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An email from Airbnb

13 points by chirau ↗ HN
Dear ,

We’re emailing you because the state legislature sent the anti-home sharing bill -- the result of a backroom deal -- to Governor Cuomo's desk yesterday. That means he must take action on the bill in the next ten days.

The Governor has a choice: veto this bill, which would be a victory for middle class New Yorkers and a rejection of Albany backroom deals. Or, sign the bill and leave tens of thousands of New Yorkers vulnerable to huge fines. (Cuomo could also do nothing, which would mean it still becomes law.) Governor Cuomo needs to hear from as many of us as possible, right now, to stop this backroom deal from becoming law.

<link> Tweet and Call the Governor <link>

In June, the state legislature passed an anti-home sharing bill that would fine everyday New Yorkers who advertise their home on sites like Airbnb up to $7,500. As we’ve waited to hear whether or not Governor Cuomo would sign the bill into law or veto it, you’ve been by our side, taking action when it counted most to send a message to the Governor about the impact of this bad bill. Thousands of Airbnb hosts and travelers tweeted, called, and sent emails.

Now we need you to take action again. We must ensure the Governor stands with seniors, students, small businesses, and communities that rely on home sharing for economic opportunity, and not with the big hotel special interests pushing this anti-tenant, anti-homeowner, anti-innovation bill. Take action right now and tell Governor Cuomo why home sharing is important to you. There isn’t much time!

We’re in this together,

The Airbnb Team

6 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 24.4 ms ] thread
atomical
I stayed in an airbnb. I provided photo evidence that the airbnb was unsafe. They didn't pull the listing and told me to work it out with the owner.

It was really interesting because they told me that they tried contact the owner and he didn't respond -- which the employee remarked was pretty common. Still, they continued to list his property.

I support more regulation.

iends
I had a very similar issue with a gas leak when I was in the UK. When the owner didn't fix it I had to get a hotel and spend the next month fighting with airbnb to refund my money. Airbnb removed my review for not staying in the apartment (I didn't sleep in the apartment of course, but I spent several hours with the owner there). The listing had a huge number of near perfect reviews and still does.

I assume other people get screwed and have to waste a lot of time too.

I've stayed in more than 10 apartments in a bunch of different countries, but this negative experience made me fearful of using it in a foreign country again. I wasted an entire afternoon during my vacation and countless hours after.

MichaelBurge
"unsafe" is a bit ambiguous.

If the place didn't meet building codes so you were likely to fall off of stairs without a railing, file a complaint with the city.

If you actually fell off the stairs and hurt yourself, file a lawsuit against the owner. He'll make a claim against his insurance, and probably will have higher premiums.

If it was a shared unit and there were other dangerous tenants(ex-felons or sex offenders), then maybe Airbnb could screen people better or at least make it an option on the listing. I think somebody is required to disclose this fact to you(either the felon or the owner), or else they're liable.

If it was unsafe in a way that wasn't illegal, then there's not really an Airbnb-specific problem. You wouldn't sue the local newspaper for listing an apartment that ended up unsafe, you would sue the landlord. It's unclear why the rental being short-term would or the choice of listing venue would change that. And it's not like Airbnb loses legal rights just because they're larger than the local newspaper, or incorporated, or accepted VC money.

life_is_short
A newspaper and Airbnb aren't exactly the same thing. One difference is a newspaper recognizes it can't show reviews of its listings, so it doesn't.
MichaelBurge
Why is showing reviews relevant? Amazon doesn't take down reviews because they'd be prosecuted or sued for publishing the opinions of its members if they didn't; they take them down as a product decision.

It's not at all obvious to me that companies should be liable for the contents of reviews from their customers, even those that they have reason to believe are false.

akama
This is actually my experience as well. I've stayed in Airbnb ~5 times and had 3 of them be awful. 2 of those 3 just didn't have apartments for us when we showed up and the last one had the power/water get cut for not paying bills. Airbnb's customer support is very slow and is radically different based on what agent you are talking to. In addition, Airbnb appears to have a problem keeping customer service records. I've called and had a discussion with customer service and then called back ten days later and they had no record of the first call and refused to believe it happened.

I've been a guest and a host for airbnb but I have been treated awfully by airbnb which is sad because I like the service and the past two years I have spent 80+ nights in hotels/airbnbs.