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The reason AirBNB will always have garbage service is because the hosts are their moneymakers, not you. The host has the property, the host sets the price, the

The reason AirBNB will always have garbage service is because the hosts are their moneymakers, not you. The host has the property, the host sets the price, the host assumes all responsibility (even if they often do not live up to those responsibilities). You're just one more weary traveler who will be near-instantly replaced by someone else, so fuck you. This is also why I've never once booked with AirBNB, and why I've always booked a hotel wherever I travel. Yes, it's more expensive. It's also guaranteed. I also get someone to clean my room everyday. I also don't have to worry about walking into the kitchen and seeing an entire sink full of dirty dishes. I don't have to worry about a random teenager in the hotel taking up my bathroom for an hour. I don't have to worry about another teenage following me around and talking to me. I don't have to worry about the bathroom being dirty, and I don't have to worry about seeing a roach in the house. What I just described was the experience of a former Marine buddy of mine who booked a 6 week stay in Plantation, FL. He was moving down here from Brooklyn, NY and needed a place to stay until his apartment with ready. The AirBNB provider he booked with labeled a SuperHost. If that's what a SuperHost rental gets you, I'm totally uninterested in seeing what anything less gets you. I'd rather stay at a Motel 6.

zippergz 4y ago
"SuperHost" is such a joke because most of them are professional airbnb managers who don't actually own the properties. If they're good at their jobs maybe they would only accept properties that meet some standard, but from what I've seen they will work with anyone who will pay them.
- bogota 4y ago
  They should really make it more clear what places are owned by property management companies vs people.
  - ethbr0 4y ago
    This is the Amazon quandary: your core product is ostensibly "quality" (from an end user perspective), but at some point you've consumed the total available market of quality sellers... So AirBnB has to keep allowing (and encouraging) property management companies, because no one else can bring them the volume they need to grow.
nradov 4y ago
The only use case where AirBNB sort of makes sense is for poor young solo travelers (like backpackers) as an alternative to hostels. I can't understand why anyone would even consider it for a business trip or family vacation. What are those travelers thinking? Like I seriously don't understand why anyone would take that kind of risk instead of making a reservation with a real hotel. Caveat emptor.
- xur17 4y ago
  To me a hotel and an airbnb are 2 totally different products. I prefer using airbnb (or vrbo) because I can get an entire house (yes I know this is technically possible with a hotel, but typically not) with a kitchen, multiple bedrooms, etc. And I shouldn't jinx myself, but I've used Airbnbs on every trip I've taken, and I've yet to run into a real show stopping problem. Not saying it doesn't happen, just pointing out that it's not as frequent as you are making it out to be.
- tomduncalf 4y ago
  I'd say one thing in favour of an AirBnB type rental is having a kitchen where you can cook your own food... I find on holiday sometimes it's quite nice to just have some "normal" food at home rather than eating out all the time. I'd rather book a proper dedicated rental flat from another platform than someone's random flat on AirBnB these days though, after all the horror stories (personally I've never had an issue). Edit: I read another comment lower down talking about hotel rooms with a kitchen. Personally never encountered this, maybe it's a US thing, but that could be an OK solution if it included all the stuff you need to cook a basic meal.
  - SapporoChris 4y ago
    Responding to your edit comment: I've found hotels and apartment-hotels with kitchen or kitchenettes through Expedia and their subsidiaries in Germany, Poland, Mexico, and Brazil. Agoda offers similar features, but I've not tried it out yet. They're usually well stocked with most of the things needed for a basic meal. I use them versus AirBnB because they seem to look out for me very well. I've had minor hassle getting a refund only once in last twelve years, but they did come through for me. I also like the simple reward program. They've added some fees in the last few years, but it's still good.
muro 4y ago
Recently stayed in hotels in Seattle and Sunnyvale, CA for a few nights. The one in Seattle greeted us at the reception with "we don't do room service", even though we were staying for a week and it was about 300/night. Ridiculous. Sunnyvale was a Hilton garden Inn and while uninspired, was completely fine - clean and quiet.
- jackson1442 4y ago
  Partly why I just stick with the chains, at least for now. Very very predictable, and while you won't get the best experience at the hotel, you get a lot of guarantees that it at least won't be a bad experience. Maybe this will be different when I'm traveling more for the sake of traveling, but for the most part I'm traveling to see something specific in a city rather than the city at large.
- turtlebits 4y ago
  Are you talking about daily housekeeping or actual room service (food delivery)? In all my life, I've never ordered room service as it is criminally expensive.
  - muro 4y ago
    Housekeeping.
    - brewdad 4y ago
      The last few hotels I've stayed at, including one in Seattle, didn't do housekeeping unless you were staying more than 2 nights and then only on request. They would happily send up more towels or whatever you need but were limiting the number of rooms they actually entered each day. Covid was the excuse but really I think it was short staffing. Either way, I'm shocked that they would refuse to clean your room for a week. Of course, if you didn't ask, they won't.
      - muro 4y ago
        I didn't ask, given what they told me on arrival. Anyway the reception was often unstaffed, too.
bogota 4y ago
Hotels aren’t necessarily more expensive for short travels unless you are booking some of the bottom end airbnbs. For long stays though airbnb almost always wins out.
rjh29 4y ago
AirBNB is now almost as expensive as a hotel in the city centre. There are some very nice properties, but increasingly a lot of crappy properties - flats converted into multiple airbnb 'apartments', bare minimum furniture, often in dodgy areas, and your neighbours are also airbnb tenants so expect lots of noise. For this reason I also have gone back to hotels unless I'm booking a place for more than 2 weeks. Airbnb often has a monthly discount so remains a decent place for long stays, although if you put in the work (and pay cash) you can usually find cheaper options.
- rmbyrro 4y ago
  The only reason I use Airbnb is because I like to have a full featured kitchen when I'm traveling to cook my own food a few times. Otherwise, I'd pick hotels without even blinking.
  - devmunchies 4y ago
    I wonder how hotels could do this effectively and safely. Include a mini-kitchen with 2 burners and a small counter. Burners are disabled but could be enabled by request, or some keypad on the wall (child proofed). You can pick up a box of kitchen supplies (pots, knives, etc) from the front desk or request room service to cart them up. Put the supplies back in the box before you leave (box is lined with a rubbermaid dish bin). This would offset the cost of furnishing each room with supplies, while also killing one of airbnb's value props.
    - whycombinetor 4y ago
      Extended Stay America locations have a "fully equipped kitchen" in every room so it's certainly possible and already happening.
    - ghaff 4y ago
      The place I've stayed at in London a fair number of times calls itself a "serviced apartment" and includes a kitchenette. I don't really use it much other than the refrigerator but it's there and I've stayed there with a friend who would cook eggs in the morning. I'm pretty sure some of the suite-style chains in the US do as well.
spoonjim 4y ago
AirBNB is terrible as a place to stay, but it's great for destination vacations. If you are having a family vacation with 10 people it's a lot more fun to be in a big house than in 4 hotel rooms.
rmbyrro 4y ago
> The reason AirBNB will always have garbage service is because the hosts are their moneymakers, not you. I don't share the same opinion. This is the fault of Airbnb, they chose to operate that way, it's not a market force. Take Uber (not a marvellous company or service, but certainly better for consumers): drivers own cars, they choose when and how long to drive, they're the money makers. Yet, I've never experienced bullshit service from Uber as I have with Airbnb. The same for everyone I've talked about this around me.
- echelon 4y ago
  Cars are way more fungible. How many hosts are in the area you're staying, open and available for your travel time range, with the same quality and amenities that you want? Who cares what kind of uber car you get? There are thousands of them, and they just get you from point A to B. I tried Airbnb once, only to find out just before departure that the host had booked the place for someone else on VRBO. (I only found out because I asked the host a question about parking!)
facet1ous 4y ago
Eh. As an Airbnb host, honestly I've never been given any slack by Airbnb. Maybe they've made some recent changes, but in my experience they pretty much always side with the guest even over minor things and I'm the one that has to fight tooth and nail for fair treatment when a guest abuses my house or breaks the rules. Hotels are definitely nice if you like the pampering they provide (e.g. clean your room everyday), but the value of Airbnb is getting amenities and space of a house for an affordable rate. Good luck booking a hotel suite (w/ kitchen, common room, etc) without paying insane rates north of 1k a night. That's where Airbnb shines. Can't speak to your experience, but there are heavy, heavy penalties for the behavior you're describing - you can't just do that carefree as a host. I would probably lose my business if I let that kind of stuff happen even just once or twice. That being said, shitty hosts are out there. If they have extensive review history and positive remarks (over ~4.7/5.0 rating) it should be fine. I've honestly never had a bad experience as a guest over 5+ years of staying at Airbnbs with that criteria.
- kolencherry 4y ago
  > Good luck booking a hotel suite (w/ kitchen, common room, etc) without paying insane rates north of 1k a night. Isn't this the domain of extended stay hotels, like Residence Inn (Marriott), Staybridge Suites (IHG), and Homewood Suites (Hilton), and serviced apartments? They don't tend to be in the $1k/night range.
  - facet1ous 4y ago
    Yeah but those aren't as commonplace. And I'd still say good Airbnbs would have much better amenities (and charm for that matter).
    - spookthesunset 4y ago
      It really depends. They may have a lot of charm, but also cut every damn corner with basic things like forks and knives. I've been in a few places that I swear must have purchased their cutlery from some aliexpress outlet for $5 or something. The edges of the forks were razor sharp. Don't even get started on how few of them clean the dishwasher filter or anything like that. Ever looked at the filter trap on one of those places? Yuk!
rdtsc 4y ago
I am in the same boat. Never booked with them and probably never will. I will pay more for hotel chains to get predictable service, and a help desk to talk to. When I go on a vacation with the family the last thing I need is some unpredictable situation with a shady host and then fighting overseas AirBnB support for refunds.
twawaaay 4y ago
> The reason AirBNB will always have garbage service is because the hosts are their moneymakers, not you. Ummm... the fact that most people prefer Airbnb to anything else seems to directly contradict your statement. Also, why would you say guests are not their moneymakers? It is the guest that pays the money that ultimately land in Airbnb's pockets.
- lazyasciiart 4y ago
  But most people don't appear to prefer Airbnb to anything else? Hotels are still a far larger market than airbnb, 5-10x as big in revenue, in number of rooms that exist, in almost any metric - and that doesn't even take into account that there are tons of hotels listed on airbnb now. https://backlinko.com/airbnb-stats https://backlinko.com/airbnb-stats https://www.statista.com/statistics/245864/us-hotel-rooms-by-chain-scale-segment/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/245864/us-hotel-rooms-by...
- bogomipz 4y ago
  >"Ummm... the fact that most people prefer Airbnb to anything else seems to directly contradict your statement." This is a fact? Could you please provide any meaningful citation or even the slightest bit of supporting evidence of this "fact"?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
standardUser 4y ago
"This is also why I've never once booked with AirBNB" You're admitting you have zero experience with the service you spent several paragraphs attacking.
- cbozeman 4y ago
  Yes... because this is just one in a litany of horror stories that I have: * Read about online * Heard about personally from friends & family Do you need to step in a pile of shit personally to realize it's unpleasant, or would you rather take the word of the people who already stepped in it?
  - standardUser 4y ago
    I have used AirBnB on at least 20 different occasions and had almost entirely fantastic experiences (and maybe 3 sub par ones). So you can add that to your anecdotal evidence.
    - cbozeman 4y ago
      I'll be honest, I'm not interested in hearing about entirely fantastic experiences; indulge me while I explain why. When I'm traveling, if you want to entice me to use your AirBNB, you need to provide - at the minimum - an exactly equivalent or superior experience to what I can get at a hotel, and for a cheaper price. If you can't, then logically there's zero reason for me to book a stay with you. Why would I pay more for less service? That isn't logical. Yes, I understand some things are, more or less, impossible to do with an AirBNB (I don't expect turndown service, or room service for instance). However, most other things that a hotel could offer, I would expect, such as a coffee maker, a mini-fridge, a microwave, Internet connectively, and perhaps printer access (after all, a color laser printer isn't prohibitively expensive, and the toner makes usage cheap). Everything I mentioned I can get at an Extended Stay America, or a Residence Inn, or some other long-term hotel-like setting. As for actual hotels, I can frequently get either better service, or a more extensive suite of services, many of which are complimentary, some of which are available for small fees and which no AirBNB could ever realistically offer. Now having said all this... I'm only interested in unpleasant stories. I only want to hear about when things go wrong. Because just like a good site reliability manager, I'm looking for 99.999999% uptime. I expect everything to go smoothly, always. And when it doesn't, I expect, at the minimum, steps taken to rectify the situation, and if the situation becomes an inconvenience to me bordering on a disruption of stay, then I expect a refund. These are all areas where AirBNB is significantly worse than large hotel chains - even the modest hotel chains like Holiday Inn or Microtel or Motel 6. This reminds me of Ron White's bit about staying at The Ritz Carlton in Atlanta... "I get to Atlanta and I check into the Ritz Carlton Hotel. And, uh, the next morning I go to take a shower and there's no hot water. And I called the front desk and I tell the girl at the front desk, I said, 'There's no hot water.' The girl at the front desk said, 'Sometimes there's no hot water.' Didn't I just tell you that? I said, 'I've stayed at $20 a night motels. The water was so hot you could cook your nuts with it.' She goes, 'Well, every once in a while, everybody will wake up at the same time and they all take a shower at the same time and we run smack outta hot water.' You guys didn't think about that? They thought about it at the Motel 6. But that whole concept of people wake up in the morning with shit to do got right by the Ritz Carlton Hotel?" This is why I'm interested in hearing where it all goes wrong, when, and why. No hot water in a $500 a night hotel is completely unacceptable, anywhere, anytime, ever. There's nothing you could say to me that will change my mind. "Power went out, sir." Well where the fuck is your backup generator and why isn't it running? "There's something wrong with the natural gas lines, sir." Well why don't you have an on-site backup tank for these situations? "Everyone woke up and took a shower at the same time!" Well why the fuck don't you have secondary boilers that monitor the primary ones and anticipate and correct for that? "Internet access is down sir." Why the fuck don't you have multiple connections with failover to ensure connectivity is maintained? This is why I want a hotel and not an AirBNB. AirBNB doesn't have the scale to deal with these kinds of issues because it's essentially Hotel Uber. I understand not everyone is this exacting. That's fine. That's more than fine. More power to you, book on AirBNB all day every day if you want to. But I'm not going to, because I've heard enough of these stories.
mibollma 4y ago
I can't confirm this from my experience over the last 8 years. Customer service was great from Airbnb. Sometimes I prefer Airbnb, sometimes I prefer a hotel, it all depends on the kind of travel experience I'm looking for.
threatofrain 4y ago
> The reason AirBNB will always have garbage service is because the hosts are their moneymakers, not you. The host has the property, the host sets the price, the host assumes all responsibility (even if they often do not live up to those responsibilities). I disagree. The marketplace is the moneymaker. It would be like saying that app makers are the moneymakers, and not the iOS/Android store as a whole marketplace.
- beowulfey 4y ago
  But what is the app store without the apps? What is AirBnB without the hosts? It’s a moot point really anyway, because the important thing is it’s definitely not the users who are valued by the parent company in either case.

zippergz 4y ago

"SuperHost" is such a joke because most of them are professional airbnb managers who don't actually own the properties. If they're good at their jobs maybe they would only accept properties that meet some standard, but from what I've seen they will work with anyone who will pay them.

bogota 4y ago
They should really make it more clear what places are owned by property management companies vs people.
- ethbr0 4y ago
  This is the Amazon quandary: your core product is ostensibly "quality" (from an end user perspective), but at some point you've consumed the total available market of quality sellers... So AirBnB has to keep allowing (and encouraging) property management companies, because no one else can bring them the volume they need to grow.

nradov 4y ago

The only use case where AirBNB sort of makes sense is for poor young solo travelers (like backpackers) as an alternative to hostels. I can't understand why anyone would even consider it for a business trip or family vacation. What are those travelers thinking? Like I seriously don't understand why anyone would take that kind of risk instead of making a reservation with a real hotel. Caveat emptor.

xur17 4y ago
To me a hotel and an airbnb are 2 totally different products. I prefer using airbnb (or vrbo) because I can get an entire house (yes I know this is technically possible with a hotel, but typically not) with a kitchen, multiple bedrooms, etc. And I shouldn't jinx myself, but I've used Airbnbs on every trip I've taken, and I've yet to run into a real show stopping problem. Not saying it doesn't happen, just pointing out that it's not as frequent as you are making it out to be.
tomduncalf 4y ago
I'd say one thing in favour of an AirBnB type rental is having a kitchen where you can cook your own food... I find on holiday sometimes it's quite nice to just have some "normal" food at home rather than eating out all the time. I'd rather book a proper dedicated rental flat from another platform than someone's random flat on AirBnB these days though, after all the horror stories (personally I've never had an issue). Edit: I read another comment lower down talking about hotel rooms with a kitchen. Personally never encountered this, maybe it's a US thing, but that could be an OK solution if it included all the stuff you need to cook a basic meal.
- SapporoChris 4y ago
  Responding to your edit comment: I've found hotels and apartment-hotels with kitchen or kitchenettes through Expedia and their subsidiaries in Germany, Poland, Mexico, and Brazil. Agoda offers similar features, but I've not tried it out yet. They're usually well stocked with most of the things needed for a basic meal. I use them versus AirBnB because they seem to look out for me very well. I've had minor hassle getting a refund only once in last twelve years, but they did come through for me. I also like the simple reward program. They've added some fees in the last few years, but it's still good.

muro 4y ago

Recently stayed in hotels in Seattle and Sunnyvale, CA for a few nights. The one in Seattle greeted us at the reception with "we don't do room service", even though we were staying for a week and it was about 300/night. Ridiculous. Sunnyvale was a Hilton garden Inn and while uninspired, was completely fine - clean and quiet.

jackson1442 4y ago
Partly why I just stick with the chains, at least for now. Very very predictable, and while you won't get the best experience at the hotel, you get a lot of guarantees that it at least won't be a bad experience. Maybe this will be different when I'm traveling more for the sake of traveling, but for the most part I'm traveling to see something specific in a city rather than the city at large.
turtlebits 4y ago
Are you talking about daily housekeeping or actual room service (food delivery)? In all my life, I've never ordered room service as it is criminally expensive.
- muro 4y ago
  Housekeeping.
  - brewdad 4y ago
    The last few hotels I've stayed at, including one in Seattle, didn't do housekeeping unless you were staying more than 2 nights and then only on request. They would happily send up more towels or whatever you need but were limiting the number of rooms they actually entered each day. Covid was the excuse but really I think it was short staffing. Either way, I'm shocked that they would refuse to clean your room for a week. Of course, if you didn't ask, they won't.
    - muro 4y ago
      I didn't ask, given what they told me on arrival. Anyway the reception was often unstaffed, too.

bogota 4y ago

Hotels aren’t necessarily more expensive for short travels unless you are booking some of the bottom end airbnbs. For long stays though airbnb almost always wins out.

rjh29 4y ago

AirBNB is now almost as expensive as a hotel in the city centre. There are some very nice properties, but increasingly a lot of crappy properties - flats converted into multiple airbnb 'apartments', bare minimum furniture, often in dodgy areas, and your neighbours are also airbnb tenants so expect lots of noise. For this reason I also have gone back to hotels unless I'm booking a place for more than 2 weeks. Airbnb often has a monthly discount so remains a decent place for long stays, although if you put in the work (and pay cash) you can usually find cheaper options.

rmbyrro 4y ago
The only reason I use Airbnb is because I like to have a full featured kitchen when I'm traveling to cook my own food a few times. Otherwise, I'd pick hotels without even blinking.
- devmunchies 4y ago
  I wonder how hotels could do this effectively and safely. Include a mini-kitchen with 2 burners and a small counter. Burners are disabled but could be enabled by request, or some keypad on the wall (child proofed). You can pick up a box of kitchen supplies (pots, knives, etc) from the front desk or request room service to cart them up. Put the supplies back in the box before you leave (box is lined with a rubbermaid dish bin). This would offset the cost of furnishing each room with supplies, while also killing one of airbnb's value props.
  - whycombinetor 4y ago
    Extended Stay America locations have a "fully equipped kitchen" in every room so it's certainly possible and already happening.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    The place I've stayed at in London a fair number of times calls itself a "serviced apartment" and includes a kitchenette. I don't really use it much other than the refrigerator but it's there and I've stayed there with a friend who would cook eggs in the morning. I'm pretty sure some of the suite-style chains in the US do as well.

spoonjim 4y ago

AirBNB is terrible as a place to stay, but it's great for destination vacations. If you are having a family vacation with 10 people it's a lot more fun to be in a big house than in 4 hotel rooms.

rmbyrro 4y ago

> The reason AirBNB will always have garbage service is because the hosts are their moneymakers, not you. I don't share the same opinion. This is the fault of Airbnb, they chose to operate that way, it's not a market force. Take Uber (not a marvellous company or service, but certainly better for consumers): drivers own cars, they choose when and how long to drive, they're the money makers. Yet, I've never experienced bullshit service from Uber as I have with Airbnb. The same for everyone I've talked about this around me.

echelon 4y ago
Cars are way more fungible. How many hosts are in the area you're staying, open and available for your travel time range, with the same quality and amenities that you want? Who cares what kind of uber car you get? There are thousands of them, and they just get you from point A to B. I tried Airbnb once, only to find out just before departure that the host had booked the place for someone else on VRBO. (I only found out because I asked the host a question about parking!)

facet1ous 4y ago

Eh. As an Airbnb host, honestly I've never been given any slack by Airbnb. Maybe they've made some recent changes, but in my experience they pretty much always side with the guest even over minor things and I'm the one that has to fight tooth and nail for fair treatment when a guest abuses my house or breaks the rules. Hotels are definitely nice if you like the pampering they provide (e.g. clean your room everyday), but the value of Airbnb is getting amenities and space of a house for an affordable rate. Good luck booking a hotel suite (w/ kitchen, common room, etc) without paying insane rates north of 1k a night. That's where Airbnb shines. Can't speak to your experience, but there are heavy, heavy penalties for the behavior you're describing - you can't just do that carefree as a host. I would probably lose my business if I let that kind of stuff happen even just once or twice. That being said, shitty hosts are out there. If they have extensive review history and positive remarks (over ~4.7/5.0 rating) it should be fine. I've honestly never had a bad experience as a guest over 5+ years of staying at Airbnbs with that criteria.

kolencherry 4y ago
> Good luck booking a hotel suite (w/ kitchen, common room, etc) without paying insane rates north of 1k a night. Isn't this the domain of extended stay hotels, like Residence Inn (Marriott), Staybridge Suites (IHG), and Homewood Suites (Hilton), and serviced apartments? They don't tend to be in the $1k/night range.
- facet1ous 4y ago
  Yeah but those aren't as commonplace. And I'd still say good Airbnbs would have much better amenities (and charm for that matter).
  - spookthesunset 4y ago
    It really depends. They may have a lot of charm, but also cut every damn corner with basic things like forks and knives. I've been in a few places that I swear must have purchased their cutlery from some aliexpress outlet for $5 or something. The edges of the forks were razor sharp. Don't even get started on how few of them clean the dishwasher filter or anything like that. Ever looked at the filter trap on one of those places? Yuk!

rdtsc 4y ago

I am in the same boat. Never booked with them and probably never will. I will pay more for hotel chains to get predictable service, and a help desk to talk to. When I go on a vacation with the family the last thing I need is some unpredictable situation with a shady host and then fighting overseas AirBnB support for refunds.

twawaaay 4y ago

> The reason AirBNB will always have garbage service is because the hosts are their moneymakers, not you. Ummm... the fact that most people prefer Airbnb to anything else seems to directly contradict your statement. Also, why would you say guests are not their moneymakers? It is the guest that pays the money that ultimately land in Airbnb's pockets.

lazyasciiart 4y ago
But most people don't appear to prefer Airbnb to anything else? Hotels are still a far larger market than airbnb, 5-10x as big in revenue, in number of rooms that exist, in almost any metric - and that doesn't even take into account that there are tons of hotels listed on airbnb now. https://backlinko.com/airbnb-stats https://backlinko.com/airbnb-stats https://www.statista.com/statistics/245864/us-hotel-rooms-by-chain-scale-segment/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/245864/us-hotel-rooms-by...
bogomipz 4y ago
>"Ummm... the fact that most people prefer Airbnb to anything else seems to directly contradict your statement." This is a fact? Could you please provide any meaningful citation or even the slightest bit of supporting evidence of this "fact"?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

standardUser 4y ago

"This is also why I've never once booked with AirBNB" You're admitting you have zero experience with the service you spent several paragraphs attacking.

cbozeman 4y ago
Yes... because this is just one in a litany of horror stories that I have: * Read about online * Heard about personally from friends & family Do you need to step in a pile of shit personally to realize it's unpleasant, or would you rather take the word of the people who already stepped in it?
- standardUser 4y ago
  I have used AirBnB on at least 20 different occasions and had almost entirely fantastic experiences (and maybe 3 sub par ones). So you can add that to your anecdotal evidence.
  - cbozeman 4y ago
    I'll be honest, I'm not interested in hearing about entirely fantastic experiences; indulge me while I explain why. When I'm traveling, if you want to entice me to use your AirBNB, you need to provide - at the minimum - an exactly equivalent or superior experience to what I can get at a hotel, and for a cheaper price. If you can't, then logically there's zero reason for me to book a stay with you. Why would I pay more for less service? That isn't logical. Yes, I understand some things are, more or less, impossible to do with an AirBNB (I don't expect turndown service, or room service for instance). However, most other things that a hotel could offer, I would expect, such as a coffee maker, a mini-fridge, a microwave, Internet connectively, and perhaps printer access (after all, a color laser printer isn't prohibitively expensive, and the toner makes usage cheap). Everything I mentioned I can get at an Extended Stay America, or a Residence Inn, or some other long-term hotel-like setting. As for actual hotels, I can frequently get either better service, or a more extensive suite of services, many of which are complimentary, some of which are available for small fees and which no AirBNB could ever realistically offer. Now having said all this... I'm only interested in unpleasant stories. I only want to hear about when things go wrong. Because just like a good site reliability manager, I'm looking for 99.999999% uptime. I expect everything to go smoothly, always. And when it doesn't, I expect, at the minimum, steps taken to rectify the situation, and if the situation becomes an inconvenience to me bordering on a disruption of stay, then I expect a refund. These are all areas where AirBNB is significantly worse than large hotel chains - even the modest hotel chains like Holiday Inn or Microtel or Motel 6. This reminds me of Ron White's bit about staying at The Ritz Carlton in Atlanta... "I get to Atlanta and I check into the Ritz Carlton Hotel. And, uh, the next morning I go to take a shower and there's no hot water. And I called the front desk and I tell the girl at the front desk, I said, 'There's no hot water.' The girl at the front desk said, 'Sometimes there's no hot water.' Didn't I just tell you that? I said, 'I've stayed at $20 a night motels. The water was so hot you could cook your nuts with it.' She goes, 'Well, every once in a while, everybody will wake up at the same time and they all take a shower at the same time and we run smack outta hot water.' You guys didn't think about that? They thought about it at the Motel 6. But that whole concept of people wake up in the morning with shit to do got right by the Ritz Carlton Hotel?" This is why I'm interested in hearing where it all goes wrong, when, and why. No hot water in a $500 a night hotel is completely unacceptable, anywhere, anytime, ever. There's nothing you could say to me that will change my mind. "Power went out, sir." Well where the fuck is your backup generator and why isn't it running? "There's something wrong with the natural gas lines, sir." Well why don't you have an on-site backup tank for these situations? "Everyone woke up and took a shower at the same time!" Well why the fuck don't you have secondary boilers that monitor the primary ones and anticipate and correct for that? "Internet access is down sir." Why the fuck don't you have multiple connections with failover to ensure connectivity is maintained? This is why I want a hotel and not an AirBNB. AirBNB doesn't have the scale to deal with these kinds of issues because it's essentially Hotel Uber. I understand not everyone is this exacting. That's fine. That's more than fine. More power to you, book on AirBNB all day every day if you want to. But I'm not going to, because I've heard enough of these stories.

mibollma 4y ago

I can't confirm this from my experience over the last 8 years. Customer service was great from Airbnb. Sometimes I prefer Airbnb, sometimes I prefer a hotel, it all depends on the kind of travel experience I'm looking for.

threatofrain 4y ago

> The reason AirBNB will always have garbage service is because the hosts are their moneymakers, not you. The host has the property, the host sets the price, the host assumes all responsibility (even if they often do not live up to those responsibilities). I disagree. The marketplace is the moneymaker. It would be like saying that app makers are the moneymakers, and not the iOS/Android store as a whole marketplace.

beowulfey 4y ago
But what is the app store without the apps? What is AirBnB without the hosts? It’s a moot point really anyway, because the important thing is it’s definitely not the users who are valued by the parent company in either case.