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Airbnb has always figured out clever ways to screw the hosts. When I first hosted guests were much more polite and clean. The last few years the ones I've gotte

Airbnb has always figured out clever ways to screw the hosts. When I first hosted guests were much more polite and clean. The last few years the ones I've gotten have been pretty messy and more likely to break house rules.

noirbot 6y ago
I'm not sure I understand how these are related? It's not as if they're intentionally sending you bad guests to torment you as a "clever way" to screw you...
- strgcmc 6y ago
  More likely this is a version of the "Eternal September" problem. Early adopters of Airbnb were more likely to be "true believers" of the idealized vision of a kind/generous host matched with adventurous/courteous guests, but this vision gets diluted over time as the userbase grows. Once Airbnb reached true ubiquity, the general user population is just looking for a good deal and isn't nearly as savvy or as committed to the original ideals; this applies to both hosts and guests, of course. It's impossible to scale a platform to 10s/100s/1000s millions without finding an ever-lowering lowest common denominator.
  - noirbot 6y ago
    I think the interesting thing now is that, at least personally, I'm willing to pay hotel-level rates to stay at somewhere run by one of those "true believers". I know one of the things I look for is someone who's got a lot of reviews/a long history, but also seems to be renting just one space (or multiple rooms in the same house). I'm not looking for a deal - if I wanted to be cheap and central and social, I'd stay at a hostel. I'm totally willing to pay a bit more to stay somewhere with a host that cares.
  - Cyclone_ 6y ago
    Yes, this is very true.
- Cyclone_ 6y ago
  It's more that I didn't really elaborate on the issue. They're not intentionally sending bad guests, but it's just difficult to fine a guest that damages property and many guests seem to be aware of this. They don't really care too much about being careful.

noirbot 6y ago

I'm not sure I understand how these are related? It's not as if they're intentionally sending you bad guests to torment you as a "clever way" to screw you...

strgcmc 6y ago
More likely this is a version of the "Eternal September" problem. Early adopters of Airbnb were more likely to be "true believers" of the idealized vision of a kind/generous host matched with adventurous/courteous guests, but this vision gets diluted over time as the userbase grows. Once Airbnb reached true ubiquity, the general user population is just looking for a good deal and isn't nearly as savvy or as committed to the original ideals; this applies to both hosts and guests, of course. It's impossible to scale a platform to 10s/100s/1000s millions without finding an ever-lowering lowest common denominator.
- noirbot 6y ago
  I think the interesting thing now is that, at least personally, I'm willing to pay hotel-level rates to stay at somewhere run by one of those "true believers". I know one of the things I look for is someone who's got a lot of reviews/a long history, but also seems to be renting just one space (or multiple rooms in the same house). I'm not looking for a deal - if I wanted to be cheap and central and social, I'd stay at a hostel. I'm totally willing to pay a bit more to stay somewhere with a host that cares.
- Cyclone_ 6y ago
  Yes, this is very true.
Cyclone_ 6y ago
It's more that I didn't really elaborate on the issue. They're not intentionally sending bad guests, but it's just difficult to fine a guest that damages property and many guests seem to be aware of this. They don't really care too much about being careful.