As an Airbnb host (we rent out our master bedroom suite), I can safely say Airbnb is not what it used to be.<p>It's just like any community online, really. Airbnb started out as a tight-knit, mostly Bay-Area-techie demographic. As a host in Austin, where many techies visit, do job interviews, or hang out for a few weeks, I enjoyed meeting interesting people who were in the same (or similar) community as I was--startups/entrepreneurs. I met people who had shared connections with me on Facebook and people who became good friends.<p>Fortunately for Airbnb's valuation, but unfortunately for hosts, the demographic has dramatically changed over the past few months to a year. With Airbnb becoming a "household name" of sorts, with a multi-billion-dollar valuation, people have started booking on Airbnb who are not of the caliber (to put it nicely) of the original close-knit community that made the site so neat.<p>I get it. Communities, as they grow and become mainstream, tend to attract more not-so-great people. It's inevitable. It's just, as a host, it stinks. Airbnb is going to have to get even better with quality control. (One step, as I've made clear in emails to their support team, is to get really firm on their guideline of not letting people book for other people. It is a trust and safety issue--the person booking the Airbnb should be the person staying in the house, PERIOD.)<p>I wrote more about my personal experience a few weeks ago on Facebook [1]. I didn't mention some of the particular bad experiences we've had with guests in the post, because I don't want to embarrass anyone publicly, but let's just say...we have had some really negative, uncomfortable experiences with multiple guests in the past couple months. That's after having over 100 positive experiences, but the percentage of positive vs. negative experiences has taken a dramatic negative turn lately.<p>My experiences are not as horrific as the above article--probably in part because we are here when we rent out our master bedroom. However, this definitely is a trend/issue that Airbnb is going to continue to struggle with. I hope their customer service team takes these incidents seriously and continues to make it safer for hosts and guests of the service.<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ericabiz/posts/10152926663453305" rel="nofollow">https://www.facebook.com/ericabiz/posts/10152926663453305</a>