

Airbnb launches new tools to strengthen communication & identity - sinzone
http://blog.airbnb.com/creating-meaningful-connections

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nodata
Nice, but I'd like to see a couple more things:

* Verification by credit card as a feature on profile pages - I would wager that credit cards are a better trust metric than facebook profiles. I'd like to see it count for something on a profile page.

* A balance between opening up a lot of personal data to stay at someone's place and sharing it with the whole world - I'd like my profile photo and video profile to be hidden from search engines. Only hosts who I want to stay with should be able to see it.

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Shenglong
You can steal a credit card, but it'd be more difficult to steal an active
Facebook profile and keep it for any period of time. Fake Facebook profiles
aren't easy to build up, and you'd have to be _really_ malicious to go through
the trouble. It would eliminate the "just for fun" aspect that many of these
perverted abusers would enjoy.

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wtn
I'm glad they are deemphasizing Facebook profiles for established users. I
don't feel comfortable sharing details of my life with Airbnb hosts.

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WarDekar
It's also going to make it pretty hard to get started if you don't have a
Facebook profile I would imagine. Thankfully I already have positive reviews
through a dozen-ish stays on AirBnB or I would probably be screwed since I'm
not on Facebook.

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bignoggins
I'm impressed. These features can't be trivial to implement though, so
something tells me they've been baking for a while.

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jonknee
I'd guess a little over a month...

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bradly
While the Voice Connect is great for hosts, as a frequent AirBnB guest I don't
really want to feel like I am being interviewed when book I place to stay.

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angryasian
agree, why go through all this trouble when I can go on priceline get a hotel
room for a similar price.

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bvi
Nobody is stopping you from doing that. The entire point of AB&B is that you
truly (could) get to stay at "home away from home", and experience what you
wouldn't get at a hotel.

Not that I'm defending or promoting AB&B, but staying at someone's _home_ as
opposed to a hotel would obviously need more stringent requirements
(background checks etc) that I'm sure most people wouldn't mind going through.

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TheSkeptic
AirBnB's fundamental flaw is that the potential costs (in the form of monetary
losses) of renting out a home to a stranger far exceed the economic benefits
that can ever be realized, particularly for hosts who are violating local laws
and/or are violating the terms of a lease by subletting properties they don't
own. These "features" do nothing to address this.

Voice Connect? Professional scammers are usually very persuasive if not
downright charming. The ability to speak to a prospective guest will not deter
experienced criminals.

Video Connect? These are for hosts only, but even if they were for prospective
guests too, a professional con would have little problem putting together a
convincing video.

References? These, obviously, are subject to gaming, but notwithstanding that,
I doubt very much that a significant number of hosts are going to turn down an
otherwise solid-looking guest who is "new" to AirBnB and doesn't have any
references.

24/7 Hotline? If your AirBnB experience turns into a nightmare, you're
probably better off making sure your first call is to your attorney.

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caf
How do you think the new "AirBnB Guarantee" affects this calculus (which
really seems to be an insurance policy)?

 _Starting August 15th, when hosts book reservations through Airbnb their
personal property will be covered for loss or damage due to vandalism or theft
caused by an Airbnb guest up to $50,000 with our Airbnb Guarantee. Terms will
apply to the program and may vary (e.g. by country). This program will also
apply retroactively to any hosts who may have reported such property damage
prior to August 1, 2011._

~~~
TheSkeptic
AirBnB's guarantee doesn't affect this at all. Here's an example:

You rent an apartment and have a standard lease that forbids subletting. You
travel a lot on business and decide to rent out your apartment for $150/night
five days a month anyway. That's $750/month, or $9,000/year, in your pocket
pre-tax. Not bad, but....

One day, you rent to an individual who happens to be a heavy drug user with a
criminal record. You don't know this because you didn't perform any due
diligence.

When your guest is confronted by one of your neighbors about a noise issue, he
brutally assaults your neighbor. During the assault, your neighbor suffers
major head trauma and is rushed to the hospital, where he undergoes emergency
surgery in an attempt to save his life. Following the surgery, he is comatose
and if he recovers at all, will require months if not years of rehabilitation.
In the best case scenario, the doctors believe he will likely have some
permanent brain damage that may prevent him from living a full, productive
life.

When it comes to light that you were violating the terms of your lease and
renting your apartment to complete strangers in exchange for money without
doing any real due diligence on your guests, it's very likely you'll be sued
by the victim's family. Needless to say, given the amount of damages you may
owe if you're not successful in defending yourself, you're going to need a
great lawyer. They don't come cheap. AirBnB's $50,000 guarantee? That only
applies to damage due to vandalism or theft, but even if it applied to
everything, won't even cover the cost of the victim's initial surgery.

Obviously, this is an extreme example, but it's well within the realm of
possibility. There are plenty of other scenarios, less extreme, under which an
individual could conceivably be personally liable for damages far in excess of
what they will ever make using AirBnB, and far in excess of what AirBnB says
it will cover.

By the way, AirBnB's guarantee is almost certainly not an insurance policy,
even though the company (intentionally or unintentionally) is going to confuse
people who don't understand the difference between a guarantee and an
insurance policy.

As far as I know, AirBnB is not registered as an insurance company in any
state, and I doubt very much that a legitimate insurance company would sell a
policy for most AirBnB rentals without, at the very minimum, proof that the
host has the authority to sublet and that he or she is not violating any local
ordinances that apply to rentals and hotels.

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caf
This scenario seems pretty far-fetched. Are the even any examples of people
being sued where they _knowingly_ allowed a violent person to reside at their
apartment, and that person then assaulted a neighbour? The fact that the
violent person is a paying customer does not appear to change the duty of care
owed to neighbours.

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TheSkeptic
Under premises liability law, a tenant is generally responsible for personal
injuries to guests, invitees and others (who are legally on the premises) if
the tenant had control of the premises or was responsible for creating the
dangerous condition that led to the injuries. IANAL but a quick Google search
will provide you with the relevant statutes and case law.

If you sublet your apartment to a third party in violation of your lease and
you fail to take reasonable security measures (verifying identities,
conducting credit and background checks, signing agreements, etc.), you should
expect to be sued for negligence if and when something goes wrong. Might you
successfully argue that the injury in question was unforeseeable even under
these circumstances? Sure, but you'll still lose because making that argument
will be costly.

Finally, even if you somehow believe that there's no risk in subletting your
apartment to strangers, you should consider alternative liability scenarios,
like your guest suffering an injury while staying in your apartment. This too
makes AirBnB a juicy target for cons, as it would be relatively easy to stage
an accident with the intention of suing the host.

The net-net:

1\. Being sued is an expensive hobby and anyone renting out his apartment to
strangers to pocket a few extra bucks is always one guest away from
discovering this.

2\. There are good reasons most landlords forbid subletting.

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nedwin
nice work guys. As a regular host and guest I can see how these are going to
help a lot.

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shaggyfrog
While this all looks great, I can't help but wondering the entire time I'm
reading this: _What's the latest news with the EJ situation?_

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whakojacko
Complete guess: they paid her to shut up (with some sort of NDA)

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donnacha
Of course. Pity they did it a month too late.

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wtn
You can't buy that kind of publicity.

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donnacha
They should include a photo that shows owners what a meth pipe actually looks
like.

