Disclaimer: I run an online reservation business. Your reading of the whole situation is very good. The Airbnb guys right now will probably hope the worst is p

Disclaimer: I run an online reservation business. Your reading of the whole situation is very good. The Airbnb guys right now will probably hope the worst is past, they made a PR mistake, and fixed it. But I would suggest them to read carefully your words as they are very valuable to them. Really. > the only real difference is that these landlords charge about 15% more if you book through Airbnb. How does it actually work? They charge 15% on top of the price set by the landlord + they charge a reservation fee? This is not very clear to me. > Now, when I say majority, I don't mean overwhelming majority but certainly more than half of the actual beds per night. I can't confirm the numbers but I know for sure that many professional landlord signed up and added their properties in Airbnb. There's really nothing wrong with that, and actually it could save Airbnb's ass in case the non-professional landlord model fails: they'd be one of the best (if not the best?) online reservation rentals website out there, with a social touch. Pretty solid. > Pro landlords know this, they've experienced this and they accept it as an unfortunate but inevitable part of doing business. I agree. And most of them ask for a cash deposit on check-in. I wonder why this has not been discussed. It really helps to reduce sensibly the damage. Of course not the 50.000 U$ damage but the many small broken/stolen things which just happen in many rentals.