
Welcome to Your Airbnb - prostoalex
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/opinion/welcome-to-your-airbnb.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0
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michaelmcmillan
I've only stayed with AirBnb twice. Both of my stays were great and I
attribute that to atmosphere this article is poking at.

When toying with the idea of going on a vacation the idea of lying on a beach
drinking beer for 7 seven days sounds fantastic. However, I've found that the
real vacation is experiencing a new culture - and perhaps most importantly
meeting new people.

That's what I like about AirBnb. You get to know and experience new people. An
added bonus is that the hosts are often locals themselves and can help you
avoid the usual tourist traps.

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pluma
That's a nice short story, but I'm not sure what the intention is. Is this
supposed to be a hyperbolic description of the typical Airbnb experience? If
so, I must have been extremely lucky so far (but maybe it's a regional thing
-- I've only used Airbnb in Germany and England).

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peteretep
The Onion are in on it too:

[http://www.theonion.com/graphic/airbnb-vs-
hotels-50934](http://www.theonion.com/graphic/airbnb-vs-hotels-50934)

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ableal
_" Regulatory body : City Zoning Commission ; Comments section"_

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guruparan18
Am I missing something? The article has Airbnb ads above, below and on the
side(with #mankind). I myself have not booked a service with them, but
thrilled to read it (in good way).

*Edit: Explained "thrill".

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panamafrank
I joined AirBnB as a host when it transitioned from being an A to B crowd
thing into a general mass public service with all the warts and
inconsistencies with hosts and guests that brings.

There has to be some magic filter introduced (other than good judgment) to
clean out the desperate or greedy hosts monetising their sub standard assets &
another to filter the rude or plain vandal guests.

On the plus side, if you complain to AirBnB you're treated like a prince!

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siberianbear
I'd like to hear your story about AirBnB customer support treating you like a
prince. They once made a mistake billing my credit card and the customer
support was atrocious. I had to file a chargeback with my bank to get any
justice.

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panamafrank
Wow, that's totally opposite to my exp.

I was in Krakow for unsound festival and i needed a place to stay super late
minute, all that was left was this one plausible place south of the river,
looked nice, okay reviews but in hindsight there were some mentions about
about privacy etc. when i turned up late at night the room was not a private
room but a couch in the kitchen and the actual tenant of this one bed flat was
completely not cool with his landlord renting out the couch like this. so
after one awkward night in krakow i rang up AirBnB, they refunded me the whole
amount and gave me €50 credit.

My scenario was common i expect so it was very one-to-one with the rep, you
must have gone from pillar to post.

Airbnb use Adyen for their payment processing which is a pile of shit when it
comes to dev support imho.

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donkeyd
I'm glad I had a better experience with AirBnB in NYC.

