

One simple but powerful reason to avoid using AirBnB: It is very risky - vikramgoyal
http://craftgossip.com/blog/one-simple-but-powerful-reason-to-avoid-using-airbnb-risk/2012/09/30/

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prodigal_erik
Getting the address wrong, not providing the real number, and expecting
worldwide email connectivity for support was all poorly thought out. But worst
is that AirBnB offered an "instant booking" without having any idea whether or
not the host was currently willing and able to honor it. Rule #1: Spammers
lie.

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phillmv
>24 hours earlier, I had made an instant booking for this accommodation on
AirBnB. You know, the one where I don’t have to wait for a confirmation from
the host. As soon as the booking is made, you can pack your bags and go as
AirBnB sends you the address (which later turned out to be incorrect).

If you're travelling with all of the world's luggage, two kids and your mother
in law, why the hell would you book accommodation the day before? It's not a
setup that can bear any risk. Or even chill out at a nearby coffeeshop for an
hour or two if your host gets delayed.

~~~
vikramgoyal
Mother, not mother in law :).

The host wasn't delayed. I had no idea what the host was doing.

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vasco
So he takes two little kids to a country where he doesn't speak the language,
with no directions, no confirmed place to stay, unreliable internet
connectivity and somehow he isn't the one to blame?

~~~
vikramgoyal
I am. And that is why, I will not be using AirBnB to make the same mistake. :)
That is the crux of my article.

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zachalexander
Key quote:

> "24 hours earlier, I had made an instant booking for this accommodation on
> AirBnB. You know, the one where I don’t have to wait for a confirmation from
> the host. As soon as the booking is made, you can pack your bags and go as
> AirBnB sends you the address"

Key question: is that actually how it works? If Airbnb says you can go
directly to the address as soon as the booking is made, and expect to be let
in, the author has a valid complaint. If not, well, not.

I don't know how Airbnb works, but my hunch is that an "instant booking" just
means you get instant confirmation that you have, in fact, successfully
reserved a room for a given set of nights. I would be surprised if it also
meant that you have a right to expect the host to let you into the house
_immediately_. If I reserve an Airbnb room at midnight, and show up at the
address at 2 am, surely I don't have a right to expect to be let in on the
spot.

~~~
vikramgoyal
> I don't know how Airbnb works, but my hunch is that an "instant booking"
> just means you get instant confirmation that you have, in fact, successfully
> reserved a room for a given set of nights

It also means that I am instantaneously liable for the cancellation charges.
If the host doesn't respond after the instant booking (as happened in this
case) I forfeit all the money. There is something wrong in this business case
and AirBnB should look in to it.

I have already talked about the other issues in my post.

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ISeemToBeAVerb
Yeah, this sounds like poor planning to me. Most of the complaints are
limitations of the traveler writing the story, not AirBnB. Plus, the author
admits that a tragedy was the reason the homeowner didn't reach out. That's
unfortunate for all parties involved, but it does not represent how the
service generally works.

~~~
vikramgoyal
The AirBnB service made a bad situation worse by insisting that I pay for
cancellation when I had no choice but to cancel as the host wasn't there!

Again, it shows that AirBnB is risky thing to do when travelling with kids, in
a foreign country... but I repeat myself.

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broabprobe
This seems to have nothing to do with Airbnb. Wouldn't common sense tell you
that even though it's "instantly confirmed" to get some other kind of
confirmation before taking your whole family to Italy without speaking
Italian?

~~~
vikramgoyal
Yes, but with the reservation only 24 hours old, I was hoping to get some sort
of communication from the host by the time I was in the city.

BTW, as I have mentioned in the article, I was already in Italy and going from
Rome to Padua.

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vikramgoyal
Hi everyone..

I am the author of that post and just wanted to clarify a few things.

First, the intention of the post was twofold: Blow off a little steam at the
anger I was feeling and second, to highlight the risk someone is likely to
face in a similar situation.

I have already admitted that this was risky, and therefore, not a great idea
to do. In a similar situation, a better deal would have been to book a hotel
rather than go through AirBnB. And that is the crux of my article. AirBnB is
risky in a similar situation (travelling with family, travelling overseas
etc.)

Next, the major issue and the failures were AirBnB's on multiple fronts:

1\. Sending me the address wrong. I am not sure how this happened, but either
the host deliberately provided the wrong address to AirBnB or something went
wrong in the AirBnB's system.

2\. Their support insisted that I wait for 5 hours or more for the host to be
at the address. Otherwise they would charge me for the cancellation. Again,
note that the address that they wanted me to go to was the wrong address (and
no one knew at that point that that was the wrong address).

3\. Asking me to follow up on the email rather than try and sort the situation
over the phone.

Regards, Vikram

I will individually reply to the comments if there is something specific that
needs addressing.

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angdis
It is only "risky" if you do what the author of the article did and leave no
room for error. I have used airBnB several times in foreign countries and
always had a fine time (albeit with a few minor glitches). Although the same
is true even for hotel arrangements, with airBnB it is even more important to
plan ahead, confirm things, and stay flexible.

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snoble
So the faults of AirBnB would be much clearer if the author would make clear
that he understands he made obvious mistakes. This is one of those cases a
little bit of mea culpa would have made his point so much clearer. As it is
the reader skips over judgement for AirBnB and only thinks about how can this
author think what he did to his family was ok.

~~~
vikramgoyal
I agree. What I did to my family was risky by booking via AirBnB for such a
short notice accommodation.. that is the whole point of the article...

