Found a cool AirBnB app while just browsing

OMG - I was just browsing around looking for something totally unrelated to ST on the hackster.io site and I stumbled upon an app that sounds amazing.

This app sets the lock code to the last four digits of a phone number in a reservation calendar from AirBnB. We use HomeAway so I will look into an edit for that which should be simple. I didn’t see this on ST so I am copying it here. I don’t know if the author is in the community but he should be if he isn’t. I haven’t tried this so I don’t know yet if it works but the concept sounds awesome.

Has anyone tried this or anything similar?

Is anyone in the community the author of this?

where’s the “hate” button?

This was developed at a hackathon we put on in Portland recently. Fun and interesting stuff always comes out of those.

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Neat. I currently do this manually with vrbo.

I like the idea of this app, but I would think that someone’s phone number is a little too insecure for use, isn’t it? Let’s say one befriends another guest while staying… As soon as you exchange phone numbers–boom, the other guest now has access to your room… Thoughts?

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The odds aren’t super high that this would be a problem, at least not until the App becomes popular and then bad-guys consider it a worthwhile exploit.

It is worth considering alternatives / enhancements:

  • Perhaps there is a “confirmation number” generated on the reservation that is only viewable by the owner and guest.

  • Perhaps the guest would be encouraged / required to change the number as soon as possible in order to minimize the window of risk.

A little dated but if you’re looking to automate AirBnB this is very well rounded solution for automatically creating users:

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