Airbnb banned my account

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

AirBnB have a 3.5% profit margin on something like $4 billion this year.

How on earth does AirBnB, which takes a massive 28% cut from every single booking and has almost non-existent customer service, manage to have a profit margin of only 3.5%? What the hell are they doing with all that money?

 

[Deepdiver]

... C level Executive Bonuses! Oh and Marketing.

 

[Deepdiver]

Speaking of AirBnB Under the Gun...

Airbnb says it’s banning ‘party houses’ after deadly Halloween shooting in Orinda

https://www.latimes.com/california/...ses-after-deadly-halloween-shooting-in-orinda

By CHRISTINE MAI-DUC
NOV. 3, 2019 1:30 PM

Airbnb says it will now ban “party houses” from its platform in response to a deadly shooting at a Bay Area Halloween party held at one of its rentals that left five people dead.

CEO Brian Chesky announced Saturday on Twitter that Airbnb is “redoubling our efforts to combat unauthorized parties,” including expanded manual screening for reservations deemed “high-risk” and the creation of a rapid response team to address issues related to such gatherings.

“We must do better, and we will,” Chesky tweeted. “This is unacceptable.”

Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit offered few details on how those efforts would be implemented or what factors might flag a rental as a party house, saying the company has initiated a 10-day review to develop the new policies.

###

Looks like AirBnB problems are mounting - don't know if their so-called $1 Million insurance policy for hosts covers five murders - just saying this is really bad PR.


###

 

[debeguiled]

Speaking of AirBnB Under the Gun...

Airbnb says it’s banning ‘party houses’ after deadly Halloween shooting in Orinda

https://www.latimes.com/california/...ses-after-deadly-halloween-shooting-in-orinda

By CHRISTINE MAI-DUC
NOV. 3, 2019 1:30 PM

Airbnb says it will now ban “party houses” from its platform in response to a deadly shooting at a Bay Area Halloween party held at one of its rentals that left five people dead.

CEO Brian Chesky announced Saturday on Twitter that Airbnb is “redoubling our efforts to combat unauthorized parties,” including expanded manual screening for reservations deemed “high-risk” and the creation of a rapid response team to address issues related to such gatherings.

“We must do better, and we will,” Chesky tweeted. “This is unacceptable.”

Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit offered few details on how those efforts would be implemented or what factors might flag a rental as a party house, saying the company has initiated a 10-day review to develop the new policies.

###

Looks like AirBnB problems are mounting - don't know if their so-called $1 Million insurance policy for hosts covers five murders - just saying this is really bad PR.


###

Orinda is kind of like a Beverly Hills in the East Bay of San Francisco.

No wonder it is serious now.

Shit just got Caucasian.

 

[Sherman]

I have never used Airbnb. But I recently signed up. I noticed that if you put in a date range of greater than 30 days it gives you the monthly rate for places willing to rent on a monthly basis. This is really great for trying out living in an area you are interested in. I plan of traveling again and would like to use this.

 

[Coja Petrus Uscan]

it gives you the monthly rate for places willing to rent on a monthly basis. This is really great for trying out living in an area you are interested in. I plan of traveling again and would like to use this.

Problem is their policy is no refunds for stays longer than 28 days. There may also be no refund for shorter stays. Lets say you book yourself in for 3 months and you have a problem. You're not getting any of that money back unless you want to phone them up 20 times over a month. Most of the support doesn't have authority to do anything and you'd be lucky to speak to anyone who can.

As noted on the previous page. You have to pay all the money up front. Even if it's just to pre-book (before the host confirms). If you arrive and there is something wrong with the place, good luck getting your money back. I've had to book a bunch of places at times just to get one place and you end up with $x,xxx taken off your card. They don't send it back for up to two weeks. People are regularly left stranded with no money and no accommodation because of this. See AirBnB Hell.

Further to this some hosts now list their property on multiple sites at different prices. On the day you turn up you get a message an hour or whatever before to tell you your stay has been cancelled. AirBnB won't help you. If you want any recompense being left on the street with no money you'll need to spend 24 hours on the phone to them.

I've not had this issue, but I've had huge sums taken off my card several of times, while I slog through places to try and get a booking. Had to book 4, 5 places on two occasions.

Currently I am on a month stay with Booking.com. Didn't have to pay until I turned up. So if there was a problem I could just leave without paying.

I've stayed at 40 places on AirBnB and these were the problems:

- girl was bringing guys back to bang, mental dog urinated freely in the apartment
- hosted by angriest person I'd ever met
- refused to give me the address or explain where the property was
- had to travel about 10 miles to buy food, on the first day I resorted to stealing a Halloween pumpkin to eat
- house had "Crazy House" written in big, mentalist writing on the side of the house, sleazy guy who was trying to get a Ukrainian couch surfing guest to take her clothes of
- fat woman coming on to me
- butch lesbian host has a real problem with me for some unknown reason
- used condoms in room
- submissive Indian guy blagged me for $10 to have the room cleaned, insinuating I left I big mess (0 mess); gave him the money then checked there was a cleaning fee included in the room; confronted him and intimidated him into giving the money back; left
- host asked me to buy beer and then had a mental breakdown
- first thing I saw on arrival was a prostitute (first time I'd ever seen one), sound of sex/porn coming through the walls, host was shaking and breathing heavily - looked like he was off his head on ya ba pills, had a hot tub, but it was falling apart and dirty
- given wrong apartment, multiple lies, fabricating evidence

So you are looking at a problem every four stays and a serious problem every twenty stays. On top of that throw in about 20 cancellations / no response.

So far I've stayed at about ten places on Booking.com, two of which were apartments. No issues. Booking hosts have much more skin in the game.

 

[Sherman]

Gework - Thanks for the good information. One video I looked at said to always look for a Superhost, and claimed they cannot cancel. Does a Superhost improve your odds of a good experience?

 

[Coja Petrus Uscan]

Gework - Thanks for the good information. One video I looked at said to always look for a Superhost, and claimed they cannot cancel. Does a Superhost improve your odds of a good experience?

Probably. At least one of the places I listed was a super host; and another is now a super host. These are her reviews:

4.9 for cleanliness when there was a cat litter box in the bathroom. Sometimes used. The bathroom was generally a mess.

It's been noted that people feel the need to give good reviews as it's a more personal site. Particularly if you stay with the host. Do you really want to put the place stank? I recently stayed at one place that was good, minus the shower had a bad smell that didn't go away. I didn't mention it in the review and I probably gave them 5 for cleanliness.

The place that I've mentioned that has lots of bad reviews due to tranny prostitute calling cards, terrible sanitation and so on - their rating is about 3.8, despite loads of terrible reviews that obviously few people read. So virtually everyone is leaving 5 star reviews beyond the negative ones.

Virtually all properties are rated 4.5/5 or higher. They are also accused of deleting a lot of negative reviews.

You can obviously save yourself problems if you book with the better hosts, but you are still in the position where they take the money up front and even if your host is threatening you AirBnB will tell you to stay in the property. But like me you might end up having booked four places booking another at the last moment and find out they are con men.

 

[Sherman]

Gework, that's interesting. The video said to not take a place that is not rated 5.0. I thought that was strange but as you point out there is serious grade inflation. But, the fact they are taking the money up front puts one in a bad position. I used booking.com when I was living in Europe and it was great. But at that time, they only had hotels.

 

[Coja Petrus Uscan]

Yes. From what I've read AirBnB are widely regarded to have inaccurate reviews. The ones on Booking seem more reliable. I am currently staying at a place with a 7.8 review. I think Booking reviews should be given a -1, which would be about right in this case. Very difficult to get a place for one month in Moscow, so I'm left with it.

Booking seem to have a lot more apartments coming on. For Bangkok there are 335 on Booking, about 500 on HomeAway and 15,000 on AirBnB.

HomeAway has a 4 star rating on TrustPilot, while AirBnB has 1.5.

It's not easy to get a 4 star on TrustPilot, particularly in this niche. You'll note that most of their page one reviews are negative, but if you dig down they are mostly positive. They reply to all the reviews and are obviously dealing with the negative reviews.

Will have to give HomeAway a try as Booking also has bad reviews. I think the difference with Booking is they generally have better hosts. AirBnB has cheaper places, but because they allow absolutely anyone on. Probably 5% of the listings on AirBnB never reply and they leave them on as fluffing.

HomeAway doesn't have many cheap places; I assume as they want to offer a better service. HomeAway has one place at $20 or under in BKK, while AirBnB has 208, most of which are shared.

 

[Christhugger]

You gotta just look at pictures up close, don't pick something too inexpensive, read the reviews specifically to only look for comments about the extreme graciousness and quality of the host and exceptional cleanliness of the place.

I only ever had one bad experience where I got cancelled on at the last second. Every other time I got exactly what I paid for.

 

[ffs]

I noticed that if you put in a date range of greater than 30 days it gives you the monthly rate for places willing to rent on a monthly basis. This is really great for trying out living in an area you are interested in. I plan of traveling again and would like to use this.

I would not recommend booking any place for a month in advance unless you have stayed there before. This applies to any accommodation site, but esp to AirBnB. I usually book for 2-3 days, and if I like the place, I wattsapp the owner directly and say I want to extend my stay. We both avoid using AirBnB, and I pay the owner directly. They always give a reduction because :
(1) they are not having to pay AirBnB commission.
(2) you are staying longer term so there is a natural discount for that.
(3) they would rather have someone there for the next 1-4 weeks continuous than get new tenants (oh, sorry, I meant 'guests') in after every few days. This leads to lower maintenance for them.

This is exactly what I did yesterday.

With AirBnB, usually you are not given the exact location, and I have been stung in the past with this. I've had issues with shower not working, cooker not working, foul smell in bathroom, having to pay silly 'cleaning charges' etc.
I now treat an AirBnB listing like I treat photos on a girls Tinder profile - she may turn out cuter in real life, or I may get SIF'ed.

 

[Kona]

The globalists that control the hotel industry have paid politicians to make Honolulu County ground zero for the fight against Airbnb.

This is todays paper: https://www.staradvertiser.com/2019...bnb-agrees-to-provide-host-records-to-hawaii/

They subpeonaed Airbnb to make them give up the records of all airbnbers in Hawaii to make sure they pay the transient accommodation tax. The new law they started a few months ago says that outside the hoppin tourist area you cant rnt your property for any less than thirty days. You need a special license to rent for less, and that is really hard to get.

Just another damn way ((they))) can control what you can and can't do with your property.

Aloha!

 

[Tail Gunner]

A great article on a network of Airbnb scammers in the U.S. -- and the danger signs, one of which is usually a last-minute cancellation with a substitution.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-host-scam-on-airbnb

The article also highlights Airbnb's refusal to take precautions to verify that all accommodations and hosts are real.

I should also add the I have used Airbnb about 5-6 times and have had pretty good luck with it, with the exception of a cancellation about a week before my trip (when I made the reservation several months in advance).

 

[Tail Gunner]

I noticed that if you put in a date range of greater than 30 days it gives you the monthly rate for places willing to rent on a monthly basis. This is really great for trying out living in an area you are interested in. I plan of traveling again and would like to use this.

I would not recommend booking any place for a month in advance unless you have stayed there before. This applies to any accommodation site, but esp to AirBnB. I usually book for 2-3 days, and if I like the place, I wattsapp the owner directly and say I want to extend my stay. We both avoid using AirBnB, and I pay the owner directly. They always give a reduction because :
(1) they are not having to pay AirBnB commission.
(2) you are staying longer term so there is a natural discount for that.
(3) they would rather have someone there for the next 1-4 weeks continuous than get new tenants (oh, sorry, I meant 'guests') in after every few days. This leads to lower maintenance for them.

The problem with this method is that the great places are booked months in advance on Airbnb. For that reason, I try to avoid booking on Airbnb with less than a month's lead time. I usually try to book a few months in advance to find the best bargains -- in terms of value for the money. If the host has a month available immediately after your stay it is unlikely to be a decent place, much less a bargain.

 

[The Resilient]

Speaking of AirBnB Under the Gun...

Airbnb says it’s banning ‘party houses’ after deadly Halloween shooting in Orinda

https://www.latimes.com/california/...ses-after-deadly-halloween-shooting-in-orinda

By CHRISTINE MAI-DUC
NOV. 3, 2019 1:30 PM

Airbnb says it will now ban “party houses” from its platform in response to a deadly shooting at a Bay Area Halloween party held at one of its rentals that left five people dead.

CEO Brian Chesky announced Saturday on Twitter that Airbnb is “redoubling our efforts to combat unauthorized parties,” including expanded manual screening for reservations deemed “high-risk” and the creation of a rapid response team to address issues related to such gatherings.

“We must do better, and we will,” Chesky tweeted. “This is unacceptable.”

Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit offered few details on how those efforts would be implemented or what factors might flag a rental as a party house, saying the company has initiated a 10-day review to develop the new policies.

###

Looks like AirBnB problems are mounting - don't know if their so-called $1 Million insurance policy for hosts covers five murders - just saying this is really bad PR.


###

Orinda is kind of like a Beverly Hills in the East Bay of San Francisco.

No wonder it is serious now.

Shit just got Caucasian.

Caucasian against communist socialites*

 

[budoslavic]

Bumping this thread out of dormant. This bizarre story is wild to read.

'Airbnb has secretive 'black box' team paying out $50 million a year to keep disaster stays out of press and gives staff blank checks to help rape victims and clean-up dismembered human remains'​

• The secretive safety team - known as the 'black box' inside the firm - is made up of around 100 agents across cities including Dublin, Montreal and Singapore
• Team members have the power to spend any amount tackling the worst crises at their rentals including sexual assaults, murders and deaths
• They are tasked with providing support to guests and hosts and also working to keep the incidents out of the public eye
• Nick Shapiro, ex-National Security Council adviser to Barack Obama and deputy chief of staff at the Central Intelligence Agency, worked as crisis manager
• Shapiro, who has since left the role, told Bloomberg the crises facing the company reminded him of the White House Situation Room
• A rape victim received a $7 million payout in exchange for agreeing not to 'imply responsibility or liability' on Airbnb or the host
• The 2016 incident saw an alleged 'career criminal' use a duplicate key to enter a New York City rental and attack her at knifepoint
• In 2018, Carla Stefaniak was murdered by a security guard at a Costa Rica Airbnb, while in 2019 five were shot dead at a mansion party in California
• Airbnb has spent an estimated $50 million every year on crisis payouts

Airbnb has a secretive team to keep disaster stays out of the press and gives staff blank checks to help rape victims and pay to clean up dismembered human remains, according to a report.

The short-term property rental company, which went public in December, has spent an estimated $50 million every year on payouts to hosts and guests when things go wrong, according to Bloomberg Businessweek which interviewed several former members of the secretive safety team.

The team - known as the 'black box' inside the firm - is made up of around 100 agents across cities including Dublin, Montreal and Singapore, several of whom have backgrounds in the military or emergency services.

Team members have the power to spend any amount tackling the worst crises at their rentals including sexual assaults, murders and deaths - providing support to guests and hosts and also working to keep the incidents out of the public eye, Bloomberg reported.

In one incident, a rape victim received a $7 million payout in exchange for agreeing not to 'imply responsibility or liability' on Airbnb or the host after a 'career criminal' used a duplicate key to enter a New York City rental and attacked her at knifepoint, according to the report.

The revelation of the team's existence - and its power to keep the worst incidents out of the press - raises questions about the scale of shocking incidents taking place at Airbnb properties and the company's ability to ensure safety for its guests and hosts.

Several former Airbnb safety agents described the extent of their tasks, preventing PR disasters for the firm and providing support to both guests and hosts who fell victim to horrific crimes inside the walls of the rentals.

Some said they had to arrange for contractors to cover bullet holes in the walls of properties or hire body-fluid crews to clean blood off the floors, the report said.

In extreme cases, they had to deal with hosts who discover dismembered human remains inside their homes.

Others said they had to provide support to guests who had been assaulted by guests and had resorted to hiding in wardrobes or running from secluded cabins from the perpetrators.

The team has covered costs including for counseling, new accommodation, flights, and sexually transmitted disease tests and health costs for rape survivors among other things, according to the report.

Airbnb hired high profile political crises experts to work on the team, including Nick Shapiro, former National Security Council advisoe to Barack Obama and deputy chief of staff at the Central Intelligence Agency, who was brought on as its crisis manager.

Shapiro, who has since left the role, told Bloomberg the crises facing the company reminded him of the White House situation room.

'I remember thinking I was right back in the thick of it,' he said.

'This brought me back to feelings of confronting truly horrific matters at Langley and in the Situation Room at the White House.' Langley is the home of the CIA.

He was two weeks into the job when the New York City rape happened on New Years' Day in 2016.

The unidentified Australian woman, who was 29 at the time, and a group of friends had rented a first-floor apartment on West 37th Street, close to Times Square.

The group had picked up the keys for the apartment from a bodega close by without having to show any identification, Bloomberg reported.

They went to a party together, but the 29-year-old returned back to the property alone - ahead of her friends.

The suspect, 24-year-old Junior Lee, was allegedly already inside the apartment hiding in the bathroom when she returned.

He raped her at knifepoint.

Lee then returned later that night when police were there and was arrested and charged with predatory sexual assault.

Police said he had a set of keys to the apartment on his person at the time.

The incident has remained under wraps until now.

Chris Lehane, a former political operative for President Bill Clinton who was brought on as head of global policy and communications a few months before the incident, was concerned the incident would be used to help push Airbnb out of New York, according to Bloomberg.

It came at a time when the company was banned in New York but that many short-term rentals still featured on Airbnb's platform.

The safety team sprung into action right away, paying to fly the victim's mother over from Australia, housed them in hotels before flying them back home again and offered to pay for health and counseling costs, according to the report.

Two years later, Airbnb reportedly paid the victim $7 million in an agreement that she would not blame or sue Airbnb or the host.

It is not clear how the alleged rapist had keys to the property but, under Airbnb rules, hosts are not required to disclose to guests who has a copy of the key or change codes on keypad locks in between guests.

Airbnb directed DailyMail.com to the company's pages on trust and safety when asked to comment on the safety team and the 2016 incident. A spokesman said the company talks about its safety team all the time.

Other incidents involving the safety team include one where a guest was found reportedly found naked in bed with the host's seven-year-old daughter, according to the Bloomberg report.

In another previously reported incident, a Florida woman Carla Stefaniak was murdered by a security guard at the apartment complex where she was renting an Airbnb in Costa Rica in 2018.

Her partially-buried body was found half-naked and covered in plastic bags by sniffer dogs 200 feet away from her Airbnb.

She suffered a blunt force wound to the head and stab wounds.

Stefaniak had told friends that she thought the accommodation was 'sketchy' and that there was heavy rain and no power.

She said in a FaceTime call that she might ask a security guard at the Airbnb to buy her water because of the storm.

Bismark Espinoza Martínez, 33, was sentenced last year to 16 years for her murder.

Stefaniak's family filed a suit against Airbnb claiming it failed to perform a background check on the security guard, who it transpired was working in the country illegally.

The case was settled for an undisclosed sum.

One year after Stefaniak's murder, five people were shot dead at a Halloween mansion party at an Airbnb in Orinda, California.

More than 100 people had gathered for the unauthorized party when the shooting unfolded.

Members of rival gangs from San Francisco and Marin City were among those at the party, authorities said.

Tiyon Farley, 22, of Antioch; Omar Taylor, 24, of Pittsburg; Raymon Hill Jr., 23, of San Francisco and Oakland; Javlin County, 29, of Sausalito and Richmond; and Oshiana Tompkins, 19, of Vallejo and Hercules, all died.

Airbnb said it would pay for the funerals of the victims.

But Jesse Danoff, the attorney for Hill's mother Cynthia Taylor, told Bloomberg the company did not reach out to the family for more than a week and claimed it pushed back against some of the funeral expenses.

Danoff claimed the company only cared about 'the threat or potential threat of bad PR or a nightmare in the press' and is still negotiating a settlement.

Airbnb told Bloomberg it paid the funeral bills.

Despite the critical role the team plays in supporting guests and hosts and helping to evade PR disasters, 25 of its most experienced agents were laid off last year amid the pandemic.

CEO Brian Chesky had announced in May 2020 that around half of all staff were being laid off, according to Bloomberg.

Safety agents slammed the move, arguing they had already sacrificed their mental health to the role.

Chesky later partly walked back the decision, rehiring 15 of the workers on time-and-a-half pay.

'Airbnb has a secret team that forks $50million a year in settlements'

The secretive safety team - known as the 'black box' inside the firm - is made up of around 100 agents across cities including Dublin, Montreal and Singapore.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Belgrano]

Nick Shapiro, ex-National Security Council adviser to Barack Obama and deputy chief of staff at the Central Intelligence Agency, worked as crisis manager

Chris Lehane, a former political operative for President Bill Clinton who was brought on as head of global policy and communications a few months before the incident

Oh look, it's another slush fund.

 

[Max Roscoe]

Booking.com is good.
Homeaway.com is good
VRBO (Vacation rental by owner) pretty good
I wouldn't use airbnb anymore. It has become too mainstream and corporatized.
Things tend to turn extremely crappy after they become a giant corporation (I even had a Faceberg account about 15 years ago).