Technology

They had it originally and when they removed it is when I stopped using them. Like every other fucking "Uber of" tech company, they couldn't compete with the traditional thing they were trying to "disrupt" once the VC money dried up, and tried to cover for that with deception. Fuck them, I'll just book a hotel.

and it has mostly reversed, now cabs/ or other rideshares and hotels are lower costs.

Corpos gonna corpo... Avoid them as much as possible that's the one of the few effective ways peasants got left to fight the parasite. Goverment, courts and media are always shiling for the corpos and their owners at pleb expense.

¿porque no los dos? (/s)

This 100%.
AirBnB used to be cheaper than a hotel. Then it got so easy to tack on fees and ridiculous requirements that you're basically paying more than a hotel to housekeep your own room. Mix in lots of shady hosts and most of the time I'd rather just stay at the Hilton for the same price.

It can still be useful as a novelty, like book a party house somewhere or as easily cheaper way to house an awful lot of people. But for the most part, I'll pass.

Gross. I didn't know that. I do occasionally use AirBnB. I'm aware of their impact on the rental market, so I favor hotels most of the time. But there have been a few occasions in recent years where I was traveling in a larger group and an AirBnB made more sense. But no more of that.

I looked in to this a little, and Joe Gebbia is no longer the CEO, but he is still on the board. Still a good enough reason to boycott.

This. They help destroy housing markets.

While Air B&B has done irreperable harm to the housing market, I'm not 100% convinced it should be banned. I propose if a house operates as an enterprise, it be taxed according to commercial rates, not residential. It would go a long way to resolving the inequities.

Richard Wolf had a very good take on all of these Silicon Valley "disruptors". It's basically been the neoliberal US american MO for the past quarter century:

Step 1: get a bunch VC money by promising the moon

Step 2: "disrupt" by undercutting the established moon due to lack of regulation. Even though it's an inferior product, it's VC subsidised, so it's cheaper than the established businesses.

Step 3: due to lack of regulation, your business drives established operators to bankruptcy. This is basically dumping but the regulation hasn't caught up.

Step 4: become the monopoly and suck as much money as possible from your customers to generate "shareholder value"

i don't think people need to justify Airbnb's, it's a great alternative to a hotel for many reasons including those you listed. What needs to be addressed is the damage the shareholders who are running the company are doing to society. let's not give them too much credit about this choice: they are still sucking up homes from homeowners and removing money from the middle class. they only made this change because someone realized it will make them more money.

hotels/hostels?

Airbnb turns potential living space into hotel space and thereby helps driving up housing prices. The whole concept is inherently problematic.