’Denmark Switches.’ A national campaign to collectively move off Big Tech.
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I stopped using Booking.com ages ago, tired of the spam and Big Corporateness of it. Now I only book directly with hotels. Every time, it's cheaper and the experience is better. If I need to contact a hotel, I communicate with a human. When I needed to make a date change not covered by the booking: 'no problem!' They changed it instantly for free. I'd forgotten how actual customer service used to be. I also forgot to actually delete my account. #DanmarkSkifter reminded me. I just deleted it.
@CiaraNi I've long been a believer in booking directly, for all the reasons you've noted. I've even stumbled through booking a stay at a French farm via a phone call, relying on my extremely limited French and the structured way such conversations always tend to go. Great place, well worth working through my awkwardness.
AirBnB seemed like a decent idea when it really was "use my couch" or even spare bedroom. In its current form, it just soaks up what should be housing stock. Never used it, never will.
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@hanktank61 @donaldham I've never understood the way that AirBnb manages to retain some of the aura of 'staying on my mate's mates couch', 'sticking it to The Man by swapping with real people' etc. A commercial company monopolising the few AirBnb accommodations in a small place, centralising and monopolising the supporting services around them, is the opposite of that to me. That's just a hotel or B&B, but even more centralised and cartel-ish.
@CiaraNi @donaldham
"Good Old Days" . I lived a while in the UK in the '70''s working at trainstations in catering.
Low pay but free travel. Real B&B, £ 5 a night.
Older ladies having a spare-room. Local Tourist information with real people, phoning " Hi Annie I have a person ( later "a couple" )for you". Then came internet. They had to go by the new rules for info. Otherwise no business. Change was fast. No more "want a cuppa tea? " when arriving after a long trip.
Keybox, that is it. -
’Denmark Switches.’ A national campaign to collectively move off Big Tech. March 20th is Big Switch Day. I’ve named my goal now. I’m already almost deMicrosofted, except for my photo archive. I moved to Libre & Tuta mail and have been purging photos as I await the release of Tuta drive. Now I’m committing myself to just get the photos off OneDrive and on to my computer, that I own, in my house, by March 20th. Then I’ll delete Microsoft. Then I’ll boast about it on the Fediverse.
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️ ️ ️️ ️ 
️️ Walking away from techbros
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@hanktank61 @donaldham I've never understood the way that AirBnb manages to retain some of the aura of 'staying on my mate's mates couch', 'sticking it to The Man by swapping with real people' etc. A commercial company monopolising the few AirBnb accommodations in a small place, centralising and monopolising the supporting services around them, is the opposite of that to me. That's just a hotel or B&B, but even more centralised and cartel-ish.
@CiaraNi @hanktank61 @donaldham
The only time I ever used AirBnB was on a last-minute trip to Berlin in 2019. I had to find somewhere fast so it had to be AirBnB. Turned out that the 'real home' was an ensuite hotel room in a purpose-built hotel. Fine as far as it went but not a home at all. Then they badgered me to give the owner a review, which I refused to do.
I recently got an AirBnB email about T&Cs, which was the perfect opportunity to officially dump them.
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@CiaraNi @hanktank61 @donaldham
The only time I ever used AirBnB was on a last-minute trip to Berlin in 2019. I had to find somewhere fast so it had to be AirBnB. Turned out that the 'real home' was an ensuite hotel room in a purpose-built hotel. Fine as far as it went but not a home at all. Then they badgered me to give the owner a review, which I refused to do.
I recently got an AirBnB email about T&Cs, which was the perfect opportunity to officially dump them.
@riggbeck @CiaraNi @donaldham
Finding our ways , succeeding. -
Cleansing?
@w_b It is certainly cleansing. You get the pleasant feeling like after the nice warm shower you had after being all mucky from a run in the woods. I am reaching for a more postive word that focuses on the benefits, though. It's not just getting away from enshittification, it's gaining a digital upgrade. All the non-Big Tech alternative solutions are actually much better than the ones I left.
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#DanmarkSkifter
that's the spirit!
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This is a great thread you started, here!
@wannabemystiker Tak! It's accidentally evolved into a thread, or into my #DanmarkSkifter diary,
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@CiaraNi I've long been a believer in booking directly, for all the reasons you've noted. I've even stumbled through booking a stay at a French farm via a phone call, relying on my extremely limited French and the structured way such conversations always tend to go. Great place, well worth working through my awkwardness.
AirBnB seemed like a decent idea when it really was "use my couch" or even spare bedroom. In its current form, it just soaks up what should be housing stock. Never used it, never will.
@jeridansky That's it exactly. AirBnB went fast from peer-to-peer couch-surfing to capitalist ventures that are more harmful than regulated hotels and real B&Bs. Soaking up the housing stock: yes, this is a terrible consequence of it.
Encounters like yours, stumbling through a foreign-language booking, are so charming and fun. I didn't use AirBnB either but did use Booking.com for a few years. I am enjoying not using it now. I am glad to be back to direct bookings and direct chats with humans.
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@CiaraNi @donaldham
"Good Old Days" . I lived a while in the UK in the '70''s working at trainstations in catering.
Low pay but free travel. Real B&B, £ 5 a night.
Older ladies having a spare-room. Local Tourist information with real people, phoning " Hi Annie I have a person ( later "a couple" )for you". Then came internet. They had to go by the new rules for info. Otherwise no business. Change was fast. No more "want a cuppa tea? " when arriving after a long trip.
Keybox, that is it.@hanktank61 This is it - the real conversations, the real chats with the B&B owners or with the actual human staff and actual locals working in the hotel. The cup of tea. The 'oh I remember you, you stayed here for your friend's wedding, wasn't it?', etc. The opposite of 'Keybox, that is it'.
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@kevinrns I like that image. There we are, ordinary people, just casually walking away from them, strolling together towards a better, healthier digital life.
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@CiaraNi @hanktank61 @donaldham
The only time I ever used AirBnB was on a last-minute trip to Berlin in 2019. I had to find somewhere fast so it had to be AirBnB. Turned out that the 'real home' was an ensuite hotel room in a purpose-built hotel. Fine as far as it went but not a home at all. Then they badgered me to give the owner a review, which I refused to do.
I recently got an AirBnB email about T&Cs, which was the perfect opportunity to officially dump them.
@riggbeck @hanktank61 @donaldham That seems to be very common now. That an AirBnB is just a less regulated hotel, not even remotely a 'local person renting out their couch peer-to-peer' concept.
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@CiaraNi @hanktank61 @donaldham
The only time I ever used AirBnB was on a last-minute trip to Berlin in 2019. I had to find somewhere fast so it had to be AirBnB. Turned out that the 'real home' was an ensuite hotel room in a purpose-built hotel. Fine as far as it went but not a home at all. Then they badgered me to give the owner a review, which I refused to do.
I recently got an AirBnB email about T&Cs, which was the perfect opportunity to officially dump them.
@riggbeck @CiaraNi @hanktank61 @donaldham
I tried to use them exactly once. I was planning on tacking a visit to Boston onto a trip to New York to visit folks at MIT and Harvard. The little hotel a colleague recommended that was about half way between the two was full, but I found a place on AirBnB nearby and placed the booking. My flight was due in late, so I wasn’t going to get to the place before 11pm. I sent them a message to confirm the late arrival process a couple of days before departure.
They told me I’d cancelled my booking.
I told them I hadn’t and asked them to reinstate it.
They told me they’d already rented the room to someone else.
I contacted AirBnB support and they told me the card had been declined. Rather than asking me for an alternate means of payment or even telling me, they’d silently cancelled the booking.
If I hadn’t contacted the host, I wouldn’t have known and would have turned up at 11pm with nowhere to stay.
At that late time, only one hotel had space left, was on the wrong side of the river (would have needed taxis to get to the places I needed to be) and it was charging $750/night. It ended up being cheaper to cancel that leg of the trip entirely.
Shortly after that, the university’s travel insurance announced that they would not cover AirBnB. A lot of my colleagues complained but I fully understood why.
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@riggbeck @CiaraNi @hanktank61 @donaldham
I tried to use them exactly once. I was planning on tacking a visit to Boston onto a trip to New York to visit folks at MIT and Harvard. The little hotel a colleague recommended that was about half way between the two was full, but I found a place on AirBnB nearby and placed the booking. My flight was due in late, so I wasn’t going to get to the place before 11pm. I sent them a message to confirm the late arrival process a couple of days before departure.
They told me I’d cancelled my booking.
I told them I hadn’t and asked them to reinstate it.
They told me they’d already rented the room to someone else.
I contacted AirBnB support and they told me the card had been declined. Rather than asking me for an alternate means of payment or even telling me, they’d silently cancelled the booking.
If I hadn’t contacted the host, I wouldn’t have known and would have turned up at 11pm with nowhere to stay.
At that late time, only one hotel had space left, was on the wrong side of the river (would have needed taxis to get to the places I needed to be) and it was charging $750/night. It ended up being cheaper to cancel that leg of the trip entirely.
Shortly after that, the university’s travel insurance announced that they would not cover AirBnB. A lot of my colleagues complained but I fully understood why.
@david_chisnall @riggbeck @CiaraNi @donaldham
We heard stories like that. We used ABnb a few times , in Germany, France, UK and Canada- Ontario
No bad experiences. We had issues, wondering if we could travel at all. Booking long time ahead saves a lot of money and guarantees . ( With exceptions ). The free cancellation -option is a must. -
@riggbeck @CiaraNi @hanktank61 @donaldham
I tried to use them exactly once. I was planning on tacking a visit to Boston onto a trip to New York to visit folks at MIT and Harvard. The little hotel a colleague recommended that was about half way between the two was full, but I found a place on AirBnB nearby and placed the booking. My flight was due in late, so I wasn’t going to get to the place before 11pm. I sent them a message to confirm the late arrival process a couple of days before departure.
They told me I’d cancelled my booking.
I told them I hadn’t and asked them to reinstate it.
They told me they’d already rented the room to someone else.
I contacted AirBnB support and they told me the card had been declined. Rather than asking me for an alternate means of payment or even telling me, they’d silently cancelled the booking.
If I hadn’t contacted the host, I wouldn’t have known and would have turned up at 11pm with nowhere to stay.
At that late time, only one hotel had space left, was on the wrong side of the river (would have needed taxis to get to the places I needed to be) and it was charging $750/night. It ended up being cheaper to cancel that leg of the trip entirely.
Shortly after that, the university’s travel insurance announced that they would not cover AirBnB. A lot of my colleagues complained but I fully understood why.
@david_chisnall @riggbeck @CiaraNi @donaldham
And : Searching on mentioned sites with Linux > Safe Browser > anonyme without logging in is great.
And then looking for direct contact options.
No pestering with advertising mails etc.
( Same way for using YT
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@riggbeck @CiaraNi @hanktank61 @donaldham
I tried to use them exactly once. I was planning on tacking a visit to Boston onto a trip to New York to visit folks at MIT and Harvard. The little hotel a colleague recommended that was about half way between the two was full, but I found a place on AirBnB nearby and placed the booking. My flight was due in late, so I wasn’t going to get to the place before 11pm. I sent them a message to confirm the late arrival process a couple of days before departure.
They told me I’d cancelled my booking.
I told them I hadn’t and asked them to reinstate it.
They told me they’d already rented the room to someone else.
I contacted AirBnB support and they told me the card had been declined. Rather than asking me for an alternate means of payment or even telling me, they’d silently cancelled the booking.
If I hadn’t contacted the host, I wouldn’t have known and would have turned up at 11pm with nowhere to stay.
At that late time, only one hotel had space left, was on the wrong side of the river (would have needed taxis to get to the places I needed to be) and it was charging $750/night. It ended up being cheaper to cancel that leg of the trip entirely.
Shortly after that, the university’s travel insurance announced that they would not cover AirBnB. A lot of my colleagues complained but I fully understood why.
@david_chisnall That seems to be a common AirBnB experience. Commercial accommodation, more unreliable and unregulated
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@CiaraNi That's even a rather big step! Am still moving slowly in regard to payment, so your success is inspiring.
@borisentiu @CiaraNi Why is paypal so popular in Germany? I hardly ever used it before moving here, and now many webshops only have paypal checkout, and people collect money for presents and return those few euros they borrowed for lunch through paypal (granted, Revolut I am used to is not great either, waiting for Wero to take off).
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I stopped using Booking.com ages ago, tired of the spam and Big Corporateness of it. Now I only book directly with hotels. Every time, it's cheaper and the experience is better. If I need to contact a hotel, I communicate with a human. When I needed to make a date change not covered by the booking: 'no problem!' They changed it instantly for free. I'd forgotten how actual customer service used to be. I also forgot to actually delete my account. #DanmarkSkifter reminded me. I just deleted it.
@CiaraNi I’ve been doing the same. However, when a hotel requires me to create an account to book for that one time I will ever stay with them, I pass.
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@CiaraNi maybe 'User Rebellion'. Your post is great food for thought. Semantics can make or break a defining a movement.
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@borisentiu @CiaraNi Why is paypal so popular in Germany? I hardly ever used it before moving here, and now many webshops only have paypal checkout, and people collect money for presents and return those few euros they borrowed for lunch through paypal (granted, Revolut I am used to is not great either, waiting for Wero to take off).
@rhelune @borisentiu I didn't know that PayPal was so dominant there. People keep recommending Revolut to me but I am trying to shed apps so I don't want new ones. Cash and card is fine when I'm travelling, although it's frustrating in somewhere like London where they've normalised refusing cash and you end up paying a conversion fee for using a credit card for some small purchase.
