this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2025
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I honestly don't get the appeal of AirBNB. Like, what do they offer that a hotel doesn't? I could see a use case where you're in the middle of nowhere.
We usually have at least 6 when we go on vacation, sometimes twice that or more. I can get a nice 3 bedroom house and cook meals for everyone vs 2-5 hotel rooms which cost a lot more and I'm eating out at restaurants. Bottom line, Airbnb saves you money if you're going with more than a couple of people.
Last time I booked a hotel suite with a kitchen and bedrooma. Still cheaper than Airbnb but with hotel amenities and housekeeping.
We've stayed in hotel suites many, many times. For urban trips it's 100% the way to go. But even 5 people in a suite is usually terribly cramped. And on the beach I can get a cramped hotel suite on the water, or a 4br 3ba house two blocks away for the same price. I don't mind walking two blocks to the beach and often we travel with other families and the extra space in a house makes it twice as nice all week long. I'm just this evening planning a beach trip for my family, my daughter's best friend and her family, and my other daughter's boyfriend from London at the beginning of June. Party of 9, minimum 4 bedrooms plus a sofa bed. Hotels in the area can't touch what I can get at Airbnb and I just have to empty the bin and start the dishwasher before I go.
A lot of it also depends on how the day is going to be spent. On beach vacations I spend a lot of time on the balcony watching the water, so I'm in the room more. On trips to places like Disney I'm only in the room to sleep. So hotels are better for "just sleep" type trips and condos/houses are better for others.
We can barely afford to go at all. Adding restaurant food for every meal makes us cut the trip shorter or pick somewhere closer (we're really far from any beach and my wife loves the beach but she'd rather have to do a little cooking at the beach than not be able to go.)
That said,there are things you can do to make the cleaning easier. Cook over fire outside. Eat with paper plates and disposable utensils. We usually wash tons of dishes cooking for six at home, but on our rare vacations we try to wash none or as few as possible.
Vacation rental companies exist anywhere you want to go, people wanted the same thing you do before Airbnb. And you don't have to do the fucking dishes when you leave
I've looked at all the options I can find for decades for everywhere we go. Airbnb has been the best option I can find probably half the time for probably the last six or seven years. There are other options, but they aren't always better options.
Are you sure about that? Every cabin/condo I've stayed in my entire life has had a booklet of checkout instructions and while it differs from place to place you're generally expected to load and start the dishwasher. That's probably the most universal one. Stuff like stripping beds and starting laundry are more varied, but I've never seen instructions that are just totally cool with you leaving your dirty dishes out.
Hotels are different, of course, but still, you could get non-hotel places from tons of vacation rental companies before AirBnB.
The greatest advantage is a kitchen, I can save so much money by cooking most of the meals
When it was just people renting out spare bedrooms for cheaper than a hotel it was fine.
When people started making it an investment and changing it from "place to sleep" to some kind of destination whole-house/apartment rental bullshit it became the toxic thing it is now.
It also fucked up the housing market because AirBnB rentals for $250/night every weekend pay more than renters with lower wear and no renters rights, and make for a better investment than just selling the property.
Pre-kids, totally agree. With young kids, being able to go into the living room when they're asleep and hang out is nice. We've been transitioning back to normal hotels now that they're a bit older and just being able to check in and out is nice.
It used to be much better (like when it first started). Now it's straight trash and has been for quite some time.
More space, less people around. (Don't forget, it offers full houses too, not just rooms.)