
Airbnb quietly shut down a top host amid scathing reviews but guest were to stay - 3x3matrix
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/airbnb-montreal-aj-host-suspended-accounts-1.5252233
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SilasX
The title understates the issue (and has typos, but whatever). It's not just
that Airbnb didn't do anything for the guests they knew where doomed by their
booking with a scummy operator[1].

It's that it was so easy for the scummy operator to just move over to another
account, and that obviously fake -- even duplicate! -- reviews persisted while
real ones didn't.

[1] I don't say "host" because this guy ran so many properties he wasn't
really a host in any capacity.

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19ylram49
Yup. Major “yikes” situation here.

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adossi
Can someone explain to me why I, a hypothetical traveller, would choose to
stay in someone's Airbnb instead of a similarly priced hotel? I simply don't
understand the attraction. I've only heard negative things about Airbnb, their
business practices, dishonest hosts/listings, etc. At least with a hotel there
is some semblance of responsibility. If you walk into your hotel room and
there is a big pile of dog shit on the mattress, they'll give you a new room
or send some staff up to remedy the situation. Why would I ever want to bunk
in Joe Shmoe's bedroom?

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tenebrisalietum
1\. You get better value for your money on an Airbnb if the Airbnb is honest
and good. Stick with ones with high ratings and many reviews, and talk to your
host if there is a problem.

2\. Price. We've hosted via Airbnb for a year. We rent out a room and bathroom
for $30 a night. It takes us a half hour to flip the room, plus an occasional
outlay of supplies like soap, etc., so this is a good investment for me. You
won't find that price anywhere in or near the major city closest to me.

~~~
jaclaz
>1\. You get better value for your money on an Airbnb if the Airbnb is honest
and good. Stick with ones with high ratings and many reviews, and talk to your
host if there is a problem.

Sure, the issue is the _if_ (which should be guaranteed by Airbnb and isn't).

>2\. Price. We've hosted via Airbnb for a year. We rent out a room and
bathroom for $30 a night. It takes us a half hour to flip the room, plus an
occasional outlay of supplies like soap, etc., so this is a good investment
for me. You won't find that price anywhere in or near the major city closest
to me.

Your case is the "right" way, you have a spare room in your house and you rent
it, but a large part of Airbnb accomodations (even the good ones) are _like_
the ones described in the article, a self-standing apartment (actually - if it
is good - more suitable to a family than a hotel room) _somewhere_ you never
meet the host, not when you arrive (either combination lock with code sent via
text or physical keys in a box with a combination lock) not when you go away,
if you have an issue of any kind during the night, let's say that the
electricity goes off or there is no water all you have is a mobile phone
number (and it has to be seen if anyone will answer your call).

For domestic travels (and with a car) you still have some ways out in case of
issues (an hotel nearby, if any), but think of an international travel (in a
country you don't speak the local language) and with no available infividual
means of transportation ...

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ertian
> Sure, the issue is the if (which should be guaranteed by Airbnb and isn't).

But in a hotel you're guaranteed a good experience? I've personally had much
better luck with AirBnB than with hotels, in the same price range.

~~~
jaclaz
>But in a hotel you're guaranteed a good experience?

Usually, yes, and, additionally, you are going in a place that is surely
registered with the local authorities, has been licensed to host you, follows
a number of Laws (regarding - among the others - size of the rooms, safety,
hygiene, preparation of food, etc.) that is human-presided and that has a lot
to loose if it gets a "bad name".

Obviously if you are in the _same_ price range, you are going to (you choose)
a "better" AirBnb or a "worse" hotel.

A hotel has - again obviously - much higher running costs than a rented room
in a house or than an apartment, as hotels tend to have personnel and pay
them.

Conversely - viceversa - an AirBnB run "as a hotel" \- has even greater costs
(no economy of scale)than a hotel, only very often the owners (at least here,
Italy) are not very good at math and if they operate according to the Law,
once they have paid costs, commissions and taxes they find out they gave
essentially invested a lot of money with very little return.

One or two spare rooms (like the one the parent poster described) inside one
own's apartement and run by the family is what an Airbnb should be (but often
isn't).

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fred_is_fred
Either my parser is broken or this headline is... "Airbnb quietly shut down a
top host amid scathing reviews but guest were to stay"?

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SilasX
It should be "guests"; full title from link is: "Airbnb quietly shut down a
top host amid scathing reviews, but hundreds of guests were left to stay with
him". The dropped plural throws the whole thing off.

