hn • r/hackernews
Comment on: Airbnb allowed rampant price gouging following L.A. fires, city attorney alleges
This happens to any platform using algorithmic pricing. Any time there is an unexpected event that either constrains supply or increases demand (or both), the algos go haywire. Then the the platform has to put in checks to prevent it from happening again.Remember when Uber was new and the surge pricing could do 20X+ in just a few minutes when there was an emergency? And then they had to fix it so that wouldn't happen, the trade off being that there just weren't cars available.The thing is, some people aren't price sensitive. In a sudden blizzard, some people are happy to pay $350 for a two