Every Internet service, like any phenomenon in this life, has its own evolution, when the initial positioning collides with the ruthless laws of the market - and then the adjustment to the new reality takes place. It happened with Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, and it happens with Airbnb.
A long time ago, in the late 00s and early 10s, the service was conceived as an inexpensive alternative to hotels, as well as an opportunity for hosts who have a free room to earn some side money and meet new friends from all over the world. Now it is a huge international business, and the former romance seems to have gone with the wind.
A TikToker, who goes by the nickname @mrchrischill for finance, news and travel, recently made a video sharing the results of his lengthy research into Airbnb's mechanics and policies. According to Chris, he understood the essence of the service's main problem. The video went viral, gaining nearly 1M views as of today.
More info: TikTok
Finance and travel blogger makes a viral video based on the results of his investigation regarding Airbnb
Image credits: @hisnameisguapo
As the Original Poster correctly points out, the initial essence of Airbnb was in its name - that is, bed and breakfast. That is, any person who had free space in their house or apartment could earn some extra money on the side.
Image credits: @mrchrischill
The initial Airbnb concept was hidden directly in the words "bed and breakfast" in its title
On the other hand, tourists who did not have enough money for a hotel could spend the night and have breakfast in a new place for a relatively small amount, get a new unique experience. Now, according to Chris, Airbnb no longer provides anything like this.
Image credits: @mrchrischill
The OP and his team spent several months investigating Airbnb's business model, finances and philosophy
According to the OP, he and a whole group of enthusiastic researchers spent several months studying the Airbnb business model, their finances and philosophy. The results are not encouraging - instead of grandmas who rent out their son's room after he got married and moved out, now development companies run everything. They specially build entire apartment buildings, and then simply rent most of them on Airbnb.
Image credits: @mrchrischill
Now, Airbnb is literally a hotel business but without hotel service
It turns out to be a full-fledged hotel business, but without hotel service, because development companies, of course, do not have specific experience in this area. However, these hosts are now encouraged by Airbnb's "growth first" philosophy.
Image credits: @mrchrischill
Thus, the company has a huge number of hosts, but cannot fully and effectively manage them. According to Chris, this makes him very sad, because the initial Airbnb concept was extremely cool, so it's a pity that over the years it has changed more and more.
Image credits: @mrchrischill
The OP believes that company managers destroyed its huge potential but he wants to make Airbnb great again
The OP notes that he and his team were led, first of all, by the desire to understand everything, to return Airbnb to the previous concept, so he would gladly share all his findings with the company's representatives. Chris believes that Airbnb initially had great potential, but eventually destroyed it, and now the management does not know how to deal with it all.
Image credits: Open Grid Scheduler / Grid
People in the comments confirmed almost every word said by the OP
Most of the commenters on the video agreed with Chris in full, confirming that the service has largely destroyed the housing market, and now everyone is just trying to make passive income with Airbnb. Previously, as people say, the cost per night was really low, but now it is almost on par with hotels.
As some people sadly pointed out, Airbnb is now just a hotel business with no guest service department. And don't forget the outrageous $200 cleaning fees - and the host also expects you to do some chores before you leave. Of course, there are still quite a few ordinary people left on the service who rent their free rooms, but now this is rather a minority.
We don't know if you agree with the original poster, so feel free to voice your opinion in the comments on the post. You can also, for example, check out this collection of tweets from people who were disappointed with their experience using Airbnb, or just check out this post with really weird and ridiculous host rules as well.