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Airbnb has spent today tweeting reporters complaining of horrendous accommodations at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, offering to help them find more hygienic digs. The apartment- and house-sharing platform began this morning by putting out a general notice using the now-popular #SochiProblems hashtag.
Having #SochiProblems? Hotel lacking water? Floors? 500+ Airbnb listings in #Sochi are ready to welcome guests https://t.co/YHlvMS4jVU
— Airbnb (@Airbnb) February 7, 2014
It’s since moved on to sending @ replies to reporters who complain on Twitter. Here’s a message to National Sports columnist Bruce Arthur’s lamentation of living with cold water.
.@bruce_arthur We found your hot water & it has new friends: a heated towel rack & a cozy apartment https://t.co/0GvxjnF7aX #SochiProblems — Airbnb (@Airbnb) February 7, 2014
The haphazard conditions of many facilities at the Winter Olympics has been a leading early storyline of the games. The Twitter account @sochiproblems has attracted 265,000 followers in just three days by retweeting images of disrepair in Sochi.
We can’t have no dogs on roads here, all must be gone. #SochiProblems pic.twitter.com/ZaFBjCp5oq — Sochi Problems (@SochiProblems) February 4, 2014
The “It’s a great opportunity for Airbnb to offer influential people a bit of humor and a warm, comfortable, safe place to stay — a vacation from their hotel,” said Marisa Quiter, account director at AirBnB agency Periera & O’Dell, which has a team of creatives handling custom messages for the reporters and pre-checking with hosts to make sure they have available space. They’re adding a bit of flair to their messages to whining reporters.
Hey @DanWetzel – trade you 3 spare lightbulbs for a spare bedroom. We’ll even throw in a door handle https://t.co/KXyzmbIOgH #SochiProblems
— Airbnb (@Airbnb) February 7, 2014
As of yet, Airbnb has yet to seal the deal with any of the reporters it has contacted.
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