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Use hotels. Airbnb has been comparable to hotels in the area, without extra services, no loyalty points, no daily cleaning (in many cases) and no added value at

Use hotels. Airbnb has been comparable to hotels in the area, without extra services, no loyalty points, no daily cleaning (in many cases) and no added value at all. At least before you'd pay significantly less than an hotel. Now hotels are more convenient especially if you're member and you get it with a discount

treeman79 4y ago
Hilton triple charged me. Months later I’m still fighting it
- hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
  I had exactly zero problems with hotels and a number of problems with private hosts. Now I don't even consider the latter. When I'm on a trip, whether it's a business one or with my family, I want consistent service and predictability. Maybe I'm just to old to deal with that crap.
  - ausudhz 4y ago
    > Maybe I'm just to old to deal with that crap. Same I don't want to think if my flight delays for a few hours whether the host can give me the key, where we should meet etc. I just want to get in the room as soon as possible knowing that if I'm in a new place I can always count on the hotel staff for any help. Definitely hotels win on many levels compared to private hosts
  - gtech1 4y ago
    Maybe it's me getting old, but most of the hotels I've been to, slightly higher end ones, had really weird bathrooms. From no doors, to imperfectly closing doors on purpose ( think rough barn door ) , to saloon doors (???). Who designs these and where are they going with it ? Can't one enjoy some privacy in the bathroom anymore ?
    - izacus 4y ago
      Then you haven't been in the most fancy hotels where the feature is having glass bathroom with a view from the bedroom bed. Seriously.
      - bregma 4y ago
        My only conclusion that wealthy Europeans enjoy watching their intimate friends and family eliminate personal waste. I have never encountered these odd bathrooms in North America or in less expensive accommodation anywhere.
    - kyleee 4y ago
      It should be basically a human right to have a nice, well sealing, lockable door for a bathroom and a good fan and/or window.
- ausudhz 4y ago
  None of the hotels I went to ever charged me more than once. I've been in many both for work and for pleasure in 4 continents
- sokoloff 4y ago
  If you made one honest effort to resolve it with them, do a chargeback on your card. I’ve had two hotels do this (over many decades) and my bank was very quick to approve my chargeback.
  - closewith 4y ago
    If they're anything like airlines, you'll never be able to stay at any of their 6,000+ hotels after making a chargeback. That may or may not be an issue for the OP (although maybe not as the company has already overcharged them).
    - jules 4y ago
      Would you want to stay there again if they triple charge you and do not want to fix it? That's called theft. Would you want to work with a business that is nonchalant about stealing from you? I bet the hotel would not be so nonchalant about you stealing 2x of the cost of the hotel room from them. I made the mistake of not using a credit card to pay for an airline ticket. They canceled my flight at the last moment with no reason given, did not want to provide alternative transportation, and only offered to refund 80 euros of "credits" tied to that airline (far less than what I paid for the flight!). I never want to use that airline again, and would happily chargeback.
      - closewith 4y ago
        I would definitely try to avoid using a hotel chain that overcharged me, but the unfortunately reality is that the chains (like airlines) are so big that you do meaningfully reduce your options in the future.
      - bartread 4y ago
        > I never want to use that airline again, and would happily chargeback. The problem with that idea is that sometimes Airline X is the only game in town for certain destinations. I have an Airline X that screwed my then girlfriend now fiancee and I over rather badly last year, forcing us to fly a day later than planned, with knock on impacts on our plans/schedule. Airline X are a bunch of unregenerate, dishonest scoundrels who I'd cheerfully feed into a running woodchipper but the strongest position I can realistically take is that, where a viable alternative to Airline X is available, even if it's a bit more inconvenient or expensive, I'll use that alternative. However, sometimes a combination of scheduling, availability, outbound airport, destination, and other constraints make it either literally impossible or practically impossible to avoid using Airline X. So a few months after the unpleasant occurrence last year I had to use them once again for a one way flight because they were the only viable option. It pained me to hand over the money, and it pained me even more to watch them single out somebody in the queue for reasons that are obscure to me and make their life extremely unpleasant even though, apparently, they'd paid for the bag they were trying to bring aboard. Scumbags. But I still needed to get home. So I can't afford to get barred by them.
- oblio 4y ago
  We all have anecdotes :-)
- Terretta 4y ago
  How? Did you book through multiple methods and fail to cancel one? Did they run three charges each matching the printed invoice? It's unusual to come up with scenarios that would require much "fighting" to resolve. The only overcharges I've ever incurred across thousands of hotel nights were my own fault for excessive cleverness*, and easily sorted. * For example, playing off Hotwire's blind pricing with after hours front desk pricing.
threemux 4y ago
This is only true if you're traveling solo or with one other person to city centers. Airbnb is far superior for: * Traveling with young children * Traveling to visit family in rural areas * Traveling for pleasure in rural areas For example, I can get a house on Airbnb near my extended family in a rural area that has 2-3 bedrooms for a similar price as the 2 rooms that would be required when traveling with my immediate family. Cross-shopping hotels is useful in some situations, but don't pretend Airbnb has no advantages.
- ausudhz 4y ago
  How can you compare two things when one of them is not available? It's implied that both Airbnb and hotel must be available to make a comparison. When that's the case most of the time hotels are better. That being said, if there are no hotels available of course any other alternative would be better. If you've a large family with multiple children yes, Airbnb may be better
  - threemux 4y ago
    > How can you compare two things when one of them is not available? The example I gave is explicitly where they are both available. A hotel near my extended family, or a detached house from Airbnb that has bedrooms for my kids and a full kitchen for a similar price as two rooms in that hotel. > most of the time hotels are better That which can be claimed without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. > a large family with multiple children I'd posit it's better with any amount of children, especially if they're under, say, 5 years old.
- closewith 4y ago
  My experience travelling with kids heavily favours hotels, TBH. Especially brands hotels. They're generally: - secure, - clean, - *fire-safe*, - always have my rooms ready, - have working WiFi, - don't have things like unsecured bottles of bleach in bathrooms, - don't have stray dogs hanging around, - don't have inappropriate art, books, TV-stations, etc. Admittedly I'm less price-sensitive than some, but I also don't find hotels massively more expensive.
amelius 4y ago
> no daily cleaning I personally prefer it if nobody enters my room during my stay, even if it means no clean towels etc.
- ausudhz 4y ago
  put "no disturb" in your hotel room and confirm it to the reception. They'd not enter
  - amelius 4y ago
    I prefer if I don't have to tell the reception to not enter my room. In my opinion, this should be opt-in, rather than opt-out.
    - ausudhz 4y ago
      I also prefer to have people reading my mind but communication helps. Plus most of the time switching a button to "no disturb" would do, I don't know what are you ranting about. So what if the Airbnb does daily cleaning? You don't talk to the host to ask to remove the service? > In my opinion, this should be opt-in, rather than opt-out. I'm pretty sure most people prefer to come back with a room cleaned up, if you really don't like it just communicate it, write in the form when you book or whatever is not that hard.
      - amelius 4y ago
        It seems you are having trouble putting yourself in my shoes. I don't want to communicate to the reception to "not enter my room" because it feels rather awkward to say. The whole thing is just bad UX in my view. Of course your view may be different (or even most people's views), but that was not the point of my comment, of course.
    - ironick09 4y ago
      You don’t… have you stayed at a hotel before? You just put the do not disturb sign up that hangs off your door handle on the outside of your door…
dilap 4y ago
Most hotels don't have a kitchen tho. Killer difference if you like making your own food.
- ausudhz 4y ago
  There are hotels that do have it. They're called residence
  - oblio 4y ago
    Or aparthotels, at least in Europe.
    - Terretta 4y ago
      Also, to the points you've been making, chambre d'hotes on Booking compare favorably to AirBnB, often being standalone, studios or small dwellings, with kitchenettes. https://ilovewalkinginfrance.com/what-is-a-chambre-dhote/ https://ilovewalkinginfrance.com/what-is-a-chambre-dhote/ Also, a third option, options on VRBO compare favorably to AirBnB in price for quality and courtesy. I suspect VRBO is less appealing to the short term rental slumlords for some reason (less scalable? less volume of travelers?), but I haven't looked into it.
bearmode 4y ago
I would never use an airbnb for e.g. a city trip, but booking whole cottages in the country through airbnb has always been great for me. Prices are usually totally reasonable as well.
nailer 4y ago
I got a bodily lichen from an airbnb. Stayed in hotels great and small and never had that.

treeman79 4y ago

Hilton triple charged me. Months later I’m still fighting it

hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
I had exactly zero problems with hotels and a number of problems with private hosts. Now I don't even consider the latter. When I'm on a trip, whether it's a business one or with my family, I want consistent service and predictability. Maybe I'm just to old to deal with that crap.
- ausudhz 4y ago
  > Maybe I'm just to old to deal with that crap. Same I don't want to think if my flight delays for a few hours whether the host can give me the key, where we should meet etc. I just want to get in the room as soon as possible knowing that if I'm in a new place I can always count on the hotel staff for any help. Definitely hotels win on many levels compared to private hosts
- gtech1 4y ago
  Maybe it's me getting old, but most of the hotels I've been to, slightly higher end ones, had really weird bathrooms. From no doors, to imperfectly closing doors on purpose ( think rough barn door ) , to saloon doors (???). Who designs these and where are they going with it ? Can't one enjoy some privacy in the bathroom anymore ?
  - izacus 4y ago
    Then you haven't been in the most fancy hotels where the feature is having glass bathroom with a view from the bedroom bed. Seriously.
    - bregma 4y ago
      My only conclusion that wealthy Europeans enjoy watching their intimate friends and family eliminate personal waste. I have never encountered these odd bathrooms in North America or in less expensive accommodation anywhere.
  - kyleee 4y ago
    It should be basically a human right to have a nice, well sealing, lockable door for a bathroom and a good fan and/or window.
ausudhz 4y ago
None of the hotels I went to ever charged me more than once. I've been in many both for work and for pleasure in 4 continents
sokoloff 4y ago
If you made one honest effort to resolve it with them, do a chargeback on your card. I’ve had two hotels do this (over many decades) and my bank was very quick to approve my chargeback.
- closewith 4y ago
  If they're anything like airlines, you'll never be able to stay at any of their 6,000+ hotels after making a chargeback. That may or may not be an issue for the OP (although maybe not as the company has already overcharged them).
  - jules 4y ago
    Would you want to stay there again if they triple charge you and do not want to fix it? That's called theft. Would you want to work with a business that is nonchalant about stealing from you? I bet the hotel would not be so nonchalant about you stealing 2x of the cost of the hotel room from them. I made the mistake of not using a credit card to pay for an airline ticket. They canceled my flight at the last moment with no reason given, did not want to provide alternative transportation, and only offered to refund 80 euros of "credits" tied to that airline (far less than what I paid for the flight!). I never want to use that airline again, and would happily chargeback.
    - closewith 4y ago
      I would definitely try to avoid using a hotel chain that overcharged me, but the unfortunately reality is that the chains (like airlines) are so big that you do meaningfully reduce your options in the future.
    - bartread 4y ago
      > I never want to use that airline again, and would happily chargeback. The problem with that idea is that sometimes Airline X is the only game in town for certain destinations. I have an Airline X that screwed my then girlfriend now fiancee and I over rather badly last year, forcing us to fly a day later than planned, with knock on impacts on our plans/schedule. Airline X are a bunch of unregenerate, dishonest scoundrels who I'd cheerfully feed into a running woodchipper but the strongest position I can realistically take is that, where a viable alternative to Airline X is available, even if it's a bit more inconvenient or expensive, I'll use that alternative. However, sometimes a combination of scheduling, availability, outbound airport, destination, and other constraints make it either literally impossible or practically impossible to avoid using Airline X. So a few months after the unpleasant occurrence last year I had to use them once again for a one way flight because they were the only viable option. It pained me to hand over the money, and it pained me even more to watch them single out somebody in the queue for reasons that are obscure to me and make their life extremely unpleasant even though, apparently, they'd paid for the bag they were trying to bring aboard. Scumbags. But I still needed to get home. So I can't afford to get barred by them.
oblio 4y ago
We all have anecdotes :-)
Terretta 4y ago
How? Did you book through multiple methods and fail to cancel one? Did they run three charges each matching the printed invoice? It's unusual to come up with scenarios that would require much "fighting" to resolve. The only overcharges I've ever incurred across thousands of hotel nights were my own fault for excessive cleverness*, and easily sorted. * For example, playing off Hotwire's blind pricing with after hours front desk pricing.

threemux 4y ago

This is only true if you're traveling solo or with one other person to city centers. Airbnb is far superior for: * Traveling with young children * Traveling to visit family in rural areas * Traveling for pleasure in rural areas For example, I can get a house on Airbnb near my extended family in a rural area that has 2-3 bedrooms for a similar price as the 2 rooms that would be required when traveling with my immediate family. Cross-shopping hotels is useful in some situations, but don't pretend Airbnb has no advantages.

ausudhz 4y ago
How can you compare two things when one of them is not available? It's implied that both Airbnb and hotel must be available to make a comparison. When that's the case most of the time hotels are better. That being said, if there are no hotels available of course any other alternative would be better. If you've a large family with multiple children yes, Airbnb may be better
- threemux 4y ago
  > How can you compare two things when one of them is not available? The example I gave is explicitly where they are both available. A hotel near my extended family, or a detached house from Airbnb that has bedrooms for my kids and a full kitchen for a similar price as two rooms in that hotel. > most of the time hotels are better That which can be claimed without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. > a large family with multiple children I'd posit it's better with any amount of children, especially if they're under, say, 5 years old.
closewith 4y ago
My experience travelling with kids heavily favours hotels, TBH. Especially brands hotels. They're generally: - secure, - clean, - *fire-safe*, - always have my rooms ready, - have working WiFi, - don't have things like unsecured bottles of bleach in bathrooms, - don't have stray dogs hanging around, - don't have inappropriate art, books, TV-stations, etc. Admittedly I'm less price-sensitive than some, but I also don't find hotels massively more expensive.

amelius 4y ago

> no daily cleaning I personally prefer it if nobody enters my room during my stay, even if it means no clean towels etc.

ausudhz 4y ago
put "no disturb" in your hotel room and confirm it to the reception. They'd not enter
- amelius 4y ago
  I prefer if I don't have to tell the reception to not enter my room. In my opinion, this should be opt-in, rather than opt-out.
  - ausudhz 4y ago
    I also prefer to have people reading my mind but communication helps. Plus most of the time switching a button to "no disturb" would do, I don't know what are you ranting about. So what if the Airbnb does daily cleaning? You don't talk to the host to ask to remove the service? > In my opinion, this should be opt-in, rather than opt-out. I'm pretty sure most people prefer to come back with a room cleaned up, if you really don't like it just communicate it, write in the form when you book or whatever is not that hard.
    - amelius 4y ago
      It seems you are having trouble putting yourself in my shoes. I don't want to communicate to the reception to "not enter my room" because it feels rather awkward to say. The whole thing is just bad UX in my view. Of course your view may be different (or even most people's views), but that was not the point of my comment, of course.
  - ironick09 4y ago
    You don’t… have you stayed at a hotel before? You just put the do not disturb sign up that hangs off your door handle on the outside of your door…

dilap 4y ago

Most hotels don't have a kitchen tho. Killer difference if you like making your own food.

ausudhz 4y ago
There are hotels that do have it. They're called residence
- oblio 4y ago
  Or aparthotels, at least in Europe.
  - Terretta 4y ago
    Also, to the points you've been making, chambre d'hotes on Booking compare favorably to AirBnB, often being standalone, studios or small dwellings, with kitchenettes. https://ilovewalkinginfrance.com/what-is-a-chambre-dhote/ https://ilovewalkinginfrance.com/what-is-a-chambre-dhote/ Also, a third option, options on VRBO compare favorably to AirBnB in price for quality and courtesy. I suspect VRBO is less appealing to the short term rental slumlords for some reason (less scalable? less volume of travelers?), but I haven't looked into it.

bearmode 4y ago

I would never use an airbnb for e.g. a city trip, but booking whole cottages in the country through airbnb has always been great for me. Prices are usually totally reasonable as well.

nailer 4y ago

I got a bodily lichen from an airbnb. Stayed in hotels great and small and never had that.