4 ms·

i used airbnb once for a trip to europe, and one of the hosts cancelled on me the night before, causing me to scramble to find a hotel that was wildly overprice

i used airbnb once for a trip to europe, and one of the hosts cancelled on me the night before, causing me to scramble to find a hotel that was wildly overpriced. the next airbnb in the other city was run by a couple of weirdos who i didn't feel comfortable interacting with. i'm never using it again - seriously, what is the advantage here? given the very real risk that someone can cancel on you, or simply make you feel creeped out, why would i choose this over reliable commercial accommodations when traveling thousands of miles? cheap hotels are just fine, and they don't cancel reservations on a whim.

ljk 12y ago
> other city was run by a couple of weirdos who i didn't feel comfortable interacting with. you can also pick to rent the whole unit to avoid interacting with the host. but yeah, imo airbnb is hit-or-miss now
- beachstartup 12y ago
  it was the whole place, i'm not going to stay with a stranger - i'm a grown-ass man. they still had to give me the key and show me the place, etc. i also foolishly accepted their offer to drive me from the airport for some more money.
  - ljk 12y ago
    I feel your pain. There are definitely some weird people that look nothing like their airbnb profile photo
jpatokal 12y ago
Airbnb is great when traveling with a larger group (family, colleagues of the kind you'd want to share a house with, etc). There are plenty of cities where cheap apartment hotels that do short-term bookings basically don't exist, often for legal reasons. (I'm looking at you, Singapore and Tokyo.) When traveling with young kids, meaning you need a kitchen, a washing machine and more space than the average Japanese business hotel, Airbnb has been a lifesaver.
- dman 12y ago
  So you are knowingly breaking local laws?
  - jpatokal 12y ago
    Nope, individuals can often quite legally rent out their apartments in situations where a company could not. See eg. http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/27065/are-short-term-rentals-airbnb-etc-legal-in-singapore http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/27065/are-short-te... for the complexities of the situation in Singapore, and I gather Japan is very similar.

ljk 12y ago

> other city was run by a couple of weirdos who i didn't feel comfortable interacting with. you can also pick to rent the whole unit to avoid interacting with the host. but yeah, imo airbnb is hit-or-miss now

beachstartup 12y ago
it was the whole place, i'm not going to stay with a stranger - i'm a grown-ass man. they still had to give me the key and show me the place, etc. i also foolishly accepted their offer to drive me from the airport for some more money.
- ljk 12y ago
  I feel your pain. There are definitely some weird people that look nothing like their airbnb profile photo

jpatokal 12y ago

Airbnb is great when traveling with a larger group (family, colleagues of the kind you'd want to share a house with, etc). There are plenty of cities where cheap apartment hotels that do short-term bookings basically don't exist, often for legal reasons. (I'm looking at you, Singapore and Tokyo.) When traveling with young kids, meaning you need a kitchen, a washing machine and more space than the average Japanese business hotel, Airbnb has been a lifesaver.

dman 12y ago
So you are knowingly breaking local laws?
- jpatokal 12y ago
  Nope, individuals can often quite legally rent out their apartments in situations where a company could not. See eg. http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/27065/are-short-term-rentals-airbnb-etc-legal-in-singapore http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/27065/are-short-te... for the complexities of the situation in Singapore, and I gather Japan is very similar.