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Comment by fallat | Hacker News Reader

You know I was thinking "why aren't there free services like this?", now I see this, and I'm REALLY wondering "why the hell did AirBnB catch on and this didn't?!".

I had to rent a place for a month via AirBnB, for myself and my partner. My AirBnB fees came out to like $200, and when I told the owner they were like "wow, I didn't know that! I would have rather just paid via cash and save you guys from paying the extra!".

Seriously fuck AirBnB. We need to push these free alternatives. We need services that truly just connect people, instead of ripping them off.

I understand a system like AirBnB has to pay for maintenance and developers, but holy shit the fees are insane because there are investors too.

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Heh, I'll simply quote my own comment from 6 years ago, when AirBnB was first featured on HN:

> I'm a couchsurfing afficionado as well, but this site appeals to me, partially because it ISN'T free. I always feel too obliged to my hosts, and handing over a small some of money would assuage my guilt that I hadn't thanked them enough.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=653727

To be clear, Couchsurfing was entirely no-money -- you didn't pay the hosts either, the idea was you "pay-it-forward". Are you asking for a paid marketplace with no fees?

Anyway, you can disintermediate AirBnB. The last AirBnB I stayed in, in HK, I booked for 3 days via AirBnB and then decided to stay 3 weeks, paying the owners in cash.

(I also did that with an Uber driver in San Jose. We'd gone to the office in an Uber, but I realised I needed to head home, and my phone was broken. The driver asked my friend to book a journey via Lyft, as he wanted the ratings from that platform. Then I needed a 3rd journey, and realised I could simply pay him in cash. Makes you realise that all marketplace sites do is connect people, once two adults are in contact with each other they can arrange any economic deals they want).

For me, the fees are usually worth it for the identity verification, reviews, insurance, support line, and ease-of-use, especially for stays of about a week. (When you get closer to a month then yes, you're better off looking elsewhere.) Also, I'm usually traveling while working, and I'd much rather pay so that I didn't feel indebted to my host, socially or otherwise.

>I'm REALLY wondering "why the hell did AirBnB catch on and this didn't?!"

Marketing budget

Couchsurfing did catch on.

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