In my experience (~ 6 AirBnB stays) if cost is your major motivator, you're more likely to have a lousy AirBnB experience. I've stayed in NYC and in smaller ma

In my experience (~ 6 AirBnB stays) if cost is your major motivator, you're more likely to have a lousy AirBnB experience. I've stayed in NYC and in smaller markets in AirBnB places I selected for cost. Why pay $200+ when I can stay for $80 in someone's private room? Well, you get what you pay for, and when you pay less then a local hotel the things you miss are the things that hotel charges you for: cleanliness, privacy, and respect for your time. While reviews/recommendations are supposed to be a filter for quality, they're really something of an echo chamber on AirBnB. If you leave a host a negative review, they may do the same for you, and fear of being publicly labeled an undesirable guest is enough to keep most travelers mute. That said, once you start paying something roughly comparable to a hotel rate in a given city, they likelihood of you having a better experience increases. These are hosts who are basically running a side business and treat you like a customer. For better or worse, they charge you more to treat you better. I think it's the higher end AirBnB market that hotels should fear.