Maybe. The main thing is that Airbnb keeps the payment for 24 hours after check-in, then it's released to the host. That means any complains within 24 hours will result in the payment being frozen. At the point it reaches the host's end, it's impossible to get the payment back without the host's approval.
Some things you simply don't notice at first sight (e.g tiny painting particles falling from the roof, cockroaches, a broken dishwasher..).
If Airbnb's review system were honest, this wouldn't be an issue, probably. In my experience, hotel reviews are magnitudes more reliable.
Had my first bad experience with Airbnb just recently. The property turned out to be in a horrible state (I could write a long list) even though it had very good reviews. I did book three months in advance. Bad idea. When the issues started becoming apparent, I was already behind the one-day limit for the Guest Refund Policy to be applicable (that is, if you encounter any issues, you must inform AB on the check-in day, or the policy doesn't apply).
So I lost a lot of money. Long term policy specifies that you must pay 30 days starting from the cancellation day.
And I was stuck in Morocco with my 12 month old.
Luckily we found a better property. However, Airbnb not refunding me showed that 1) They have no actual understanding of the state of the property 2) They don't care.
The disproportion between the reviews and my experience and their unwillingness to be fair totally ruined my faith in Airbnb.
Basically, this "law" is more effective in some cultures than others.. (My wife studied in .nl long enough to adopt some Dutch habits, and now she demands I bring a bag every time I go to the store.)
> "At the personal level, the inferiority that seems to lie deep in the psyche makes itself known in all kinds of little ways. 'What made you come to Norway?', ask many people... certainly hoping for a positive comment on their country and culture."
Can confirm this is actually very accurate. Inferiority-complex is indeed a thing in Norway.
Cuba is 'Western'. Unless you are thinking in terms of first/third/developing countries. In that case, as I've suggested, Cuba was richer than Spain and Italy pre 59. Today that's not the case. Nevertheless, it is a really vague classification. I can arguably say that the French see the world at least slightly different from Americans.
'Marxism' is Western. As the Cuban poet Jose Marti said (this is my own broken translation): 'The socialist solutions, born of European ills, have nothing to cure in the Amazon.' (That is, socialism has nothing to do in the Americas).
Cubans have no goals different to what you consider 'western/us': Eat well, proper housing, transport, culture, education, and so on. And in this the Fidel revolution has completely failed. There are many indicators that suggest Cuba would have fared better without the intervention of Fidel's revolution. That's the whole point. The ruling regime is responsible for the terrible state of Cuban society and after so many years certainly illegitimate to continue in power.
Here is the thing: Cuba used to be 'developed'. Pre 95 Cuban workers earned an average salary of $6, ranking number 8 in the world, just behind Norway ($6.10). Infant mortality was the lowest in the Americas. In fact, Cuba ranked third in the world. Public health was comparable to any considered developed country of the time (e.g one hospital bed per 190 inhabitants vs one per 200 inhabitants in the US).
Contrary to what many believe, Cuban industry was not controlled by US interests. Au contraire, only 14% of investments in Cuba came from the US. The vast majority of industry was owned by Cubans, that is the sugar, tobacco and rum industry.
These truths will become more evident with time as the romanticism surrounding Castro's revolution fades away and it's opponents get louder. When Fidel said 'History will absolve me', he was right. History will put him where he belongs: under the chapter 'Plague of Cuba'.
It is safe to believe that much of this can be attributed to what you refer to as 'US capitalism'. It was partly the idea of American-style economic development and democratic freedom that fueled Cuban independence from Spain.
Spanish strict trade laws made life very difficult for Cubans, and this became specially evident under the short lived British rule of Havana, and later the evident advances in almost every aspect happening in North America.
> Cubans lacks some products but they are not poor
Yes, Cubans are poor. Why should they settle for merely enough to eat, when they should be eating hamburgers and bacon on a daily basis considering how fertile Cuban land is. Pre 59 Cuba had a meat consumption comparable to that of the US. Today cattle is so scarce it had to be imported to have any cattle population at all. In fact, you can get 10 years in prison for killing a caw in Cuba today.
> world's cuisine so rich that its a pity that certain food take over local
You can have any of the world's cuisine in the US. In fact, today, the best Cuban food is found in Florida. I was told by a NYC friend of mine that he had a Cuban-Chinese restaurant a few blocks away. In Cuba Cuban-Chinese food is nonexistent today. The scarcity created by socialism has changed Cuban cuisine significantly (in a bad direction). It is also safe to say that the best Italian and French food is made in the US (I can attest :-)).
This whole cuisine diversity argument is really insubstantial.
Oh come on. 'America-centric visions'? What's on earth is that even?
Havana had all of those things you name. Havana was then a modern, stylish and clean city. A capital of the Americas. It was a city of culture and energy. It was a city of business, tourism, architecture, pleasure and work. Havana had more cars than any European city at the time. Havana had infrastructure, Havana was connected to the world. In 1849, newly developed communication devices were demonstrated in Havana. Today such actions are oppressed and could lead to imprisonment. In 1900 the first international phone call was made from Key West to Havana. Today Cuba ranks lowest in the Americas in telephone/internet penetration. Pre 59 Havana was a city rich in musical talent. Antonio Machin, Perez Prado, Beny More, Cuban contradanza, danzon, mambo, cha cha cha, were hugely popular and influential in the development of genres such as jazz and tango. Pre 59 Havana was a flow and ebb of musicians between Havana and New Orleans.
What you truly want is poverty and stagnation to prevail. Havana is not a zoo for you silly tourist to enjoy. Havana is a city inhabited by people VERY tired of bad roads, crumbling buildings, lack of essential products such as eggs, toilet paper, pencils, and what not.
Cuba does better than Vietnam by all measures. Education (literacy rate is 80% in Vietnam vs 100% in Cuba), healthcare, nominal GDP (2k in Vietnam vs 6.9k in Cuba per capita), Human Development Index etc.
Being pro-American (whatever that means) is not the holy grail or something like that. Besides, the notion that Cubans hate the US is just wrong.