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Can anyone say genuinely that the product got better? Seems like they just cut a lot of useless shit but didn’t fix any of the core fraud and poor customer serv

by rdtwo 4y ago

Can anyone say genuinely that the product got better? Seems like they just cut a lot of useless shit but didn’t fix any of the core fraud and poor customer service problems

atlasunshrugged 4y ago
What was the fraud? I'd consider myself a super-user and the main issues I encounter are lack of reasonably priced listings, a shift to hotel-like professional listings which are boring and defeat the purpose of using airbnb, and exorbitant cleaning fees and the like.
- onphonenow 4y ago
  The cleaning fees not being included in the first sort / visible price is ridiculous.
  - atlasunshrugged 4y ago
    I agree, I guess I'd call that a dark pattern or misleading, but fraud to me implies illegality edit: grammar
    - fshbbdssbbgdd 4y ago
      I’d say if the fee isn’t disclosed before you confirm the transaction, it’s fraud. If they just show you a teaser rate then add the fee when they show the total, it’s slimy but par for the course.
  - seattle_spring 4y ago
    They are included unless you don't include dates. Why would you be searching for a place without dates?
  - enra 4y ago
    The fees are included in the nightly/total price if you include dates for the search. It's challenging to show the cleaning fees without the length of stay or would have to show the nightly price + fees all the time and it would get kind of confusing. I think there is now the total price if you click that it shows you the break down. Context: I used to work at Airbnb, and some point designed one version those listing cards as well. There was never a goal to have some dark pattern choice not to include the fees or somehow try to mislead users. There is just limited space for the price. Also each city, country and might have different fee structures and pricing regulation so we actually had to design the card as something supports those different cases. Like in Australia you always have to show total price where as in US it's common for hotels to show nightly price without taxes or resort fees. In some cities or countries there is now a tourist fee. Unlike in hotels where the cleaning fee is included in the price, on Airbnb, the host sets it. Also each rental is unique like one might be 10 bedroom house with pool and jacuzzi and some might be one bedroom rooms so the cleaning needs vary. Also in some places cleaning is very cheap and some places it's very expensive to get someone to clean your house.
- a2tech 4y ago
  There's tons of fraud on AirBNB (and increasingly VRBO). We've rentals on both service in the past year try to redirect us to 2nd locations or get us to pay 'damage deposits' on shady third party websites. AirBNB's customer support immediately said 'definitely sounds like a scam' when we reported it, then held our $6k for a month. My wife had to threaten to sue to get them to release it. At no point during that month did AirBNB take down the fraudulent listing (even while the reviews piled up saying that they were redirected to a run down loft instead of the nice house they had rented). VRBO refunded our money in a couple of days when we reported a host trying to get us to pay on a third party site.
bradly 4y ago
We still prefer Vrbo for hosting our rentals. Airbnb will still give people full refunds after the cancellation deadline and then host is out that money. Vrbo allows us to set our cancellation policy and will not override it.

by rdtwo 4y ago

Can anyone say genuinely that the product got better? Seems like they just cut a lot of useless shit but didn’t fix any of the core fraud and poor customer service problems

atlasunshrugged 4y ago

What was the fraud? I'd consider myself a super-user and the main issues I encounter are lack of reasonably priced listings, a shift to hotel-like professional listings which are boring and defeat the purpose of using airbnb, and exorbitant cleaning fees and the like.

onphonenow 4y ago
The cleaning fees not being included in the first sort / visible price is ridiculous.
- atlasunshrugged 4y ago
  I agree, I guess I'd call that a dark pattern or misleading, but fraud to me implies illegality edit: grammar
  - fshbbdssbbgdd 4y ago
    I’d say if the fee isn’t disclosed before you confirm the transaction, it’s fraud. If they just show you a teaser rate then add the fee when they show the total, it’s slimy but par for the course.
- seattle_spring 4y ago
  They are included unless you don't include dates. Why would you be searching for a place without dates?
- enra 4y ago
  The fees are included in the nightly/total price if you include dates for the search. It's challenging to show the cleaning fees without the length of stay or would have to show the nightly price + fees all the time and it would get kind of confusing. I think there is now the total price if you click that it shows you the break down. Context: I used to work at Airbnb, and some point designed one version those listing cards as well. There was never a goal to have some dark pattern choice not to include the fees or somehow try to mislead users. There is just limited space for the price. Also each city, country and might have different fee structures and pricing regulation so we actually had to design the card as something supports those different cases. Like in Australia you always have to show total price where as in US it's common for hotels to show nightly price without taxes or resort fees. In some cities or countries there is now a tourist fee. Unlike in hotels where the cleaning fee is included in the price, on Airbnb, the host sets it. Also each rental is unique like one might be 10 bedroom house with pool and jacuzzi and some might be one bedroom rooms so the cleaning needs vary. Also in some places cleaning is very cheap and some places it's very expensive to get someone to clean your house.
a2tech 4y ago
There's tons of fraud on AirBNB (and increasingly VRBO). We've rentals on both service in the past year try to redirect us to 2nd locations or get us to pay 'damage deposits' on shady third party websites. AirBNB's customer support immediately said 'definitely sounds like a scam' when we reported it, then held our $6k for a month. My wife had to threaten to sue to get them to release it. At no point during that month did AirBNB take down the fraudulent listing (even while the reviews piled up saying that they were redirected to a run down loft instead of the nice house they had rented). VRBO refunded our money in a couple of days when we reported a host trying to get us to pay on a third party site.

bradly 4y ago

We still prefer Vrbo for hosting our rentals. Airbnb will still give people full refunds after the cancellation deadline and then host is out that money. Vrbo allows us to set our cancellation policy and will not override it.