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!

[Rebecca181]

The poor lad was shot in the BUTT! That's gotta hurt. And apparently, he's not gonna take it sitting down! (Literally). 

@Susan17 So, what Airbnb 'team' and Brian Chesky created via their ill-conceived tweets and press releases is now coming back to bite them. Only, this injured man in Toronto that is now suing Airbnb for 5 million bucks got the terminology wrong: These are "Party Houses"  - Not "House Parties"!  You know, that special booking section Airbnb hosts place their listings on that says "Rent a Party House!" At least, that's what Chesky made it sound like in his attempt to blame hosts for the Orinda shootings (murders). Just like they are now doing with this Toronto mess, as evidenced in he below quote from one of the linked articles you included:

"Donich said that Airbnb will likely argue that the host is most responsible, and it has fulfilled its responsibility by creating rules following the California shooting."

On behalf of all hosts, past, present, and future: Thanks for always having our backs, Airbnb!!!

[Ute42]

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@Susan17, @Rebecca181 

"if we find that hosting activity substantially disrupts a community, we may take action against a listing"

There may have been 20 stays in one year, 19 went fine, one went out of control. But the action is taken against the listing, not against the guests.  What a strange world this is.

[Ute42]

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@Rebecca181, @Susan17 

• Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said the company would expand its manual screening of “high risk” reservations and remove guests who fail to comply with policies banning parties at Airbnb rental homes.

Yes, but before removing the guests they will be refunded the nights not spent. We have that in writing from airbnb:

• Creating House Rules helps Airbnb CX mediate a disagreement; however, Airbnb CX cannot enforce House Rules. If a host asks a guest to leave because of a House Rules violation, the guest will be refunded for the nights not spent and Airbnb CX can help facilitate that.

So if a guest shoots someone to death before midnight, he or she still gets the money back.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ute42  yeah... if a guest wants to shorten his stay and avoid cancelation policy, all he has to do is breaking all house rules so the host has to kick him out and voila! He gets his money back. Isn't that great? Bravo Airbnb! We couldn't expect anything less from you.

[Rebecca181]

@Ute42 This is just one of the many wonderful 'extra' perks of booking with Airbnb. It's obviously getting around that Airbnb doesn't care if hosts lose all of their revenue via these unwarranted and undeserved refunds; as long as Airbnb gets to keep the service fee, all is good for both Airbnb Corporate and the guests.

But not for us hosts.

[Inna22]

A guest booked today for Saturday, one night, local. When asked for a reason, he said he "needed to house a few people". Picture of a 19 year old at most. When he learned that I will be checking IDs and have a counter installed, he suddenly needed to cancel. Airbnb called me asking to refund him in full. So I said- Aren't you after the parties right now? Shouldn't you be delisting this guy instead of seeking a refund for him? I just perhaps saved you from another shooting. Nope, they are rehousing the guy

[Ute42]

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@Inna22 

All their announcements to fight parties are just blabla. They continue to do business as usual.

Nothing will change.

[Kevin-C3]

Air bnb hosts have no rights they need to unionize 

[Rebecca181]

Too many hosts are dependent on the income from their Airbnb listings for basic survival; they are unlikely to support such an effort. Airbnb counts on hosts' reticence to protest or delist due to this dependence. This is likely one of the things they count on as they continue to protect guests at the expense of hosts' rights.

[Inna22]

@Kevin-C3 you have the full right To take your property to any other platform.

[Kevin-C3]

Thank you Inna22 in Chicago I was totally unaware of that until you mentioned it , thanks a bunch you're a genius !!! And by the way I already did ! But that's not going to stop the fact that Uber,Lyft , and Airbnb hosts need to unionize thanks for your platform. 

[Kevin-C3]

Out of consideration for the guest I will be delisted after they leave tomorrow,  every one is not dependent upon Airbnb's income . But for a company to be offered proof , an admission by the guest that they violated the rules and for Airbnb to send you $75.00 and tell you "we consider this matter closed " is not going to get it , and I don't want to be associated with a company like that. Some people aren't going to be blown off like that . Like I said before Uber drivers , Lyft drivers and Airbnb hosts need to all get together and unionize. 

[Sean433]

Some of you may have heard of a Toronto man suing the host and airbnb over being shot at a party house. This one was close to home so it does set off more alarm bells.

Since airbnb is not requiring Government ID yet from its guests and not really holding them accountable for misbehavior, I have to deny nearly all local guests to eliminate the risk. It results in both bad and good guests being denied which also results in myself and airbnb making less money. Airbnb wants me to have very relaxed instant book policies but if something bad happens as a result of a poorly vetted guest coming into my listing, I am the one who will be getting slapped in the wrist. Not fair!!

Airbnb is going to verify all listings to ensure good hosting but they are missing the other half of the equation and that is verifying guests properly. This one sided approach won't prevent any shootings in the future because its the guests who cause this mess, not the hosts.

Until better business practices are enforced, I will have to continue to deny the majority of local guests which is a shame for me, the good local guests and airbnb.

[Sarah977]

@Rebecca181 @Sean433 @Branka-and-Silvia0 @Ute42 @Inna22 @Susan17 and all others- So this was published today- a real gem from Margaret Richardson:  https://news.airbnb.com/trust-innovation-update-protecting-hosts-guests-and-communities/

They are regurgitating policies that have always been in place, but not upheld by Airbnb. Now the new plan is that guests will be given a "two strikes out". 

They might as well have just said "Dear Guests, You will only be allowed to trash out a house and disturb the neighborhood with a giant blow-out party twice- after the first time, you will be given a warning, even though you already knew it wasn't allowed. After the second time, you may  be banned from the platform."

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sarah977 

it would be funny if it wasn't pathetic

I can't even force myself to read it, you said enough