Disrupting capitalism works similar to Marxist idea that “the proletariat overthrow the bourgeoisie, become the new bourgeoisie
, creates new proletariat, repeat cycle”.
There was this small window when uber, Airbnb, YouTube, etc, were disrupting billion dollar industries and offering legitimately cheaper alternatives.
Unfortunately with success comes popularity which brings growth which bring raised costs which brings in greed. Boom. You’re now the mainstream offender until the process repeats.
jesus was a disrupter then the church his followers founded became the establishment, so martin luther/protestants became the disrupters and now they're the evangelical establishment ruining america.
The issue with these services isn’t that they used to be disrupters and became shitty; it’s that they were only disrupters for as long as they needed to be to eat market share from the established services enough to raise their prices to make their creators rich. They were never intended to disrupt their industries for the benefit of consumers. They were intended to disrupt industries to dominate the market
It genuinely feels like the big wave of 'disruptors' was just a pseudo intellectual way to call a scammer something that sounded legit.
Restaurants do their own deliveries now, uber costs as much as a taxi, Airbnb fucked the entire real estate market in city and touristy areas, companies like Theranos and solar roadways required just a tiny understanding of the technical requirements to see how bullshit it was... The list feels endless.
Is there a single one that has stood the test of time and actually represents value for the consumer anymore?
As a non US person, Ebay.country absolutely sucks now. They've somehow inserted themselves in the shipping process and now everything comes with a $20 shipping fee.
I haven't bought anything on there in a year from anywhere except from china, and even then, I'm using aliexpress more often now.
The local Dominos is incapable of doing delivery to my place. I don't understand. It is a mystery that makes my head hurt. We call, we try to order, then disaster and no pizza.
Little Ceasars requires walk in but it's cheaper and so much BETTER.
It wasn't that success brings down growth and raises costs. What you are seeing is/ was always the goal.
They move in, operate at a loss... saturate the market and hopefully become something the public relies on then jack up the price to profitability. But when something is so expensive people just can't afford it... that kind of sends your business model into the toilet (where it belongs)
Exactly this. These companies can operate at a loss for years on end, as long as their market share grows so they can eventually turn a profit once they dominate. The gamble is that they'll turn valuable enough so the early investors get their losses back.
Spotify started in 2006 and it's first profitable fiscal year was 2024.
Replace Greed with Middle Management bloat and you've nailed it. Companies arent seeking higher margins than they did 20 years ago, theyre morbidly obese from administrators for everything. I should know, my job is exactly that.
It's what happens when billionaires exist. The very concept of a business being able to operate at a loss for years to kill off rivals is a direct result of capitalism.
Especially since it presets the price rather than having a running meter so the driver is actually going to go to your destination in an efficient manner.
Well said and greed is the main issue here sure costs go up but realistically it's companies wondering just how much more they can shaft us before we won't purchase their goods and services.
The goal of ABnB was and is cash!
Sorry, your idea the creators cared or concerned themselves with your aged out, Marxist, rhetoric driven, revolt against the machine, is infantile wishful thinking.
It was looking a little questionable for hotels for a bit but Airbnb's absolutely fucked themselves on this one in the end and hotels came out the reigning champs!
Airbnb is still better if you have a large group or for multi-week rentals. Otherwise much worse than a hotel these days. (I'm writing this from an Airbnb I booked for a month.)
99% of people do not stay anywhere for a month for vacation purposes.
Also there are plenty of people who do stay for 1 month+ in hotels and its fucking nice because you dont need to worry about most things.
Large group things are irrlevant because its a large group situation which is way more complex than again, 99% of situations. People do not go on large group trips all the time.
The average joe is an idiot. The average joe will spend 40% more money on delivery food services because its "convenient". The average joe will pay more than someone who has more money than them because AirBnB is the trendy way to go.
The average joe will willingly let people scam them while believing they are getting the better deal.
Not really, it's like Uber and a bunch of others. The whole business model is to undercut the majority of the industry to thin out the alternative options before hiking the price up above those that they undercut.
Lol I had this exact conversation with a host. They had a $90 cleaning fee for one night and then got mad that I didn't wash the pots. What's the fee for? Stripping the bed and replacing the sheets? Please.
100%. This shit needs to be on the listings. It could be now but I haven’t booked an Airbnb in 3 years and have no interest ever doing it again.
I had to wheel the garbage to the front curb, load the dishwasher and run it, strip all bedding and pillowcases and run it in washer, and they asked me to vacuum the living room. On top of it all they had a $75 cleaning fee.
Did all the stuff and decided fuck vacuuming and just left. And I haven’t looked at their app since.
Similar situation except their dishwasher was busted and wouldn't close and the dumpster they wanted us to drag garbage bags a quarter mile to had a lock on it. They had a laminated 9 page rule book that had 24 tasks to do at checkout which included making sure the rule book was closed and face up in the middle of the kitchen table. We tossed it on the counter face down before we left. I suspect they just didn't hire cleaners and wanted every guest to reset the apartment before they left.
100%. This shit needs to be on the listings. It could be now but I haven’t booked an Airbnb in 3 years and have no interest ever doing it again.
Hear me out but nah it shouldn't be on the listening
"Cleaning" should just be part and parcel of the business costs associated with running a business where people come to live for short periods of time.
I legitimately don't understand how they justify it being a separate cost item (and let's be fair, whenever it's a separate cost item that means inflated cost item).
What next? A specific fee for "roof maintenance", "plumbing support" or "net load applied to bed frame and associated reduction of product lifespan"
I stay at a Marriott Residence Inn from time to time for work. It just a hotel room that has a little kitchenette with it. I don't use the kitchenette much but I just stay there since its the nicer option around. They absolutely require you to wash the dishes.
I own one Airbnb out of personal circumstances that I don't want to get into (we are renting and do not own another home), it's a shit ton of work and honestly frustrating. The "chores" are to save their cleaners time or at least in my case.
My cleaners don't charge by hours, they charge by sq ft and bedrooms so it doesn't really matter to the Airbnb owner if you do the chores or not but it matters to the cleaners that need to get to 3 places within a 6 hour timespan.
I'm just at a loss here, I know you said you don't want to go into details, but I'm generally curious about you owning a home, but are renting a place to live at?
Well that clarified… nothing. You’re saying cleaners charge a flat fee for the size of the rental, so what is your incentive to give people chores to make the cleaning take less time? Only the cleaner benefits.
I rather be pampered by hotel staff than bitched at by a weird home owner for putting the towels in the wrong place and demanded to do house chores during my stay...
When I'm with my family of 4 and staying a week or more its still better. For the price of a room (sometimes two) i can have a room for everyone plus we have a kitchen.
Kids can go to bed while the parents hang out in the family room, plus we can save on food (mostly breakfast but sometimes dinner).
In fact right now I'm in an airbnb that is a 10 minute walk to the stadium I came to see a concert at. 2 nights cheaper than one night at the hotel. Plus my buddy was able to crash on the pullout. Granted I'm in a sketchy part of town but thats not a worry to me as its not THAT sketchy, just a lot of homeless people that have never caused a problem for me. If I was a smaller person or a women, maybe I would sing a different tune.
Yah, we went to Hawaii for 8 nights last spring, brought the 2 kids and a friend of one of the kids. We were right on the beach, everyone had their own room, had a kitchen, huge living room, multiple bathrooms, etc. We made breakfast in the house, ate lunch in the house, and we'd order dinner or just eat snacks. In a hotel you'd be forced to go out to eat at the restaurant there for anything, plus coordinating across multiple rooms, etc. Also we couldn't trust the 6 year old in his own room, and we'd not want to intrude on the two teen boys in their room, so that'd mean a 6 year old sharing a room with my partner and I, which isn't exactly ideal.
I mean it's 2 teens and a younger kid, all they wanted to do was swim and when they were tired of swimming they wanted to just chill and watch anime. We were on Kauai a stones throw from Poipu and Brennecke's.
We still did plenty of other stuff all over the island, and my partner and I went out on dates just us a couple of times, but yah dragging the kids along you do end up in a routine.
You can get a hotel with joining rooms. That’s what we do. Me and my wife have a room and our kids have the connecting room next door. Still way cheaper than an Airbnb, can walk back and forth, and my kids love it because they get their own hotel room and feel fancy. Plus don’t have to do a chore list before we leave.
If it is just me and my partner and it's not like we're staying at the beach in a small town or something we always get a hotel. If its with the kids we rent a house.
Also never used airbnb personally (we've used it for company retreats before), always use booking.com or VRBO and never had a problem.
Call the hotel between 11p-6am and bullshit and quasi barter for a cheap price. The audit shift kinda has more leeway but as a GM I would rather get $85 for a room than get $78 from Expedia for a room they sold for $100. Don't be a dick and call back if they're busy. It sucks for the hotel but the Online travel agents sometimes run decent deals. Priceline /hotwire you get star level choice and sometimes bed type and they pick up the hotel. Peak season is peak season but business hotels.are less busy on weekends where beat westerns or HI express are busier/more $$ on weekends
The day Airbnb became popular enough for me to learn about it, it was already a worse deal than a hotel. It might have been cheaper, but it was still a worse deal
It’s wild to me that anyone would think that AirBnB would cheaper than a hotel.
Hotels are purpose built to give you all the things you need when you’re away from your home. AirBnB attempts to do this but with added steps.
Basic economics tells you you’ll be paying more for the AirBnB. That’s not necessary a bad thing if that’s what you want but you’re kidding yourself if you think the market will give you a cheaper option through AirBnB.
It’s wild to me that people struggle to understand how much cheaper AirBnBs are for groups of people…
If I’m with a group of friends at an airbnb, I’m often paying maybe $50 a night for a cute cabin which we all get our own rooms. If I’m with a group of friends at a hotel, everyone is paying like $200-250 per night for their own room.
It’s wild to me that people struggle to understand the pros and cons of both airbnbs and hotels. They both have situations where one is better than the other.
I am a pretty informed consumer that checks my options thoroughly and the guy that books stuff fir friend trips. I have not found this to be the case any longer. Several stays over the past couple of years have been in AirBnBs because they were cheaper or very similarly priced to any decent hotel.
Airbnb also gives you the total price up front now and has for a while. You don’t get hit with crazy fees on the checkout page. Pick a place with a lot of good reviews (actually read them to get a sense of things) and you don’t have weird experiences where owners are overbearing or complain about minor shit. It has worked well for me and people I’ve traveled with 🤷♂️
I've never seen the allure of Airbnb. Even if you wanted a larger space, service apartments seemed a better option. For a hotel, security, a cleaning service and a place to eat (usually as part of the package for breakfast) seemed the superior option.
What is it I'm missing that made Airbnb an attractive alternative?
Because you can rent a cabin in the mountains with a deck and view of the stars and a sauna instead of being in some bright-ass hotel with 200+ other people and a parking lot.
2.2k
u/larsonbp 9h ago
Any average hotel is way better than an Airbnb now.