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Comment by oftenwrong | Hacker News Reader

How many of these pet peeves are held by the average AirBnB user?

I would guess "none". These are the kinds of complaints that "power users" have because they use websites like tools. Average users don't. My mother would look at the first three reviews and consider that in-depth research. The next time she uses AirBnB, she won't notice re-listings, or removed reviews.

In short, I don't think these kinds of issues are going to hurt their business.

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You're probably right about that. I think the average consumer also has fairly low tolerance for mishaps with novel experiences. If they have a bad time in the first one or two stays, the next discussion at Thanksgiving dinner will be about how Airbnb is dangerous and they much prefer hotels and others should too lest they put themselves at risk.

You don’t have to be a power user to want to read reviews chronologically; your mother isn’t the average user either.

This is something I noticed as a first time user.

You don't think removal of negative reviews is a problem?

I usually read the description and judge the personality of the host based on that; I stayed with some fantastic hosts recently, and when they asked me why I booked (it was their first), I told them: great, personal description. Had worked for me as a good filter in addition to reviews.

It didn't seem like the OP was making any kind of claim about those pet peeves being held by an average AirBnB user. In any case, it seems like a bold strategy to fight anecdata with anecdata. To that end, it doesn't look like booking.com has had any noticeable difference in google trends relative to AirBnB.

[1] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&ge...

>It didn't seem like the OP was making any kind of claim about those pet peeves being held by an average AirBnB user.

Definitely not. They made valid points and I was sharing some thoughts of my own.

>In any case, it seems like a bold strategy to fight anecdata with anecdata.

I don't have evidence as strong as anecdata. I am making assumptions.

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