"But in the grand scheme of things, when you are a tiny start up struggling to survive, this is a relatively benign grass roots attempt at marketing which the AirBNB guys even probably regret doing."

Hmm. Maybe. If you built a billion dollar business would you look back and regret a part of it that may have been instrumental to your success?

I'm definitely not excusing them for their actions but if I were in their position, I don't know if I could honestly say I would've regretted the past.