Nomad List founder Pieter Levels claims Airbnb restricts negative reviews to prioritize booking volume

They don’t want to contract their inventory by encouraging bad reviews. Their entire review system is optimized around this (time limit, private feedback, mutual reviews etc).

Majority of users who are forced to get AirBnB ate families looking for >2 bads. If hotels starts providing bunk beds in rooms for kids, AirBnb would be toast. Fortunately for them hotel chains are too dumb and too slow to change. They can’t even fathom providing liquid handwash instead of soap bar.

@levelsio I haven't used abnb at all for the past 2 years. unless you're staying for very long, hotels usually just end up being cheaper and more legit everywhere I go, there's virtually no advantage to abnb anymore.

@levelsio The best negative review I have given airBNB is not using the product. And I don’t recommend it to my friends.

It’s so frustrating because you never know what you’re going to get. I booked for 1 month once and then arrived to a bed so uncomfortable I couldn’t sleep in it. Left after 1 week and lost thousands. Now I never book more than 1 week at a time, then if I like a place and want to stay longer, it’s already booked!

@levelsio it means they currently believe that in their ecosystem, supply is more important than demand

it may be true because they must have data that led to this

but unfortunately it means the experience sucks for consumers

@levelsio 100p. Reviews are meaningless. Every stay feels like rolling the dice.

We travel with kids, so the value prop is clear, warts and all.

Aren't you better off sticking to hotels?

@levelsio Airbnb used to be the cheaper option for decent/minimum quality but they tried to turn every listing into a boutique option that’s twice as expensive as a basic hotel room. The product just isn’t as good compared to hotels now. Been that way for a few years tbh.

@levelsio My bet is that most countries are simply in economic recession and this reduces travel. Added to this, digital nomads are giving up on this life...

@levelsio yes. I booked one that had a fake bed which was a board with a sheet on it. Almost broke a bone jumping on the bihh

@levelsio What do you mean of listings? Like reviewing a place before you actually stay in it? That seems like it could get easily abused...

@levelsio I’m so tired of being gaslight by hosts and Airbnb therapy speaking customer service reps (abusive language will end in termination)

@levelsio gotta keep hammering on whatever doing entishitification

@levelsio the balance between partners (supply) and customers (demand) is a tricky one

@levelsio

@levelsio Good point

apparently a police officer was shot by a drug dealer on our street (miami). as we were leaving for date night (with swat cars at the end of the street and helicopters overhead), they searched our trunk in case we were harboring the fugitive and told us not to come back that night. had to stay at a friend's place, and...we could not leave a negative review ✨

@levelsio Yup. That's why I stopped using them

@levelsio Amazon did well the beginning by letting any verified customer post any review. Good or bad.

Built trust with the platform

@levelsio Trust disappears once reviews feel curated