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+33 +1
Airbnb nightmare renters leave Calgary home trashed
A Calgary family says their hardwood floors are lifting from "pools of alcohol" and someone left chicken drumsticks in their shoes following an Airbnb rental that turned disastrous.
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+15 +1
Super Mario-themed Airbnb in Tokyo is retro gaming paradise
If you were wanting to stay a few nights in a Super Mario-themed hotel or apartment, there's few places you would think to look first than Tokyo, Japan.
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+1 +1
How we scaled data science to all sides of Airbnb over 5 years of hypergrowth
Data is the (aggregated) voice of our customers. And wherever we go next -- wherever we belong next -- will be driven by those voices.
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+9 +1
The Airbnb effect
At least 350 entire homes listed on Airbnb appear to be full-time vacation rentals, bolstering claims by activists that the service removes scarce housing from the city's limited inventory. By Caroline Said. First of five parts, also at the link.
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+15 +1
Stop calling it the “Sharing Economy.” That isn’t what it is.
Olivier Blanchard's opinion piece that makes some really salient points. The cynic in me approves.
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+39 +1
Who Really Runs the Airbnbs?
Outside investors buying properties and turning them into full-time, short-term rentals are pricing locals out of the market.
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+42 +1
Airbnb's ads make them fools in national news
Well, that escalated quickly. Airbnb’s recent ad-campaign rained on San Francisco to boost their image – on bus shelters and on billboards large and small. The ads carried snarky messages like this one: “Dear Public Library System, We hope you use some of the $12 million in hotel taxes to keep the library open later. Love, Airbnb.” Airbnb’s ads touted all the uses for its tax dollars by telling parking enforcers how to do their jobs...
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+23 +1
Airbnb Raises Over $100 Million as It Touts Strong Growth
Airbnb Inc. has raised over $100 million in a new round of funding that has closed, according to a person familiar with the matter. The round was done at the same $25.5 billion valuation where the company raised capital over the summer.
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+38 +1
Discrimination by Airbnb Hosts Is Widespread, Report Says
Airbnb likes to refer to itself as less a company than a “community.” To that end, it has made trust between real people a cornerstone of its business strategy in short-term home rentals. But new research suggests that when users get real, racism can result. A working paper by three Harvard researchers found “widespread discrimination” by hosts against people with black-sounding names seeking rentals. Fictional guests set up by the researchers with names like Lakisha...
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+30 +1
Ousted tenants sue after their former rent-controlled L.A. apartments are listed on Airbnb
Carrie Kirshman and Nina Giovannitti were close neighbors at their Spanish villa apartments in Fairfax, sharing keys, collecting each other's mail and tending to a communal garden in the backyard. Their rent-controlled building allowed them to enjoy below-market rents of less than $2,000 a month for their two-bedroom pads in the upscale neighborhood. That came to an end in late 2013 when the owners evicted them under the Ellis Act, a state law that allows...
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+40 +1
Airbnb nightmare: Couple finds hidden video camera in rented apartment
Airbnb was recently hit with a lawsuit after a couple who were renting an apartment in Irvine, California discovered that the owner had placed a hidden video camera – with a wide-angle lens, no less – behind a bookshelf in the living room. As if that weren’t frightening enough, the video camera was allegedly quite advanced; not only was it able to pick up both audio and video, but it was also configured to be controlled remotely.
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+14 +1
Woman sues Airbnb over hidden surveillance cam found in rental
She claims the camera was tucked between candles on a shelf and might have captured naked photos, given that she sleeps in the buff.
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+35 +1
Study: Airbnb landlords rent out properties full time
While the average Joe struggles to make rent in the Bay Area's inflated housing market, a new study claims local Airbnb landlords are making millions by essentially turning their properties into illegal hotels. The report, authored by Pennsylvania State University's hospitality school and backed by Airbnb's opponents in the hotel industry, targets Airbnb hosts it claims are using the site to run full-time, short-term rental businesses.
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+3 +1
Someone tried to rent a blizzard igloo on Airbnb for $200/night
Well folks, you saw it for yourself: it turns out that Jonas, our dreaded, sledded and bedded snowstorm of 2016, was every bit as bad as Governor Cuomo said it would be, and then some. Streets were blanketed, cars were conquered and strange snow sculptures walked the earth. Meanwhile, in the real estate world, someone tried to make a killing by renting an igloo in Greenpoint for $200/night.
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+31 +1
Leo Burnett Built a Livable Model of Van Gogh's 'Bedroom' That You Can Rent on Airbnb A haven for art geeks
From igloos to Netflix and Chill, Airbnb fans have an awesomely quirky variety of accommodation options to choose from these days. And starting Sunday, art geeks can live out their Van Gogh fantasies via Airbnb through a new effort by Leo Burnett. The Art Institute of Chicago's latest exhibit, opening Feb.
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+30 +1
The most bizarre, outrageous Airbnb feud story you’ll ever read
It’s a tale so byzantine as to defy belief, a neighbors’ dispute run terribly amok, replete with allegations of fraud, false identity, extortion, harassment and squatting — all enabled by the anonymity of arranging a rental via Airbnb. By Carolyn Said.
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+38 +1
Porn Industry Uses Airbnb, Rental Houses for Filming
Nearly four years after Los Angeles County passed new requirements for pornographic performers, the porn industry has spread to nearby counties like Ventura County — and much of that filming is happening in residents' homes with or without their knowledge, the NBC4 I-Team has learned. Private citizens believe their home is being rented out for a few days — perhaps never knowing it's become the set of a raunchy pornographic title.
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+16 +1
Airbnb guests shocked by decomposing corpse in garden
A group of friends who rented a house on Airbnb for a party weekend in a French town got a nasty surprise when they discovered the decomposing body of a woman in the garden. “Her body was found at the bottom of the property which opens out into a woods,” a police source said. Foul play is suspected.
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+11 +1
Airbnb to purge illegal hotels from San Francisco listings
Airbnb says it is cracking down on San Francisco hosts who violate the city’s law on short-term rentals. Starting Saturday, it will investigate hosts who control multiple listings and will jettison “unwelcome commercial operators” — people running illegal hotels in private homes. “We want to continually evolve the platform so it serves the best interest of each city we’re in,” said Chris Lehane, the former Clinton White House spin doctor and “master of disaster” who is now...
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+38 +1
You won't be able to rent an Airbnb apartment in Berlin for much longer
Berlin has banned tourists from renting entire apartments through Airbnb and its competitors in an attempt to protect affordable housing. With the help of large fines, the German city's authorities are hoping to protect the property supply and keep rents as low as possible. After the success of the various online rental portals, the number of properties available for long-term rental periods had fallen markedly
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