
Airbnb could plan to IPO by late 2020 - Ours90
https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/airbnb-could-plan-to-ipo-by-late-2020/
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pastor_elm
Last time I traveled, I found a bunch of the places I saw on Airbnb listed on
other sites for cheaper. More alarming, there were significantly more negative
reviews on these other sites (even on a site like Booking), than there were on
Airbnb.

I'm sure Airbnb will continue to grow, but it seems awfully saturated to me
already. I'm amazed at how many listings there are for my neighborhood (in
NYC). All these hosts with a dozen locations that they barely maintain. Hard
to find verify a host actually cares about a place they rent.

~~~
nostromo
I've noticed Airbnb reviews tend to be very generous. I'm not sure why.

I recently stayed with a friend at an Airbnb in Amsterdam. The bedroom had
noise and smoke from a neighboring bar until around 5am, making it very
difficult to sleep, even with the windows closed.

I didn't book the Airbnb, but I checked the reviews afterwards. Several people
mentioned these problems, but still gave the place 4 or even 5 stars.

I'm not sure what would warrant a 1 star review for these folks short of an
absolute nightmare.

~~~
jghn
At least for folks in the US, a five star rating system usually is:

1: absolute nightmare 2: N/A 3: N/A 4: It was pretty bad 5: Acceptable or
better

~~~
skinnymuch
Is that specifically for Airbnb? It isn’t the case for Amazon, app stores,
TripAdvisor, or Yelp. among other places. Why would Airbnb be different?

~~~
Mithorium
Late response, but I think it has to due with social pressure. You may meet
the host in person, and feel bad about giving someone you know "personally" a
bad rating. Additionally, they are also rating you as a guest, so it may be
awkward if you gave a bad rating when they give you a good one, so people skew
the ratings up.

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pbreit
Current headline listed in HN: "Airbnb could plan to IPO by late 2020"

Actual headline on TechCrunch: "Airbnb aims to be ‘ready’ to go public from
June 30, 2019, creates cash bonus program for staff"

That AirBnB could be ready for an IPO in 1 year is the way important date.

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akerro
Interesting considering that a lot of cities and countries started war against
this business model, it's highly regulated, restricted or completely banned.

~~~
adventured
That's not even remotely a concern as far as their IPO goes. Airbnb's business
is a spectacular success and will remain so. There's no serious threats on the
horizon, that includes regulation and competition. They smashed their own 2017
forecast numbers, delivering $2.6 billion in sales and were profitable.

~~~
basejumping
I use a few platforms, including airbnb, when I look for accomodation. What
makes airbnb better? The only different thing I noticed is that they validate
my ID.

~~~
jMyles
Of course the obvious answer is network effect, but I guess you're saying
that's negligible here? I think I agree. I also think that a decentralized
version, which can more easily avoid censorship, will deliver more value.

~~~
oblio
Is there a decentralized _anything_ that has been successful outside of email?

~~~
dsr_
DNS, although the individual registries are each centralized.

~~~
phamilton
The great Dyn attack of 2016 would disagree with you in practice.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Dyn_cyberattack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Dyn_cyberattack)

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Kilonzus
I have a question, why do companies go public later into their lifespans? If I
was Uber wouldn't I want to go public within a year or two of extreme success
(2013-2014) where my popularity and reviews are higher to garner more interest
and therefore more buyers at a higher initial price? Instead its maybe 8-10
years after launch where regulations and lawsuits have attacked the business
model. Correct me if I'm wrong just wondering.

~~~
casegold
Part of a CFO's job is finding the cheapest capital source for the companies
growth, sometimes that raising private equity and sometimes that is raising
public equity (from IPOs).

Also, being public is a resource drain on the organization. You have to comply
with SEC guidelines, employees have to be watched for insider trading, all of
your company financials and other details are now public for the world to see.
Sometimes the burden doesn't make sense for a high growth company.

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Theodores
So I will revise my expected date for the next stock market crash to 2021
then.

Retail is dying, nobody is buying or selling houses, there are the US tariff
wars, more countries are buying/selling energy without buying dollars first,
the UK is heading for Brexit, the Euro is heading for Brexit, Quantitive
Easing has yet to come home to roost and there are plenty of bubbles.

Meanwhile, everyone has a job and tourism is booming.

I imagine the AirBnB advisors know more than me about these circumstantial
factors and would not want to be doing their big sale on the wrong side of the
inevitable recession/crash.

Best make hay whilst the sun shines.

~~~
yroc92
> nobody is buying or selling houses

You must not live in the US then. Housing prices are climbing to all-time
highs because of demand.

~~~
mandliya
Yes, Redfin shows some of the properties at least in Seattle area are being
sold at an exorbitant price (way more than asking price). Too few houses, too
many buyers!

~~~
okmokmz
Yup, I purchased a house in the Seattle area in 2016 for 12% over the asking
price. This year it appraised for 58% more than what we bought it for. Houses
are regularly selling for over >10% over asking prices as soon as they're
listed

