AIRBNB social network/booking engine for hostels
Internet Marketing
I am wondering if any of you have experience with AIRBNB, because my current experience is pretty good. My first impression is that it is decent social network plus it can connect with facebook and twitter which is good for hostels who are already using social networks for promoting their objects.
Other things ive noticed that are improvement comparing with other booking engines that you can rate your guests not only them rating you, which i think is pretty awesome. Also AIRBNB is giving you a chance to decline those guests, or communicating with them to find out if the hostel really suites them, not only by rating and price.
One more thing, this system is better for avoiding fake reviews as guest pay full price to airbnb, which is later
transfering the funds to you, that means that somebody will think twice if he is going to pay 15eur to fake review you. Hostel world is taking only coupe of EUR so anybody can book and give you bad rate.
What you think about this?
- Comments
13 years
Airbnb has gotten some bad press in the US lately. Here is one article: http://www.slate.com/id/2300665/ and the blog that started it all: http://ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/06/violated-travelers-lost-faith-difficult.html It's pretty interesting reading. For hostels, which I think can technically sign-up (?), safety is not as much of an issue. For those who are renting out their privates homes, however, it's another matter.
13 years
@Hostels Yep, they can.
@rmzhao82 I read the article 2 months ago, but didnt find anything revolutionary in it. Yes, somebodys home was thrashed, yes, somebody stole something, but thats always risk with renting anything. Thing is, you can read about the guest, you can meet him, its not like you HAVE to rent to somebody you dont like.
And of course it would be no problem for hostels as they are already dealing with those kind of risks.
13 years
I still think what happened with that airbnb incident showed some major weaknesses in the company. The reports that resulted were the first a lot of Americans had even heard of airbnb. It was definitely a blow to the company and they have since changed some of their policies. I'm not sure I would use it yet myself, particularly as a guest. Where I am located (in China), it is very new and very few people have reviews. I am also very interested to hear if any hostels have listed their property on the site and what their experience has been.
13 years
I agree that they have bed press in their begininng, but as i remember so was facebook (something about cookies and credit card detailes), but look at it now. The incident you are refering with Aairbnb is not actually their fault, nobody can guarantee you the service, not even hostelworld. I heard stories from travellers that they actually book hostels that do not even exist, or were shut down years ago !!!
Airbnb is new everywhere even in Serbia, so it will take time for travellers to recognise it as legit. I listed couple of my properties, and already have guests coming and leaving reviews, and my experience is pretty good so far.
13 years
We have been on airbnb for a while. I think it is more for small hotels, rooms and houses rather than big hotels or hostels. You need to have a separate listing for each bookable resource, which I think would be impossible to set up for hostels and a nightmare to manage. We have just 4 rooms and only recently I created a listing for each room. A simple thing like moving a person from one room to another cannot be done. The security issue is not really a problem for us as we have staff available round the clock for check-ins.
If I had a private house or apartment which I actually used in lived in, I don't think there is anyway I would rent it out to overnight guests.
13 years
I recently noticed that they were bidding on hostel keywords. The ads used to include the word "hostels", but now they seem to be focusing on B&B keywords in the ad text. Sample screenshot:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1851[/ATTACH]
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