[hn_throwaway_99]

> with VRBO predating Airbnb by a lot, except for a more slick execution.

And "the more slick execution" was key. VRBO was until quite recently basically just classified ads - all transactions were done off platform, which was a major PITA and left a huge vector for fraud. I remember back in the late 00s I rented a place in Europe, and the only form of payment the owner would take was cash, so I showed up and paid 1200 euros in cash like I was buying half a kilo of heroin.

AirBnB solved the transaction issue right from the get go, with all payments going through their system and the owner not getting paid until like a day or two after the guest checked in. In addition, AirBnB worked off a commission model, which makes much more sense from a business perspective and which VRBO finally switched to a couple years ago.

[boulos]

Off-topic but this seemed off to me:

> paid 1200 euros in cash like I was buying half a kilo of heroin

and luckily, the UN has some nice historical data on this [1]. Looks like the EU averaged 50 euros per gram or so. You’d have only gotten 25 grams :).

[1] https://dataunodc.un.org/drugs/heroin_and_cocaine_prices_in_...