5 ms·

Airbnb could EASILY fix the issues by two tiering their market place and having a HUMAN BEING validate listings and holding hosts to a very strict set of standa

Airbnb could EASILY fix the issues by two tiering their market place and having a HUMAN BEING validate listings and holding hosts to a very strict set of standards. Unverified listings could be in the tier two marketplace. The problem would sort itself out.

hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
I don't believe they would do that. They know we know there are both honest and dishonest hosts, but they prefer that it is us who take the risk. Based on the reviews, apparently.
- joshuajill 4y ago
  They have underpaid, undertrained human beings.
- shiftpgdn 4y ago
  That behavior is going to drive their company to ruin as they slowly poison their own well with bad experiences.
  - alexashka 4y ago
    That's not what happens when you're a monopoly. What happens is the people just eat it. You can see it more clearly in politics. Does anyone think politicians have the people's interest at heart? The answer is it doesn't matter, because people have proven that they'll just eat it, for decades.
    - shoulderfake 4y ago
      Its not a monopoly at all. In europe booking.com is more prevalent and for example florida rentals most ppl use vrbo
      - alexashka 4y ago
        If I live in a town with one internet service provider, it doesn't help me that they have a different provider in Europe. There is a monopoly on internet service, in my town. Get it?
    - airstrike 4y ago
      > That's not what happens when you're a monopoly. But they're not a monopoly at all. There are countless other ways to find lodging, whether short term or long term, and even the market for app-powered short term letting like airbnb has very low barriers to entry so someone with enough capital (harder in the current environment, but eventually doable) can come in and outcompete them
      - yeputons 4y ago
        > There are countless other ways to find lodging Would you mind sharing some? I only know of Booking.com, the rest are country-specific billboards at best. E.g. Craigslist in the US, Bazaraki on Cyprus or Avito in Russia. In all of them you'd better view the apartment in person first, and you manage your own contracts and payments.
    - hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
      > That's not what happens when you're a monopoly. Fortunately, that's not exactly correct. After getting burned a few times with AirBnB I now use booking.com mostly. Of course they are evil in their own ways, but the percentage of incidents is much lower for me.
bkfunk 4y ago
They do this. It’s called Airbnb Plus [0]. [0]: https://www.airbnb.com/plus https://www.airbnb.com/plus
- bckygldstn 4y ago
  Interesting, I didn't know about this. I've wondered before if Airbnb could do a Guest Plus: instead of paying a massive service fee (which likely goes towards insurance and customer support) and cleaning fee, a guest could clean the house to its original standard, wash the sheets, put the bins out on bin day, sharpen the knives, etc. You'd also get a late checkout as the host wouldn't need to get a cleaner between guests. See also: that Black Mirror episode where everyone rates each other.

hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago

I don't believe they would do that. They know we know there are both honest and dishonest hosts, but they prefer that it is us who take the risk. Based on the reviews, apparently.

joshuajill 4y ago
They have underpaid, undertrained human beings.
shiftpgdn 4y ago
That behavior is going to drive their company to ruin as they slowly poison their own well with bad experiences.
- alexashka 4y ago
  That's not what happens when you're a monopoly. What happens is the people just eat it. You can see it more clearly in politics. Does anyone think politicians have the people's interest at heart? The answer is it doesn't matter, because people have proven that they'll just eat it, for decades.
  - shoulderfake 4y ago
    Its not a monopoly at all. In europe booking.com is more prevalent and for example florida rentals most ppl use vrbo
    - alexashka 4y ago
      If I live in a town with one internet service provider, it doesn't help me that they have a different provider in Europe. There is a monopoly on internet service, in my town. Get it?
  - airstrike 4y ago
    > That's not what happens when you're a monopoly. But they're not a monopoly at all. There are countless other ways to find lodging, whether short term or long term, and even the market for app-powered short term letting like airbnb has very low barriers to entry so someone with enough capital (harder in the current environment, but eventually doable) can come in and outcompete them
    - yeputons 4y ago
      > There are countless other ways to find lodging Would you mind sharing some? I only know of Booking.com, the rest are country-specific billboards at best. E.g. Craigslist in the US, Bazaraki on Cyprus or Avito in Russia. In all of them you'd better view the apartment in person first, and you manage your own contracts and payments.
  - hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
    > That's not what happens when you're a monopoly. Fortunately, that's not exactly correct. After getting burned a few times with AirBnB I now use booking.com mostly. Of course they are evil in their own ways, but the percentage of incidents is much lower for me.

bkfunk 4y ago

They do this. It’s called Airbnb Plus [0]. [0]: https://www.airbnb.com/plus https://www.airbnb.com/plus

bckygldstn 4y ago
Interesting, I didn't know about this. I've wondered before if Airbnb could do a Guest Plus: instead of paying a massive service fee (which likely goes towards insurance and customer support) and cleaning fee, a guest could clean the house to its original standard, wash the sheets, put the bins out on bin day, sharpen the knives, etc. You'd also get a late checkout as the host wouldn't need to get a cleaner between guests. See also: that Black Mirror episode where everyone rates each other.