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Hi @Mearns,
I mostly dislike MS because they owe their success in large part by taking away freedom from people. And secondarily because their OS is kind of sucky. Though maybe it has its plus points. I wouldn’t know. And binary-only proprietary software in general has a lot of problems.
Actually, all software has bugs. the problem is when you hide them and don’t try to fix them.
So, Allen’s yacht, eh? You should write a book.
I will write that book, been told that a million times. Hey how odd life is; two days ago I am sitting in a restaurant, a 12-person group walks in, I slowly pick up on the conversation and we start to to talk, the ‘jefe’ comes over and sits down; he was fascinated by this talk of an island.
He was the man that turned around Kodak, as they got passed by when photography went digital and Kodak got clobbered in the late 70’s/early 80’s. I closed the island today for two weeks (maintenance) by coincidence, bringing them all out today for the day. Talking about a bull in a China closet; this guy is like Superman and Flash combined, should be interesting.
/great conversation BTW, be back laters.
I wasn’t aware of this. I thought it was just the 3%.
Paul Allen pulls up here in Kona with his yacht as well; somehow I never get invited. 
This is a great strategy.
Actually, that’s not true. The Wall Street Journal reports that Paris is Airbnb’s single largest market, and a year ago WSJ reported that Airbnb “generates more than half its revenue in Europe.”
Hi Mearns,
You have no way of knowing this, of course, but you got your “you of all people” radar settings slightly off.
I make my entire living from Microsoft products and have for the last 20+ years. I do appreciate that they created the software, but I also have a joke which goes “I always carry a baseball bat around in my car, just in case I ever meet Bill Gates”. I have been hoping for years that they will fix known issues, but instead they keep on dumbing down the products so that little kids will become lifelong buyers. //end rant.
It is a US company, headquartered in ‘The People’s Republic of California’ which is in the USA, thus governed by US law.
@Artemis Ok, you got ticket #7,964,432 of the people that would like to clobber Gates; did I leave anyone out? LoL
@kona, when I passed Allen (who I recognized) on the dock two years, I asked him as I pointed to his yacht: 'Say, you happen to know who owns that glorified canoe?". He started laughing.
/everyone is out snorkeling, I am hiding upstairs in the watch tower sipping on a margarita and get to play in the internet.
It’s been 20 years… does that mean I have one of the low numbers?
Oooh, I got a good funny story on Millenniums for tonight, this last batch were ‘the bomb’.
Yes, but it is also incorporated in foreign countries and, for example, has its European HQ in Dublin. It is governed by the laws of those countries. So the lawsuits, fights with municipalities, etc… not by any means limited to the US.
BTW I wasn’t looking to start trouble 
I just read that and thought it might be a misconception. I think it’s fascinating how huge Airbnb is outside of the U.S.
I think that is absolutely awesome really, gets influenced by many cultures with different ways.
Let’s say Airbnb takes in 1 billion a year. At 15% they make 150 million (minus credit card processing, advertising and legal fees). Why should they be satisfied with that? No wonder they are experimenting with raising their take rate by 5%. Let’s add in their assets. A rickety website and fantastic offices. They don’t own the product they sell and they do not actually produce anything. All this valued at 25 to 30 Billion? WTF?
Oh that’s right, no inventory! None to buy, none to maintain. That’s on us. Forgot about that.
What is your point?..I been saying for a month, the 3% will rise and why. They will do what is best for them. I am just not bothered by what others make, at all. Meantime, I been putting more emphasis on becoming less dependent on Airbnb, because is best for me.
You should see Gates…is a rental…$5m a week or something like that…we also had Vava II in port…an amazing yacht in our little harbor owned by Kristy Bertadelli, Britain’s supposedly richest woman; no she didn’t invite me to dinner. LoL…
It seems likely this is sarcasm, but just checking…
And one could make similar remarks about Facebook.
I have been thinking about why Italy.
This is my theory:
So in Italy is a good testingground for this new policy. There is a huge group of travelers booking short stays, the number of hosts for short stays is very large and cancelations will be replaced quickly in these popular city’s.
If they are smart, they invite all the vacation rental owners to the “strict 60” policy. To keep them happy too.
Because they will definitely leave AirBnB with this new policy.
