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I used to use airbnb quite often (as a traveler), but I have to say it's lost its appeal for me. First, it's really not much cheaper than a hotel in most cases

I used to use airbnb quite often (as a traveler), but I have to say it's lost its appeal for me. First, it's really not much cheaper than a hotel in most cases (some cases more expensive). Second, it's a hassle when you're on vacation to have to arrange in advance a specific time to pick up the keys to the place. Then, what happens if you happen to lose the keys (happened to me once)? What happens if it's in the middle of the night in a foreign country? This could be a nightmare. On top of that, you're expected to leave the apartment like you never stayed there or face bad reviews (even with a $100+ cleaning fee)! Seriously, one time I got stuck with a terrible review because I left a dirty pan in the sink (had to rush to the airport, I figured the $100 cleaning fee would cover what minor things I had left behind, but guess not). So now I've pretty much gone back to hotels. You can come any time of day or night, not have to worry at all about losing keys, and you can leave the place a raging mess if you have to (though I am usually a very clean person). Airbnb makes the whole travel experience far more stressful for me.

jupiter90000 10y ago
Maybe it depends on the place you're going; I can't find anywhere nearly comparable in price for a month stay to AirBnB options with local hotels at a location I'm going to soon. Even pretty bad hotels are at least 2.5x the price of a lower end non-shared AirBnB rental
nojvek 10y ago
Totally agree. I got scammed with fancy airbnb pictures a couple of times and now I don't go near it with a 100ft pole. It's totally lost its feel of welcoming host. Now it's just another hotel that's poorly run by people who want to make a quick buck. I stay to hotels even if it's slightly expensive. The level of service and quality is always guaranteed
- bogomipz 10y ago
  That stinks. I'm a hotel person myself but I am curious did you have any recourse with AirBnB when this happened?
  - nojvek 10y ago
    I did message them. The guest had strict cancellation policy so I just got sympathy. It seemed airbnb customer service did not understand concept of "lifetime value" of customer. They could have made a lot more money in long term if they just refunded a bad experience.
- lobotryas 10y ago
  Sorry to hear that. Did those renters also have good reviews? If so, that might indicate that you can buy fake reviews on ABnB now.
  - nojvek 10y ago
    Reviews are a very bad indicator in my experience. My airbnb stays from 2013-2015 were great and the average tanked. Airbnb is still doing well and profitable so good for them.
untog 10y ago
There's an area Airbnb clearly fails for me, and it's the one your describe: short stays in populated areas. It's slightly cheaper than a hotel, but a hotel has a front desk that's staffed 24 hours a day to solve any problem you have, and you can usually cancel at no charge up to 24 hours before arriving. It's worth the small extra every night. That said, I've had good experiences with Airbnb for a very vacation-y vacation: house, middle of nowhere, by the beach sort of thing. I don't know of any sites that come close to the global selection Airbnb has. THAT said, vacation-y vacation rentals are a lot smaller market than short term stays in very populated areas. If I recall, Airbnb launched some business travel capabilities not that long ago and they were not particularly successful. So my general impression is that Airbnb can be a totally successful business, but while it tries to justify a valuation like $31B (rather than focusing on core competencies) it runs the risk of ruining the whole thing.
- ghaff 10y ago
  So you're basically saying they're better than a very fragmented (and not very good) vacation home rental industry. Which is both a pretty low bar and hardly a disruptive business.
- nvarsj 10y ago
  I always found VRBO much better for vacation rentals.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- varjag 10y ago
  > I don't know of any sites that come close to the global selection Airbnb has. All the major ones? We've travelled through Tuscany/North Italy urban&rural, middle of tourism season, reserving same night stays with nothing but expedia and booking.com. Great deals too.
bplsports92 10y ago
One point to consider is that by having an increase in the supply of places to stay the overall average cost of said places to stay will go down, even if the cost of an Airbnb is similar to the hotel. Supply and demand.
whack 10y ago
Keep in mind that even though you may not like AirBNB, you're still benefiting from their service. AirBNB has greatly increased the supply of housing in each city, thus causing price drops and forcing hotels to drop their prices in order to remain competitive. If AirBNB really is overpriced for the hassles involved, then no one would use it, and AirBNB hosts would be forced to lower their prices until they find someone. If you're seeing that AirBNB is just as expensive as hotels, that's because some other tourists had decided that an AirBNB accommodation fits their needs just as well as the hotels they looked at.
- abandonliberty 10y ago
  Unless you live in a city and pay rent or property tax. In which case you're now funding AirBNB as residential units are converted to commercial. Enjoy.
  - whack 10y ago
    Yes, I was referring to the supply of housing for tourists and visitors, since that's the context the previous poster was referring to. Regarding total supply of housing for residents + tourists, AirBNB does help here as well. There are a number of people who have extra space in their apartments that they would like to rent out temporarily, without any long term commitments or friction. If AirBNB didn't exist, these people would simply not rent their apartments at all, and that extra space would sit there unused. Thanks for AirBNB and similar services, this extra space is now better utilized to grow the overall supply. Obviously I don't have any aggregate data on how many people use AirBNB as a substitute for renting, vs letting it sit empty. But anecdotally, I personally know multiple people who use AirBNB but would never take on a sublet/long-term tenant.
- jimmywanger 10y ago
  > AirBNB has greatly increased the supply of housing in each city Technically, it's increased the supply of short term lodging. Housing supply would have to be increased by construction or subdivision of units. > If you're seeing that AirBNB is just as expensive as hotels It's not an entirely fluid market, and some AirBnb hosts have wildly inflated ideas of what their unit is worth. A lot of AirBnbs (in my searches) sit mostly empty except for during events, during which they overcharge greatly. The vacancy rate acceptable for an AirBnb is much higher than the acceptable vacancy rate for a hotel.
abandonliberty 10y ago
AirBnB is a now usually a terrible deal for guests and increases resident rental shortages/costs by illegally converting residential units into commercial rentals. When they started, they were great for guests. Now there's an abundance of guests and a shortage of hosts, so the system is strongly tilted in favor of hosts. - Hosts always get rebuttals on reviews - Guests cannot comment when their stay is cancelled before arrival - Guest reviews are public which discourages honest feedback - Dealing with a problem is nearly impossible (how do I take a picture of the fact that my 'apartment' is a hotel room? And why can't I talk to anyone?) - AirBnB's compensation for a failed stay is a 10% re-booking bonus which doesn't begin to cover the additional cost, time, and stress of having to find a new place at the last minute at 10pm because your flight was 6 hours delayed and the one you booked with great reviews was misrepresented In some markets AirBnB can be the last/best option, but I do my best to avoid financially supporting them if there is a reasonable alternative. https://www.google.ca/search?q=airbnb+isn't+worth+it+anymore https://www.google.ca/search?q=airbnb+isn't+worth+it+anymore
- FanaHOVA 10y ago
  > Guests cannot comment when their stay is cancelled before arrival It's automatically posted as a review on your behalf. > Dealing with a problem is nearly impossible (how do I take a picture of the fact that my 'apartment' is a hotel room? And why can't I talk to anyone?) By taking a picture with your phone and contacting support? There's reasons to dislike Airbnb, but these surely aren't some of them. I've had ~20 stays at Airbnb and never had any of these issues.
  - knieveltech 10y ago
    ah yes, the time-honored "My experiences don't match yours so clearly yours are invalid" argument.
    - FanaHOVA 10y ago
      Your "no message when host cancels" clearly shows that you have no experience at all, so why talk about it?
trymas 10y ago
Yup, I do not know what's the appeal of airbnb. Little disclaimer, that I am not rich and travel on cheap, so it's from cheapskates point of view. Airbnbs are neither cheaper, nor more convenient than a hotel/hostel/ etc. When you go to a ho(s)tel - they are licensed, they are cleaned everyday, they give [0] you towels, clean sheets, etc. And many hostels are cheap, have personal rooms, have full kitchen, wifi, etc. With airbnb, I had experience of cleaning a dirty kitchen, fridge full of mold, from some leftovers, buy cleaning utensils for kitchen and bathroom, slept in a bed full of cat hair, etc. It's like couchsurfing, just without all the couch surfing benefits for a price of extremely expensive rent. Airbnbs are not regulated, they do not account for nothing, etc., personally it's horrible. So I better travel to hotels/hostels, through booking.com (or similar). I do not pay more than on Airbnb and I get much better service on average (e.g. 24h reception, cleaning, consistency [1], easier to deal with etc.). All in all, personally for me Airbnb is extremely expensive and unregulated rent with poor service, which does only economical harm for local economy for both - hotels/hostels and long-term rents. [0] probably more correct way to say that it's included in the price. [1] 'consistency' - I mean that I know (or at least easily imagine) what a hotel/hostel for XX dollars in YY country should feel like. Whereas with airbnb it's a cat in a box, with some extra surprises/rules on arrival.
jlebrech 10y ago
it's probably helped keeping the hotel prices down.
_puk 10y ago
Have to second this. I've used airbnb over the years and have seen the standard drop massively (I'd say the same is true for uber). When I first started using the service, the hosts were all over you to make sure you have a nice stay. Nowadays it's a complete lottery. You can book a well reviewed place "host is great, nice laid back guy" and turn up to a locked dark house in a foreign country, whilst said host is comatose drunk somewhere having been in a bar brawl, and no phone.. Not to mention bailiffs turning up at the crack of dawn demanding money else the gas will be turned off (another top reviewed apartment). And that cleaning fee.. no way to not pay it, regardless of if the place has actually been cleaned. Standard response is "sorry, I'm out of town, the previous guest should have cleaned up after themselves" I too have gone back to hotels.
pdovy 10y ago
I think if you're considering AirBnB and a hotel room as essentially fungible products, you're missing some of the value proposition of AirBnB. For me personally, I really hate most hotels because I don't like being lumped together with a bunch of other travelers in cookie-cutter rooms. A hotel is convenient and reliable, and sometimes that's most important (e.g., if I'm on a business trip) - but if I'm actually on vacation AirBnB provides a more private and less generic space to unwind and relax.

jupiter90000 10y ago

Maybe it depends on the place you're going; I can't find anywhere nearly comparable in price for a month stay to AirBnB options with local hotels at a location I'm going to soon. Even pretty bad hotels are at least 2.5x the price of a lower end non-shared AirBnB rental

nojvek 10y ago

Totally agree. I got scammed with fancy airbnb pictures a couple of times and now I don't go near it with a 100ft pole. It's totally lost its feel of welcoming host. Now it's just another hotel that's poorly run by people who want to make a quick buck. I stay to hotels even if it's slightly expensive. The level of service and quality is always guaranteed

bogomipz 10y ago
That stinks. I'm a hotel person myself but I am curious did you have any recourse with AirBnB when this happened?
- nojvek 10y ago
  I did message them. The guest had strict cancellation policy so I just got sympathy. It seemed airbnb customer service did not understand concept of "lifetime value" of customer. They could have made a lot more money in long term if they just refunded a bad experience.
lobotryas 10y ago
Sorry to hear that. Did those renters also have good reviews? If so, that might indicate that you can buy fake reviews on ABnB now.
- nojvek 10y ago
  Reviews are a very bad indicator in my experience. My airbnb stays from 2013-2015 were great and the average tanked. Airbnb is still doing well and profitable so good for them.

untog 10y ago

There's an area Airbnb clearly fails for me, and it's the one your describe: short stays in populated areas. It's slightly cheaper than a hotel, but a hotel has a front desk that's staffed 24 hours a day to solve any problem you have, and you can usually cancel at no charge up to 24 hours before arriving. It's worth the small extra every night. That said, I've had good experiences with Airbnb for a very vacation-y vacation: house, middle of nowhere, by the beach sort of thing. I don't know of any sites that come close to the global selection Airbnb has. THAT said, vacation-y vacation rentals are a lot smaller market than short term stays in very populated areas. If I recall, Airbnb launched some business travel capabilities not that long ago and they were not particularly successful. So my general impression is that Airbnb can be a totally successful business, but while it tries to justify a valuation like $31B (rather than focusing on core competencies) it runs the risk of ruining the whole thing.

ghaff 10y ago
So you're basically saying they're better than a very fragmented (and not very good) vacation home rental industry. Which is both a pretty low bar and hardly a disruptive business.
nvarsj 10y ago
I always found VRBO much better for vacation rentals.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
varjag 10y ago
> I don't know of any sites that come close to the global selection Airbnb has. All the major ones? We've travelled through Tuscany/North Italy urban&rural, middle of tourism season, reserving same night stays with nothing but expedia and booking.com. Great deals too.

bplsports92 10y ago

One point to consider is that by having an increase in the supply of places to stay the overall average cost of said places to stay will go down, even if the cost of an Airbnb is similar to the hotel. Supply and demand.

whack 10y ago

Keep in mind that even though you may not like AirBNB, you're still benefiting from their service. AirBNB has greatly increased the supply of housing in each city, thus causing price drops and forcing hotels to drop their prices in order to remain competitive. If AirBNB really is overpriced for the hassles involved, then no one would use it, and AirBNB hosts would be forced to lower their prices until they find someone. If you're seeing that AirBNB is just as expensive as hotels, that's because some other tourists had decided that an AirBNB accommodation fits their needs just as well as the hotels they looked at.

abandonliberty 10y ago
Unless you live in a city and pay rent or property tax. In which case you're now funding AirBNB as residential units are converted to commercial. Enjoy.
- whack 10y ago
  Yes, I was referring to the supply of housing for tourists and visitors, since that's the context the previous poster was referring to. Regarding total supply of housing for residents + tourists, AirBNB does help here as well. There are a number of people who have extra space in their apartments that they would like to rent out temporarily, without any long term commitments or friction. If AirBNB didn't exist, these people would simply not rent their apartments at all, and that extra space would sit there unused. Thanks for AirBNB and similar services, this extra space is now better utilized to grow the overall supply. Obviously I don't have any aggregate data on how many people use AirBNB as a substitute for renting, vs letting it sit empty. But anecdotally, I personally know multiple people who use AirBNB but would never take on a sublet/long-term tenant.
jimmywanger 10y ago
> AirBNB has greatly increased the supply of housing in each city Technically, it's increased the supply of short term lodging. Housing supply would have to be increased by construction or subdivision of units. > If you're seeing that AirBNB is just as expensive as hotels It's not an entirely fluid market, and some AirBnb hosts have wildly inflated ideas of what their unit is worth. A lot of AirBnbs (in my searches) sit mostly empty except for during events, during which they overcharge greatly. The vacancy rate acceptable for an AirBnb is much higher than the acceptable vacancy rate for a hotel.

abandonliberty 10y ago

AirBnB is a now usually a terrible deal for guests and increases resident rental shortages/costs by illegally converting residential units into commercial rentals. When they started, they were great for guests. Now there's an abundance of guests and a shortage of hosts, so the system is strongly tilted in favor of hosts. - Hosts always get rebuttals on reviews - Guests cannot comment when their stay is cancelled before arrival - Guest reviews are public which discourages honest feedback - Dealing with a problem is nearly impossible (how do I take a picture of the fact that my 'apartment' is a hotel room? And why can't I talk to anyone?) - AirBnB's compensation for a failed stay is a 10% re-booking bonus which doesn't begin to cover the additional cost, time, and stress of having to find a new place at the last minute at 10pm because your flight was 6 hours delayed and the one you booked with great reviews was misrepresented In some markets AirBnB can be the last/best option, but I do my best to avoid financially supporting them if there is a reasonable alternative. https://www.google.ca/search?q=airbnb+isn't+worth+it+anymore https://www.google.ca/search?q=airbnb+isn't+worth+it+anymore

FanaHOVA 10y ago
> Guests cannot comment when their stay is cancelled before arrival It's automatically posted as a review on your behalf. > Dealing with a problem is nearly impossible (how do I take a picture of the fact that my 'apartment' is a hotel room? And why can't I talk to anyone?) By taking a picture with your phone and contacting support? There's reasons to dislike Airbnb, but these surely aren't some of them. I've had ~20 stays at Airbnb and never had any of these issues.
- knieveltech 10y ago
  ah yes, the time-honored "My experiences don't match yours so clearly yours are invalid" argument.
  - FanaHOVA 10y ago
    Your "no message when host cancels" clearly shows that you have no experience at all, so why talk about it?

trymas 10y ago

Yup, I do not know what's the appeal of airbnb. Little disclaimer, that I am not rich and travel on cheap, so it's from cheapskates point of view. Airbnbs are neither cheaper, nor more convenient than a hotel/hostel/ etc. When you go to a ho(s)tel - they are licensed, they are cleaned everyday, they give [0] you towels, clean sheets, etc. And many hostels are cheap, have personal rooms, have full kitchen, wifi, etc. With airbnb, I had experience of cleaning a dirty kitchen, fridge full of mold, from some leftovers, buy cleaning utensils for kitchen and bathroom, slept in a bed full of cat hair, etc. It's like couchsurfing, just without all the couch surfing benefits for a price of extremely expensive rent. Airbnbs are not regulated, they do not account for nothing, etc., personally it's horrible. So I better travel to hotels/hostels, through booking.com (or similar). I do not pay more than on Airbnb and I get much better service on average (e.g. 24h reception, cleaning, consistency [1], easier to deal with etc.). All in all, personally for me Airbnb is extremely expensive and unregulated rent with poor service, which does only economical harm for local economy for both - hotels/hostels and long-term rents. [0] probably more correct way to say that it's included in the price. [1] 'consistency' - I mean that I know (or at least easily imagine) what a hotel/hostel for XX dollars in YY country should feel like. Whereas with airbnb it's a cat in a box, with some extra surprises/rules on arrival.

jlebrech 10y ago

it's probably helped keeping the hotel prices down.

_puk 10y ago

Have to second this. I've used airbnb over the years and have seen the standard drop massively (I'd say the same is true for uber). When I first started using the service, the hosts were all over you to make sure you have a nice stay. Nowadays it's a complete lottery. You can book a well reviewed place "host is great, nice laid back guy" and turn up to a locked dark house in a foreign country, whilst said host is comatose drunk somewhere having been in a bar brawl, and no phone.. Not to mention bailiffs turning up at the crack of dawn demanding money else the gas will be turned off (another top reviewed apartment). And that cleaning fee.. no way to not pay it, regardless of if the place has actually been cleaned. Standard response is "sorry, I'm out of town, the previous guest should have cleaned up after themselves" I too have gone back to hotels.

pdovy 10y ago

I think if you're considering AirBnB and a hotel room as essentially fungible products, you're missing some of the value proposition of AirBnB. For me personally, I really hate most hotels because I don't like being lumped together with a bunch of other travelers in cookie-cutter rooms. A hotel is convenient and reliable, and sometimes that's most important (e.g., if I'm on a business trip) - but if I'm actually on vacation AirBnB provides a more private and less generic space to unwind and relax.