4 ms·

I'd think it's pretty high as well. Personally, I can't see the appeal apart from price. I'd take a hotel every time. Am I the only one worried about rape/mur

by axod 16y ago

I'd think it's pretty high as well. Personally, I can't see the appeal apart from price. I'd take a hotel every time. Am I the only one worried about rape/murder/theft with something like this as well? Maybe I am :/

quizbiz 16y ago
I agree with the above but on the other hand, if I was searching for places to stay in a city and found out that an old friend of mine was on Airbnb for that city, I would jump at the chance. I haven't used Airbnb but I would really push an initiative to feature friends on the site via FB connect.
- philwelch 16y ago
  Friends don't generally charge each other money to stay at their place though, right? Or maybe that's a difference between close friends and acquaintances--and many people have a lot of acquaintances for Facebook friends, so I can see it working out.
  - vladd 16y ago
    Maybe not a 1st degree friend but a friend of a friend or something like this. A feature that finds out the "shortest chain" friend that rents out an apartment in your destination city would be interesting. But you need a social graph for that.
    - jacquesm 16y ago
      Sounds like a facebook app worth making. Rent out rooms to people that are at most 3 hops removed from you on FB?
      - mriley 16y ago
        Check out SecondPorch (secondporch.com) for a pretty nice execution of that concept, built around FB Connect.
        quizbiz 16y ago
        If I was Airbnb I would acquire the above.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
harry 16y ago
I don't mean to be snarky but how is rape/murder/theft threat different than your daily life? Someone is going to go overboard and sucker people vs randomly kidnap someone at a Wendys?
- axod 16y ago
  I live in a safe place. If I'm going traveling (To likely a more dangerous place), I'd be safer staying in some sort of 'official' establishment, such as a hotel. Rather than staying with random people. They could be irritating, unhinged, dangerous, murderous, thieving, perverted, etc Random people scare me. Maybe I just assume the worst in random people. How many airbnb rooms have spycams installed in the showers? I'd bet it's more than in hotel rooms :/ It's just the same reason I wouldn't hitch-hike or go in an unlicensed taxi.
  - middus 16y ago
    How are people working in a hotel not random?
    - axod 16y ago
      They're vetted by the hotel, there's regulation, command structure, security in the hotel, they have an incentive to not do bad things (They'd get fired), they're (hopefully) trained, etc etc Additionally, if the hotel is a big chain, there's a certain standard of service you can pretty much be sure of across hotels. So IMHO, people working for a company who are trained and employed to serve the public, are quite different to 'random people'.
      - pquerna 16y ago
        People have an incentive not to do things bad on Airbnb too. It is called prison.
        axod 16y ago
        spycam in shower? I'd expect chance of prison is nil. Stealing wallet / jewelery / etc? Again, prison is a long shot. I'm by no means saying it happens all the time, but I can see the incentive to use airbnb as a way to lure victims.
WarDekar 16y ago
I would much prefer to stay at an AirBnB place than a hotel even at the same price (though getting comparable accommodations for half the price is obviously a plus). I've met a lot of interesting people as hosts that I've gone out with, shared dinners with, etc. that I would've never had at a hotel. I can see how this may change as it gets more popular and mainstream, though. I've used it quite a bit and have had nothing but good experiences, but I'm rather selective about where I want to stay. That said, I do think there is a problem with not wanting to leave negative feedback for fear of retaliation, and it certainly is going to be one of the biggest problems as they grow. For reference I've stayed at maybe a dozen places in the last 9 months, mostly in SF, SD, and NoCal.

by axod 16y ago

quizbiz 16y ago

I agree with the above but on the other hand, if I was searching for places to stay in a city and found out that an old friend of mine was on Airbnb for that city, I would jump at the chance. I haven't used Airbnb but I would really push an initiative to feature friends on the site via FB connect.

philwelch 16y ago
Friends don't generally charge each other money to stay at their place though, right? Or maybe that's a difference between close friends and acquaintances--and many people have a lot of acquaintances for Facebook friends, so I can see it working out.
- vladd 16y ago
  Maybe not a 1st degree friend but a friend of a friend or something like this. A feature that finds out the "shortest chain" friend that rents out an apartment in your destination city would be interesting. But you need a social graph for that.
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    Sounds like a facebook app worth making. Rent out rooms to people that are at most 3 hops removed from you on FB?
    - mriley 16y ago
      Check out SecondPorch (secondporch.com) for a pretty nice execution of that concept, built around FB Connect.
      - quizbiz 16y ago
        If I was Airbnb I would acquire the above.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

harry 16y ago

I don't mean to be snarky but how is rape/murder/theft threat different than your daily life? Someone is going to go overboard and sucker people vs randomly kidnap someone at a Wendys?

axod 16y ago
I live in a safe place. If I'm going traveling (To likely a more dangerous place), I'd be safer staying in some sort of 'official' establishment, such as a hotel. Rather than staying with random people. They could be irritating, unhinged, dangerous, murderous, thieving, perverted, etc Random people scare me. Maybe I just assume the worst in random people. How many airbnb rooms have spycams installed in the showers? I'd bet it's more than in hotel rooms :/ It's just the same reason I wouldn't hitch-hike or go in an unlicensed taxi.
- middus 16y ago
  How are people working in a hotel not random?
  - axod 16y ago
    They're vetted by the hotel, there's regulation, command structure, security in the hotel, they have an incentive to not do bad things (They'd get fired), they're (hopefully) trained, etc etc Additionally, if the hotel is a big chain, there's a certain standard of service you can pretty much be sure of across hotels. So IMHO, people working for a company who are trained and employed to serve the public, are quite different to 'random people'.
    - pquerna 16y ago
      People have an incentive not to do things bad on Airbnb too. It is called prison.
      - axod 16y ago
        spycam in shower? I'd expect chance of prison is nil. Stealing wallet / jewelery / etc? Again, prison is a long shot. I'm by no means saying it happens all the time, but I can see the incentive to use airbnb as a way to lure victims.

WarDekar 16y ago

I would much prefer to stay at an AirBnB place than a hotel even at the same price (though getting comparable accommodations for half the price is obviously a plus). I've met a lot of interesting people as hosts that I've gone out with, shared dinners with, etc. that I would've never had at a hotel. I can see how this may change as it gets more popular and mainstream, though. I've used it quite a bit and have had nothing but good experiences, but I'm rather selective about where I want to stay. That said, I do think there is a problem with not wanting to leave negative feedback for fear of retaliation, and it certainly is going to be one of the biggest problems as they grow. For reference I've stayed at maybe a dozen places in the last 9 months, mostly in SF, SD, and NoCal.