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I don't see what they stand to lose if they take the same stance as homeowner insurers do— if you file a police report, they'll pretty much take your word for i

by Cushman 15y ago

I don't see what they stand to lose if they take the same stance as homeowner insurers do— if you file a police report, they'll pretty much take your word for it. In fact they have an even better guarantee, since they know (ideally...) exactly who the perpetrator was. They're not giving you the money to replace your stuff, they're lending it to you until they can recover it from the criminal. If the person who you claim did the damage claims they didn't, that's a problem they have with you, not with Airbnb.

scott_s 15y ago
Taking the same stance as homeowner's insurers do implies that they would be the insurance company. That's an enormous can o' worms.
- Cushman 15y ago
  Why? They insure one specific thing: a contract between two individuals that they trust. The only way they lose out is if they don't actually have any realistic way to enforce the contract on the renter— which would surely be a way bigger problem for their business than having to pay out some fraudulent damages?
  - scott_s 15y ago
    "Some" fraudulent damages? If people figure out a reliable means to defraud you, they will do it until you fix the problem. And, congratulations, now your primary focus is fraud detection. You're now an insurance company. There's also the fact that insurance companies are subject to many laws and regulations that other businesses are not.
    - Cushman 15y ago
      You're missing my point— "Fraud detection" in Airbnb's case means "ensuring that owners and renters are who they say they are." Surely that should already be a primary focus of theirs.
      - URSpider94 15y ago
        Why? And How? Are they going to require faxing in photocopies of ID? Run credit checks? All this would do is to verify that a person with this information exists. This wouldn't stop a bad guy from using someone else's identification to register, and none of this addresses whether the renter has the legal right to rent the property. And, once they are that deep in the process, if Airbnb is making any representations to their customers about this kind of vetting, then they are exposing themselves to liability if something goes wrong. Right now, they are content to verify that the customer and landlord have valid credit cards / bank accounts, and that's that.
        Cushman 15y ago
        All I'm saying is that the due diligence to prevent fraud is the same as the due diligence to ensure somebody won't burn down my house for fun. Whether or not they can meet the standard, that's what they should be doing.
cnyc 15y ago
Ha, clearly you've never been robbed. Even if they know who the perp is, there is very little chance you will receive your items back unless they catch him down the street running with it.

by Cushman 15y ago

scott_s 15y ago

Taking the same stance as homeowner's insurers do implies that they would be the insurance company. That's an enormous can o' worms.

Cushman 15y ago
Why? They insure one specific thing: a contract between two individuals that they trust. The only way they lose out is if they don't actually have any realistic way to enforce the contract on the renter— which would surely be a way bigger problem for their business than having to pay out some fraudulent damages?
- scott_s 15y ago
  "Some" fraudulent damages? If people figure out a reliable means to defraud you, they will do it until you fix the problem. And, congratulations, now your primary focus is fraud detection. You're now an insurance company. There's also the fact that insurance companies are subject to many laws and regulations that other businesses are not.
  - Cushman 15y ago
    You're missing my point— "Fraud detection" in Airbnb's case means "ensuring that owners and renters are who they say they are." Surely that should already be a primary focus of theirs.
    - URSpider94 15y ago
      Why? And How? Are they going to require faxing in photocopies of ID? Run credit checks? All this would do is to verify that a person with this information exists. This wouldn't stop a bad guy from using someone else's identification to register, and none of this addresses whether the renter has the legal right to rent the property. And, once they are that deep in the process, if Airbnb is making any representations to their customers about this kind of vetting, then they are exposing themselves to liability if something goes wrong. Right now, they are content to verify that the customer and landlord have valid credit cards / bank accounts, and that's that.
      - Cushman 15y ago
        All I'm saying is that the due diligence to prevent fraud is the same as the due diligence to ensure somebody won't burn down my house for fun. Whether or not they can meet the standard, that's what they should be doing.

cnyc 15y ago

Ha, clearly you've never been robbed. Even if they know who the perp is, there is very little chance you will receive your items back unless they catch him down the street running with it.