5 ms·

Can we agree that the host here is at least partially responsible for what happened? First, let me say that what happened was horrible, and the person who did

by axiom 15y ago

Can we agree that the host here is at least partially responsible for what happened? First, let me say that what happened was horrible, and the person who did the damage should go to jail for a long long time. AirBnB should cover the cost of all damages as a gesture of goodwill. It's really a shame that this kind of stuff can happen, but the reality (that I'd hope most people understand) is that not 100% of the population is good and decent (maybe it's 99%, maybe it's 98%, but it's certainly not 100%) Given that every mature adult is aware of this, the way the host acted was pretty irresponsible and was kind of inviting disaster. She literally left a key for a total stranger to her home, without doing ANY due-diligence. Someone basically sent her an email, and she said "okey-dokey, here's the keys, have fun." What are the odds that if you do that 50 or 100 times that something like this doesn't happen? Also, how many people would be careless enough to do that? Seriously, it's pretty tragic what happened and I really feel for the host, but it rubs me the wrong way that AirBnB is getting this massive amount of bad press when in fairness they just posted a listing and handled the transaction. Could they have more security measures in place? sure, but the way the host acted, I'm really not convinced anything would have made a difference here. If you give keys to your place to a random stranger without so much as meeting them or getting basic information about them, then you're going to get burned.

georgemcbay 15y ago
"She literally left a key for a total stranger to her home, without doing ANY due-diligence. Someone basically sent her an email, and she said "okey-dokey, here's the keys, have fun."" I don't use Airbnb from either side, but isn't the big problem here that you can't do due dilligence? As I understand it (and again, as a non-user maybe I am wrong), Airbnb pretty much blocks you from knowing too much about your temporary renter as a measure to avoid you using them as a match up service and then doing the deal directly to avoid paying them their fee.
- alanfalcon 15y ago
  And that's a good reason to avoid Airbnb, not a good reason to give a stranger your keys.
- chime 15y ago
  I agree with you. I recently took a weekend vacation by the beach and did my very best to use AirBnB. The fact that email is the only way to communicate with the host made it really difficult for me to get a good feel for the place I was renting. I want to use AirBnB, I really do. But preventing me from typing my phone# in the text field really annoyed me. I don't think that renting a place is like buying an item on eBay where it is best that the seller and buyer not bypass the entire auction mechanism. I don't mind at all if AirBnB gets a slice of my money and in fact I prefer to pay them than a random person. However, I want to talk to the host on the phone before I agree to anything. You can't express friendliness and warmth textually (or at least most people can't) but it is very easy to pick up on the tone over phone. In the end, I found a wonderful beach cottage via vrbo.com. If vrbo had a website like AirBnB, they would get my money every time. I understand the financial mechanism is very different on both sites but seriously, AirBnB, let me talk to potential hosts before I book anything - I will even pay a fee to become a premium-phone-enabled-renter.
  - marvin 15y ago
    A possible solution would be if AirBnB required hosts and guests to be friends on Facebook before a transaction could take place..this wouldn't prevent anyone from making a fake profile in order to seem more trustworthy, but this is an area where Facebook's privacy situation would be helpful. You can learn a lot about a person's character by examining his or her Facebook page.
- colinplamondon 15y ago
  The guy spelled his name wrong- it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know something weird is going on.
  - lutorm 15y ago
    As someone whose name looks like a misspelled English version of the name, I think you're jumping to conclusions there.
    - colinplamondon 15y ago
      Jumping to conclusions is the name of the game when you're giving your the keys to your apartment to a stranger for a week.
chc 15y ago
She pointed out in her post that AirBnB makes it close to impossible to do better checking on people, and she had the impression that this was because they were doing the vetting.
jbondeson 15y ago
The only due diligence possible is an AirBnB-provided, essentially anonymous, IM conversation. Anyone who attempts to use the AirBnB service who isn't running a legitimate short-term rental property (with all the associated insurance and safeguards) is playing russian roulette with their property and possessions. And if they're home during the rental they're potentially risking life and limb. This is a failure of the business model. If they are unwilling to get into the business of creating a safe, vetted community for short-term rentals, they need to disallow personal rental properties and stick with full-time rental companies.
finisterre 15y ago
That's a step few people will bother to take, just as is the case with most vacation rentals. A credit card is enough ID for even commercial operations. Her only real mistake was to leave her "passport, cash, credit card...grandmother’s jewelry...camera, iPod, an old laptop, and my external backup drive...birth certificate and social security card" in the apartment. It seems they were locked in a closet, but removing them from the house altogether would have taken a lot of the sting out of this unfortunate experience.
vl 15y ago
>but it rubs me the wrong way that AirBnB is getting this massive amount of bad press Press is not that bad, they probably got substantial increase of awareness about their still niche service in the general public segment of the population. It's in the same category as iPhone 4 antenna issue - Apple would have to pay billions of dollars to get the same exposure on all TV channels, while this allowed general public to see new iPhone for free, to learn that all cool people have it and are worried about antenna, and to forget about antenna next day and buy it.
va_coder 15y ago
"left a key for a total stranger to her home" Exactly. You have to be crazy to be a host with AirBNB
rweba 15y ago
They SHOULD get bad press, their service is MASSIVELY risky. After this incident I feel very disinclined to rent out my personal residence through Airbnb and I think a lot of people would feel the same way. Unless they really need the money.

by axiom 15y ago

georgemcbay 15y ago

"She literally left a key for a total stranger to her home, without doing ANY due-diligence. Someone basically sent her an email, and she said "okey-dokey, here's the keys, have fun."" I don't use Airbnb from either side, but isn't the big problem here that you can't do due dilligence? As I understand it (and again, as a non-user maybe I am wrong), Airbnb pretty much blocks you from knowing too much about your temporary renter as a measure to avoid you using them as a match up service and then doing the deal directly to avoid paying them their fee.

alanfalcon 15y ago
And that's a good reason to avoid Airbnb, not a good reason to give a stranger your keys.
chime 15y ago
I agree with you. I recently took a weekend vacation by the beach and did my very best to use AirBnB. The fact that email is the only way to communicate with the host made it really difficult for me to get a good feel for the place I was renting. I want to use AirBnB, I really do. But preventing me from typing my phone# in the text field really annoyed me. I don't think that renting a place is like buying an item on eBay where it is best that the seller and buyer not bypass the entire auction mechanism. I don't mind at all if AirBnB gets a slice of my money and in fact I prefer to pay them than a random person. However, I want to talk to the host on the phone before I agree to anything. You can't express friendliness and warmth textually (or at least most people can't) but it is very easy to pick up on the tone over phone. In the end, I found a wonderful beach cottage via vrbo.com. If vrbo had a website like AirBnB, they would get my money every time. I understand the financial mechanism is very different on both sites but seriously, AirBnB, let me talk to potential hosts before I book anything - I will even pay a fee to become a premium-phone-enabled-renter.
- marvin 15y ago
  A possible solution would be if AirBnB required hosts and guests to be friends on Facebook before a transaction could take place..this wouldn't prevent anyone from making a fake profile in order to seem more trustworthy, but this is an area where Facebook's privacy situation would be helpful. You can learn a lot about a person's character by examining his or her Facebook page.
colinplamondon 15y ago
The guy spelled his name wrong- it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know something weird is going on.
- lutorm 15y ago
  As someone whose name looks like a misspelled English version of the name, I think you're jumping to conclusions there.
  - colinplamondon 15y ago
    Jumping to conclusions is the name of the game when you're giving your the keys to your apartment to a stranger for a week.

chc 15y ago

She pointed out in her post that AirBnB makes it close to impossible to do better checking on people, and she had the impression that this was because they were doing the vetting.

jbondeson 15y ago

The only due diligence possible is an AirBnB-provided, essentially anonymous, IM conversation. Anyone who attempts to use the AirBnB service who isn't running a legitimate short-term rental property (with all the associated insurance and safeguards) is playing russian roulette with their property and possessions. And if they're home during the rental they're potentially risking life and limb. This is a failure of the business model. If they are unwilling to get into the business of creating a safe, vetted community for short-term rentals, they need to disallow personal rental properties and stick with full-time rental companies.

finisterre 15y ago

That's a step few people will bother to take, just as is the case with most vacation rentals. A credit card is enough ID for even commercial operations. Her only real mistake was to leave her "passport, cash, credit card...grandmother’s jewelry...camera, iPod, an old laptop, and my external backup drive...birth certificate and social security card" in the apartment. It seems they were locked in a closet, but removing them from the house altogether would have taken a lot of the sting out of this unfortunate experience.

vl 15y ago

>but it rubs me the wrong way that AirBnB is getting this massive amount of bad press Press is not that bad, they probably got substantial increase of awareness about their still niche service in the general public segment of the population. It's in the same category as iPhone 4 antenna issue - Apple would have to pay billions of dollars to get the same exposure on all TV channels, while this allowed general public to see new iPhone for free, to learn that all cool people have it and are worried about antenna, and to forget about antenna next day and buy it.

va_coder 15y ago

"left a key for a total stranger to her home" Exactly. You have to be crazy to be a host with AirBNB

rweba 15y ago

They SHOULD get bad press, their service is MASSIVELY risky. After this incident I feel very disinclined to rent out my personal residence through Airbnb and I think a lot of people would feel the same way. Unless they really need the money.