Mass Shooting in Airbnb house in Orinda last night, 4 dead

[Lan1]

Breaking news:  4 dead, many injured in  an Airbnb party house in Orinda CA last night ( 10/31). The house is just few steps away from my second residence in the same street. About 10:00pm, My daughter and I were driving back to our residence, noticed that the street were full of cars. After a while, we heard police helicopters and ambulances arriving ....Neighboor next door told us there was a mass shooting in the Airbnb house few steps away.

The head of Airbnb trust and safety announced that  they will conduct serious investigation, according to the news.

My dear fellow host, I have been posting  many times regarding my concerns to Airbnb unsafe booking process.  My own house has been targeted several times for huge parties/criminal activities, but it couldn’t get enough attention from Airbnb trust and safety 

department.

 Please protect yourself and be safe!

[Denis227]

@David6

I feel so sorry for your story ! 

How did the  " super-duper-you-can-always-count-on us-we-stand-behind-you-in bad-times AirBnb Host Guarantee" work out  for you ? I hope it paid for your damages.  

You write "It is so crass to  address two totally different issues" together. 

It is crass.

And so smart at the same time. 

Bundling both events in one press release  hoping that one of the two goes unnoticed. 

I would guess this is the A B C of political communication in case of crisis....   

[David6]

@Denis227 

The police were called. And I emailed a senior member of AIRBNB. I told him the press were phoning me. Within 2 minutes  a senior handler from head office in San Fransisco  called me. First words to me: ‘we’ve got you covered.’

No support for the clean up or the horrendous experience of dealing with a trashing of your property. But at least Air agreed to pay out. I would have gone to press otherwise. I will not hesitate to go to the press again. I’ve had a guest sh*t  all over my HOME. That occasion  Airbnb didn’t back me. But I have images that would shame them to hell!  

[Susan17]

@Denis227 

"It is crass.

And so smart at the same time. 

Bundling both events in one press release  hoping that one of the two goes unnoticed"

Absolutely correct. Brian Chesky was already scheduled to appear at the New York Times Dealbook Conference on Wednesday, where the eyes of the corporate world - including those all important investors - would be fixed firmly on him.

So this "package of innovative safety initiatives" was hastily cobbled together in 3 days flat, simply so Brian had some "good news" and positive spin to impart to the money men. The fact that his plans are inane, insidious, nonsensical and downright unworkable, appears to be irrelevant. 

Truth arises more readily from error, than from confusion  - Francis Bacon. 

[Susan1028]

Thank you for your post  @Laura_R

Im heartened some condolences have been offered to the grieving who lost children and the guest vetting process is being considered.

However, what Im reading isnt enough.

By the time the incident is underway, it’s too late, as the tragedy in Orinda and others so tragically illustrate. The host and the police were on their way when the violent deaths and injuries occurred.

And, we’ve been the recipient of promises that weren’t delivered many times.

Many of us want to know that there will be a guaranteed overall overhaul of policy and terms of service surrounding the PREVENTION of these problems, in a form that offers legal and safety protections, specifically guarantees to guests that host have passed a background check for criminal and sex offenses, and host access to the required legal ID info of the booking guest and any other adult guests in advance, so if there is an issue,  the police can actually act effectively.

What is stated in the post authored by a carefully selected representative is vague, and represents the most minimal effort to satisfy an uneducated population.

The only difference in preventative procedure being offered is for a small portion of bookings, and as stated, the process won’t be any more thorough than it is now, and that hasn't really been clarified as far as what is actually done to “verify” an ID.  As far as I can see, what that means is Airbnb might do an internal check to see if the ID matches the form of payment in a random selection of instances. The guest can still use the persona of a cartoon character and book an Airbnb stay, with the host given the fake info.

We’re not asking you to do more work.

There are companies that specialize in ID verification and background checks for employers, non-profits, child care, and government entities in the US that handle millions of inquiries at an affordable cost with volume discounts.

To avoid more tragedy, a real, verified government issued ID and background check needs to happen for every guest and host member/profile, and if they protest, its because they have something to hide, because other platforms and every professional host already requires it along with a signed contract.

Airbnb would definitely be able to cut a deal with a licensed provider at least in the US and Europe, and based on the public stats, can easily afford to within the existing fee structure.

Guests deserve the protection of knowing their host isn’t a convicted violent felon, sex offender, or terrorist, and hosts deserve the same with respect to guests.

We have a right to know exactly who is booking our homes, and who will be with them.

Hosts also deserve enough respect to be able to leave honest reviews of a bad guest without fear of internal Airbnb or guest retaliation, and to know that the scammers out there (most of whom would be weeded out in the improved process suggested above) will not be able to play the system and get an easy refund based on bogus claims.

These are attributes many other booking entities have already mastered.

So can Airbnb.

Respectfully

[Denis227]

@Susan1028 

Your post was not directed to me  but I feel compelled to write to you.

Wake up @Susan1028   ... please WAKE UP .......

Haven't you read @Cormac0  's last post on this thread ?  I repeat it for you.  

QUOTE from memory 

If a corporation worth several billion dollars does not vet guests, it is certainly not because they can't afford to do it. 

UNQUOTE 

What is it then Susan that you don't understand here  ? If they can afford to do it and they don't do it , 

It is ONLY because they don't WANT  to do it. 

They don't want to do it  Susan .

They don't want to do it .

They don't want to do it .

They don't want to do it ..... 

Do you understand that  ?

THEY              DON'T               WANT               TO                 VET                      GUESTS    

And you think your prayers are going to change something to this situation ?   

I know it doesn't make sense to YOU as a host that they don't want to do it because you cannot imagine that AirBnB can deliberately put you, your house , your family, your dog , your cat, all your belongings at risk. 

But it is the dire truth,  Susan . I wasn't convinced four days ago when I returned on this forum. But now I'm fully convinced. 

And believe my long experience in corporate  scammers,  this is not even as dire as the full truth gets.   

Of course, they will never ever say it so openly because you would  rightly feel abused. 

It would be like the Academy of Medicine suddenly declaring " We Physicians want to officially apologize in front of the nations of the world. We  have lied for decades and even centuries. As the great genius, philosopher, mathematician, lawyer, philologist   Leibniz wrote in 1710, human beings do have innate faculties for self healing which can only express themselves in full swing either  in an appropriate food environment,  that food environment  which was prevailing before the invention of agriculture,  or in the absence  of daily food intoxication,  such as during a voluntary or involuntary fast "

Can you imagine any corporation making a statement that would result in totally destroying their own reputation ?    

Capitalist AirBNB will never try to SERIOUSLY  prevent the disorder / thrashing of your personal belongings after the departure of the guest.

Nor will capitalist  medicine ever try to SERIOUSLY prevent the disorder / thrashing of your immune system by agrobusiness. 

The world is not just rainbows and butterflies. But it is Chesky's ultimate goal to have you believe it. 

Still not convinced ? 

 Suffice to read between the lines of their last  press communiqué : AirBnb has just been given a super opportunity  to acknowledge  the huge flaws in their model and they completely failed the test.

They failed it LIVE . In front of your eyes. 

What else do you need to make your own opinion ?  

And why would they offer the community  such a crass PR exercice in the Orinda case,   if their real intentions was  to overhaul and redress their corporate strategy ?  

 YES they will not vet guests and they will continue to not vet guests  until such time as the US COURT OF JUSTICE will say : 

"Mr Chesky, you now have to  STOP treating your hosts as if you could freely dispose of their belongings  for your oversized ambitions " 

[Ute42]

.

@Mark116,  @Jude9 ,  @Sean443 , @Rebecca181 , @Sarah977, @Inna22 , @Lan1 , @Susan17, @Branka-and-Silvia0, @David6 , @Dennis227 , @Susan1028, @Helen3, @Helen427, @Laura_C 

I did watch the CNBS Video with Brian Chesky that Susan17 had linked.

It starts off with the moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin (ARS) and Brian Chesky (BC) talking about the Orinda shooting. Then Chesky says:

• There ar moments in the history of a company where You say enough is enough.

And then he describes how airbnb wants to cure the problem. One of the solutions is:

• BC: We will make sure that a 100% hosts and a 100% listings will be reviewed by the end of next year.
  
  

• ARS: You mean 100% reviewed by the company and not by a starsystem of users?
  
  

• BC. It will be a combination of the company and the community. We're gonna use technology, we're gonna use guests, we're gonna basically get a confidence score, we're gonna make sure we can stand behind every single listing and every single host. We'll make sure that every single listing is accurate, the information is accurate, the photos are what they say they are, the adresses are accurate, they meet minimum standards, they meet basic safety protocol, and the host is who they say they are and what their identity is.

What in the world has the accuracy of a listing-description to do with the occurance of an exessive party or a gunshooting? Has anyone ever pulled a gun going: „There are not enough towels, I'm gonna kill someone“?

It's hard to believe, but Brian Chesky basically accuses hosts of being the problem in terms of parties and shootings.

[David6]

@Ute42 

@Mark116, @Jude9 , @Sean443, @Rebecca181,  @Sarah977, @Inna22, @Lan1, @Susan17, @Branka-and-Silvia0, @laura , @Ute42 , @Denis227, @Susan1028 , @Helen3 , @Helen427

One day Airbnb will ‘woke’ up. They are no longer a couple of guys crashing on a smashed up old sofa!  Even the blow up airbed they first slept on is punctured so many times it needs to be trashed. It’s stained! Rancid. No one wants to stay ‘here’. Just like the brand!

i honestly feel like !;£/;& . I’ve never felt such disgust & outrage. Young people are dead! Airbnb are complicit in their murder! We as moral, decent individuals must not, cannot allow this to be swept under carpet. 

[Denis227]

---

@Ute42  a écrit :

.

"  „There are not enough towels, I'm gonna kill someone“?

LOL  !!! ... 

It's hard to believe, but Brian Chesky basically accuses hosts of being the problem in terms of parties and shootings.

For AirBnb hosts, you are right. It looks like he is accusing hosts of being the problem. 

He is taking the risk of irritating hosts further. 

But this perception is limited to insiders.   The general public will have a totally different reaction. 

In reality what they  decided in their crisis room is to obfuscate the Orinda case using the VICE scam.  Drowning the smelliest ( most smelly)   of both fishes, as it were  

The scam could be used to reinforce  their corporate strategy of sanctifying guests and deprecating hosts . 

The Orinda killing  on the contrary was of no use for their strategy. So they covered one case with the other. 

So their reply is only geared to 

---

[Rebecca181]

I agree with Brian Chesky, @Ute42 .  Enough IS enough. That is why I de-listed my Airbnb offering after I read Brian Chesky's tweets following the Orinda shootings, where he clearly was throwing all us hosts under the bus.

It was Airbnb's policies, (which were clearly intentionally designed to diminish and inhibit our ability to properly screen and vet guests for their own profit and gain), that led to those shootings and deaths. Period. End of story. Finis.

[Susan17]

@Ute42  

I didn't have a chance to post much yesterday, or give a written summary of the vid I posted, so thank you for identifying and highlighting the answer to the question everyone is asking... "how does Airbnb intend to verify 7 million listings?"

Basically, what Brian is saying is that the balance of power will be skewed even further in the guests' favour, by requiring them to police us by reporting even more information on us to Airbnb.

Along with the ridiculously intrusive spy charter/data heist that is the current review form our guests get to fill in about us, now they get to snitch even more on us by responding to another raft of probing questions about us and our homes. Charming. 

Data is now the world's most valuable resource. The oil of the digital era. (And we're all handing ours away for free, to Airbnb and its fellow tech giants)

How predictable of Airbnb to turn a crisis/tragedy into a money-spinning opportunity, while exponentially  tightening their tyrannical stranglehold over us. 

To anyone who hasn't yet seen the video guys - please watch it. And don't just watch it, but closely observe. We need to start really understanding what exactly is going on here, and how we're being played, manipulated, controlled and scapegoated by a $38 billion global corporation, yet again

[Denis227]

@Susan17 

Your post is worth a hundred thumbs up. 

If you follow this logic to its end , it also means that any collaboration between AirBnb and hosts , like  thru this forum, can only work against us !   

 Every smart idea  hosts will propose in their favor,  is likely to  be reversed and used against  hosts in favor of guests.

This corporation is a paradise for guests  and truly  has the potential to turn into  hell for hosts.  

The Orinda case will have been a very special moment in the history of AIrBnb where, for a few seconds,  hell turned out to be with the guests.........

[Sarah977]

@Susan17 I could only watch half the video-it was literally making me nauseous. Particularly interesting was at minute 13:30 when he says "we do have the best of intentions" and his mouth goes into all kinds of weird contortions, like he knew what total BS was coming out of it.

And I just loved the part about if a guest leaves a 5* review, then they'll be prompted to answer a bunch of questions about just how accurate the listing was. Say what? He's going to question the 5* reviews? What about the 1* reviews? The ones left by the guests who got kicked out or got charged for damages? Those, heaven forbid, will never be questioned.

Not once, at least in the first part that I watched, did he ever mention hosts as being his bread and butter, or said even one little thing to acknowledge what a great job most hosts are doing. Instead, let's only talk about hosts in terms of them having false listings that need to be rooted out.

As I said, it's nauseating.

[Susan1028]

@Ute, @David6 and everyone...

Compassion, a sense of social responsibility, empathy, and emotional maturity are not prerequisites to go into business.

All of the above have been clearly lacking as the BS by BC et al scapegoats and projects blame onto hosts for their own policy and other shortcomings.

Body and other language says “tantrum.”

There are instances where one must look at what is, realize the potential given the circumstances, and know nothing is really going to change if this inquiry is done the same way by the same people.

[David6]

What I *know* .

we’ll  achieve nothing here. We are 6 or so voices screaming into the abyss. My friend @Susan17  has tried for years. Most hosts quit this thread as soon @Laura_C was visible. And when  they read: ‘black gang shoot out.’ They went ghost. Disgusting. 

No. It’s time to take this offline. I need to sleep at night. All I KNOW IS airbnb is going to pass this off as  a few, crazy  BLACK GANG members. It’s their FAULT!

Even the  dead. Cancelled, closed  down  by Airbnb. Hosts fault for facilitating a ‘mansion  party..’ of Cause it was. You hosts who just walked away... Disgusting. 

[Jody79]

@David6  please don’t think that hosts are walking away from this. I don’t post a lot, however I do read a lot of threads and continue to follow this one. My guess is there are other hosts that are doing the same. I would basically be just repeating what you and others have been expressing here, and are doing so much better than I would. I for one completely agree with what is being discussed here and do feel the same frustrations with how ABB is handling it (or lack thereof).