

AirBnb (YC W09): Europe Without Hotels - fleaflicker
http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/travel/18couch.html?ref=travel

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ryanwaggoner
Writing this from a nice, quiet room in London that my wife and I found via
Airbnb. We arrived to find that our guesthouse had flooded and most everything
not outrageously expensive in London was booked, so we posted to the standby
list on Airbnb and had a great place at a great price in less than an hour. We
showed up a few hours ago and met the owner, a very (very) nice lady in her
50s who decided to try and bring in a bit of extra cash by renting out her
spare room. She made us tea while we swapped life stories and then she showed
us around the neighborhood. All in all, a _great_ experience with Airbnb and I
highly recommend giving it a try.

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dschobel
Perhaps the title should be amended to show that this article is a big deal
because it is a NYT Travel piece about AirBnB.

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tamarindo
It's not a "piece about AirBnB":

 _"While AirBnB is the largest of these new services, it isn’t the only one. A
half-dozen upstarts have emerged in the last two years, with names like
iStopOver.com and Crashpadder.com, offering the convenience of a hotel, the
comforts of a home and the price tag of an up-market hostel. Call them social
B &B networks, or maybe peer-to-peer hotels."_

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rriepe
It's the featured example in a story about the type of product. Very much a PR
win for AirBnB.

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euroclydon
Once the first big crime happens, these same newspapers are going to turn
around and scare the hell out of everybody.

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fleaflicker
it was on the cover of today's travel section, i initially posted it with
airbnb in the title.

there's an interesting paragraph towards the end about the legal issues

 _When I contacted AirBnB about its stance on the questionable legality of
listings in some cities, a spokesman declined to comment._

i'm also curious if they've had any safety issues (thefts, stalkers, etc).

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oldgregg
We're pretty active on AirBnB and don't worry too much about theft. The fact
that they require people's credit cards is a pretty good deterrent. If I was a
woman traveling/hosting by myself I would be much more cautious, but no doubt
it's safer than something like couch surfing.

The legal issue is certainly the bigger problem. The hotel industry has a ton
of political clout and the only reason laws are not more widespread is that it
hasn't been on their radar until recently. It will be interesting to see how
AirBnB deals with increasing regulation-- if Barney Fife starts kicking in
doors it could be PR nightmare for local government.

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_delirium
Are there any sort of estimates from AirBnB of how safe overall it is? One of
the main things keeping me from subletting (I live in a touristy area, so
there's plenty of demand) is a worry that the risk/reward isn't that great,
since it only takes 1 in 100 people trashing my place to cost me a lot more
than the 100 sublets get me. Even for lower-level damage/theft, it seems like
it'd be difficult to recoup the costs. If someone steals my stereo system,
does AirBnB help out in any way? Or even without malicious renters, if say
someone spills something and ruins my carpet, will AirBnB help me bill them
for the replacement cost? It seems that requiring a CC isn't much help unless
they're willing to charge the CC for me. I guess I could use the information
about their identity to sue them, but I'm not sure how sympathetic courts will
be to a lawsuit for damages incurred during an illegal sublet (and the lawsuit
wouldn't be worth filing for damages in the $1k-$5k range anyway).

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jacquesm
I think you may be outside of the target demographic. The people that would
sublet their digs through services like these are most likely not worried
about a stain on the carpet.

It's like hitchhiking for houses, just like you wouldn't take hitchhikers in
your limo you probably won't sublet your fancy apartment. But a basic place
with people that are not too nervous about appearances or that trust their
sense of character judgment should be a fine way to make this work. You get to
meet new and interesting people, life is risky anyway, this sort of thing
seems pretty low on the risk ladder.

Also, in Europe the general sentiment is much less litigious than the United
States and someone suing someone else here for small stuff like that is
practically unheard of. Usually it would be understood that the party at fault
would cover the damage.

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_delirium
If you're talking about renting out a room while you also live there, I can
definitely see that reducing the risk. The article seemed to be talking about
people subletting out their apartments while they're out of town, though.
People around here do do that, but incidence of major damage is not that
infrequent (it seems to be a favorite topic of the local paper, and comes up
every few months). Often, people require damage deposits to mitigate the risk
from that, which AirBnB doesn't seem to allow.

In particular, since I'm near the beach, people like to rent out apartments
and houses for bachelor parties, spring-break trips, graduation parties, etc.,
and those can end up causing significant damage, occasionally in the $10k+
range (beer-drenched walls requiring drywall replacement and repainting,
etc.).

I don't really have a lot of choice about whether I'm worried about carpet
stains or other damage, anyway. If there's damage when I move out that wasn't
there when I moved in, my landlord will charge me for it. It's not a fancy
apartment by any stretch, but I'm still not allowed to damage it.

~~~
jacquesm
If you are renting the property and you leave it to total strangers without
supervision then I really understand.

My situation is a small farmhouse, I've given the keys to this place to quite
a few people and only one didn't live up to expectations so I ended the
arrangement. But for the most part it's been pretty positive, and I would do
it again. I think it really boils down to being totally clear about what is
and is not allowed and/or expected.

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whyenot
This sounds great, but I see problems on the horizon. If you are using a site
like AirBnB I assume you are able to avoid paying hotel related taxes. Many
cities get a significant portion of their revenue from these taxes. There are
already laws on the books in many cities that restrict AirBnB style rentals.
It's only a matter of time before cities begin enforcing those laws.

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forcer
I was very hopeful for AirBnB as we are travelling around the world and any
way to save on accomodation is great. However, we just had a terrible
experience with our first let in Montreal, Canada. To be fair - AirBnB support
staff is helpful but the apartment we picked up was a disaster - the owner
didn't live there - it was just a letting company. And they gave us wrong
instructions to pickup the keys so we ended up trying to find a hotel at 11PM
in the night just so we don't sleep under the bridge :( Hopefully next time it
will be better...

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gmjosack
Excited to come across this article as I just quit my job to go backpacking
across Europe for a few months with my girlfriend. I had planned to stay in
hostels and use couch surfing but I'm glad to see a few more options
available. Thanks!

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RiderOfGiraffes
Single page:
[http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/travel/18couch.html?ref...](http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/travel/18couch.html?ref=travel&pagewanted=all)

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Alex3917
It would be cool if AirBnB had suggested travel itineraries through different
countries that integrated with the service. Just a suggestion.

