Re:Airbnb S-1
by bendauphinee on Tuesday November 17, 2020 @10:35AM
(#25124939)
Having used it extensively for travelling to places for concerts and festivals, it’s a massive advantage to be able to shop for places that can accommodate 3-8 people for several days at a time.
I don’t want a couch, I want a whole home that our group can share, and for less than the surge price that a hotel will slap on for a single room, we can fit our needs well.
From my original comment:
> worse than traditional self-catering tourist apartments (more expensive)
...is I think what I would consider your use-case to fall under. No?
This isn't something that didn't exist before AirBnB...
> While AirBnB has received a lot negative press for facilitating the letting of would-be residential property by large-scale professional landlords, the marketing from AirBnB's side has always favoured the "local guide, personal human experience" angle, an angle CouchSurfing has always tried to cover non-commercially.
Call me cynical, but "Advertise your product for a use that your core moneymaking market doesn't do" would be a good dark pattern to avoid scrutiny/regulation.
Couch surfing.com is basically dead these days because they've had to collect money to stay afloat. But tbh, I felt like there were a lot of pervy guys on there based on how every girl I met had some story of a guy thinking a free couch meant that she should fuck him in exchange. And couch surfing.com basically had no way to filter that.
AirBnB's best-case "ideal" setup has always struck me as just "CouchSurfing[0] but monetised". While AirBnB has received a lot negative press for facilitating the letting of would-be residential property by large-scale professional landlords, the marketing from AirBnB's side has always favoured the "local guide, personal human experience" angle, an angle CouchSurfing has always tried to cover non-commercially.
So in my mind it's a comprehensively bankrupt proposition from either side of the spectrum. It's worse than a hotel (no service), worse than traditional self-catering tourist apartments (more expensive), worse than a long-term let (a LOT more expensive) and infinitely worse than the social, warm-fuzzy personal experience of CouchSurfing (free).
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CouchSurfing