Stayed at an Airbnb last year where I left a ~4 star review taking off one star because of excessive noise from the bus stop outside (otherwise positive). Couple months later I get an email saying my review was removed for violating Airbnb policy. Had to contact support where they told me the host had submitted (fake) WhatsApp screenshots of me asking them for money to post a positive review and so they removed my review. No matter what I said customer support refused to reinstate my review. The most alarming thing is that they removed my review without any input from me. Interestingly, the property had added additional co-hosts where that property was their only property after my stay. Presumably these are fake profiles they used to file the dispute so it wouldn’t impact their main account.
In any case, I am never staying at an AirBnb again. Be aware that any rating on AirBnb can be easily manipulated by the host.
Also if you have status at a hotel, perks like room upgrades and late checkout are invaluable.
Also at a hotel: “It smells like smoke.” “Let me take you conveniently to another identical room for free.”
Or any problem, really. I once had to move rooms twice because the AC wasn’t working. In an Airbnb, you’re boned
AirBNB is only good if it is an extremely unique/convenient location and there are no hotels reasonably nearby. Otherwise Hotel absolutely > AirBNB
225 a night hotel would be a freaking dream. Most hotels cost 100 a night. I agree a cabin in the woods our somewhere else special.
But landlords are putting up ordinary homes up and people actually rent them. More money then sense.
It’s useful for short term renting. I’m interning and it’s stupid hard to find a 3 month lease.
Hostal > Hotel > AirBnB
AirBNB was great when it first started out. It was basically people renting out a room in their home for a night or two, for far cheaper costs than hotels and in areas where a hotel wasn’t as readily available. It was a good way for those folks to make some cash on the side and helped the traveler find convenient low cost housing for a couple nights
Unfortunately companies and people decided they could buy up properties and start a business selling out rooms, prices skyrocketed and it no longer became worth it. I just stick to hotels now (or hostels if I ever decide to backpack through Europe or something)
And hotels are good for a city, instead of destructive.
Airbnb sounds like a good idea when you imagine people using it as first envisioned: doing short-term rentals on an otherwise unavailable space that’s not being used. Handy for vacationers, and it’s a fair way for owners to make a few extra bucks, right?
It sucks, but it’s predictable, that owners are abusing the system. Buying a place specifically for Airbnb rentals should be cracked down on. Ridiculously picky rules are NOT okay. Cleaning fees need to be capped, unless there’s solid evidence (solid evidence by courtroom standards, not Airbnb standards).
It was worth it back when it was people renting out a spare room in their house or their whole apartment when they were away for a small bit of cash on the side, there was a mutual understanding that you are staying in another individuals private space with all the rules and caveats that come with that, so the pricing will reflect the arrangement. For me, this made the inconvenience worth putting up with in most cases.
Now that booking an AirBnb costs as much as a hotel room and the service has been overrun by landlords looking to use it as their primary rental income though? I’m booking a hotel every time. If I’m paying hotel money I want hotel service and convenience.
Absolutely 100% this!! They all need to read this and get it through their heads.
I will take a hotel for it’s convenience, service, and predictability any day.
Beds are comfy 99% of the time, there’s an ice machine, and my god I’ll take any opportunity for room service/being waited on.
If you aren’t willing to pay a little more for a comfortable experience, don’t go traveling. It’s supposed to be recovering, right?
I gave up on Airbnb after the hosts cancelling the booking with my guests halfway there. Just booked a hotel and never looked back since then. To all the Airbnb hosts: professionals have standards.
Ice machines was something puzzling to me when I was in the US. I am curious why would you need an ice machine if you already have a fridge in the room?
Plus even the cheapest hotels I’ve stayed in at least offer a continental breakfast, and nicer ones usually have a full on chef on staff to make breakfast. I’ve stayed in hotels with full arcades and hibachi restaurants for not much more than a decent Airbnb. Plus, hotels are usually in city centers, near every amenity you could need, as compared to airbnbs often being in suburbs. I can get a ride from the airport with my hotel reservation, does that come with any Airbnb?
I get the destination airbnbs, like in the middle of the woods in a log cabin, or whatever. I’ll never get people leaving their suburban homes to go stay in someone else’s suburban homes though.
While I agree that owners destroying communities by renting out available housing, there is a very easy way to combat it - enforce the local laws on vacation rentals.
I was just in a VRBO where the owner had clearly registered the place with the city, posted plaques in the house and window showing the units license, etc. and proved they paid the appropriate taxed to the city (which can be used to solve other problems like homelessness.
I am absolutely a fan of having a whole place to myself and my family, with a washer and dryer that’s free, with a kitchen so we don’t have to spent a fortune eating out for every meal. I think the crazy rules and cleaning up before the cleaners is ridiculous, but those are known before you get there, so if you continue with the property knowing those rules, that’s on you. You can cancel.
Perhaps it’s because I’m in Europe, but I’ve still never come across this issue. All AirBnb’s I’ve stayed in had very reasonable hosts.
Same, I’ve done 5 days in France for new year with friends and we get zero problems.
Also Airbnb tends to kill communities by making it way too expensive for people to actually live there and sleeping in a complete stranger’s house does not sound too safe.
While I agree that hotels are generally better than Airbnb, I have always had really good luck with Airbnb. I traveled across the EU staying almost only in Airbnb’s and it was great. It also let me kind of see what the housing market was there if I ever wanted to move. Also one of my hosts in Amsterdam firmly believed in the “bed and breakfast” portion of Airbnb, and cooked breakfast in her kitchen for us every morning and had all kinds of great info about the city. Plus she had an old orange cat that liked to sit at the breakfast table with us.
I have almost always had good luck. Just one bad experience comes to my mind - my host in Germany was a psychopath. I didn’t have any problems with her, in fact I hardly ever met her during a one week stay. But I forgot the heating on when I left. She got so pissed off that she left a long, insulting review, where she said shit about how we never got along. Airbnb refused to delete the review, so I deleted my account. By the way, I don’t pay $200 for a night. I take the cheapest $20 room that I can find.
Anyway, I created a new Airbnb account. The nice thing is that I was able to use a referral link from my wife again to get the referral bonus. So by deleting and recreating my account, I actually made $50.
Last time I used Airbnb I had a chill French-Canadian host for two months in Mexico. He only cared about the temperature of the AC. Aside from that, I had girls over, I could listen to music late at night, and I could smoke weed inside
Isn’t the point of AirBnB to be way cheaper?
It was, when it was just people looking to get a tiny bit of income from renting a room in their house. Then people tried to make it their sole income, and then companies got into the game. Part of it is that the service became popular, so any cheaper rooms are snatched up instantly, and the user now gets to choose between a hotel-looking hotel, or a house-looking hotel, with nasty fees to get more money from you.
AirBnB isn’t even remotely a “hotel”. Hotels have to obey various hospitality laws and can’t just cancel a confirmed booking 2 hours before your arrival, or kick you out because you didn’t empty the bin before 9pm.
For me the advantage of an AirBnB is the ability to stay in a remote cabin in the middle of the mountains with a bonfire and a fenced yard for my dog.
I’m not sure why anyone stays in an AirBnB in the middle of a city (although I’ve found them to be cheaper and with better walkability in parts of Europe)
Maybe people like to do laundry and follow all sorts of rules they wouldn’t have to otherwise. People have weird tastes
I think the word you’re looking for is “fetish” lol.
It depends on what your after. If you take family (kids and dogs) then an AirBNB is useful and easier than hotel. When you book always read the reviews. YMMV
Exactly. If traveling alone hotel every time. As a couple? Hotel gets crampy after about 3nights and not having a kitchen can get to you if you like to cook. Kids? Hell no - no hotel.
Hotels are great if you need 1 bed and nothing else. But hotels get expensive fast if you need an extra room for a kid. Or you take a pet. Or you need to wash your clothes. Or you would like a kitchen.
The kitchen is usually the big one for me. Finding a hotel with a kitchen (and not $$$$ prices) is hard. Heck, some hotels won’t even give you a fridge (and when they do give you a fridge, it’s probably the tiniest possible). AirBnB absolutely can have some extra bullshit sometimes, but they’re usually considerably cheaper than a hotel and it’s standard to have a kitchen.
Extended Stay is really good for that if you want to stick to hotels. The one I have stayed at had a decent kitchen, a living room, a dining space, and a breakfast.
Breakfast is standard in my province at least.
I almost see it as the opposite.
AirBNB is fine if you are just looking for a place nearby tourist sites that you don’t plan to spend much time at.
Hotels are great when you need the extra features, a concierge, laundry (I have never worked at a hotel that did not have laundry services and/or dry cleaning), restaurants, and the like.
Kitchen I could see being tricky, but if you need a kitchen I assume you might be doing more a long-term stay anyway, in which case a lot of hotels will have those options as well.
I’m very worried AirBNB type services will replace standard renting in the same way Uber almost replaced taxis. So many reasons to avoid them.
They won’t. A ton of traditional hotel business is business travel. No reputable company is sending an employee to a VRBO while they’re working out of town.
This was a possibility at a time when AirBNBs were significantly cheaper than hotels but now that prices have gone way up I’m right back to going for hotels. Not worth going through the trouble of not knowing what to expect / what kind of renter you’ll be dealing with when there’s no price incentive anymore.
Uber is still significantly cheaper and more convenient than a cab for me.
Replacing standard renting would be like Uber replacing rental cars, not Uber replacing taxis