I think you're being disingenuous in that you're only looking at half the story. I don't use AirBnB either as a host or a guest, so I may be missing something here, but to me, this seems to fall squarely into "this is why we can't have nice things" territory.

Of course, if you have someone over for coffee, there probably is no issue. Of course, if you have many people over for a crazy party, there will probably be a boatload of issues.

The problem is there are plenty of dishonest people who'll try to skirt their responsibilities in the in-between situations. Maybe it's difficult to hide that you've had 50 people over. But if you're renting for, say, 4 people and you have 10 more people over? I'd guess it's not directly evident. So if those people aren't hell-bent on thrashing the place, but you know, shit happens? Perhaps the guest will try to say that the couch already had a wine stain, or the dishes were already chipped, or whatever. And if a neighbor complained about the noise? There were just four of us, we kept it reasonable, but we can't be completely mute.

So of course hosts will try to hedge against these behaviors. And, of course, people trying to be reasonable will get the short straw. Next thing you know, water will be found to be wet or something crazy like that.

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ryeights 44 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

We have to err on the side of humanity. Wear and tear and some bending of rules is part of the human condition and should be considered the cost of doing business in the STR space. I believe increasing neurosis, anxiety, and social dysfunction can be explained by increasing systemization, surveillance and rigidity in the world.

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cucumber3732842 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

>The problem is there are plenty of dishonest people who'll try to skirt their responsibilities in the in-between situations.

And the hosts who want to use strict enforcement of rules that were designed around not being enforced unless something bad enough to notice had happened bear no blame?

Are they not just as dishonest?

What about the internet cheerleaders who validate such behavior with their "rules are rules" ignorance, as if things were that simple?

	▲	vladvasiliu an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Sure? I mean, multiple people can be dicks at the same time, even to each other. That doesn't absolve the other party. My point was that saying "it's only hosts" or, indeed, "it's only guests" is not fully honest. Edit: I think the underlying thing is hard to set out. Basically, it's "don't be a dick", and it applies to both hosts and guests. But how do you enforce that? So this devolves into a situation where everybody tries to pin the blame on the other, and / or make sure to cover their ass as much as possible. Which brings me back to my general point: this is why we can't have nice things.