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.
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
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.
Value proposition isn’t there anymore either, airbnbs used to be super affordable but now match the price of hotels and if they don’t are in inconvenient locations.
Not to mention the impact it has on local housing supply and pricing.
Unfortunately, the pricing still makes sense for larger groups of people.
There are far too many of these leeches taking up valuable housing in the most desirable part of my city
Why should you get to use that desirable space 100% of the time instead of many different people being able to enjoy it?
Dropped a /s?
And hotels are good for a city, instead of destructive.
Bringing business vs gentrifying black communities
I find when I AirBNB in the places I have been across Europe I have had no issues and I end up getting more for my money with no silly cleaning charges.
Is this something other locations have problems with or am I just missing the terrible places?
Afaik, AirBnB in the US is a huge pile of shit. In Europe most of the times the offering is good and you get more for your money that a typical Hotel. Exceptions exist of course, but on average I would say AirBnB > Hotel.
Airbnb quickly changed in the US from “hey rent out your house when you’re out of town for some spare cash” to “hey landlords here’s a way to gain more share of property and rent out those pesky properties in the short term”.
There are whole businesses built now for Airbnb just to take up properties and rent them on Airbnb at the highest rates possible. Then since they are looking for profit they pass the cleaning onto you.
Always trust capitalism and greedy people to ruin a good thing
My city in AZ just passed an ordinance that requires any short term rentals to have a permit, the owner must be able to respond to the property within 60 minutes, AND there must be a verified neighbor reachable 24 hours of the day and verified.
That should put a significant dent in landlord rent seeking behavior.
But it also takes away from the original nature of AirB&B which is rent out your home while you’re away or your personal second home
That’s what happens when capitalism ruins something with good intentions.
It’s going downhill in Europe too. I used Airbnb comparably early when it was available in Germany and it was a great way to cut costs while staying in unique locations and getting great tips from local owners.
Now it’s mostly the commercial listings you would find on other sites too, riddled with strange fees and Hotel-like prices.
I used AirBnB for travel in Germany for the last 4 years and one thing that really helped with those fees is the Australian AirBnB website. They legally have to show upfront the complete cost including alle fees. So I exclusively use the Australian AirBnB website now to find properties, you even can set the currency to Euro.
Now that’s a life pro tip 👍🏼
I’m just here to say fuck air bnb. Ban that shit for it’s contribution to the housing crisis.
In my neighborhood, half the houses are AirBnBs… Because we’re close to tourist destinations. 4 of my 5 neighbors are AirBnBs.
The strangest part is when the owner suddenly decides to spend the night in the apartment as well, even though you rented the whole apartment alone.
Yeah I never used an AirBNB but after hearing so many horror stories I’ll never spend the night in one…
Yeah, all you need is one shady AirBNB experience to forever turn you off to the idea. I had a horrible one in 2018 and haven’t stayed at one since.
I agree with other posters—I’ve had some better experiences using similar services to rent like entire villas for large work groups, but other than that I don’t think it’s worth it.
I mostly agree with this. But AirBNB is helpful because it lets me take my two dogs, who benefit greatly from having fenced yards. It saves me from having to pay a boarding fee, I can bring my dogs, and let them run free in the yard. Aside from that, I much prefer hotels.
Right, they have specific values outside of just the standard place to lay down your head. I prefer hotels as well, but will stay in an AirBNB if it more appropriately suits my needs.
Hotels are good if you just wanna sleep in them. AirBnB is better if you wanna chill in the house with friends. We get once once a year and cook, play games and fuck about in the house. Would be shit for 8 of us to stay in 4 hotel rooms.
Airbnb hosts hiring maids so you have to check out early but still making you do all the cleaning 🤡
I’ve rarely had problems at airbnbs in Canada and while traveling. Had one host claim we broke her hot tub by “setting the temperature too high” lol, but we told her to go ahead and go through airbnb arbitration and she dropped it immediately. A few places that weren’t as nice as the pics, that’s a given, but never been straight up scammed personally so I don’t know what I’m doing right!
Hotels are definitely boring though and I guess that can be a good thing, but then I would’ve never experienced eating papaya and smoking weed while staying at a metal hut in a beautiful tropical garden right off a Costa Rican beach while hanging out with about a dozen kittens!
It depends on what you want. For my family, having space for the kids to hang out and play, inside and out, is a huge plus. Also we like to cook some of our meals while on vacation.
I did AirBNB once and it was probably the last time.
Wife really wanted to stay there as someone suggested to not stay on the main strip. So we got this cabin up a mountain. When I say up a mountain I really mean that. Unbelievably steep and the car barely made it. Room was to have a hot tube, sauna, and cable TV. After a 10 hour drive we get there up the craziest road I’ve ever driven and decide to just relax and watch some TV and microwave some food we picked up.
Microwave didn’t work, well shit, let’s heat it up on the stove top and turn the TV on. Remote doesn’t have batteries. Well fuck let’s eat and sit in the hot tub. Hot tub is broken. Well what about the sauna. Well it’s the size of a shoe box and looks like death trap. Decide to just go to sleep and get going early.
Wake up go do some sight seeing and pick up some batteries for the remote. We get back to the cabin and hear a hissing sound. Water line had burst behind the fridge and I can’t find the shut off valve as it’s locked behind a door. Call the guy and he tells me a emergency plumber will be stopping by late. While we are waiting we try the TV’s again and one of them won’t even turn on the other will but it’s locked and can’t watch anything. Plumber shows up at 11:30pm. Fixes it about 12:30 am.
Next day just eating a bagel and I walk by the sink and the floor partially collapses. I let the guy we are renting the room know what I think about his place and we leave a day early and get a hotel room. Room was slightly nicer and everything worked. Was 2 mins walk away from what we were going to and perfectly quiet and we didn’t have to spend 15 mins on death road.
Yall have some rough luck with ABNB properties. I stay 4-6 times per year and it’s been a breeze.
