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Airbnb to Block and Cancel D.C. Reservations During Inauguration
- uptown 6y ago"We also will reimburse hosts, at Airbnb’s expense, the money they would have earned from these cancelled reservations. HotelTonight reservations also will be canceled." That's got to be an enormous dollar amount.
- whymauri 6y agoAirbnb reimburses hosts for black swan events like these pretty often. My parents are super hosts and some local legislation shut down their Airbnb. Similar to this situation, they got a pretty generous reimbursement (but not complete). At the risk of sounding sappy about a ~100B$ company, Chesky really _does_ care about the hosts ecosystem. They also had the chance to purchase pre-IPO equity, which was pretty cool.
- koolba 6y agoDo they check to see if you list your property on a different site and pocket both the reimbursement and separate rental?
- adamnemecek 6y agoI wonder if they have insurance for this.
- peeters 6y agoInsurance for them making their own decision to cancel reservations? Who would insure that scenario? It would be like wagering on a dice roll and then allowing me to choose the number instead of rolling it.
- gambiting 6y ago"social unrest" is an insurable event. It would be a bit of a legal dance to classify this as such, but it is a thing. Edit: in fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize it could be the other way around too - the insurers could have told AirBnB to cancel all reservations in DC, because they are unwilling to take the risk. They might have calculated it would be cheaper to pay everyone off upfront for the reservations, than risk much larger liability cases if they go forward with them.
- adamnemecek 6y agoIt’s not their own decision, like the threat of insurrection is very real. Army and police are taking it very seriously.
- mkr-hn 6y agoSeriously. There are pictures of National Guardspeople sleeping and resting on the floors of the capitol building. https://twitter.com/DaniellaMicaela/status/1349352529868578816 https://twitter.com/DaniellaMicaela/status/13493525298685788... They're there to protect the building and the people in it from people who would stay at an AirBnB the night before an attack.
- peeters 6y agoI agree the threats are real. When you say "it's not their own decision", do you mean because there are orders/laws banning short-term rentals in D.C. during inauguration? Or do you mean the situation "forced their hand" out of a lack of better options? Because the latter is still their decision, even if it is an obvious one.
- frankfrankfrank 6y agoAm I the only one that is even slightly concerned about where all of this is heading? What happens if you decide that in fact it is not good that Biden instigated a war with the next brown country that is going to get it because the American war machine has lust in its eye and psychopathic military brass needs a promotion for a fatter pension and benefits that depends on killing people somewhere, anywhere? So is this the paradigm for when protests happen that the government and corporations don't like and just want to shut down? No, I know, they would never shut down your righteous cause and protest because you are the good bois. They'll simply not let you board a plane (maybe even put you too on a no fly list?)? Not rent a car to you? Deny you a hotel/airbnb, possibly for life? Your apps/phones stop working within a geofence around any government building? You can't eat in a restaurant? You cannot buy anything by payment processor/visa/MC? The only left over mega corporations will not take cash? People who have done this, which is overwhelmingly on the "left" side of the spectrum, should really take a pause and think really long and really hard about what they have unleashed here; because no matter what I don't see how this demon will be put back into pandora's box without full collapse. Once you have relinquished control over your life to the government/corporate fascist type alliance, you can ask nicely all you want, you aren't getting that power over your life back from these types of people by any peaceful means. History is replete with the proof after proof for how this will all play out unfortunately.
- StriverGuy 6y agoAttempting to topple the legitimately elected US president comes with consequences. No matter the reasoning. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Edit: It is interesting to see my comment downvoted. Taking part in such acts and not expecting consequences is naive at best.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- virmundi 6y agoJust because a group of morons did something does not mean corporations should take it upon themselves to police the free travel of the citizenry. Why didn’t they shut down operations across the country when COVID became a known, valid threat? They facilitated the spread of the disease.
- ed25519FUUU 6y ago> known hate groups So what’s the criteria for being labeled a “known hate group” these days? Surely this nomenclature won’t generalize to become anything not in your tribe /s
- commandlinefan 6y ago> So what’s the criteria Well, it apparently doesn't include all of the people who showed up to protest Donald Trump's inauguration 4 years ago.
- hobs 6y agoRight, because they didn't kill cops and plan the overthrow of our government, they just protested.
- jitl 6y agoIt's incredible to me how contentious the inauguration of this center/right Democrat is. Truly we live in interesting times.
- aphextron 6y ago>It's incredible to me how contentious the inauguration of this center/right Democrat is. Social media was a mistake.
- virmundi 6y agoI agree. I think, however, it just brought to the fore deeper issues with democracy. We’ve seen this develop since the equal air time rules were removed. I don’t think it scales to 300 million. With a population of that size there are too many minority needs that go under represented. This leads to people feeling disenfranchised. Eventually something has to fill the void. Normally it’s some form of subgroup. It can be BLM, Antifa, Maga cult. By centralizing power into the federal government, which is too remote to deal with needs at the local level, all these groups can’t improve things. Riots and violence occur.
- Someone1234 6y agoHacker News is social media.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- unchocked 6y agoHN doesn’t feature an algorithmic feed, mercifully. We all share a single view here. Social media becomes a body politic snatching parasite when it generates unique, algorithmically (engagement-driven!) views for each individual.
- esja 6y agoI agree, but I wish HN would go further and make karma invisible. By all means, use it to rank things, but showing the numbers just triggers the wrong behaviour. Both in terms of creating addiction in the users, but also in terms of poisoning civil discussion and incentivising clever comebacks over good-faith debate.
- HelloFellowDevs 6y ago> Today, in response to various local, state and federal officials asking people not to travel to Washington, D.C., we are announcing that Airbnb will cancel reservations in the Washington, D.C. metro area during the Inauguration week. Makes sense, at first I just assumed it was an unnecessary blanket ban but if the area isn't condoning travel in general it checks out.
- codetrotter 6y agoIt’s understandable. At the same time it’s also sad and disappointing for the people that wanted to travel there for celebration purposes.
- academia_hack 6y agoGiven the virus, travelling for celebration also seems like something that should be discouraged.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- ashtonkem 6y agoI'm very much in the "I'm upset this is necessary, but I also don't really see what other choices people have" camp.
- breck 6y agoHonestly having been to some inaugurals I'm not a fan. Seems backwards to me. What we would have is celebrations at the end of your term, for what you accomplished.
- gedy 6y agoEven if it's merely corporate signaling, this is not right. I'm really disappointed in big tech companies, and used to be quite a supporter. I think remainder of my career I'll stick with SMBs.
- matz1 6y agoI'm fine if Airbnb doesn't want the business, its private company after all. I'm more disappointed that no other company try to take the opportunity.
- gedy 6y agoThat even centrist-leaning comments made are quickly down voted here by tech people reinforces this opinion. QED
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- unethical_ban 6y agoYour comment is non-sensical. Signalling of what? There's practically a declaration of emergency in DC at the moment. "I used to support big tech, but no longer"? Who champions big tech? How is an AirBnB decision where they reimburse people for a change in plans "evil"? How aren't the gajillion things Apple and Google and Facebook and Amazon have done not the thing that set you off? You're downvoted for being antagonistic and non-sensical, not because of some oppressed viewpoint that you didn't even express.
- ketamine__ 6y agoIt's a sad state of affairs for the peaceful people that want to attend the presidential inauguration.
- commandlinefan 6y agoOr the peaceful people that peacefully want to protest it. That used to be a right in the United States. I seem to recall a few protests not too long ago.
- multjoy 6y agoThey can still protest it, although why you’d protest a free and fair election is beyond me.
- BitwiseFool 6y agoThey're protesting because they think it wasn't free and fair. Edit: What's controversial about this? This is literally stating what the protestors think.
- rchaud 6y agoAnd that claim has been evaluated in 40 different courts, and debunked. At what point does simply thinking something take precedence over the need for a peaceful transition of power?
- caseysoftware 6y agoI've heard that but can't find the cases went into discovery and were heard to weigh those claims. Do you know which cases did? I'd love to read the details because that's not "debunking" but outright "disproving" which would be immensely useful.
- rchaud 6y ago
- MattGaiser 6y agoIf you are an Airbnb host, have your friends fill up your bookings.
- airstrike 6y ago...and be sued for fraud
- 1123581321 6y agoIs this something hotels are doing? My understanding is that DC area hotels are full and hotels outside DC are filling up.
- vikingcaffiene 6y agoThis is the right call and I applaud Airbnb for putting the integrity of our democracy ahead of short term profits. I simply cannot believe that we are at the point where we have to brace for domestic terrorism in our capitol but here we are. May sanity return to the country soon.
- dkarp 6y ago> We also will reimburse hosts, at Airbnb’s expense, the money they would have earned from these cancelled reservations. HotelTonight reservations also will be canceled. Not compensating hosts for bookings they might be missing out on for a week, if they did not yet have any bookings.
- demarq 6y ago> We also will reimburse hosts, at Airbnb’s expense complements to AirBnb that is the right thing to do
- no-dr-onboard 6y agoIs there anything to keep hosts limited to one platform? Seems like an excellent opportunity for VRBO.
- avancemos 6y agoCorporate posturing. And cynicism mixed with virtue signaling, morphing into virtue enforcement.
- TheOtherHobbes 6y agoIt's legitimate self-defence. A Trump coup would be a financial disaster for BigTech, for reasons that should be obvious.
- kvgr 6y agoWhy don't just cancel the public event and do it inside?
- hydroxideOH- 6y agoProbably because the Biden administration is determined to have a "normal" inauguration and a "normal" presidency after running on a unity/centrist platform.
- spicyramen 6y agoSince Trump was kick out of all mass media and Parler brought down I wonder what does Airbnb knows that can take place that is doing this. When BLM took over DC this didn't happen.
- hartator 6y agoSome protesters become rioters but some others were peaceful. What have happened to the freedom to assemble?
- ghostpepper 6y agoIsn't that technically the right to not have the government interfere with one's freedom to assemble? A private company doesn't owe anyone the right to book a room for the night.
- hartator 6y agoThey don't but their mission statement states: > Airbnb's mission is to help create a world where you can belong anywhere and where people can live in a place, instead of just traveling to it. How does blocking people staying in DC help Airbnb mission? Freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and mission statements are ideals to follow - no matter where you are in the society - or it's just hypocritical.
- objectivetruth 6y agoPretty easy to reconcile non-pedantically. For a large portion of their user base, "a world where you can belong anywhere" doesn't describe a post-successful-coup United States. For "Where people can live in a place," the "live" implies "peacefully thrive," and not "storm the seat of government." In fact, I think most corporate mission statements have an implied "no fascist dystopia" subtext.
- halfmatthalfcat 6y agoRestricting hospitality bookings is hardly infringing anybody's freedom to assemble.
- jdminhbg 6y agoIn what way is the DC government preventing travelers from reaching DC not infringement on freedom of assembly? It may be, given covid, the right decision, but it’s an infringement nevertheless.
- cphoover 6y agoIf you are not concerned by the actions of big tech in the past week, you are not paying attention, or you are not properly weighing the implications.
- matthewmacleod 6y agoOr—hear me out—we have observed the actions and come to a different conclusion from you.
- 1123581321 6y agoHow is that a contradiction?
- LadyCailin 6y agoThere’s a cold civil war, that’s rapidly heating up. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, and I think every last thing that’s happened lately has been proportional and measured. People quite literally are trying to stage a violent coup, I’m extremely concerned about that. Far more than Twitter banning some asshole.
- Karunamon 6y agoQuite a lot of the latter, it seems. People are more than willing to give a pass to social media / IaaS acting monopolistically because they don't like the people who were targeted. Eventually, the shoe will be on the other foot, and then there will be threads at the top of the front page decrying these companies' behavior because the community does like the people who were targeted. I really wish more people could look beyond two inches in front of their face and see the bigger picture. This pattern is not healthy.
- rchaud 6y agoI'm paying attention, and what I see is that Facebook can take rapid action when and if it so chooses. As far back as 2018 [0], a UN report pointed to Facebook's lack of moderation on misinformation as a major reason why the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar developed popular support and continued with the approval of the country's politicians. Thousands were killed and a million refugees are now housed in border areas inside neighbouring Bangladesh. Five people dead on US soil however, and they manage to magically spring into action to prevent further damage. [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-facebook-idUSKCN1GO2PN https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-facebook...
- caseysoftware 6y agoThink of how many lives will be saved by limiting attendance at this super spreader event. They should be applauded at mitigating another Coney Barrett reception situation. The fact that DC officials would allow anyone to visit is irresponsible at best and criminal at worst.
- throwarayes 6y agoIt’s so sad how inaccessible our democracy is. In one of Jimmy Carter’s books he discusses sneaking out of The White House to go jogging on his own. Of course the secret service wasn’t a fan... it’s depressing to be in DC and our most important public buildings are under heavy security. Now an inauguration, which should be a heavily attended celebration, feels so ominous. Of course it’s all necessary, it’s just a sad state of affairs with plenty of blame to go around in the past few decades. It just feels so undemocratic, and shows the state of our civil society.
- showerst 6y agoI know this was in response to the riots, but there's also a global pandemic on, and even before this the government specifically asked that people do not come to visit for the inauguration. Frankly I wish they'd have done this months ago.
- rriepe 6y agoJust their reservations, not their accounts? After they aided and abetted terrorism?
- floor2 6y agoWhen armed militias set up an "autonomous zone" in Seattle did Airbnb work to identify participants and ban them from the platform? This is a weird year. The Trump-supporters who attacked the capitol are completely indefensible and should obviously be arrested and incarcerated, but all of these extrajudicial actions from companies which are extremely hypocritical compared to their response to antifa makes me uncomfortable. All I see is bad responses to bad people doing bad things leading to more bad people doing more bad things in response to the responses. I guess I'll hope things get less "us vs them" in a few months.
- thrav 6y agoIf you haven’t, you should watch some of the first hand videos of the autonomous zone and compare them to the videos of the Capitol.
- MrMan 6y agoi didnt like the autonomous zone I thought it was terrible. but the decision to let it happen was taken by the Seattle PD and mayor's office. this is a much larger phenomenon, where millions of middle class people are endorsing or joining militias in political violence at a national level.
- ceilingcorner 6y agoWhile this might be a good idea for this particular scenario, I don’t like the trend it sets if we continue toward monolithic tech companies replacing established, power-distributed industries. Airbnb is now worth more than the three largest hotel chains, so they are a dominant market player. When they lead, others will follow. Sorry, you can’t get an Uber to that location because it is the site of a taxi driver protest against ride sharing. Sorry, you can’t book a flight to that city on that date because there will be an anti-government protest. Sorry, you can’t order these books from Amazon, because your IP has been detected visiting Parler.com
- koolba 6y ago> Sorry, you can’t order these books from Amazon, because your IP has been detected visiting Parler.com Forget books, imagine if they did that same analysis and shutdown your AWS accounts because your IP matched one that logged into Parler.
- Nacdor 6y agoThere are a disturbing number of people who would read your post and think "That's a great idea, we should do it". They love shows like Black Mirror for criticizing the totalitarian Social Credit system in China, but now they're urging private companies to build the same system in the US. Being unable to book travel or a hotel is actually one of the penalties if your score falls too low in China.
- matz1 6y agoThis should be viewed as opportunity of disruption by the competitor. So You can’t get an Uber to that location? Don't worry use our service instead
- asdfasgasdgasdg 6y agoTons of airbnb alternatives. For example hotels, VRBO, etc. I don't know if they're all doing the same thing, but if they are, maybe it's just a good idea?
- randompwd 6y ago> Airbnb will cancel reservations in the Washington, D.C. metro area during the Inauguration week Disregarding that it's for a good cause... Surely this should be the Hosts decision? Isn't AirBnB's whole spiel that it's just a middle-man marketplace where buyers and sellers meet?