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Comment by AndrewKemendo | Hacker News Reader

All of my bad AirBnB experiences were ones where there were no actual tenants. The ones where it was an actual non-professional bed and breakfast, as the name implies, were fantastic.

I travel so much that consistency is important and that is what hotels offer. I see AirBnB as an inferior option for hotels, not a way to meet new friends.

I think the idea that AirBnB is going to kill the hotel industry is way overblown - professional travelers (not the startup crowd largely) like consistency above all else.

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AirBnB is inferior now because those hosts aren't necessarily designing it for business travelers. They don't have the insight to accommodate that audience. Or maybe the places you are booking don't get a lot of biz travelers.

I'm specifically only hosting in destination places because when people are on vacation they are inherently happy. Not saying you are unrealistic or unhappy, but it's a different mindset and you have different needs.

So yes I agree with you - it takes a lot more effort for you to have a good, consistent experience as a business traveler because you have to spend time wading through listings.

But there's no reason why AirBnB can't solve that by creating a standard for what business travelers want - perhaps a business superhost designation. I don't think it's overblown for them to put a hurting on the hotel industry. All it takes is for them to take a decent chunk out of RevPAR and many will be done. Hotels typically have a 5 year cycle and they've been having record years. So it's definitely overblown as of now. But killing the investments in hotels is more about what happens when you steal share during the bad times. And also - what happens when there's a good AirBnB rewards program to lure business travelers and they can make it easier for them to book and be consistent as you mentioned?

The hotel industry will remain, but there will be a lot less inventory and operators may decide they don't need to fly the big brands or can't afford the fees.

I'm specifically only hosting in destination places because when people are on vacation they are inherently happy.

Perfect, and I'll bet you have a great place. See my previous statement.

But there's no reason why AirBnB can't solve that by creating a standard for what business travelers want - perhaps a business superhost designation.

Supply and demand. To curate that hard, you'd have to have a ton of supply of business focused programs. Might as well just open a hotel at that point.

My point was that a lot of hosts cater to people on vacation because that's the bread and butter for them and AirBnB right now. They're well positioned for vacation rentals, not more-demanding business travelers at this point but they're getting better. They haven't cracked that nut; but they could and they are already trying.

I just looked and they have a section for business travelers and for wading through listings [1]. They already have Business Travel Ready Listings [2] which was what I was suggesting. Have you used that or did you go through the front door for your bookings? I didn't know it existed and

Separately - there are advantages of an AirBnB that are more friendly to biz travelers already, like being able to have more flexibility for check-in, free high speed wi-fi, kitchens in almost all listings, better work spaces, etc. So it's a matter of ironing out a few things to make booking easier, adding a good rewards program, and ramping up marketing to compete and steal market share.

[1] https://www.airbnb.com/business-travel

[2] https://www.airbnb.com/business-travel-ready

Agreed. For business I always prefer hotels because I know what to expect and it always has the services I need. For vacation (especially with large groups) AirBnB is much better because I'm able to book more custom housing (entire houses, multiple rooms connected with a shared space, etc).

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