Memes

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.”

AirBNB is only good if it is an extremely unique/convenient location and there are no hotels reasonably nearby. Otherwise Hotel absolutely > 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Isn't the point of AirBnB to be way cheaper?

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

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.

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.

And if you have a dog just hand over another 350$ in cleaning fees, plus 250$ for reservation on top of the 40% fees that air bnb normally adds on.

Yeah but a $100 airbnb vs a $225 hotel is a different discussion

I’ve never had this kind of bad experience with Airbnb

I usually prefer hotels too, but I’ve never had this issue. What I don’t like is the extra fess they add though. Makes it hard to compare prices since “per night” has almost no reflection on how much total cost of the stay.

When I was in Rome I had a beautiful apartment for $70 per night with a terrace garden, a balcony, a grill, a full kitchen, a private laundry room, locals cafe, locals bakery. You don’t any of those things with a hotel, and yet mediocre rated hotels in that area were like 5x more.

gasthof superiority, it's the best of both worlds.

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!

True story

Yes, an hotel room is more expensive than an Airbnb but the convenience makes up for it.

Since I work at one, I stay at hotels free (within my brand) so I can't say I have much experience with airbnb. I do feel they cater to very different markets though, I don't necessarily begrudge the existence of airbnb, even if they are kind of our competition.

OTAs on the other hand, can all get fucked.