Can't scroll past an air bnb post without stopping in to say fuck air bnb for its role in the housing crisis. It should be banned unless it's owner occupied.
this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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As many other things on the internet, the original idea was great (renting your couch or a room in your house for tourists to accommodate and feel a local experience, but once it reached the masses, and speculative companies bought properties just to rent them and pay cheap labor to maintain the rooms, it became BS one more time.
No matter what those whose drive is pure economical touch, they always ruin it.
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100%
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I've been using hotels instead of Airbnb for a while now, and it's most often cheaper or similar price, and better service.
Here AirBnB just isn't really comparable to a hotel.
In a hotel you get a bed, bathroom, a tiny desk, tv chair, and microwave. When you pay more the room is functionally the same, just maybe in a better location or nicer lobby.
With short stay accommodation you get an actual dwelling. Even in a tiny studio apartment you have a full kitchen and an actual table.
Obviously if hotels & short stay were like for like then you would stay in a hotel if that were cheaper - but that's just not the reality here. Short stay accom is dramatically more comfortable.
True, but if you wanted those things before AirBnB, they existed, they're called aparthotels e.g.: https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/art-las-palmas.es.html?label=gen173bo-1DCAMYsQIoggJCGmxhcy1wYWxtYXMtZGUtZ3Jhbi1jYW5hcmlhSApYA2i7AYgBAZgBCrgBF8gBD9gBA-gBAfgBAogCAZgCAqgCA7gCp7PVpQbAAgHSAiRkYWQxZjI5NS1hMDBhLTQxMzYtOTI3OS1jNWM1OTczYjAxYWTYAgTgAgE
with a kitchen, washing machine, etc. Very common in touristy areas for decades.
The main difference between an AirBnB and a generalized hotel is that the former is supposed to be inhabited by the owner most of the year. The others are hotels pretending to be something else.
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With short stay accommodation you get an actual dwelling. Even in a tiny studio apartment you have a full kitchen and an actual table.
That's not always the case. In many places short stay accommodations have become like hotels. Many also have what's more like half-kitchens - a small electric stove, a sink, microwave and kettle. That's better than no kitchen at all, but it's not like you can cook anything you want there.
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I think the only thing keeping me to Air BnBs is the kitchen honestly
We always look for extended stay hotels for this reason, especially when traveling with my parents who would much rather heat up a home cooked meal vs fast food when traveling. Usually we can get 1 room instead of 2 since a lot of time the rooms are suites so my wife and I can take the sofa bed.
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Same here. I've almost completely given up on Airbnb. The convenience of a hotel is also much higher than being either in someone's home, or an ugly "cheapest stuff at Ikea" Airbnb.
Yep, it’s nice to be a customer and not be rated and reviewed based on how well you cleaned up after yourself. Also dislike how Airbnb is a different interaction with the host every time. Some hosts are nosey or overbearing. I prefer the hotel front desk and then to be an anonymous customer after that.
That is wildly different depending on location and number of guests
I have seen this too. From my experience mainly USA. For example 1 night in Destin FL $150, with $100 or $150 cleaning fee. Colorado is the highest I have seen with $200 cleaning fee.
Canada and Mexico $30 cleaning fee lol. It really depends on the location errrr country.
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Tell me again why I would ever choose to get a room through AirBnB? Or travel across a city using Uber? Or have my food delivered by GrubHub?
Everyone wants to claim they have no money, and yet all these services needlessly add cost and complexity to what used to be a far more simple and cheaper purchase just a few years ago. I'll take a taxi to my hotel room and pick up my own food thankyouverymuch.
Where I am Uber is the only option for an on call taxi.
When I used to use it, over 10 years ago, it was great for couch surfing for a six pack and staying in peoples spare rooms for like $20. Did it all over Australia and Europe in college.
Now I think they’ve positioned themselves as being high-end hotel alternatives, because there’s more margin there. It was never good for that.
Today they've positioned themselves as a means for landlords to make a large amount of money from short stay holiday rentals instead of residential rental.
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Finally. I've seen listings where the cleaning fees double the full cost
Just checked and I was shocked to see how much any place was for a weekend... but I guess it is a weekend and I was looking at August... so there is that. Idk, I just assumed it wouldn't cost $380 to rent someone's RV that is across a street (not even abutting) from a lake for 2 nights...
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Airbnb is a bane on our society and massive contributer to the housing shortage.
This company needs to get sued into oblivion with their shitty practices and non transparent charges.
Honestly AirBnB used to be cool but now it kinda sucks.
Even though there's now a 'total price' option, booking a basic hotel is still less painful. There's cleaning fees and a lot of hosts have stupid requirements like you have to do the laundry or take out the trash or whatever. If I'm paying hotel level fees I want hotel level service. Plus every now and then you hear about one of these places having cameras in the unit. Fuck that.
"Yup yup, we hear you loud and clear, everyone, it's all good bro"
[Doesn't turn full price on by default]
Incoming follow-up, if challenged...
"So we actually paid an expert consultant to tell us that a percentage of our user population actually wants to be actively deceived whenever they use our service. So by default we will still obscure these non-negotiable fees that you will definitely pay in the final pricing."
It's great playing a cleaning fee when the host expects you to strip the bed and take it to the laundry, empty the bins and leave the place spotless
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The amount the owner often asks you to do yourself would make you think they should be paying you the fee.
Pretty sure it has absolutely nothing to do with user complaints and everything to do with talk of regulation.
It's almost as if they don't want people to use their service.
Decent hotels were cheaper than airbnb's last time I went traveling.
If you want more than one room AirBnBs are a viable option. But then you can book them through booking.com just as well.
However for solo travelling you're generally right, hotels are better.
AirBnB fucking sucks now. There needs to be a term like "slum lords" for AirBnBs. They outsource so many properties to property managers and the house is disgusting PLUS they charge you the cleaning fee.
Just stick with hotels.
I will never understand how this is a fucking thing. Let alone so fucking much? Don't want to have to pay to clean up after your guests leave? Then I guess you are in the wrong fucking business assholes.
It was only just recently that the flood of “Airbnbust” articles seemed to abate a little. I can never tell if Airbnb is going great, or it’s terrible.
For my own part, I’m happy for this update. Despite the complaints, Airbnb is usually a great option for families with little kids, where the alternative is usually “book multiple hotel rooms, and split the parents between them.” Price transparency is good, and I won’t book a place that has a task list for me.
It's gotten to the point where I wonder if the hotel industry is astroturfing posts about Airbnb's.
For families they're a great option instead of being in a single room and being able to prep meals and save on eating out.
I don't like what they've done to the housing market however and should be taxed heavily.
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There is a level of hostage taking that makes you question the whole logic of digital economy. If one side (customers) are complaining and the other side is not (house owners), then, the madness is not that bad. But this is insanity. Both sides complain every time yet keep going back to the hostage situation.
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