As per the article, Airbnb are now changing the site depending on whether you've come from a Google Ad or not. This impacts guests / hosts differently:<p>a) As a guest, you'll only see hosts who haven't opted out (ie. listings discrimination) based on where you've been referred from. Presumably the cookie is saved, and you'll never be able to see opt-out hosts properties even if you later go direct!<p>b) As a host, Airbnb are passing on the cost of Google Ads (and potentially making a pure profit on them) directly to you, if the booking comes from a Google Ad.<p>Not sure how this benefits guests or hosts - and just seems to be a profit making exercise. Imagine most consumers won't understand, and will simply wonder why sometimes they're charged +5% on bookings, and sometimes they aren't.
Isn't the goal for "sharing economy" businesses to pass off all of the risk to someone else while keeping all of the revenue/profits? Sounds like a genius idea to me.