provide. AirBnB provides barebones proof of ID, but that's it.
Ultimately, I find AirBnB's business to be 100x "crazier" than other "sharing" companies like, say, Uber. At least with Uber there is a more regimented process for vetting and onboarding drivers. With AirBnB it is still a free-for-all on both sides.
At the end of the day, you're letting a total stranger into your house. Where you sleep and have all your things. It's a risk and everyone who uses AirBnB should be aware of it.
Here's a guy who is now living on the street and, for all that is known, has his private life shaken up. I for my part can understand that he would like to have at least his reputation restored, i.e. be taken off the blacklist.
This fellow's loss of reputation was one of those harms and you can't buy insurance for that. AirBnB didn't even know the terms of the lease he signed so why should they fix the consequences of violating it?
Isn't it any law that regulates that?
...oh wait
What a terrible company.
I'm sort of hesitant to use Gawker as an authoritative news source, but I'm willing to trust them that they do not entirely manufacture quotes from PR reps.
http://gawker.com/man-unwittingly-rents-out-apartment-on-air...
Whether or not this is the same person or an imposter? Who knows. But it wouldn't be surprising.
If true, it's entirely possible that Airbnb is more concerned about setting a precedent for any and all auxiliary damages that go along with a bad stay. What happens when someone gets kicked out of their apartment because a guest accidentally tipped off management that they were an Airbnb renter?