Airbnb is getting ripped apart for asking guests to donate money to hosts

📝 Airbnb rolled out a new tool that encourages guests to send "kindness cards" and cash donations to their former hosts "impacted by COVID-19."

📝 The COVID-19 pandemic has tanked Airbnb's revenue, and the property owners who operate short-term rentals through the service have seen rent payments evaporate as people stop traveling.

📝 But critics lashed out at Airbnb's push for donations, questioning why renters should have to help shore up landlords' shaky financials.

https://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-asking-renters-to-donate-kindness-cards-backlash-2020-7

#airbnb

Their Businesses Went Virtual. Then Apple Wanted a Cut.

After Airbnb and ClassPass began selling virtual classes because of the pandemic, Apple tried to collect its commission on the sales.

ClassPass built its business on helping people book exercise classes at local gyms. So when the pandemic forced gyms across the United States to close, the company shifted to virtual classes.

Then ClassPass received a concerning message from Apple. Because the classes it sold on its iPhone app were now virtual, Apple said it was entitled to 30 percent of the sales, up from no fee previously, according to a person close to ClassPass who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of upsetting Apple. The iPhone maker said it was merely enforcing a decade-old rule.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/technology/apple-app-store-airbnb-classpass.html

#apple #airbnb

Airbnb may be exposing private host inbox messages, bookings and earnings data

Airbnb hosts report that they are able to access inboxes that do not belong to them.

Airbnb may be at the heart of a severe security incident as hosts report they are able to inadvertently access private inboxes that are unrelated to their accounts.

On Thursday, Airbnb hosts flooded Reddit, querying the sudden appearance of inboxes that do not belong to them when they signed into the service.

👀 👉🏼 https://www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/iz26du/airbnb_host_login_shows_me_other_peoples_inboxes/

👀 👉🏼 https://www.zdnet.com/article/airbnb-security-incident-may-be-leaking-host-inbox-messages-bookings-information

👀 👉🏼 🇩🇪 https://www.golem.de/news/datenleck-airbnb-gibt-gastgebern-zugriff-auf-fremde-postfaecher-2009-151125.html

#airbnb #security #incident #leaked #leak
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@BlackBox_Archiv
📡@NoGoolag

Airbnb’s Chinese data policies reportedly cost it an executive

Chief trust officer Sean Joyce left in 2019 — reportedly over data sharing with China

Airbnb’s chief trust officer Sean Joyce left the company after just six months in 2019 because the former FBI deputy director took issue with the company’s data sharing practices in China, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

For years, Airbnb has disclosed that it shares information such as phone numbers and email addresses with the Chinese government when a user books a rental in China. That happens whether the user is a Chinese citizen or a foreign visitor — a policy that’s required from all hospitality businesses operating in the country. Joyce, who Airbnb hired in May 2019 to protect the platform’s users, was concerned with Airbnb’s willingness to share data. Joyce also objected to the scope of the data shared, such as messages sent between guests and hosts, The Wall Street Journal reports. He feared it could allow the Chinese government to track foreign visitors and its own citizens.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/20/21585500/airbnb-trust-officer-resignation-privacy-concerns-china-data-sharing

#airbnb #china #data #sharing #privacy

#Airbnb Is Banning People Who Are ‘Closely Associated’ With Already-Banned Users

via www.vice.com