You forgot “cable television, but over the internet and no one has all the channels.”
Personally I’m a fan of fake certificate that says you paid money for one of the plagiarism machine’s works
Hate this argument. No one ever discusses Fiat currency’s environmental impact.
*Which includes literally, actually destroying the Amazon rainforest.
Whataboutism. Bitcoin does not need to be proof of work. It’s horrendously inefficient.
Nahh, NFTs deserve to be their own failure. Cryptobros get two fails for one tech.
I swear that most commenters are young people because back in the 90s-2000s, taxis and hotels were hot fucking garbage.
Taxis would go on joy rides to up the cost or refuse you if you were black.
Hotels would tell you to go suck a dick because their price listed outside is not for you, and if you want a place, they have a room with roaches near the heater.
Uber/Airbnb were gamechangers that broke that monopoly.
Unfortunately, they have gotten to shit. But you know what? Taxis and hotels have cleaned up their act. Because the moment they go to shit again, Uber/Airbnb will come in and eat their lunch.
Taxis in my country would routinely ask for extra (usually 25-30% of the total fare) or have you pay them a fixed amount that’s way higher than if only the meter was used (about 2-3x the normal fare) . There are also taxis that have meters that are way too fast. Uber was a godsend when it first came out here.
When you call a cab it was often a game of 'will the can actually show up?"
They always where. Except in big touristic cities. There everything still is shit.
So nothing changed. We went from shit taxis and hotels to shit taxis and hotels complemented with shit uber and shit airbnb.
Ssdd.
Where I lived and traveled, hotels never had a monopoly. Small B&Bs and hostels have always existed, it was never a choice between big hotel and staying in a tent. There was no need to wreak havoc on the housing market.
The problem with the gig economy is that these platforms are not content with being what they’re advertising themselves as. “Be your own boss”. “Make some money in your own time”. Guess what, if you drive for Uber, Uber is your boss. You’re an employee in anything but name. They penalise you if you reject too many jobs. They penalise you if you go on break too long. They penalise you for all kinds of other things. Here in Australia most rideshare vehicles have at least two badges, because the drivers can’t make ends meet driving for just one. And then they’ve gone and fucked up the delivery market as well. It’s an economy of rent-seekers and middlemen.
Uber and Airbnb DID break that monopoly but they got their competative advantage by simply breaking the laws that existing taxis and hotels were required to adhear too. Still do break those laws but weight of cash > law.
Calling AirBnB “a hotel chain” is an insult to hotels.
Hotels don’t require you to clean somebody else’s house while you are on vacation like a maid, and then charging you a cleaning fee for missing a spot. There isn’t even much of a price difference nowadays, so staying at a hotel wins every time.
I have two younger kids. We can very close to renting a hotel on our last in-state vacation. It would have actually been somewhat cheaper. The reason we still went for the AirBnB was because our kids are asleep by like 7:30 and we didn’t want to be ‘trapped’ in the hotel room and didn’t want to rent a second. AirBnB made it significantly easier to find a house to rent.
That said, the number of AirBnBs in that area of the state has really grown. I can’t imagine that’s doing the people who live there any favors.
I use a AirBnB if:
- I’m bringing my dog. A house with a fenced yard beats a hotel for that hands down every time.
- Using the house is a major feature of the vacation. We live in an apartment in a city so sometimes it’s nice to just spend a week in a cabin in the mountains or a long weekend at a house with a pool.
- I’m traveling with a group and I actually want to spend time with those people. It’s nice to have a private social space that isn’t someone’s bedroom.
I prefer hotels if:
- I’m traveling solo. If I’m not renting a whole house, I want the hotel amenities. Plusi can pretend to be a bachelor again and act like a slob.
- I have an action packed trip planned. Every time I’ve been to Vegas I was pretty much only in my room to shower or sleep.
- I’m traveling with a group and know I’ll need some personal space.
This is pretty much my criteria as well. It’s funny, because since vacation rentals became a mainstream thing, my hotel experience has gotten better. I remember a time where booking a Vrbo was a preference because the accommodations would be nicer / better maintained at the same or lower price than a hotel. But these days I haven’t found that to be the case, and as such rely on contextual requirements to determine the best path forward.
It is really terrible for the housing market when real estate investors buy out homes on the market for the sole purpose of renting them out in AirBnBs.
I doubt that anyone would want to live next to an AirBnB house.
“They make for shit neighbours” not the worst of it. It also significantly contributes to the increase in cost of living in the area because buyers and renters no longer have to compete with just each other but also with investors, and every house or flat that’s off the market only increases that competition further.
These days I mostly use Booking, they list hotels as well as private properties which are properly classified and taxed and all that. Haven’t had an issue in years.
Oh there is a price difference these days. I used to use AirBnB because it was an actual saving. Now, unless you want to rent an entire cabin or something, you’re almost definitely better off with a hotel or specific industry standard business. Also love how they handle pricing, at least when I looked last year:
$99
$249 incl taxes/fees
This isn’t even hyperbole, it was entirely common to see a $100+ cleaning fee for a one night stay, and still have a list of more things to clean than I expect actual hotel employees to do.
Where is “social media surveillance apparatus”?
Don’t be like that, it’s perfectly legal under the 5 eyes legislature and all those backdoors are government mandated.
