Comment by ZanderEarth32 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ZanderEarth32 | Hacker News Reader

To be honest, I never had any interest in trying AirBnB services. I never saw the allure of staying in someone else's rundown apartment or guest bedroom. I mean who wants to be that stranger in the other room? THAT SAID, this website did change my mind a little bit. I still don't think I'd like to stay in someone else's home but this website has demonstrated that there are some really amazing places you can stay in for very low costs. If I could get over my own hangups about being in other people's home, I'd definitely give AirBnB a shot after visiting this website.

It comes off as a luxury hotel website, or one of those 'ooh la la' HGTV tv shows where they show you cool, abstract homes you'll never live in. This is a good thing.

To the topic of site speed, is it really an issue to non-web-geeks? Do normal users of the web really know what a slow website is? Anyone know of studies or stats on what an average internet user considers is a slow page?

UPDATED

The website has done a good enough job of convincing me this is a legit service where it's customers are happy. I've decided to give AirBnB a shot. Going to plan a trip utilizing their services this evening. Wish me luck.

I've done a number of AirBnB stays now including a two week trip to SF and LA with my girlfriend and the whole system is pretty awesome.

To some extent you get what you pay for but in many ways you get much more. I think I've stayed in five different AirBnB locations now and the houses were as pictured or slightly better, better located than an equivalent hotel and always clean.

On two occasions the owners were so awesome (one in Napa brought us wine and cheese every night and warm muffins for breakfast in the morning) that they literally made the holiday.

They've done a special thing with AirBnB so kudos to them and I for one welcome their new site design too. Holidays are literal escapism and so much better if the laborious booking process is made more pleasurable too.

I've never used Airbnb for staying in a place with the owner. Selecting that you only want an entire house/apt is wonderful. You don't have to be that "stranger in the other room," at all.

I have stayed in places like downtown Hollywood, within a couple minute walking distance of having stars under your feet, for a fraction of what a hotel in the area would've cost.

Every place I've stayed in has been clean; the owners kind and wonderful for introducing you to the area. You end up with all the amenities of a suite, like a fridge, a stove, and so on, without having to pay the price.

> I mean who wants to be that stranger in the other room?

It feels just like a hotel. You usually get towels and your own separate room.

Usually you're travelling so you don't really spend much time there unless you're sleeping.

I stayed in the lower east side for only $50/night, so its definitely worth it.

I agree, I am not usually in my hotel room very often if I am on vacation but that raises the point of, if I am hardly in the room, who cares where I stay? I know this flies in the face of my point of being hung up on being in other peoples homes, but why not just stay in a cheaper motel (if available)?

To be honest, I'd really like to try it one day. Some of those locations look great and the prices are very reasonable.

> I mean who wants to be that stranger in the other room?

Most of my guests end up being "the cool startup guy from Beijing" or "that really nice couple from Toronto", because I make an effort to welcome them into my home and show them a glimpse of local life. And thanks to the culture that Airbnb has built around the site, my guests make a similar effort to get to know me. It simply never feels like "that stranger".

Do your guests get keys to come and go as they please?

"To the topic of site speed, is it really an issue to non-web-geeks? Do normal users of the web really know what a slow website is?"

My lord, yes. Here's a really interesting post/study with Bing and Google testing the user/business impact of speed.

http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/06/bing-and-google-agree-slow-...

Great, thanks. I guess looking back at my own experience with 'average users' my mom will start to yell at the computer if Facebook or some other website won't show up fairly quickly. And when it comes to AirBnB I suppose that most users of the service aren't 'average users', but more savvy crowds.

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