American web firms are battling foreign hordes that look remarkably similar
|BERLIN AND SAN FRANCISCO |4 min read
ON AUGUST 1st Airbnb, an online marketplace that helps people rent rooms, admitted that it had mishandled a complaint from someone whose apartment was ransacked by one of its renters. Brian Chesky, the firm's boss, begged forgiveness and announced that from August 15th Airbnb would cover up to $50,000-worth of damage caused by its customers, subject to certain (as yet unannounced) conditions. Soon afterwards 9flats, a rival based in Berlin, said it, too, would offer insurance.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Attack of the clones”
From the August 6th 2011 edition
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