

Y Combinator’s Airbed&Breakfast Casts A Wider Net For Housing Rentals As AirBnB - thepanister
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/04/y-combinators-airbed-and-breakfast-casts-a-wider-net-for-housing-rentals-as-airbnb/

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sachinag
Feedback from posting my couch for rent:

#Street: Just the street or the number and the street? I'm guessing you want
number and street because you ask for apartment number. (Added upon
completion: The listing doesn't display number, but the map has the point
correct. I like the choices you make on what to display and how; I didn't like
being confused on what to enter.)

#City and ZIP: Just ZIP and lookup City/State or ask for all three: City,
State, and ZIP. Don't do things that are different just to be different.

#Room Type: Is my Living Room a Shared Room? Probably, but don't make me
think, I'm drinking. Perhaps add a few options to the drop down.

#Name of Space: Why only 15 characters? I can't fit "Pull-Out Sofabed" there.

#Availability: The calendars are confusing. I wanted to test by just listing
it for the weekend. Perhaps your default should be "never available" instead
of "always available", then have me chose days. To make the weekend the
availability takes three time frames.

Here's my listing: <http://airbnb.com/airbeds/show/5703>

I know you ABNB people are here on HN and I want to talk to you. E-mail me or
I'll get the TicketStumbler guys to stab you. That is all.

~~~
brianchesky
Hey Sachin, thanks for the comments. The street address is hidden until the
host accepts the reservation. I think the other things you have pointed out
need to be better optimized. We will be expanding the 15 character limit and
updating the calendar, for example. Thank you for posting your room. More
feedback is welcome.

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mattjaynes
"Recently, HomeAway, a popular vacation rental site, raised $250 million in a
venture round and was valued at more than $1 billion."

$250 million for a similar site? What am I missing? It's just so hard to
fathom why a web startup would need so much money.

~~~
natrius
They acquired a whole bunch of home rental sites from around the world. That's
one way to go, I suppose. Even with all of that money, I bet more people know
about AirBnB from their inauguration housing thing than have ever heard of
HomeAway.

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callmeed
Here's my take: AirBnB isn't just casting a wider net. They're changing their
entire business model because the original one is _severely flawed_.

I've said this before: renting a room/bed out of your home like a hotel most
likely violates multiple tax and business laws in just about every US city ...
LET ALONE the severe liability someone faces should a guest in your home slip
in the shower and break their collar bone.

I've worked at a resort hotel. Cities have specific bed taxes. Hotels have to
be inspected. They have liability insurance. Vacation rental owners pay taxes.
Some cities _don't even allow_ short-term vacation rentals.

We've already seen the ride-sharing website ruled illegal in some cities. I
predict the same thing will happen here.

If AirBnB wants to go the legitimate route and compete with VRBO, HomeAway,
etc. ... great. But I've honestly been stumped by this site since it's
inception. I have nothing but respect for YC/PG, but I honestly can't
understand what they saw in the original business plan/model. If I was a VC, I
wouldn't touch this site.

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alecco
I really like the idea and the execution :) I don't like the large middle-men
cut :-/

    
    
      > For each rental, AirBnB takes a 7 to 10 percent cut of the traveler’s payment (as the rental
      > price of the accommodation goes up, AirBnB will take less of a cut) and also takes a flat 3
      > percent cut of what the seller receives.

~~~
fallentimes
How do you expect them to make money for the service they provide? Are you
arguing for no cut or a lower one?

~~~
Avshalom
How a about a more honest pricing structure, or at least more straight
forward. note from the official FAQ: "There is no charge to list your room -
it is free to post. We charge the guest a 5-12% service fee during the
checkout process. The host receives the amount they set, minus a small 3% fee
for credit card processing."

now that reads to me like the lessor ends up paying 3% of 112% of their posted
rate, which means the customer actually ends up paying 15.8% (or 13.8% depends
on which way you want to talk about percent, also this is at 12%) more than
the lessor actually receives. Also I take it to mean that the $30 room in city
X will magically become a $33 room when I actually try to stay there. Neither
strikes me as very good from a customer experience point of view (customer
being either side of the equation in this sentence), as well as somewhat
unpredictable.

~~~
picasso81
booking on any travel site (airfare, hotel) includes a fee at the end of the
booking process. orbitz/expedia/hotels.com charge 16%+.

6-12% service fee actually favors the guest; the larger the total reservation,
the smaller the fee.

3% is a flat fee for the host based on their raw listing price.

~~~
alecco
Yes, and that is terrible. To be fair, those others have to pay structure
behind to support customers properly.

