3 ms·

Booking is at 78.68B. From first hand experience I think Airbnb's technology is at least 10x better than Booking's (I visited and talked to both Airbnb and Book

Booking is at 78.68B. From first hand experience I think Airbnb's technology is at least 10x better than Booking's (I visited and talked to both Airbnb and Booking.com employees in their respective offices).

rifung 8y ago
> I think Airbnb's technology is at least 10x better than Booking's Perhaps a cynical or unpopular point of view but until the technology becomes a hindrance, does that really matter? Its not as though people are going to these sites because they have great technology. They go to them because the prices are good and they have good UX I assume?
- jimbokun 8y ago
  I'm assuming "technology" means the UX in this case, and it is absolutely a big part of the reason I keep coming back to AirBNB while I plan an upcoming vacation with multiple stays. I can find places with the constraints I'm looking for quickly, and conveniently see them laid out on a map. The UX on other sites I've tried make it more difficult to find places where I want to stay.
  - dajohnson89 8y ago
    AirBnb's excellent UX wins me over. What pushes me away, is the hidden fees (service, cleaning, extra $ for 2+ guests, etc).
    - distances 8y ago
      Interesting, as I find AirBnb's mobile UX somewhat worse than Booking/Hotels. Especially the map view is next to non-functional, always scrolling to wrong places and unintuitive swiping between properties. Could be issue only on Android though, as I haven't tried the iOS app.
    - jimbokun 8y ago
      Agreed, you can't trust the price listed on the search page, need to visit each listing to get the actual price for the stay. It is very cell phone and cable billing, there is only a very loose relationship between the advertised price and what you will actually pay. I think HomeAway was a little bit better about this, amortizing the fees over the length of the stay and including in the listed per night price.
- smueller1234 8y ago
  I don't think that's cynical at all, just pragmatic. I used to run infrastructure for Booking until a couple of years ago. I'll honestly admit that there's lots of tech debt. AMA - but I'll say that I'll provide no response time SLO due to work travel.

rifung 8y ago

> I think Airbnb's technology is at least 10x better than Booking's Perhaps a cynical or unpopular point of view but until the technology becomes a hindrance, does that really matter? Its not as though people are going to these sites because they have great technology. They go to them because the prices are good and they have good UX I assume?

jimbokun 8y ago
I'm assuming "technology" means the UX in this case, and it is absolutely a big part of the reason I keep coming back to AirBNB while I plan an upcoming vacation with multiple stays. I can find places with the constraints I'm looking for quickly, and conveniently see them laid out on a map. The UX on other sites I've tried make it more difficult to find places where I want to stay.
- dajohnson89 8y ago
  AirBnb's excellent UX wins me over. What pushes me away, is the hidden fees (service, cleaning, extra $ for 2+ guests, etc).
  - distances 8y ago
    Interesting, as I find AirBnb's mobile UX somewhat worse than Booking/Hotels. Especially the map view is next to non-functional, always scrolling to wrong places and unintuitive swiping between properties. Could be issue only on Android though, as I haven't tried the iOS app.
  - jimbokun 8y ago
    Agreed, you can't trust the price listed on the search page, need to visit each listing to get the actual price for the stay. It is very cell phone and cable billing, there is only a very loose relationship between the advertised price and what you will actually pay. I think HomeAway was a little bit better about this, amortizing the fees over the length of the stay and including in the listed per night price.
smueller1234 8y ago
I don't think that's cynical at all, just pragmatic. I used to run infrastructure for Booking until a couple of years ago. I'll honestly admit that there's lots of tech debt. AMA - but I'll say that I'll provide no response time SLO due to work travel.