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Show HN: A blockchain alternative to Airbnb
- snr 9y ago"Our vision is to fully disintermediate vacation rentals and let you explore the world with low transaction costs." Do you take a transaction fee? If yes, I don't see how this is any different. If no, how do you make money?
- zubairq 9y agoNice idea. I guess it is appealling to hosts as they don't have to register with tax and stuff. Is that correct?
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago> it is appealling to hosts as they don't have to register with tax Fascinating to realise people will go to jail for upgrading a civil dispute (e.g. short-stay and subletting restriction violations) to felony money laundering and tax fraud.
- jitl 9y agoPretty nice looking clone website; very accurate cloning including similar styling of most widgets. I do like the mono spaced font. Most clones I’ve checked out really bungle the UX in a lot of ways, so kudos there. Worked great on my phone. Nit: Some of the photos didn’t have the Airbnb logo removed. Are the reviews pulled from Airbnb as well?
- xandar11 9y agoHow did you make that date picker?
- noomerikal 9y agoIs there a need when all the cryptos are yelling hodl.
- monochromatic 9y agoNothing better than paying a $20 transaction fee and waiting an hour. When will credit cards embrace the blockchain benefits?
- icelancer 9y agoThe BTC mempool is clearing 10sat/byte easily and confirming 5sat/byte over time - and falling. https://dedi.jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#24h https://dedi.jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#24h If you're going to use insults, keep them up to date, at least.
- laci27 9y agoIt doesn't really matter how it's NOW, the fact that it can become congested very quickly and go to $20 in fees and hours or days for 3 confirmations, it's way more concerning from a business stand point than any other benefit blockchains can have. ...and i'm not including Ripple, as it's not a proper blockchain.
- jameskegel 9y agoAre you repeating something you think will get votes or have you actually checked the mempool recently?
- foepys 9y agoDoesn't matter. Who guarantees that it will stay that way? Bitcoin just needs to go up or down a little and we are back to hour long confirmation times.
- rymate1234 9y agoJust because bitcoin is a bit shit in terms of scalability doesn't mean others are as bad And technologies such as the lightning network should help as well to ease congestion assuming it gets adopted by merchants
- icebraining 9y agoIs it really a problem to wait an hour or two for renting a place?
- everdev 9y agoJust because you can put in on the blockchain, should you?
- nyolfen 9y agoit's not even on the blockchain, it's just a different payment method. bubble hype cash-in.
- adventured 9y agoApproximately two years too late. If it had been built up previously, in time to truly ride the the mania of the prior year, that might have generated some kind of value for the business. The bubble is already collapsing.
- Delta0 9y agoclogging the ethereum blockchain by putting every little bite on chain doesn't make any sense
- nyolfen 9y agoit also doesn't make sense to call it a blockchain service when it's a web app with a cryptocurrency escrow service
- Delta0 9y agonot everything needs to be on the blockchain. we are thinking about putting only the most crucial touchpoints of flatsharing on chain, such as reputation and trust data. but immutability is not necessarily desired for some of this data either (even if it's just an IPFS that's put on chain). we're still actively thinking through this. also, it's not just about the ability to pay with crypto obviously, although that leverages the core stength of the technology. We take a small fee in the beginning which goes to 0 after a few bookings. Compare that to the 20% fees on Airbnb. Also, we don't censor messages between the guest and hosts, so if someone wants to pay directly they always can. We stand for giving users as much freedom as possible
- tomhschmidt 9y agoNot really a 'blockchain alternative' -- just a clone of Airbnb that lets you pay in cryptocurrencies. Kind of a shame when there are other actually decentralized home sharing platforms like Beetoken, Origin, etc.
- jondubois 9y agoThe business potential for this one is much greater because people who own cryptocurrencies are incentivized to use it over alternatives. If you own shares in a business you're less likely to use a competitor... That would be like shareholders of Pepsi drinking Coca Cola or Apple shareholders using Samsung tablets. That's the reason why cryptocurrency will take over; it lets everyone be a consumer of the goods and services of their own communities which they have a stake in. Every time you buy something with a Cryptocurrency using income you derived from your fiat day job, you drive up the price... So if you own crypto, buying stuff using crypto helps to drive up the price. It's a bit like Amway but everyone is going to be in on it.
- phpnode 9y ago> It's a bit like Amway but everyone is going to be in on it. Is this supposed to be an endorsement?
- jondubois 9y agoWell all public companies are a bit like Amway in the sense that they have a lot of stakeholders which have an incentive to help the company grow. Amway is a very successful business after all. I'd say that cryptocurrencies are more ethical than Amway though because they don't try to make a profit by selling starter kits.
- icebraining 9y agoThat would be like shareholders of Pepsi drinking Coca Cola or Apple shareholders using Samsung tablets. Why would you think they don't do that? The only Apple shareholder I know uses a Samsung laptop and phone. Being a shareholder has nothing to do with your personal preferences.
- rebuilder 9y agoHow do you deal with disputes and harrassment? Do you offer escrow or support 3rd-party escrow and arbitration?
- bgdkbtv 9y agoReally cool looking site! Congrats on the launch!
- Delta0 9y agoThanks man! Lots of haters around today it seems
- markfer 9y agoI feel like you missed a pretty easy name with 'crybs'
- brod 9y agoon careers page it states: "Competitive salary (paid exclusively in crypto currencies)".. With that mindset I really hope the actual salary is described in a fixed dollar amount.
- shafyy 9y agoI always ask this for "x in crypto", and I'll ask it again: What important problem are you solving with this? Or, put differently: Why is this significantly (i.e. 10x) better than existing solutions? PS: If my stance is not clear from my comment: I think most crypto-based startups are not solving a real problem, just adding crypto to an existing problem.
- michel__ 9y agoThey slap a 'but you can pay in BTC' to it and call it revolutionary. No, it won't be revolutionary when AirBnB starts accepting cryptocurrency. In fact, it'll fold immediately.
- Delta0 9y agoit's not just about the ability to pay in crypto obviously. We take a small fee in the beginning which goes to 0 after a few bookings. Compare that to the 20% fees on Airbnb. Also, we don't censor messages between the guest and hosts, so if someone wants to pay directly they always can. We stand for giving users as much freedom as possible
- yuvalr1 9y agoThe sole problem crypto currency solves is the problem of centralization. Regarding the Airbnb case, why would people want to pay the Airbnb commission when they can have direct payment and bookkeeping using the blockchain? Of course there are still the (important) issues of disputes, insurance etc. that are provided by the centralized entity. These might be solved in the future and might be not.
- glejhandhesahi 9y agohttps://youtu.be/8y1lHRiIS8U https://youtu.be/8y1lHRiIS8U
- equalunique 9y agoI am surprised that neither Dash, Monero, nor Zcash are offered as a means of payment.