Misleading headline: the owner set up an account for a family member, but using a criminal's identity, and AirBnB connected the dots. It seems fair enough. Don't use your personal devices to impersonate people you don't really know, or you bear the responsibility.
> Because Janet didn’t have her ID on her, Turner set up the account under Carl’s name, using his phone, email, and ID information.
Wouldn't this violate terms of service? Sounds like a really bad idea in any case. How else would they be able to "associate" her account with Carl's but for this act?
It seems like the article is going out if it’s way to elide this point, but I think the next paragraph explains what happened.
> Shortly afterward, Carl received an email informing him that he was not allowed to be an Airbnb user because of information that had surfaced on a background check. The report, which Motherboard reviewed, showed that Carl had been convicted of two non-violent offenses in 2015 and 2016—theft and drug possession, which Turner said she had been unaware of. Hoping to help, Turner decided to book a place to stay with her mom, saying she would stay with her and help her out until they found a permanent solution.
It reads to me like Turner signed up to rent a place and wrote on the form that she and her mom would be the tenants, and Airbnb decided (apparently correctly?) that Turner was going to let banned Carl stay in her stead.
The articles really not clear on when this happened or how close in time it was to Turner’s ban, so I don’t think he have enough information to know how airbnb figured out Turner and Carl were closely related, but it doesn’t seem like they were wrong either.
Btw, I’m not defending airbnb here, I hate these kafkaesque determinations and private sector policing of associations. But if you’re going to sign up to be both a host and a user of airbnb (which I personally would not), it doesn’t really sound like the system led to an egregious, indefensible outcome here.
I'm surprised that some are siding with AirBnB, despite the fact that AirBnb themselves reversed their decision after being contacted by the media.
Suddenly removing a customer from a platform, and then denying them the right to appeal, is obviously wrong. Unfortunately it's not just AirBnb. Many people have experienced similar kafkaesque treatment in the hands of large private corporations.
The real problem here is monopolies. If there were five to ten different short term rental marketplaces servicing this area, then they’d have to actually have customer service and compete with each other.
"Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said recruiting more hosts was the company’s top priority as it tried to meet demand for rental properties and reduce nightly costs"
AirBnB trying to solve the problem of people not being able to affording living in their own homes by acquiring even more AirBnB rentals.
I suspect this won't end well for AirBnB, or people trying to just survive.
Even if they did nothing wrong imagine the sound of the world’s tiniest violin playing for the couple who bought up housing stock to turn it into a short term rental, then realized they might have to rent it to regular people or sell it for a profit.
Also when you commit fraud on a platform (even a little tiny fraud) you might get banned.
I have no sympathy for a wealthy couple which decides to derive passive income without providing any value to the world getting booted and having to live with the consequences of their own actions. If they couldn't handle to possibility of losing money on their "investment", they shouldn't have bought the house in the first place
Yeah, it sucks when you’re an investor and you have to sell your investment at a loss. Anyway.
(Also… are prices tanking in Austin? If so, first I’ve heard of it. Sounds more like the investment was already a stretch for them, and when it couldn’t flow cash in exactly the way they wanted expected, it was game over.)
I wouldn't call it tanking, but I bought my house here in 2017 and it was worth double what I paid circa late 2021 to 2022. Now it's 'only' worth 60% more. I can imagine if you were unlucky buying a house in 2021-2022 you would be a bit underwater, but it's more like the hype cycle finally diminished when interest rates cooled late last year.
