Comment by 78966hh888 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by 78966hh888 | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I hate using AirBnB. We used it once during an extended stay in Milan and the apartment was horribly dusty (I have allergies), the maid practically worthless and the "host" in no way matched the persona presented on the site (a pleasant looking woman vs the angry man we actually talked to).

But one thing I don't hear complained about enough: Having to share your home with AirBnB guests.

We live in a luxury condo in a major metro. A number of the owners in our building are absentee (probably not even in country) and they AirBnB. Nothing like paying a small fortune for a home and facilities and then having to share your pool with a bunch of obnoxious travelers who think they're in a fucking hotel.

We've tried to work with the company that manages our building but it's nearly impossible to stop, short of policing all of the residents. And it's illegal where we live! AirBnB doesn't give a shit. The offending owners (technically our neighbors) don't give a shit.

Honestly, I'd love to see them tank.

I used to enjoy using airbnb, it was normally good value but slightly less convenient than a hotel because you’d have to arrange a meeting time to get keys.

Now, it seems to be mainly listing what are essentially unlicensed hotels with rooms spread across an area. Half the time I’ve used it recently I go to the address I was sent, only to realize I’ve missed a message telling me to go to a different address 15 blocks away to obtain the key from a lockbox.

Plus I’ve found they make it difficult to see a map view in some places.

Now I only use Airbnb for renting entire houses (eg for a ski trip). And even for that, I check booking.com first

> A number of the owners in our building are absentee (probably not even in country) and they AirBnB. Nothing like paying a small fortune for a home and facilities and then having to share your pool with a bunch of obnoxious travelers who think they're in a fucking hotel.

In many jurisdictions it’s illegal to operate residential properties as hotels for these and other reasons.

So what? If AirBnB or the property owners are not held accountable, the law doesn't matter.

The person you're replying said it was illegal there, too.

You could file a lawsuit no? I don't get this "nearly impossible to stop" thing. Granted, I don't live there and I share many of your misgivings about the terribleness of what Airbnb does to home prices etc. But it seems like people who are negatively effected tend to just shrug their shoulders while being shat on. If you want the owners to stop their illegal activity, then you have to make it painful for them economically.

>I don't get this "nearly impossible to stop" thing

I don't know the situation in the OP's country, but I wouldn't assume that filing a lawsuit is always an accessible option in jurisdictions outside the US.

Many countries make it very difficult for the general public to access the court system.

Where I live for example, it is extremely expensive to even begin a lawsuit (multiples of median monthly income), contingent legal fees (i.e. no win, no fee) arrangements are illegal (up to 7 years in prison), and class actions (i.e. multi-party litigation) are not permitted.

In the US it's likewise a relatively expensive and time consuming process for what amounts to a nuisance in the pool and common areas. Without any ongoing enforcement mechanism or ability to show damages in excess of the price of a permanent AirBnB home - the AirBnB host is likely to simply pay any fines and carry on.

If it puts you at ease at all, rather than not being mentioned enough, that actually seems to be one of the most common complaints about Airbnb.

In my condo, AirBnB & general bad renters was enforced by HoA fines.

However, my HoA was fine-happy and generally useless othwrwise

What's does the board of your building think? Bylaws of my condo do not allow airbnb.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com