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Something I've long wondered about in Airbnb's communication platform and guarding their earnings: When a host answers a customer and attempts to put a phone nu
by 401kguy 7y ago
Something I've long wondered about in Airbnb's communication platform and guarding their earnings: When a host answers a customer and attempts to put a phone number, an email address, a URL, the word "craigslist", or spelling out a number like three six seven..., it gets replaced by "(HIDDEN FOR YOUR PROTECTION)".
The frustration at that point leads one to suspect that it's actually hidden to prevent anything that could lead to transactions outside of the platform, where Airbnb would be unable to take their cut.
If there does turn out to be a means to establish contact, and a rental then happens outside of Airbnb's systems, do the terms of service actually restrict this? It just seems strange to me at the outset. As far as I know Amazon sellers aren't prohibited from also selling off-Amazon, but maybe housing and other industries have some conventions that are comparable?
- throwairway123 7y agoI used to work at Airbnb. While certainly it’s in Airbnb’s financial interests to keep transactions on platform, I saw a great deal of cases where fraudulent hosts (with fake listings) were encouraging folks to make off platform payments. Of course the first thing most guests do in those cases is complain to Airbnb and demand their money back — as if Airbnb had taken their money. Putting some friction helps Airbnb say, “We’re sorry that happened, but that’s not our problem.”
- whitehouse3 7y agoeBay has done this for years as well.