3 ms·

> "But letting people stay temporarily in unoccupied rooms or houses is the opposite of harmful" Until some of those guests get murdered, raped, videocammed in

> "But letting people stay temporarily in unoccupied rooms or houses is the opposite of harmful" Until some of those guests get murdered, raped, videocammed in the shower, have their possessions stolen, etc etc etc. We have regulation on this type of thing for a reason. Allowing anyone to just suddenly decide they are now a hotel, is a recipe for disaster.

replicatorblog 14y ago
I think that is the first response most people have, but they've booked something like 5MM nights with no adverse events like you've described. Also, VBRO and Homeaway are both older companies with similar business models and neither has had a huge PR disaster like you describe.
- unimpressive 14y ago
  While I'm not aware of anything happening to the guests, I think that people should be wary before they open their home to Internet strangers. See: http://ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/06/violated-travelers-lost-faith-difficult.html http://ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/06/violated-travele...
  - koide 14y ago
    The more things you do with strangers of any kind, the higher the risk of both harm and wonderful encounters. That, attached to the fact that most people is not crazy or evil, would give you the right path to pick.
- ceejayoz 14y ago
  > I think that is the first response most people have, but they've booked something like 5MM nights with no adverse events like you've described. You apparently missed last year's PR debacle after someone had folks demolish her apartment to build a meth lab. Airbnb initially refused to pay up. http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0803/Airbnb-apologizes-after-member-robbery-PR-debacle http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0803/Airbnb-apologize...
mustpax 14y ago
I've first hand experienced bait and switch scams, thieving cleaning staff, and made up fees in cheap hotels from around the world. NYC hotels are particularly bad offenders even though they are thoroughly regulated. If anything an AirBnB host infinitely more trackable and accountable than a hotel you book directly or through an oblivious intermediary (travel agent). Not to mention the countless minimum wage staff working for these hotels that are also much harder to thoroughly vet and trust individually than a single host. Just because something is more familiar (hotels) doesn't mean it's safer.
- mibbitier 14y ago
  I'm more likely to buy a new iPod from a reputable, regulated shop, from a random guy on eBay/craigslist. You're talking about small individual regulated hotels, which obviously would be a bit hit and miss with regard to quality/safety, just like buying an iPod from a small shop called the "eyeStore" is going to entail more risk than buying it from Apple or BestBuy etc.
- adgar 14y ago
  Ah, the "Republican" argument: If regulation is so great, why hasn't it been perfect? Clearly the solution is less regulation.
  - mustpax 14y ago
    I'm not making any blanket statements about regulation, I'm simply stating that in this particular case the safeguards provided to guests by the structure of AirBnB's business are superior to those provided by municipal hotel operation regulations. If you'd care to address this point directly I'm all ears.
ed209 14y ago
People get murdered in hotels [1] and raped in hotels [2] and no doubt have things stolen. We should really judge this on the data and see if the incidence of crime is higher in Airbnb cases. [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18333584 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18333584 [2] http://portsmouth-nh.patch.com/articles/woman-raped-in-hotel-room http://portsmouth-nh.patch.com/articles/woman-raped-in-hotel...
chollida1 14y ago
Another issue is fire/damage and house insurance in general. In my old house we had a legal rental suite. OUr home insurance went way up when we told them we had a tenant. We thought about not mentioning this, until it was pointed out that if a fire was started by the tenant and the insurance company found out there was a tenant then we'd get nothing. And insurance companies are very good about finding out things like this.

replicatorblog 14y ago

I think that is the first response most people have, but they've booked something like 5MM nights with no adverse events like you've described. Also, VBRO and Homeaway are both older companies with similar business models and neither has had a huge PR disaster like you describe.

unimpressive 14y ago
While I'm not aware of anything happening to the guests, I think that people should be wary before they open their home to Internet strangers. See: http://ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/06/violated-travelers-lost-faith-difficult.html http://ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/06/violated-travele...
- koide 14y ago
  The more things you do with strangers of any kind, the higher the risk of both harm and wonderful encounters. That, attached to the fact that most people is not crazy or evil, would give you the right path to pick.
ceejayoz 14y ago
> I think that is the first response most people have, but they've booked something like 5MM nights with no adverse events like you've described. You apparently missed last year's PR debacle after someone had folks demolish her apartment to build a meth lab. Airbnb initially refused to pay up. http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0803/Airbnb-apologizes-after-member-robbery-PR-debacle http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0803/Airbnb-apologize...

mustpax 14y ago

I've first hand experienced bait and switch scams, thieving cleaning staff, and made up fees in cheap hotels from around the world. NYC hotels are particularly bad offenders even though they are thoroughly regulated. If anything an AirBnB host infinitely more trackable and accountable than a hotel you book directly or through an oblivious intermediary (travel agent). Not to mention the countless minimum wage staff working for these hotels that are also much harder to thoroughly vet and trust individually than a single host. Just because something is more familiar (hotels) doesn't mean it's safer.

mibbitier 14y ago
I'm more likely to buy a new iPod from a reputable, regulated shop, from a random guy on eBay/craigslist. You're talking about small individual regulated hotels, which obviously would be a bit hit and miss with regard to quality/safety, just like buying an iPod from a small shop called the "eyeStore" is going to entail more risk than buying it from Apple or BestBuy etc.
adgar 14y ago
Ah, the "Republican" argument: If regulation is so great, why hasn't it been perfect? Clearly the solution is less regulation.
- mustpax 14y ago
  I'm not making any blanket statements about regulation, I'm simply stating that in this particular case the safeguards provided to guests by the structure of AirBnB's business are superior to those provided by municipal hotel operation regulations. If you'd care to address this point directly I'm all ears.

ed209 14y ago

People get murdered in hotels [1] and raped in hotels [2] and no doubt have things stolen. We should really judge this on the data and see if the incidence of crime is higher in Airbnb cases. [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18333584 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18333584 [2] http://portsmouth-nh.patch.com/articles/woman-raped-in-hotel-room http://portsmouth-nh.patch.com/articles/woman-raped-in-hotel...

chollida1 14y ago

Another issue is fire/damage and house insurance in general. In my old house we had a legal rental suite. OUr home insurance went way up when we told them we had a tenant. We thought about not mentioning this, until it was pointed out that if a fire was started by the tenant and the insurance company found out there was a tenant then we'd get nothing. And insurance companies are very good about finding out things like this.