The difference is Google mostly works. And yes I hate that Google has lousy support.

AirBNB's corporate culture is based on the idea that nobody will care because the users would do it for free but it is nice to get paid.

When you raise 500M on a 10B valuation, people start to care more that your stuff works. If you get a moldy muffin at a bake sale you say, "no big deal that was a nice guy". If you get a moldy muffin at Starbucks you get a lawyer.

I am now a "Starbucks Franchisee" and so people expect more. I am also betting big on AirBNB with multiple properties, so I need them to do their part.

As to the "dig" that I should be using Hyatt or Doubletree to do this... I expect I will soon. You don't expect them to stay out of the market do you? I expect Expedia to be in the space in the next 3 years as the legality of running a hotel (and that's what I do) gets shaken out in NYC and SF.

Well, you are clearly doing more than they communicate to you. I read you as being a franchisee in a franchise program that doesn't exist. Do they actively support buying apartments to lease out using Airbnb?

So while I understand that you are already using them, that you see that they've raised money, and that you expect more from their franchise program than non-existence - indeed, you've set your stake down and established yourself in it - it strikes me as less than fair that you would show this level of entitlement toward a non-existent program.

It's a bit like complaining to a bakery that your customers no longer wake up to the nice fresh smell of croissants in your apartment upstairs from them, now that the bakery get their croissants delivered from another baking location. Well, okay. But that's not their model.

This is what your tone sounds like to me:

"Dear airbnb: I've taken it upon myself to set up as a franchisee in your non-existent franchise program. And as an airbnb franchise owner, boy am I pissed. Your level of support for what I'm doing is appalling. Orders of magnitude worse than what I would get from a program that exists. As a $10B company, you cannot afford to stop supporting what I'm doing. It's a travesty. Make no mistake, I am upset and fully intend to abandon you and start using your competition - just as soon as it starts existing. Your days are numbered."

I understand that you think they should go in the direction of supporting you (which may not even be legal!) but I would seriously consider the level of entitlement you show when making these requests. At the end of the day, you're not entitled to be a franchisee if they don't have a franchise program.

When you look at the "rent a castle" or many of the featured locations it is clear I am not a minority. It was this change that made them a $10b valuation company instead of being what ever valuation all the other couch surf websites are.

There are other services for furnished short term rentals. Few of those let you do 3 day rentals. I am on some of the ones that allow 1 week rentals. So there is competition in that space, and has been pre-airbnb.

So yes, they have a "franchise" this analogy is falling down because they are more like Amazon and I am more like one of the providers who lists on them. Or, Ebay listing my car for me.

When Amazon, or Ebay have support issues, or performance issues, or "image" issues it effects those "self entitled" sellers who are trying to make a living on their platform.

And yes, just as ebay and amazon if you don't do a good job the providers of what is sold will leave.

Some of what you've written makes sense, but you can't appeal to their $10b valuation for why they should support what you're doing more explicitly. They have a certain approach they're doing, and this only supports you implicitly. You can't take it but complain they're not doing something different, just like Google Search users can't complain about a lack of phone support. (And Google is a $363B company.)

I actually didn't mean "self-entitled" in a general way (like, about your personality), or anything - rather just entitlement about something in this particular relationship. For example, the same level of entitlement that you show might be absolutely fine when you deal with Starbucks, for example. (If I read correctly that you're a starbucks franchise owner). It's just that you're showing this particular entitlement about airbnb, and there is nothing to justify it, as they don't operate the same way or make the same sort of promises about their relationship with you.

Anyway it wouldn't hurt to ask nicely, saying, pretty-please, wouldn't you consider doing something different/ more explicit, better business support than what you're doing now, for this and this reason. They might not want to do that - then don't use their business. I wouldn't operate an eBay store for example, because of the terrible things some eBay store operators say about eBay and their policies. I just wouldn't use it as a business front.

I think if you don't want airbnb to just ignore you, you should consider playing at their level, with constructive feedback about what to do and how to do it, and if they don't want to do that - then to make a hard decision about whether you want to do business on their terms, or make a living somewhere else.

You can't get them to change their behavior by starting to behave as though they already promised to do that or set the relationship up like that. They aren't DoubleTree opening a franchise program. It's just a different sort of organization.