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> The main downside for me concerning AirBnb is it takes a long time to analyze the listings to find quality accommodations. How do you corroborate the informa

> The main downside for me concerning AirBnb is it takes a long time to analyze the listings to find quality accommodations. How do you corroborate the information on those properties? The clean, affordable, well-placed hotels I've stayed in had reams of reviews and news articles from various sources to confirm they were indeed clean, affordable, and well-placed. The cost of faking all those sources must be orders of magnitude greater than faking property images/reviews on AirBnB.

magashna 7y ago
You roll the dice and hope for the best. There's only so much you can do. Pick 2, cost, comfort, reliability
mattrp 7y ago
You use common sense - I have been a host of properties and I would say Airbnb does not go to any lengths to encourage you to misrepresent. In fact they do the opposite - with your listing you are building a contract so they encourage you to be as specific as possible and accurately describe the guest experience and your expectations as much as possible. They also strictly govern guest interactions so you can’t provide a phone number or email address during negotiations to side step the system. Overall I think the people who are saying it’s a scam are amplifying a bad experience to suggest that it represents the whole system. It clearly doesn’t and I say that as having seen how it works both as a host and a user.
- mannykannot 7y ago
  While AirBnB nominally "encourage[s] you to be as specific as possible and accurately describe the guest experience and your expectations as much as possible", in reality, the way it handles feedback and complaint resolution discourages the candid reporting of problems, as was evident in several places in the article. The root cause of this problem is that AirBnB makes no attempt to determine the truth of any complaint. Nor, apparently, is it doing much to identify patterns of abuse.
- pavel_lishin 7y ago
  > They also strictly govern guest interactions so you can’t provide a phone number or email address during negotiations to side step the system In every single AirBNB I have stayed in, after the initial transaction the rest of the communication was done over phone or text.
dboreham 7y ago
I only stay at Airbnb's that have at least some reviews. It doesn't take too long to determine if reviews are sock-puppet-generated or genuine. You have to actually stay at the property to write a review, which means paying for the stay since Airbnb process the payment. Obviously you can create wash transactions but the transaction fees would still be significant. Another approach is to sent a question to the property manager. Invent some pretext to ask a question. I find that people trying to scam customers on the product also have poor customer service skills. So if I don't get a prompt, cogent and polite response, I move on..
- da02 7y ago
  This sounds like great guidelines and "filters". Any bad experiences so far?
- hispanic 7y ago
  > Another approach is to sent a question to the property manager. That's a great idea. Thanks. I find it telling that you use the phrase "property manager" instead of "host".
hispanic 7y ago
> How do you corroborate the information on those properties? There is no way to corroborate. For most listings, Airbnb is the only source. However, I've never found this to be an issue. I don't believe I've ever been "scammed" by an Airbnb host in 40+ bookings.

magashna 7y ago

You roll the dice and hope for the best. There's only so much you can do. Pick 2, cost, comfort, reliability

mattrp 7y ago

You use common sense - I have been a host of properties and I would say Airbnb does not go to any lengths to encourage you to misrepresent. In fact they do the opposite - with your listing you are building a contract so they encourage you to be as specific as possible and accurately describe the guest experience and your expectations as much as possible. They also strictly govern guest interactions so you can’t provide a phone number or email address during negotiations to side step the system. Overall I think the people who are saying it’s a scam are amplifying a bad experience to suggest that it represents the whole system. It clearly doesn’t and I say that as having seen how it works both as a host and a user.

mannykannot 7y ago
While AirBnB nominally "encourage[s] you to be as specific as possible and accurately describe the guest experience and your expectations as much as possible", in reality, the way it handles feedback and complaint resolution discourages the candid reporting of problems, as was evident in several places in the article. The root cause of this problem is that AirBnB makes no attempt to determine the truth of any complaint. Nor, apparently, is it doing much to identify patterns of abuse.
pavel_lishin 7y ago
> They also strictly govern guest interactions so you can’t provide a phone number or email address during negotiations to side step the system In every single AirBNB I have stayed in, after the initial transaction the rest of the communication was done over phone or text.

dboreham 7y ago

I only stay at Airbnb's that have at least some reviews. It doesn't take too long to determine if reviews are sock-puppet-generated or genuine. You have to actually stay at the property to write a review, which means paying for the stay since Airbnb process the payment. Obviously you can create wash transactions but the transaction fees would still be significant. Another approach is to sent a question to the property manager. Invent some pretext to ask a question. I find that people trying to scam customers on the product also have poor customer service skills. So if I don't get a prompt, cogent and polite response, I move on..

da02 7y ago
This sounds like great guidelines and "filters". Any bad experiences so far?
hispanic 7y ago
> Another approach is to sent a question to the property manager. That's a great idea. Thanks. I find it telling that you use the phrase "property manager" instead of "host".

hispanic 7y ago

> How do you corroborate the information on those properties? There is no way to corroborate. For most listings, Airbnb is the only source. However, I've never found this to be an issue. I don't believe I've ever been "scammed" by an Airbnb host in 40+ bookings.