I 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 h

I 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.”