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> - Expensive unregulated taxi! > - Expensive unregulated hotel! > - Expensive unregulated television! All of these are better than the alternative, or peopl

> - Expensive unregulated taxi! > - Expensive unregulated hotel! > - Expensive unregulated television! All of these are better than the alternative, or people wouldn't use them

pierat 3y ago
Given that Uber's only quarter in the black was the most recent, AND most of it was from capitalized assets, well, it's just a failing business, but scaled big! It's a common trope for VC's to fund, fund, fund for that sweet hockey stick growth. And they know that it takes money to make money. So yeah, the fact that these businesses have been better is because they were subsidized by VC'e to get you as a customer. Enshittification process is already well full in effect, and will get more expensive and worse But hey, Uber cashed out for the early Ponzi investors. Probably won't pan out past this point.
TylerE 3y ago
Anecdotally, amongst my peer group AirBnBing is waaaay down. Pricing is out of control (even more than hotels), and there's usually a long chore list AND expensive cleaning fee on top.
- dave_sullivan 3y ago
  It was great in the beginning! But yes, it's gone down hill, I avoid now.
- tomp 3y ago
  True, but I buy AirBnB specifically for things that you can’t get in a hotel. An entire villa with pool in Tuscany. An apartment with a kitchen. A flat with the view of Acropolis in Athens (maybe you can get that in a hotel, but you can never be sure lest they rebook you to a different room.)
  - TylerE 3y ago
    At least in the US, those sort of places don't really exist, or if they do the pricing is outrageous (like $1000+/night). Suite/extended stay hotels with full kitchens are fairly common here, too.
    - CamperBob2 3y ago
      At least in the US, those sort of places don't really exist, or if they do the pricing is outrageous (like $1000+/night). Not true in the slightest. This place ( https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/48299044 https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/48299044 ) was an incredible bargain the last time I was in Scottsdale for a couple of weeks, even at $220/night + fees.
      - TylerE 3y ago
        Scottsdale is not Tuscany.
        CamperBob2 3y ago
        And Tuscany isn't in the US. For stays of a couple of days, I'll generally stick with hotels, but for anything longer than a week hotels are pointlessly expensive for what you get.
      - FireBeyond 3y ago
        I saw $220/night for that place plus fees on the listing, but the moment I selected any non weekday it jumped to $402/night + fees. Fees which amount to an additional $507 for a 3 night stay ($295 cleaning, $212 for AirBnB). All in, my stay is $1,900 for 3 night. $633/night. Might not be $1,000 a night, but definitely not as bargain-ish as you make it out to be. https://imgur.com/3dJOGNn https://imgur.com/3dJOGNn
        CamperBob2 3y ago
        Yeah, the fixed fees make it less attractive when staying only a few nights (hence my other comment). I'd challenge you to find anything like that in a hotel property, at pretty much any price.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
shlubbert 3y ago
They may have been better at one point, but at least in my social circle pretty much everybody has given up on AirBnB due to numerous bad experiences and constantly complains about content now being spread across a dozen streaming services.
cognaitiv 3y ago
I feel like the people who complain about Uber/Lyft from a service perspective never used taxis extensively. Living in Chicago (Lakeview) for years while traveling for work made me absolutely hate taxis. When scheduling, they would no-show at 5 in the morning causing missed flights. Rides from the airport would require standing in line many times over an hour, especially on a Thursday night. They all absolutely reeked of body odor. The drivers would consistently scam “card machine broken, cash only” or “I forgot to turn on the meter” and unless you threatened to report them, they would take advantage of passengers. Drivers were sketchy and rarely matched the credentials on the taxi medallion. I’ve also lived in areas where taxi service was essentially nonexistent. I wonder how many DUIs and related accidents have been prevented by ride share apps. Traveling abroad in Europe the apps work simply regardless of my command of the local language to explain my destination and keeps the drivers honest so they aren’t taking “the long way”. How is anyone supporting taxis as superior to this? There was absolutely no accountability. From an business model perspective, I would wager that eventually you could get this to a point of sustainability that doesn’t require armies of engineers and various support staff, a la Twitter. Just don’t try to say taxis were better.
- gardenhedge 3y ago
  Some taxis use apps which give all the same benefits plus any local regulations in place.
  - dmd 3y ago
    Show me one taxi service anywhere in the world that did that before Uber forced them to to compete.
    - gardenhedge 3y ago
      I won't because that is unrelated to what I said
- perardi 3y ago
  Living in Chicago (Lakeview) for years while traveling for work made me absolutely hate taxis. Hello from up here in Edgewater. I realize there are huge problems with the finances and liabilities of Uber…but taxis before ride shares were a pure nightmare, from a UX perspective. Uber brought us… * Deterministic pricing (for the most part) * Flawless ubiquitous credit card transactions * The ability to point to a random location on a map and just magically have a car take you there I know Uber’s finances are shit…but you know what? I would gladly pay more, because you get a car right to your door that delivers you to an arbitrary location with nobody extorting you for extra physical cash.
djaychela 3y ago
That's not a great argument. They may be different in some ways, but that doesn't mean better. I recently looked for airbnb in Cardiff for pycon UK. Many of them are more expensive than a hotel, with fewer facilities and less guarantee of service. Uber has never been better than cabs where I live. YT may offer more choice than the TV, but there's an awful lot of race to the bottom junk and VPN shilling on there.
mrguyorama 3y ago
It had nothing to do with artificially low prices?
heavyset_go 3y ago
These were all subsidized to be much cheaper or free than competitors for years.
mvdtnz 3y ago
Sure if you ignore second order effects and externalities.

> - Expensive unregulated taxi! > - Expensive unregulated hotel! > - Expensive unregulated television! All of these are better than the alternative, or people wouldn't use them

pierat 3y ago

Given that Uber's only quarter in the black was the most recent, AND most of it was from capitalized assets, well, it's just a failing business, but scaled big! It's a common trope for VC's to fund, fund, fund for that sweet hockey stick growth. And they know that it takes money to make money. So yeah, the fact that these businesses have been better is because they were subsidized by VC'e to get you as a customer. Enshittification process is already well full in effect, and will get more expensive and worse But hey, Uber cashed out for the early Ponzi investors. Probably won't pan out past this point.

TylerE 3y ago

Anecdotally, amongst my peer group AirBnBing is waaaay down. Pricing is out of control (even more than hotels), and there's usually a long chore list AND expensive cleaning fee on top.

dave_sullivan 3y ago
It was great in the beginning! But yes, it's gone down hill, I avoid now.
tomp 3y ago
True, but I buy AirBnB specifically for things that you can’t get in a hotel. An entire villa with pool in Tuscany. An apartment with a kitchen. A flat with the view of Acropolis in Athens (maybe you can get that in a hotel, but you can never be sure lest they rebook you to a different room.)
- TylerE 3y ago
  At least in the US, those sort of places don't really exist, or if they do the pricing is outrageous (like $1000+/night). Suite/extended stay hotels with full kitchens are fairly common here, too.
  - CamperBob2 3y ago
    At least in the US, those sort of places don't really exist, or if they do the pricing is outrageous (like $1000+/night). Not true in the slightest. This place ( https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/48299044 https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/48299044 ) was an incredible bargain the last time I was in Scottsdale for a couple of weeks, even at $220/night + fees.
    - TylerE 3y ago
      Scottsdale is not Tuscany.
      - CamperBob2 3y ago
        And Tuscany isn't in the US. For stays of a couple of days, I'll generally stick with hotels, but for anything longer than a week hotels are pointlessly expensive for what you get.
    - FireBeyond 3y ago
      I saw $220/night for that place plus fees on the listing, but the moment I selected any non weekday it jumped to $402/night + fees. Fees which amount to an additional $507 for a 3 night stay ($295 cleaning, $212 for AirBnB). All in, my stay is $1,900 for 3 night. $633/night. Might not be $1,000 a night, but definitely not as bargain-ish as you make it out to be. https://imgur.com/3dJOGNn https://imgur.com/3dJOGNn
      - CamperBob2 3y ago
        Yeah, the fixed fees make it less attractive when staying only a few nights (hence my other comment). I'd challenge you to find anything like that in a hotel property, at pretty much any price.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

shlubbert 3y ago

They may have been better at one point, but at least in my social circle pretty much everybody has given up on AirBnB due to numerous bad experiences and constantly complains about content now being spread across a dozen streaming services.

cognaitiv 3y ago

I feel like the people who complain about Uber/Lyft from a service perspective never used taxis extensively. Living in Chicago (Lakeview) for years while traveling for work made me absolutely hate taxis. When scheduling, they would no-show at 5 in the morning causing missed flights. Rides from the airport would require standing in line many times over an hour, especially on a Thursday night. They all absolutely reeked of body odor. The drivers would consistently scam “card machine broken, cash only” or “I forgot to turn on the meter” and unless you threatened to report them, they would take advantage of passengers. Drivers were sketchy and rarely matched the credentials on the taxi medallion. I’ve also lived in areas where taxi service was essentially nonexistent. I wonder how many DUIs and related accidents have been prevented by ride share apps. Traveling abroad in Europe the apps work simply regardless of my command of the local language to explain my destination and keeps the drivers honest so they aren’t taking “the long way”. How is anyone supporting taxis as superior to this? There was absolutely no accountability. From an business model perspective, I would wager that eventually you could get this to a point of sustainability that doesn’t require armies of engineers and various support staff, a la Twitter. Just don’t try to say taxis were better.

gardenhedge 3y ago
Some taxis use apps which give all the same benefits plus any local regulations in place.
- dmd 3y ago
  Show me one taxi service anywhere in the world that did that before Uber forced them to to compete.
  - gardenhedge 3y ago
    I won't because that is unrelated to what I said
perardi 3y ago
Living in Chicago (Lakeview) for years while traveling for work made me absolutely hate taxis. Hello from up here in Edgewater. I realize there are huge problems with the finances and liabilities of Uber…but taxis before ride shares were a pure nightmare, from a UX perspective. Uber brought us… * Deterministic pricing (for the most part) * Flawless ubiquitous credit card transactions * The ability to point to a random location on a map and just magically have a car take you there I know Uber’s finances are shit…but you know what? I would gladly pay more, because you get a car right to your door that delivers you to an arbitrary location with nobody extorting you for extra physical cash.

djaychela 3y ago

That's not a great argument. They may be different in some ways, but that doesn't mean better. I recently looked for airbnb in Cardiff for pycon UK. Many of them are more expensive than a hotel, with fewer facilities and less guarantee of service. Uber has never been better than cabs where I live. YT may offer more choice than the TV, but there's an awful lot of race to the bottom junk and VPN shilling on there.

mrguyorama 3y ago

It had nothing to do with artificially low prices?

heavyset_go 3y ago

These were all subsidized to be much cheaper or free than competitors for years.

mvdtnz 3y ago

Sure if you ignore second order effects and externalities.