4 ms·

"In my experience Airbnb isn’t even cheaper, just has more “interesting” housing available." I still, can not wrap my head around this. The idea behind airbnb

"In my experience Airbnb isn’t even cheaper, just has more “interesting” housing available." I still, can not wrap my head around this. The idea behind airbnb was to rent out unused parts of your house. You STILL can not do this. Motel 6 is cheaper all day everyday. I will keep giving my $80 to Motel 6, but, I KNOW there is someone out there that has a room and needs $80. The original problem still exists. I can't pay $120 + $30 in cleaning fees, plus do your house chores Sarah.

smelendez 3y ago
My suspicion is those cheap single rooms were never worth it for the hosts once you consider the long tail of things that can go wrong. One bad guest who upsets the other residents and leaves the property in bad condition will sap your earnings and throw off your life. Airbnb might eventually reimburse you for damage, but there’s still your time and aggravation. Also any household maintenance issue, like an internet outage or finicky toilet or a microwave on the fritz becomes an emergency if it’s an amenity you promised to a guest. Even realizing the guest towels are getting a little worn might be a cause for panic. Motel 6 has a handyman on call, maybe the owner or a relative, and can take a room out of rotation if they’re not booked solid, but Joe Airbnb is stuck begging a plumber to come out on short notice or rushing to Target before check in time.
- shagie 3y ago
  > My suspicion is those cheap single rooms were never worth it for the hosts once you consider the long tail of things that can go wrong. They stay too long, and now they're a tenant rather than a guest - and you can't evict them. https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/airbnb-tenant-squatter-ca-la-18476228.php https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/airbnb-tenant-squatter... https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/805 https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/805
- ghaff 3y ago
  I suspect that people in general are very bad about factoring in fully amortized costs--especially for expensive things that may be unpredictable and likely only happen once in a great while. I was having a discussion not that long ago about how a house that's paid off actually costs a lot of money.
pjc50 3y ago
> The idea behind airbnb was to rent out unused parts of your house. Airbnb raised rents to to point where either people have no space or those spare rooms are filled with longish-term tenants, at lower void rates. Or their children had to move back in because all the inner city housing is now AirBnbs.
squokko 3y ago
Is it so surprising that Motel 6 is more operationally efficient? That Sarah needs more money than Motel 6 to allow a unknown stranger into her living space and to clean up after them, rather than a gigantic hotel chain with decades of experience and thousands of locations?
konschubert 3y ago
This changes when travelling with kids.

smelendez 3y ago

My suspicion is those cheap single rooms were never worth it for the hosts once you consider the long tail of things that can go wrong. One bad guest who upsets the other residents and leaves the property in bad condition will sap your earnings and throw off your life. Airbnb might eventually reimburse you for damage, but there’s still your time and aggravation. Also any household maintenance issue, like an internet outage or finicky toilet or a microwave on the fritz becomes an emergency if it’s an amenity you promised to a guest. Even realizing the guest towels are getting a little worn might be a cause for panic. Motel 6 has a handyman on call, maybe the owner or a relative, and can take a room out of rotation if they’re not booked solid, but Joe Airbnb is stuck begging a plumber to come out on short notice or rushing to Target before check in time.

shagie 3y ago
> My suspicion is those cheap single rooms were never worth it for the hosts once you consider the long tail of things that can go wrong. They stay too long, and now they're a tenant rather than a guest - and you can't evict them. https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/airbnb-tenant-squatter-ca-la-18476228.php https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/airbnb-tenant-squatter... https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/805 https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/805
ghaff 3y ago
I suspect that people in general are very bad about factoring in fully amortized costs--especially for expensive things that may be unpredictable and likely only happen once in a great while. I was having a discussion not that long ago about how a house that's paid off actually costs a lot of money.

pjc50 3y ago

> The idea behind airbnb was to rent out unused parts of your house. Airbnb raised rents to to point where either people have no space or those spare rooms are filled with longish-term tenants, at lower void rates. Or their children had to move back in because all the inner city housing is now AirBnbs.

squokko 3y ago

Is it so surprising that Motel 6 is more operationally efficient? That Sarah needs more money than Motel 6 to allow a unknown stranger into her living space and to clean up after them, rather than a gigantic hotel chain with decades of experience and thousands of locations?

konschubert 3y ago

This changes when travelling with kids.