Now Airbnb, hoping to put all that behind it, is starting 2012 on a positive note: It's launching an Android app, redesigned from the ground up, as well as a new version of its mobile website.
"We could have just cut-and-pasted from our iPhone app," wrote Airbnb's head of content Vivek Wagle in a blog post. "But that's not how we roll. We realized that this was an opportunity to rethink how the app could work -- from an Android point of view.
"We tailored the design, user experience, and underlying code from the ground up. We wanted using the app to be as seamless and joyful as using our website."
The app, and the new mobile version of the website, lets hosts and guests instant message with each other directly. This partly meant to build up trust in the wake of last year's theft incident. There's also a "tonight" button that gives one-click access to places for rent immediately around you right now.
The hotel business, in other words, just got a few more reasons to worry.