

My first Airbnb experience - bgentry
http://bgentry.posterous.com/my-first-airbnb-experience

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nodata
To put it bluntly, this guy is being a dick.

> Names of Airbnb reps have been changed.

But not the host's name. A direct link to the host from a high traffic site
for everyone to see? Not cool.

I've had _hotel_ bookings cancelled. Airbnb gave the guy a 150 dollar credit!
That's pretty good.

> I know this isn't representative of all Airbnb experiences, but I felt my
> story was worth sharing.

If it's not representative at all (and it isn't, I use Airbnb a lot), what's
the point in sharing? Revenge?

~~~
bgentry
_But not the host's name. A direct link to the host from a high traffic site
for everyone to see? Not cool._

I linked to the host's page because it shows at least some proof that this
story is true. There is an auto-generated comment at the bottom showing that
my reservation was canceled after confirmation.

I did not include Airbnb employee names because I don't believe they were
doing anything outside of the norm for their company, and do not deserve to be
individually called out.

 _I've had hotel bookings cancelled. Airbnb gave the guy a 150 dollar credit!
That's pretty good._

No, they gave me an up to $150 credit that I couldn't actually use because I
couldn't find an available property. This credit did not apply towards future
trips, only this particular trip.

 _If it's not representative at all (and it isn't, I use Airbnb a lot), what's
the point in sharing? Revenge?_

A representative sample is made up of many individual experiences. When you
shop on Amazon, do you only look at 5 star reviews, or do you use 1-2 star
reviews to help assess what a bad experience looks like?

Mine is just one experience, but it is different from the norm and highlights
what I perceive to be several severe flaws with Airbnb's current value
proposition. I also had a very timely experience with a competitor, so it
provides a sample point to compare how the two companies treat their customers
under unfortunate circumstances.

