Airbnb just dropped their latest 'update' to Payment Terms. | Humphrey Bowles

This is a republication of the original article published on a Hotel Marketing Flipboard. Read the full article from the source here.

Original post URL: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/humphrey-bowles_digitalsharecropping-platformexploitation-activity-7344688177502121984-yo7D/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAQzj_IBWY4MFp0XaB6vIsMznLADGLWsRpg

Airbnb just dropped their latest ‘update’ to Payment Terms.

Are we witnessing the transformation from platform to predator?

Airbnb hosts, this is what just happened to your ‘business’:

(a) Free Inventory Locking for Guests
Guests can book without paying. If they ghost you 72 hours before check-in, Airbnb cancels. You get nothing, NOTHING!! No payout, no protection, no recourse. Guests get free inventory locks while you bear the opportunity cost of blocked dates.

(b) Post-Checkout Financial Warfare
Guests can dispute charges AFTER checkout, and you’re financially responsible. Airbnb keeps their service fee regardless. They socialise the risks to you while privatising the profits to themselves.

(c) Cash Flow Hostage-Taking
Airbnb can delay or adjust your payments whenever they want. New host? Suspicious booking? Algorithm feeling moody? Your money earns interest in their accounts while you wait for scraps.

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Every ‘update’ strips away another layer of your independence.
Every ‘improvement’ shifts more risk to you and more control to them.

I believe we’re watching digital feudalism unfold in real time.

Ask yourself the following…

‘What honest platform holds your earnings hostage while offering guests consequence-free booking options?’

The kind that sees you as livestock, not entrepreneurs.

This isn’t partnership, it’s systematic exploitation with friendly branding. They’re not building tools to help you succeed; they’re building mechanisms to extract maximum value while minimising their own risk.