OMG, that seems unethical...

[BenkaandKeith0]

As a host I've read with interest about the OMG Fund, and I’m not sure I understand it correctly.

So Airbnb is taking $10,000,000 they got from where?

Well, earned off the back of hosts such as you and I.

And using that money for what?

To create cutting edge competition against us.

Is there some sort of "big picture" I'm missing here? Not supporting the team as we're slowly being pushed off the court & back to the bench?

Or is this really as unethical as it seems?

What are your thoughts?

[Huma0]

@BenkaandKeith0 

Good question.

I started a discussion here about thoughts on the OMG fund in general. See: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Response-to-OMG-fund/m-p/1642913#M28482

but you make a valid additional point, in that who is actually paying for this? On the other hand, one could argue that Airbnb makes very little in terms of host fees compared to guest fees, so the guests are paying for it more than the hosts. 

[Richard531]

@BenkaandKeith0 @Huma0 Airbnb is a public company.  The shareholders are "paying" for it.

Also remember, these new OMG! listings are investments.  And cheap ones for Airbnb shareholders at that.  The new listings should pay the shareholders back their investment and then some over their lifetimes.  And the positive goodwill even moreso in the minds of travelers and hosts.  There is also a general unique lodging direction that the company is moving towards.  There's a massive "big picture."

Calling something/someone "unethical" is a rather loaded accusation that should maybe be reserved for the likes of Ponzi schemes/tax evasion or things like prescription drug malpractice.  

Making an investment that your Board of Directors (shareholders) agree with?  Exactly zero things are unethical about it.

[Huma0]

@Richard531 

Yes, technically, the shareholders are paying for it, but who is paying the shareholders? I think @BenkaandKeith0 was referring more to where the actual earnings come from. In his opinion, it's from the hard work of the hosts, which is something that can be argued, and I was talking a little bit more literally, in terms of the commission, which if you look at it that way means that the guests are paying more, and I don't believe that guests would have any objection to the OMG fund.

As for ethics, that's not so much my concern in this case. You may well be right that the new listings will pay for themselves, and more, over time and are not a bad investment. But, the fund is not about that. It's a PR exercise (and this has been confirmed from the horse's mouth) and not a bad one. I spent years working in PR and am happy to give credit where credit is due. 

My issue with it, and the subject of my post (which was actually just a comment that the moderators decided to move to a new post) was to do with the TIMING of it, which I felt was rather off given that hosts were still reeling from the Summer Release and wounds were very fresh indeed. Airbnb clearly agree that they got this wrong, which is why the announcement was removed from the CC sharpish. So, as a PR exercise, it failed as far as one audience (a chunk of hosts) was concerned, but perhaps has been successful to other audiences. I don't know.

The idea was to bring attention to the platform and, if that helps hosts, then great. The problem is the Summer Release fiasco, which many hosts, including me, are still very much feeling the ill effects of. Bringing more people to the platform is of little to use to hosts whose listings appear to have disappeared off the map. I have no objection to the fund itself, and am pretty sure I've seen Airbnb run similar competitions in the past, but right now it represents something (the Summer Release/direction Airbnb is going) that is very upsetting to a lot of long standing hosts. It is no wonder that emotions are running high.