4 ms·

Airbnb was cool when it was a place to share with hosts and rent a bed and a breakfast during my trips, allowing me to save some money and meeting some cool peo

Airbnb was cool when it was a place to share with hosts and rent a bed and a breakfast during my trips, allowing me to save some money and meeting some cool people. now it’s just a boring business of terrible managed apartments with really bad amenities and problems that make you lose time and totally diverges you from the whole concept of hassle-free vacation/renting. My last 5 airbnbs were apartments fully setted up to be rented in Airbnb just for the money and not for the experience and good service, every single one of them were so much problematic to check-in/check-out, I was charged insane cleaning fees even tho the places were not clean and were never cleaned, I had to deal with people putting cameras around totally disrupting your privacy, I had to deal with overcrowded apartments (some guy decided to rent every room in his place and sleep in the living room without mentioning it anywhere in the listing), I had to deal with last minute cancels that almost made me sleep in the street, etc. Worth mentioning that all of those bad experiences came from places that were marked as "superhost" and had quite a lot of reviews. Aand lastly, Airbnb decided to just void a 500$ giftcard that I got in 2018 and I tried to use early 2020 and they said it was invalid, I just lost the money. Airbnb it’s just death for me

chrisseaton 6y ago
Why don't you use an hotel?
- firekvz 6y ago
  I will the next time.
BMorearty 6y ago
My experience has been really different from yours. After my first stay in an Airbnb five years ago I learned I needed to be more careful about reading the reviews and the descriptions. Since then I’ve only had positive experiences. The places I stay in are usual run by an individual, not a manager (and when it is a manager it’s clear up front). The service has been fantastic and the places have been beautiful. My last stay was amazing. With my family at a house in San Juan Bautista, with a private lake, the last week before my kids went back to school.
- julianlam 6y ago
  You've hit the nail right on the head. When I first started using airbnb, I would run into these awful listings because I was scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel. On a visit to Boston, I once stayed in a cheap AirBnb in the bad part of Methuen, MA, where the local grocer knew I was from out of town because I paid in cash and not food stamps. My wife, on the other hand, always reads the reviews and I've never had a single bad experience travelling with her. If you go by price you get what you pay for. This isn't a failing of AirBnb, its how life works.
  - cutenewt 6y ago
    "Reading reviews" hit the nail on the head for me. I miss the days where I can just make purchases without having to "read the reviews." I'm so time-constrained as it is; making customers responsible for ensuring that they've contracted with a quality host / Uber driver / seller on Amazon -- is one of the things I hate about new age "marketplaces."
    - baq 6y ago
      hey, you've got freedom to make your own decisions. a libertarian's dream. most people conveniently don't mention that there's a cost in the process of making a decision itself, and it isn't negligible.
andy_ppp 6y ago
Yup, I’ve had mostly hosts who while making a packet really do not give a crap about service. I always thought AirBnB was a terrible idea - it’s good if there are ten of you sharing a haunted house - but seriously for a room all I want is a cast iron guarantee to be able to check in and get the key without any hassle. This almost never happens.
dimator 6y ago
> Aand lastly, Airbnb decided to just void a 500$ giftcard that I got in 2018 and I tried to use early 2020 and they said it was invalid, I just lost the money. If this was in California, gift cards cannot expire (with some exceptions). You might have a recourse there. https://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/legal_guides/s_11.shtml https://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/legal_guides/s_11.shtml
- imroot 6y ago
  Most gift card companies are set up in Utah, where the gift card laws are much more lenient.
buerin9 6y ago
While I never really had a bad experience with Airbnb I only consider them as a last resort. If there is an issue with a room at a hotel, I can get another room usually. If there is an issue with Airbnb it's a bigger hassle. Not worth the risk in my opinion.

chrisseaton 6y ago

Why don't you use an hotel?

firekvz 6y ago
I will the next time.

BMorearty 6y ago

My experience has been really different from yours. After my first stay in an Airbnb five years ago I learned I needed to be more careful about reading the reviews and the descriptions. Since then I’ve only had positive experiences. The places I stay in are usual run by an individual, not a manager (and when it is a manager it’s clear up front). The service has been fantastic and the places have been beautiful. My last stay was amazing. With my family at a house in San Juan Bautista, with a private lake, the last week before my kids went back to school.

julianlam 6y ago
You've hit the nail right on the head. When I first started using airbnb, I would run into these awful listings because I was scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel. On a visit to Boston, I once stayed in a cheap AirBnb in the bad part of Methuen, MA, where the local grocer knew I was from out of town because I paid in cash and not food stamps. My wife, on the other hand, always reads the reviews and I've never had a single bad experience travelling with her. If you go by price you get what you pay for. This isn't a failing of AirBnb, its how life works.
- cutenewt 6y ago
  "Reading reviews" hit the nail on the head for me. I miss the days where I can just make purchases without having to "read the reviews." I'm so time-constrained as it is; making customers responsible for ensuring that they've contracted with a quality host / Uber driver / seller on Amazon -- is one of the things I hate about new age "marketplaces."
  - baq 6y ago
    hey, you've got freedom to make your own decisions. a libertarian's dream. most people conveniently don't mention that there's a cost in the process of making a decision itself, and it isn't negligible.

andy_ppp 6y ago

Yup, I’ve had mostly hosts who while making a packet really do not give a crap about service. I always thought AirBnB was a terrible idea - it’s good if there are ten of you sharing a haunted house - but seriously for a room all I want is a cast iron guarantee to be able to check in and get the key without any hassle. This almost never happens.

dimator 6y ago

> Aand lastly, Airbnb decided to just void a 500$ giftcard that I got in 2018 and I tried to use early 2020 and they said it was invalid, I just lost the money. If this was in California, gift cards cannot expire (with some exceptions). You might have a recourse there. https://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/legal_guides/s_11.shtml https://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/legal_guides/s_11.shtml

imroot 6y ago
Most gift card companies are set up in Utah, where the gift card laws are much more lenient.

buerin9 6y ago

While I never really had a bad experience with Airbnb I only consider them as a last resort. If there is an issue with a room at a hotel, I can get another room usually. If there is an issue with Airbnb it's a bigger hassle. Not worth the risk in my opinion.