
AirBnB is now available in Cuba - profquail
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-02/airbnb-is-now-available-in-cuba
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buster
Funny thing is that Cuba already has its own "airbnb" called "casa
particulares", it's definitely a great way to travel! :)

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fennecfoxen
you know, there are a couple of nice things about AirBnB that $COMPETITOR from
Cuba can't easily match. For instance, first-world travelers are already quite
willing to trust it with their credit cards. For another, it has global renown
and doesn't need to advertise heavily to be found.

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buster
There is no competitor, it's an initiative from the state cuba. It's also not
like it is heavily advertised. It just was basically the only option until
now. I frequently use airbnb, so i know that it's great. Just saying that Cuba
the state already had that kind of offering for years, as a fact.

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matt4077
casa particulars are more of a concept than a business entity. It pretty much
means "Bed&Breakfast" (without the breakfast). The government involvement is
licensing & taxation, although there's a thriving black market as well.

If anything, this will help AirBnB adoption since the concept of renting out a
spare room is already widely known.

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servilio
> It pretty much means "Bed&Breakfast"

No, it means something like "independent household". But functionally, yes,
they are "bread & (maybe) breakfast".

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edvinasbartkus
There was Brian's (CEO) tweet in December reacting to White House news. It
took three months and they made it happen.

[https://twitter.com/bchesky/status/545597231164706816](https://twitter.com/bchesky/status/545597231164706816)

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ianpurton
I have mixed success with AirBnB as a traveller. I would say 80% of my
requests to stay in a place are either ignored or rejected. I'm mainly talking
about hosts from the UK.

In the end I just stay in Hotels, it's less hassle, often cheaper.

As for Cuba, very surprised if they have 1000 properties available. Getting
internet access in Cuba is pretty much impossible.

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simonswords82
Yeah AirBnB hasn't really taken off here in the UK as it has elsewhere. Not
sure if that's a cultural thing (letting your home out to strangers) or
something else. Like you said, much better to stay at a hotel or B & B if
travelling to the UK

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andreasen
Thats interesting. I always thought bed & breakfast was a British "invention".
The b&b's (in Scotland) I've stayed at have always been a pleasure, complete
with toast and jam. Edit: sorry - didn't read your last paragraph about about
b&b. But I would've thought b&b would be in the same market as airbnb?

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Ntrails
But almost no actual "B&B"s are using airbnb, in my experience at least. The
vast majority are spare rooms being let (or in some cases converted living
rooms etc just to try and cope with london rents).

I spent about 4 months "between homes" and Airbnb got me through most of it.
It's a hugely mixed experience, but in many ways I'm glad I did it.

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nodesocket
After watching Conan's visit to Cuba, it looks like an awesome destination.

[http://teamcoco.com/cuba](http://teamcoco.com/cuba)

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kenrikm
Conan almost looks like Caesar Flickerman on the streets of Havana. My wife is
Cuban, I grew up in Miami. Cuba is a beautiful country with an interesting
culture and a extremely corrupt oppressive government. The government of Cuba
lies somewhere between Russia and North Korea for political oppression it is
the type of place where expressing discontent the government in your own home
can get you thrown in jail for years without judicial process. I do not have
the words to describe the soul sucking disparity that exists in that country
if you're not coming in with first world money.

Marco Rubio only scratched the surface of the reality in this speech:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_wKhXurFyI&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_wKhXurFyI&feature=youtu.be)

My brother in Law was thrown in jail for a year just for trying to leave the
country. He went into jail 200lbs and exited just over 110bs.

Please understand with some intellectual honesty that people will not risk
their lives [1] and face jail time in the equivalent of a Russian gulag if
things are peachy dory.

[1] [http://bestcubaguide.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/07/balseros...](http://bestcubaguide.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/07/balseros-cubanos.jpg)

~~~
throwy
Cuban here, I also lived in Russia several months and my wife is Russian. Cuba
is well below Russia (and of course North Corea) in terms of oppression. Marco
Rubio never lived in Cuba and only reflects the feelings of the previous
generation of Cuban that emigrated to Miami when Castro took the power. This
is understandable as Castro took many of their properties but has nothing to
do with how cubans from 2015 feel. This can be easily seen when you note that
he spoke against the Cuba-US relationship improvement recently introduced by
Obama which is clearly something most of cuban supported.

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kenrikm
My wife lived in Cuba from when she was born up until 2005 when her
grandmother was finally able to get a family reclamation to go through. She
knows many who were thrown in jail just for being associated with people who
the government was "unhappy with". I would agree it's not as bad as North
Korea, maybe my opinion of Russia is too high.

~~~
throwy
I never knew anybody who went to jail for speaking against the government
neither directly heard such a story but I can believe that happens(journalist
Yoanis Sanchez is an example). This is the way I see it, the government
normally don't care much about this people or what they think/say, except when
they try to do something that could affect their public image, for example if
the Pope comes to visit and they want to organize a public protest. In this
circunstances they are preventively sent to jail, and afterwards released when
the visitor is gone. It is often the case that real criminals present
themselves as "politic prisoners", that adds much noise to the whole situation
and usually gets exaggerated by the media in Miami. While this is not ok, in
Russia people actually get killed in similar circumstances, while the main
opposition leaders in Cuba are all alive.

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KFW504
When you think about it, this is fascinating from a geopolitical perspective
more than anything...wish this had been discussed more in the article

[http://www.newsweek.com/normalizing-relations-cuba-
unfinishe...](http://www.newsweek.com/normalizing-relations-cuba-unfinished-
agenda-303232)

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yogurt
This looks like a nice Cuban Airbnb place to lounge:
[https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5717762?s=Yoe5](https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5717762?s=Yoe5)

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CountHackulus
The article claims that this is only open to US customers? Those of us in
other countries, like say Canada, have been going to Cuba for years, and
having AirBnB would be great. Was this just a mis-type?

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negrit
Interesting too, lately I've seen a growth of cuban users on my job-board in
order to move to the US.

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clamprecht
Does AirBnb really only charge 3% as the article says? I thought it was closer
to 10%.

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egze
It's a bit of a marketing trick. 3% from the guest, 7% from the host, or vice
versa. (Not sure or course if it's exactly 3 and 7%, just the general idea)

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ape4
AirBnb doesn't have to do anything to move into a new country. Just accept
listings.

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rdeboo
The article states that they were previously forced to block Cuban ip
addresses and that AirBnb actively lobbied to be allowed to do business there.
Also they had to find a way to forward payments to Cubans as most of the banks
will not do this.

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Splendor
This title seems to be missing the '(YC 2009)' indicator.

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Splendor
To those downvoting: a short comment explaining why you disagree would be
helpful. If I've made a mistake I'd like to know so I don't repeat it. Thanks.

