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I’ve grown to appreciate Airbnb for big family trips (access to kitchens being a big plus). It’s still very funny to me that the site and app look very good an

by rtpg 3y ago

I’ve grown to appreciate Airbnb for big family trips (access to kitchens being a big plus). It’s still very funny to me that the site and app look very good and I constantly see Airbnb design writeups but are UX nightmares. I constantly struggle to change certain fields, find my booking information, figure out what page I was looking at… every year there’s some new redesign that theoretically makes things better but I still walk away thinking I would love the website to just work like a faster booking.com or something (booking.com has its own issues, mainly speed, but at least it’s a list of things)

meowtimemania 3y ago
I agree on Airbnb for big groups. If it's just me or me + a few others, I think regular hotels work best!
- ghaff 3y ago
  It doesn't have to be wild parties but even groups of friends looking for a weekend get-away where they maybe cook a meal or two and hang-out don't necessarily find long-term stay hotels ideal.
bilalq 3y ago
The inability to filter by bed types is frustrating. If you're traveling with a group that needs 3 or 4 king size beds, good luck sorting through it all.
- amluto 3y ago
  I have yet to find a conventional hotel search engine that can do anything of this sort either. Want a 1-bedroom suite? Good luck.
scoot 3y ago
> booking.com has its own issues Don't get me started on Booking.com! I booked a hotel last minute, grabbed a pizza, then when I went back to the app to check the hotel's address was greeted with a message that the room was no longer available. As it turns out because I was the one who had booked it, but leading me to think that the booking had somehow failed, despite being previously confirmed. I booked the next available room (at a higher cost), and headed to the hotel. When I went to check in, I was told that I had two rooms, but that I couldn't cancel one because it was past the cancellation window, and to contact Booking.com. Booking.com said it was up to the hotel, despite the double booking being caused by their shitty app UX. Wise.com (who I love for transfers, but shouldn't have used for this card payment) were powerless to help. tl;dr Don't use Booking.com. I'm just glad it was only a one-night stay!
- nikster 3y ago
  Booking.com has been working amazing for me. For single room, 1-2 people, it's been flawless over probably 100 bookings or more over the last few years. Short term I always use booking since it's less hassle than AirBnB.
- gruez 3y ago
  1. Sounds like you went to the hotel's listing page to grab the address, rather than your bookings page. If this is the case, I'm not really sure how this is bookings.com's fault. 2. Even if this is booking.com's issue, if you already have a confirmed booking and then made another one, shouldn't you at least double check that the first one was indeed canceled? Was that done?
ketzo 3y ago
Having a kitchen on vacation has been such a life-changer for me! Cooking meals is a big part of how I relax.
- ghaff 3y ago
  People differ I guess. I cook at home all the time. If I'm on vacation, I'm eating out.
freddie_mercury 3y ago
....or even small family trips. Maybe you have a baby and don't want to spend a week giving them pre-made purees. Plus you want a real sink so you can wash bottles. Maybe you have a toddler and don't want to spend a ton of money in restaurants only to find they won't eat anything. Maybe you just have kids and don't want to be spending a ton of money eating out every single meal for a week. If you want a kitchen, Airbnb is often the only option. If you want to do laundry, Airbnb is often the only option. Laundromats are few and far between in many areas and hotels charge extortionate amounts. Or if you just want three beds because you don't fancy your oldest kid sleeping on a cot or a couch for two weeks. If you're visiting family in a typical residential suburb, instead of some work or tourist destination, Airbnb is often the only option within miles.
- xattt 3y ago
  > If you want a kitchen, Airbnb is often the only option. I’m not sure about that. Large hotel chains will offer predictable apartment-style lodging (I.e. Residence Inn) if you cough up whole-home AirBnB money. I’m looking at one right now in off-season that goes for about 390CAD per night in Downtown Halifax. University residences also offer suite-style lodging during the summer, and cater to cost-sensitive individuals. This was a thing for ages before AirBnB went mainstream, who are now trying to convince the populace that it’s their way or the highway.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Residence Inn isn't really the equivalent of a house for a larger group--even if I like it for one or two persons myself. There is a soft-of kitchen but you do have predictability at least even at the cost of more interesting, if less predictable, options. (Which is fine for me in a lot of situations.)
  - freddie_mercury 3y ago
    Not all universities around the world do that. Not all destinations are anywhere close to a university. Hotels that offer a full kitchen, and not just a kitchenette are rare and severely limit your options. I visited Surprise, Arizona, earlier this year. There is a single option with a full kitchen: a Residence Inn. But the only options are a studio or a 1-bedroom. Hope you're not traveling with kids. It does come with a fold-out couch. Yay? The next closest option is another Residence Inn 12 kilometers away...but that one doesn't even have a fold-out couch so for more than 2 people you need to rent 2 rooms. I can't even find an extended stay place in the greater Phoenix area that offers two bedrooms. Not to mention Residence Inn has 0 hotels in Asia. I live in Asia and apartment-style lodging from large hotel chains is not common. I don't think your experience in America generalises to the rest of the world very well.
nikster 3y ago
In the UX community it is indeed very funny to see AirBNB talk so much about their amazing UX, yet the app is very hard to use compared to something ugly and simple like booking.com. It looks good but it is a nightmare to use. They change things around a lot, and sometimes they fix one issue, but then add another issue for no reason. I've ended up booking the wrong thing so many times - and even once would be too much for a good user interface design. My latest pet peeve is that while you can filter by "instant book only" there is no indication anywhere on the UI whether or not a location is instant book. I always book last minute, and places that don't instantly book are basically useless to me - too much drama as to whether or not the host accepts my booking. 24 hour period where I have no idea if I have a place to stay - but I already paid and my money is locked up. It seems it would be important to know. And they used to have an instant book icon on listings that offered it. The wording on the booking button is also ambiguous. It says "reserve now" - sometimes this means you can make a booking, other times it means AirBnB will take the cash off your card but you will have to wait 24 hours before you know whether or not you actually reserved anything. And there's other things also... the UI is dirt poor and we only use it because for long stays when I want a washing machine and so on, sometimes these AirBnBs are literally 10x better than a comparable hotel - it works, in other words, thanks to amazing hosts - no thanks to the poor software.
nikster 3y ago
For family trips it is unbeatable. Big drama and big $$$ to book 2 connecting rooms in a normal hotel, and the experience is much worse than just getting a nice apartment with kitchen, 2 or 3 rooms, washing machine, etc. IDK how people traveled with families before.

by rtpg 3y ago

meowtimemania 3y ago

I agree on Airbnb for big groups. If it's just me or me + a few others, I think regular hotels work best!

ghaff 3y ago
It doesn't have to be wild parties but even groups of friends looking for a weekend get-away where they maybe cook a meal or two and hang-out don't necessarily find long-term stay hotels ideal.

bilalq 3y ago

The inability to filter by bed types is frustrating. If you're traveling with a group that needs 3 or 4 king size beds, good luck sorting through it all.

amluto 3y ago
I have yet to find a conventional hotel search engine that can do anything of this sort either. Want a 1-bedroom suite? Good luck.

scoot 3y ago

> booking.com has its own issues Don't get me started on Booking.com! I booked a hotel last minute, grabbed a pizza, then when I went back to the app to check the hotel's address was greeted with a message that the room was no longer available. As it turns out because I was the one who had booked it, but leading me to think that the booking had somehow failed, despite being previously confirmed. I booked the next available room (at a higher cost), and headed to the hotel. When I went to check in, I was told that I had two rooms, but that I couldn't cancel one because it was past the cancellation window, and to contact Booking.com. Booking.com said it was up to the hotel, despite the double booking being caused by their shitty app UX. Wise.com (who I love for transfers, but shouldn't have used for this card payment) were powerless to help. tl;dr Don't use Booking.com. I'm just glad it was only a one-night stay!

nikster 3y ago
Booking.com has been working amazing for me. For single room, 1-2 people, it's been flawless over probably 100 bookings or more over the last few years. Short term I always use booking since it's less hassle than AirBnB.
gruez 3y ago
1. Sounds like you went to the hotel's listing page to grab the address, rather than your bookings page. If this is the case, I'm not really sure how this is bookings.com's fault. 2. Even if this is booking.com's issue, if you already have a confirmed booking and then made another one, shouldn't you at least double check that the first one was indeed canceled? Was that done?

ketzo 3y ago

Having a kitchen on vacation has been such a life-changer for me! Cooking meals is a big part of how I relax.

ghaff 3y ago
People differ I guess. I cook at home all the time. If I'm on vacation, I'm eating out.

freddie_mercury 3y ago

....or even small family trips. Maybe you have a baby and don't want to spend a week giving them pre-made purees. Plus you want a real sink so you can wash bottles. Maybe you have a toddler and don't want to spend a ton of money in restaurants only to find they won't eat anything. Maybe you just have kids and don't want to be spending a ton of money eating out every single meal for a week. If you want a kitchen, Airbnb is often the only option. If you want to do laundry, Airbnb is often the only option. Laundromats are few and far between in many areas and hotels charge extortionate amounts. Or if you just want three beds because you don't fancy your oldest kid sleeping on a cot or a couch for two weeks. If you're visiting family in a typical residential suburb, instead of some work or tourist destination, Airbnb is often the only option within miles.

xattt 3y ago
> If you want a kitchen, Airbnb is often the only option. I’m not sure about that. Large hotel chains will offer predictable apartment-style lodging (I.e. Residence Inn) if you cough up whole-home AirBnB money. I’m looking at one right now in off-season that goes for about 390CAD per night in Downtown Halifax. University residences also offer suite-style lodging during the summer, and cater to cost-sensitive individuals. This was a thing for ages before AirBnB went mainstream, who are now trying to convince the populace that it’s their way or the highway.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Residence Inn isn't really the equivalent of a house for a larger group--even if I like it for one or two persons myself. There is a soft-of kitchen but you do have predictability at least even at the cost of more interesting, if less predictable, options. (Which is fine for me in a lot of situations.)
- freddie_mercury 3y ago
  Not all universities around the world do that. Not all destinations are anywhere close to a university. Hotels that offer a full kitchen, and not just a kitchenette are rare and severely limit your options. I visited Surprise, Arizona, earlier this year. There is a single option with a full kitchen: a Residence Inn. But the only options are a studio or a 1-bedroom. Hope you're not traveling with kids. It does come with a fold-out couch. Yay? The next closest option is another Residence Inn 12 kilometers away...but that one doesn't even have a fold-out couch so for more than 2 people you need to rent 2 rooms. I can't even find an extended stay place in the greater Phoenix area that offers two bedrooms. Not to mention Residence Inn has 0 hotels in Asia. I live in Asia and apartment-style lodging from large hotel chains is not common. I don't think your experience in America generalises to the rest of the world very well.

nikster 3y ago

In the UX community it is indeed very funny to see AirBNB talk so much about their amazing UX, yet the app is very hard to use compared to something ugly and simple like booking.com. It looks good but it is a nightmare to use. They change things around a lot, and sometimes they fix one issue, but then add another issue for no reason. I've ended up booking the wrong thing so many times - and even once would be too much for a good user interface design. My latest pet peeve is that while you can filter by "instant book only" there is no indication anywhere on the UI whether or not a location is instant book. I always book last minute, and places that don't instantly book are basically useless to me - too much drama as to whether or not the host accepts my booking. 24 hour period where I have no idea if I have a place to stay - but I already paid and my money is locked up. It seems it would be important to know. And they used to have an instant book icon on listings that offered it. The wording on the booking button is also ambiguous. It says "reserve now" - sometimes this means you can make a booking, other times it means AirBnB will take the cash off your card but you will have to wait 24 hours before you know whether or not you actually reserved anything. And there's other things also... the UI is dirt poor and we only use it because for long stays when I want a washing machine and so on, sometimes these AirBnBs are literally 10x better than a comparable hotel - it works, in other words, thanks to amazing hosts - no thanks to the poor software.

nikster 3y ago

For family trips it is unbeatable. Big drama and big $$$ to book 2 connecting rooms in a normal hotel, and the experience is much worse than just getting a nice apartment with kitchen, 2 or 3 rooms, washing machine, etc. IDK how people traveled with families before.