YouTuber, Sean Rakidzich

[Kevin-s0]

Sean Rakidzich has a very popular channel on YouTube about Airbnb hosting.  In one of his latest videos, he advises hosts to set up a company, rent out apartments and not tell the landlords that you will be doing Airbnb in the apartment, "and it is not illegal," Sean claims.  Sean is a host himself he says.  Sean has over 200,000 subscribers at YouTube.  He sells courses on hosting. 

Airbnb has suffered so much negative publicity, I feel this advice is unethical, and will damage Airbnb as a whole, and hosts in particular.  I feel that we need to be good examples so that our local communities see the value in what we are doing.  We provide jobs for local people and tourists also buy from local stores.  Unethical behavior will be talked about.  We will all suffer. 

But basically lying or (not being totally honest with landlords) is what Rakidzich espouses as being "sales."   I feel what it espouses is being a sleaze bag.   Sean himself admits this is "controversial."  What do others think?

Should we do whatever we want and not tell the truth when renting an apartment as it is "just sales."   I suspect that CEO Brian Chesky would be very much against behavior like this.  Here is Sean's video:  https://youtu.be/DTLc7GLpkYA?si=PHNVyDbPi81pvCtS

What do you think?  

[Frances3408]

@Kevin-s0.

Its basically a scam by taking away standard legal terms designed to protect property owners. Not sure if you can legislate against greed or stupidity. Agree STR Arbitrage has caused damage to the Airbnb/VRBO brands as well as negative public feelings towards STR in general, not to mention unwary owners.

Here even if a standard lease is with an LLC the occupant must be named on the lease so this is checked against a rental blacklist (amongst other background checks) as well as the LLC directors. So his scheme only works if you dont do your due diligence and dont regularly inspect the property

[Kevin-s0]

I gather he hides his renting history through his LLC.   He was evicted before.  How many times have you been evicted?  I bet never!  I have never been evicted either.  If he was poor, then of course, I sympathize with that, but if it was for excessive noise or something else, that gives me pause. 

[Frances3408]

@Kevin-s0. As I said that woudlnt work here as I do my due diligence. I have rented and back then I had the wrong end of real estate agent bad behaviour, so as a landlord I wouldnt necessarily discard an applicant for eviction history, lack of rental history etc. Its the complete picture I'm interested in and if they want to explain themselves more that's fine.

We really dont know the circumstances around his case and he plays the victim card pretty well as a sales tactic imo.

[Sean1591]

My eviction was in 2009 when I failed as a sales manager for the Houston chronicle before I started my first business. After that I was homeless for 5 months.

I started my first successful business shortly after. No evictions related to airbnb. 

[Till-and-Jutta0]

We have one (or more) of these "coaches" in our country. While they claim to help "hosts" to make money, they themselve make the most money. And Airbnb's reputation suffers 😞

They even try to infiltrate our online meetups, as they see a growing number of participants with the hope to post affiliate links for the classes.

[Kevin-s0]

I find it very disturbing.  Thank you for your reply.  I want Airbnb to have a good reputation and feel that people like him should probably be off the platform.

[Sean1591]

Except, 100,000s of host come to my YouTube channel to learn how to be better hosts. For free.  Don’t be so prejudice because I’ve made my work public 

[Helen3]

You teaching people to be better hosts when you have a 4.41 rating across your properties and some appalling reviews 😀😀😀 @Sean1591 

Airbnb should have removed you from its platform in line with its policies but we all know Airbnb has one rule for large scale operators and another for the rest of us .

[Kevin-s0]

I will just add that All his cleaners just quit.  That comes straight from him, he made a video about it.  That has never happened to me. I wonder why?

[Kevin-s0]

Sean, you are a disgrace.  Flouting information like misleading landlords. Shame on you. Further, I would think most of your viewers are not hosts.  They may be one day, but they view your channel because they are thinking about it.

[Helen427 · Accepted solution]

They get caught one way or another

Here's a couple of recent ones in the international NEWS Media, there's others mentioned here in the CC if you use related keywords in the Search box.

Wolf of Airbnb Pleads Guilty to Fraud

https://fortune.com/2023/06/26/wolf-of-airbnb-pleads-guilty-to-fraud/

Investors in Airbnb arbitrage business allege they were defrauded in scheme promising ‘higher returns than the stock market’

Published Sun, Feb 11 20247:07 AM ESTUpdated Sun, Feb 11 20249:19 PM EST

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/11/investors-in-airbnb-arbitrage-business-allege-they-were-defrauded.ht...

Press Release

2 Indicted in $8.5 Million Nationwide Airbnb/Vrbo Scam that Allegedly Defrauded 1000s of Victims and Discriminated Against Renters

Thursday, January 4, 2024

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/2-indicted-85-million-nationwide-airbnbvrbo-scam-allegedly-defr...

[Helen3]

Sadly @Kevin-s0  people like Sean get by, by self proclaiming their expertise 

a quick search on Google show lots of his YouTube videos, articles and speaking opportunities with inaccurate information.

As long as there are people who see arbitrage or cohosting as an easy way to make money with no skills, knowledge or experience there will be people like Sean selling get rich quick solutions (which don't work of course) .

just look at the numbers of those posting daily in this community offering themselves as cohosts with no experience. 

[Sean1591]

Hey kevin, thanks for making this a discussion. (Sean here)

if you watch this video through to completion, this video is about a sales technique where the sales person assumes the prospect will say yes to their presentation. Applied to this industry, the airbnb host makes a presentation to a landlord. Explaining the model and the benefits to the landlord. After the presentation, the host asks a question to the landlord to close him, without asking for permission.

example:

”so what’s the next step? Is it an application , we would complete that in person or online?”

the landlord will answer 

1.) “hold your horses”

2.) “here’s the application”

in summary, the host tells the landlord ALL about the business, and closes the deal with good sales techniques.

please don’t make any uniformed claims about me moving forward. Thank you 

[Kevin-s0]

I merely quoted you Sean, not only here but in my YouTube video. 

Here is Sean's Video for all to see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTLc7GLpkYA&t=0s

"I don't ask landlords permission to Airbnb, what are you, nuts?!"  --Sean Rakidzich

Please be more classy. I know you feel you represent yourself, but by doing what you are doing, you affect all of us. Stay ethical.

I know all about sales, I have had many businesses myself - a chain of English schools, and now guest houses.  You don't have to mislead to get a sale. I disagree with you on this.

I watched the controversial video in question until the end.  It upset me very much.