
I stumbled across an Airbnb scam that’s taking over London - aluket
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/airbnb-scam-london
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siberianbear
I travel a _lot_. I've had so many bad experiences with AirBnB. Despite their
high fees, it's almost impossible to get their customer support to read any
kind of complaint and give an apropos response. Their responses are usually
non-sequitur: they don't give an on-topic response to the issue.

I switched to just using Bonvoy/Marriott and staying in hotels. Now I have a
high status level (titanium), and they really do anything they can to make me
happy. And actually, there is much rarely any issue for me to complain about:
mostly they just get things right in the first place. And with high status,
they give me room upgrades, free breakfast, late checkout, free nights and
points.

Now I only use AirBnB for stays of a month or more.

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fred_is_fred
The killer feature with AirBnB for me was always the ability to cook a meal
and save money, but once you are Platinum at Bonvoy you generally get free
breakfast and lounge access (depending on the property). The lounge has
breakfast, snacks, alcohol, drinks, and enough apps to qualify for a dinner
(and also dessert). It's a very underrated feature.

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zeequreshi
Vice covered a similar scam (also in Nov. 2019)
[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-
ho...](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-host-scam-on-
airbnb)

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FearNotDaniel
I think it's a cheap shot to call out "the Catholic church" in the subhead
like that, implying they have any involvement in the scam simply because they
are the freeholders of the land in question.

~~~
raattgift
If the leaseholder covenants to the freeholder that it will have certain types
of sub-tenancies only (e.g. two year terms, assured tenancies, and so forth --
these are common terms in leases) than the leaseholder is in breach, and the
freeholder can (if it chooses to) enforce. The whole cost of enforcement is
almost always borne by a leaseholder in breach, and the threat of forfeit is
an exceptionally strong one.

When a freeholder becomes aware that a leaseholder -- especially one on a very
short-term lease of five years -- is engaged in behaviour that is almost
certainly a breach of leasing conditions, and does nothing to enforce, it is
perfectly reasonable to call both the leaseholder and the freeholder out.
Especially where the freeholder obtained concessions from the local
government. This applies to any freeholder.

The idea that this particular freeholder is somehow trapped into the freehold
(or can do little or nothing about a bad leaseholder or its sub-lessees,
guests, customers, or whatever) is pretty ludicrous, even for an organization
which has proven untruthful on other scandalous matters. And this _is_ a
scandalous matter, and seems like it might become an actual scandal.

Local elections in London are scheduled for Thursday 7 May 2020.

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dazc
If your host is called something like 'Robert & Team' then you're pretty much
assured of a bad experience.

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joshmn
This is why when I do book with AirBnB I make sure that I'm booking with a
superhost. It shouldn't have to be that way, but it is, and I'm happy to put a
dollar amount on my sanity. There are stories of "bad superhosts", or rather
bad stories of bookings with hosts that have superhost status, but they're
measurably fewer.

Like every marketplace, there are going to be fraudsters taking advantage of
it. It's the world we live in. No marketplace is immune to fraud.

