Like many of you I had money left in my travel budget this year. I’ve spent a lot less money overall in 2020, and in some ways that’s a good thing. It’s good for savings, certainly. For a bit of a change of scenery I booked a house on the Texas beach, a few hours’ drive from home outside of Corpus Christi.
The weather in Texas in December can be a bit unpredictable but things worked out well with highs in the low 70s. It was great for sitting outside on the water, walking along the beach, and playing with my two year old in the sand. We weren’t in swimsuits, and didn’t spend time in the water but all in all a nice change of pace. And it was all possible without any close contacts outside my own household for the entire four days we were gone.
For this trip I booked a three bedroom home right on the beach through Airbnb. At $400 per night I’ve only spent this much on lodging once before. But as I say, my travel spend for the year was low and my desire for a change of scenery high.
The home was in a small development that reminded me of Art Deco Miami without the architectural significance. Lots of similar colors, all the homes showing wear from proximity to the water.
But we had a deck, we had a kitchen, and though Airbnb has its cleanliness standards the first thing we did was disinfect high touch areas ourselves.
Overall it was exactly the stay I was looking for, and Airbnb was the right option for booking something in this location where there aren’t nice chain resorts where I could spend points and where other homesharing sites lacked the same beachfront inventory at the price for a similar home. At the same time the Airbnb experience left me frustrated in many ways.
- The actual cost was 50% higher than the sum of the nightly rates. While resort fees at hotels in Las Vegas can do the same thing during the week, it’s still shocking to see the price jump due to booking fees, cleaning fees, etc. (Most hotels include housekeeping in the room rate, even if Marriott pushes you to tip housekeepers and some hotels weren’t doing daily housekeeping even before the pandemic).
- 5 p.m. check-in and 10 a.m. checkout is ridiculous. It doesn’t take a hotel 7 hours to turn a room.
- No late check-out. The owner’s outsourced representative proactive emails they’ll let you know day-of if early check-in or late check-out is available, I got emails on the day of check-in and day of check-out denying both. Presumably the property was booked until my day of arrival and someone else was checking in right after my departure. Hotels, with more inventory, can more easily offer this.
- Take out your own trash or get fined a $50 fine for not taking your trash to the complex’s bin blocks away was not included in the property listing but was reinforced multiple times over email.
- Contactless check-in was a plus. I was emailed a door code to use for my stay, so entry was keyless. Hotels are moving to keyless but Marriott allowed owners to delay this investment during the pandemic.
- The property needed care. Hotels have maintenance on staff, though the median domestic Sheraton may not have always gotten what was needed. This home badly needed paint on the interior and work on the base boards and door frames. There was mold around the showers and hair in the shower drains. The towels in the master bathroom were stained.
- Airbnb worked out better than Marriott’s homesharing site The home I booked was in the perfect spot. Marriott had a home in the same community for just a few dollars more that wasn’t right on the beach (but still an easy walk). I would have rather taken advantage of a Marriott promo and earned points, but Airbnb’s option was better.
With Airbnb I always have the worry of a host cancelling and then you’re stuck. Hotels walk guests but they have many rooms versus only one usually booked with a host. And when a host does cancel, I’ve only read horror stories, Airbnb offering to find options out of its own limited inventory at your expense along with a small goodwill credit towards a future stay. That’s not helpful at all in peak times when inventory is sparse at best.
How have your Airbnb experiences been, and how do they compare to hotels? Would you consider renting a home or condo instead of a hotel, and if so why?
I actively avoid Airbnb specifically, and homesharing generally, for the reasons you laid out. If I’m going to be charged a ludicrous cleaning fee, it’s asinine to ask me to also schlep trash to some other place.
I’ve also had Airbnb properties (plural) cancel on me within 24 hours of check-in, and Airbnb does nothing to rectify it. It’s a garbage platform with garbage standards.
@Gary – It’s not like I read every day, but it’s nice to see what I assume is your dog. It’s been years since you made a post that included a photo that I can recall.
@jamesb2147 – the dog I used to write about passed away almost three years ago, he was 16 years ago. It was rough to lose him. My wife and I adopted two dogs who had lived together and their family lost their home in Hurricane Harvey. The family moved in with relatives and couldn’t keep the dogs. They bounced around for about five months before winding up together with us.
We too passed up on a lovely looking hotel for a Airbnb house in the town we needed to stay for 4 nights. The house itself was in need of a few touchups regarding paint, leaky roof (though it didn’t rain while we were there) and definitely needed new kitchenware such as silverware, pots and pans etc. Otherwise, the house was clean, had nice furniture and the appliances all worked.
Our only gripe was that the gravel driveway up to the front door was very steep and had huge potholes. We had a pickup truck and I was honestly afraid to drive it up there after the first trip to unload. It felt as if one mistake and we’d end up stuck in a pothole, or, sliding off the driveway down into someone’s yard.
Instead, we chose to climb a long wooden stairway to enter the house by another door. A pain when it came time to carrying stuff up and down for 4 days, but we managed. And it was exercise, I guess. We told the property manager and he agreed with us about the driveway. Months later, we drove by the house out of curiosity, and the driveway had never been fixed.
I agree with most of your points and really hate the late check in but you have to remember- they are cleaning a 3 bed/2 bath house not a hotel room. It takes a lot longer but it would seem your property is cutting some corners!
After 3 Airbnb stays it’s a thumbs down for us. Property descriptions never lived up to what you were promised (the Tahoe booking was an outright joke). Our Fla Keys stay was lacking sufficient AC during a week in August and a Fla west coast condo promising accommodations for 8 barely sufficed for 4. Photos very misleading too.
We’re done. Period.
Your experience pretty well sums up the AirBnB experience. You trade the support of a hotel chain for a (hopefully) unique stay experience. I’ve found it isn’t worth the tradeoff.
Our last AirBnB (and it will be our last) was not great and we checked out early and asked for a refund on the unused days, which the host agreed to. It was a huge fight with AirBnB to actually get the money back *and the taxes* which they insisted were not due a refund.
Never again.
This reads as an inexperienced vacation home renter, not really specific to Airbnb. Taking out the trash, doing your dishes, even washing your linens are normal checkout for beach rentals… Decades before Airbnb existed. Comparing turnover of a hotel room to a 3 bedroom house is laughable, especially after commenting that you’re aware of the covid cleaning requirements that take Hours to complete.
Why is the cleaning fee separate? Because you can stay for 1 night or 7+ and there is not a way to evenly roll the costs into that variant. Hotels have staff on-site (and pay poverty wages) so their housekeeping cost is much more constant.
It sounds like management is dropping the ball on cleaning but you did mention that it’s a budget price for the beachfront location you wanted. If a property is available last minute, prime location, cheaper than comps – that’s a red flag. Feel free to email me the listing and I will be happy to evaluate it for you.
Worried about a host cancelling? Choose a superhost with a property that has 20+ reviews and read the reviews. I’ve stayed in rentals all over the world for years and have never had one cancel.
Pro tip: hate the booking fee? Book direct. If you aren’t willing to find the property yourself, you’re paying Airbnb for convenience just like you pay 7-11 a premium for a cold drink instead of driving to a grocery store. Convenience costs more but most professional hosts have direct booking options to offer their guests a better value.
We get spoiled using points/miles/certs for incredibly outsized value but hotels aren’t always the best fit. Don’t let the privilege of points make you lose sight of what things actually cost.
Gary, your observations align with my concerns. Though I’ve never been an Air B&B customer, many people I know and respect have indicated to me that Air B&Bs, goal is not to ensure that stays conform a minimal standard. It seems that Air B&B is essentially a Craig’s list for home rentals. That’s ok, but it’s important to be aware before booking. In my eyes, the prices Air B&B charges are much too high for such minimal standards. I’ll stick with the hotels that I know and deal with the fact they they are not located everywhere. Everything in life has tradeoffs.
@Tracie – how is work going at Airbnb?
FYI, I used a superhost the one time I booked through Airbnb and still got canceled on. I have never had a hotel cancel on me or walk me, despite staying well over 1,000 nights at various hotels.
I’ll stick to hotels.
I’m pro-Airbnb. This rental is pretty typical of Texas coast Airbnbs. Many are run by a property manager and they are serious about the rules. And they have a lot of them because of the many instances where people rent them out to have huge parties. Taking out the trash, light cleaning, washing towels are all things I’ve been asked to do. But I know that going in. Not sure about the lengthy time between check out and check in because now they have rules that the host must leave a certain number of days between renters due to Covid. They may not be abiding by those rules. In the end, I have had very, very few bad experiences with Airbnb, mostly on the cleaniness side of things. I’ve never had any cancel. The reviews are Everything! Go with a Superhost. If there’s only a few reviews, I skip it. If an issue comes up consistently that’s important to me, I skip it. 99% of the time, I know what I’m getting. It’s a lot of research for sure.
There’s another issue I have found at vacation rentals like this….the pressure to leave glowing reviews. Two reasons: first, when the property obviously belongs to a person—not a corporation—it can be a bit harder to criticize. Second is that on platforms like Airbnb, *renters* get rated by owners too. It’s sort of a mutual intimidation situation.
And yes, the properties almost never look as good as the photos. There must be a “bright, light, and expand” photo filter applied to them.
It’s a hustle. Craigslist for holiday homes and spare bedrooms pretty much sums it up. I have had good and bad experiences. The online photos in many cases are photoshopped. And quality control is a foreign concept for these guys. Keep in mind that they are not the only game in town. Definitely buyer beware.
For a company that is keen on disrupting the hospitality industry they sure do play a lot of the same dirty games that the big chains pull. I see the value in AirBnb but it’s certainly not my first choice when looking for a lodging.
@Gary – I’m sorry. Death sucks. I’m very glad you have been able to provide a new home for the other dogs.
Since this seems to be full of AirBnB hate, I’ll share my experience. I’ve a couple of experiences with AirBnB.
About 6 years ago, I took a trip to Chile and stayed in Valparaiso, where we ended up in a private room with stunning photos. On arrival, the house was a bit funky in its construction (supposedly had been a French consul’s mansion in a life past, as we found out on arrival), but the room matched the photos pretty much perfectly. There were things not captured in photos, such as the hot water sometimes not working, but those can just as easily happen in a hotel. And since it was the owner’s house, where he and 4 generations of family lived, he did address it when he was available. Overall, a great experience, and exactly what we’d been looking for.
A couple of years ago, we took a trip to Tokyo and stayed in an AirBnB juuuust after it was made legal there. That may have impacted our experience. The photos were fair to the place we stayed, and we knew it was cheap. The only stuff we didn’t like was that the immediate area was fairly run-down (not captured in photos and impossible to know when AirBnB won’t disclose the exact location prior to booking), and there was a fan in the kitchen that would let insects in when it wasn’t running. We just left the fan running all the time. Other than that, the photos were fair to it. We ended up in a suburban area with locals that would otherwise have been difficult for non-Japanese to book. This was a blessing in a lot of ways, as we got to have local sushi, visit janky, smoke-filled Pachinko parlors, go grocery shopping for tiny square watermelons, squeeze into the subway during a morning commute, etc.
With all that said, I think we have enough experience that we know what to expect and look for in listings, and our expectations are probably generally lower than most in the US (wife is Nicaraguan, and if you aren’t familiar with electric “suicide showers” than you probably have higher standards):
1) Look for clearly modified images. I’m not necessarily meaning photos with a different sink Photoshopped in, but drastic color changes to make things seem “brighter” are extremely common.
2) Know what to search for. We only look for “whole place” listings, and we look at the details to ensure we aren’t getting a “whole room” with shared common areas.
3) Read reviews of the individual place you’re interested in, then of other places the same lister rents. Often, you’ll find patterns and learn to identify your own red flags.
4) Look for what’s NOT in photos. Lots of pictures of the beach from the deck; ok, what about the interior? Probably garbage, especially if priced aggressively.
5) ALWAYS have a backup plan. AirBnB has somewhat famously been host to scams, and you need to be prepared if that happens to you. Have an available hotel in the back pocket; if you can’t manage that, then you probably shouldn’t rely on AirBnB. That sucks, but that’s AirBnB (for now). Hopefully this will get cleaned up one day, but I wouldn’t hold my breath, since it’s been going on for years.
We’ve been very fortunate, but we use AirBnB very sparingly. Best of luck to any potential AirBnB’ers out there!
I’ve stayed at numerous rentals (5 this year alone) and Airbnb is my least favorite. Searching on their site is a joke, since you can’t filter by all-in price, and they seem to have the least consistency on property standards as well as the least customer support. There are, of course, good listings (of course there will be when there’s millions of properties) but I can’t think of a good reason to spend hours sifting through when other sites allow me to do so in half the time. I’ll use Airbnb again, whenever they have options that nowhere else does, but it’s basically my last resort.
Same here, not a big fan of AirBnB, even though I’ve not stayed at one before, from stories I’ve heard from family and friends, I seem to hear more bad/horror experiences compared to good ones.
Interesting timing, since I in fact just returned from my first US Airbnb stay yesterday (in the mountains a few hours outside of DC). In the past, I’d only previously used it in international destinations with no attractive hotels options. Had a great stay, at a very well-appointed, quiet place with no neighbors and excellent scenery.
My take is that Airbnb is a platform, not a product, and thus you have to do your homework. As with anything covering such a broad swath of offerings, there are going to be good and bad options and outcomes. In the case of the last weekend’s rental, I probably spent 5X as long narrowing down to the final choice as I would have traditionally spent picking a chain hotel.
It sounds to me like the property you picked was managed by a third party, which is something where I’ve heard others raise red flag about. The properties I have stayed at have all been owner-operated, and thus there is an incentive to make the guest happy. The hosts I’ve worked with have always been quite willing to be flexible on arrival / departure etc. I don’t have an issue with the trash, cleanup, and such because, as others have noted, this has just always sort of come with the rental territory in my experience. And while it is not fun to watch the price jump from the listing to the payment, it’s not any different than the state taxes, county taxes, city taxes, resort fees, service fees, tourism fees, etc. that we see layered onto a standard business hotel.
On one hand, I’m not an Airbnb “convert” and IF my 150+ nights/year of business travel ever come back, they will be spent right back in chain hotels. But on the other hand, the platform is a good tool to have in the toolbox for opening up new locations and options, and also a good reminder that there isn’t always a pot of gold at the end of the chain loyalty rainbow that we chase. For one-off, unique experiences, I’ll certainly mix these rentals in here and there, after doing the right level of diligence.
I have just used Airbnb for the first time to rent an in-law unit for a long-term (2 month) stay. While my experience has been great (mostly thanks to the wonderful couple who own the place and live upstairs), I doubt that I will ever use Airbnb again:
– While I travel ~100 nights a year, I rarely stay in the same place more than 3-4 nights, and mostly am just in the room to sleep. I often check Airbnb when planning travel, but once you add in the cleaning fee and other charges, it has always been more expensive than just getting a hotel.
– The 24-hour desk at a hotel gives me flexibility for check-in. If I get delayed, I can just show up whenever instead of having to start a text back-and-forth with the owner. (This doesn’t apply to places with keyless entry, obviously.)
– I generally don’t have to worry about hotels cancelling on me right before the stay. Even if you use a Superhost on Airbnb, they can still have a pipe burst that floods the unit the day before you arrive and then you are on your own to find a new place to stay.
I think Airbnb can work for long-term stays, or if you need a place with multiple bedrooms for kids or a large group. But even in this case, it’s just another vacation rental service, and I don’t understand what they offer over using one of the other vacation rental services? Personally, I found their website annoying to use as it is difficult to filter/sort by the all-in price (certainly on purpose). Since the same homes are often listed on all the main vacation rental sites, everyone I know will just check all of them and book where it’s cheapest.
I’m reading these comments the I way read AirBnB rental house comments, and it is quite amusing. I’ve stayed in AirBnBs whole apartment/house rentals in MX: La Paz, Queretaro, DF, Puerto Penasco; US: Chicago, Tucson, Phoenix, DC, Asheville, Buckroe Beach; FR: Paris; RO: Bucharest. I had a spectacular one, 2 story, full chef’s kitchen, ~$130/night lined up for 2 weeks next to one of the best markets in Rome last Feb-Mar, got a full refund for it due to COVID. I’ve had exactly one cancel at 11PM the night before, that was in Bucharest. Had another rented within the hour, over email. The one previous in Bucharest was spectacular, and cheap, as was the replacement for the fraudsters.
Every place I’ve been I can get superhosts for ~$120, or less, all-in, per night. We’ve stayed with our host in Paris (near Gare du Nord/l’ Est) three times, two weeks each time. She’s like family. < $120/night, and I have cooked many times out of the Marche San Quentin. Our friends visit us and stay in sad hotel rooms for about double the price.
For what you got for $400/night, that is amazingly awful. I've never had the weird checkin-out time weirdness, that would be red flag. You do have to watch for the outrageous cleaning fees. You have to read the comments to see if there is a nightclub nearby, or a noisy dog (sometimes in the back yard!). Any mention of surveillance, another red flag. Any weirdness at all with contacts, such as nagging, big red flag. Since I do a lot of cooking, I clean the kitchen, especially, to a level that exceeds how we initially found it. I am happy to do so.
Our rental in Paris the first two times featured a mountain of wine and beer, donated by previous guests. We added to the pile. I broke a wine glass and she got pissed off because I nagged her about where I could go to replace it. Enough! she said, it doesn't matter. (Replacing a wine glass would be a cultural experience, like buying duct tape from a hardware store in downtown Mexico City).
All that said, I am enormously happy for those that prefer hotel chains. Good for you, and thank you for not driving up demand for the good hosts.
I’ve only used Airbnb 3 times, and two out of three had major issues. The last one pretty much turned me off of them for good.
First time, small home in Eugene, OR and all went smoothly.
Second time, a home in Copenhagen we reserved months in advance for a vacation. We chose a really charming standalone home along one of the canals. Less than a week before arrival, the owner canceled due to a plumbing problem. They were very apologetic, but nonetheless, there was not much available at this point and hotels were expensive and scarce. We finally found a 2BR apartment in the city center – it was completely fine and the transaction went smoothly, but far from the idyllic home on the water we had planned.
For the last visit, we booked a home in rustic, upstate NY to take a break from NYC life. The home was every bit as nice as it appeared in the listing and our stay went great. My husband is a neat freak at home, and gave the same treatment to the home we visited, leaving it even more clean than when we arrived. So it was a shock to get a nasty note from the owner two days later claiming that he was “appalled” at the condition we had left it in and had to pay his cleaners extra to deal with “soiled sheets” (we had done the laundry before we left), broken items (the items he showed us had been intact when we left) and more. We had an exchange where he admitted he had not seen it himself and was basing this off pictures he was sent by the cleaning crew. I told him he was getting fleeced by his crew, but that didn’t stop him from writing a nasty review on my otherwise flawless profile (Airbnb eventually agreed to remove it after reviewing the evidence we provided).
No more, too many things can go wrong.
I don’t even consider AirBnB unless I’m staying 5+ days. I typically spend a lot of time in the property figuring out where everything is, messaging the host back and forth about a bunch of dumb stuff, trying to work the air conditioner, etc. On longer trips that is worth it, but for 2, 3 or 4 nights it feels like a time sink. With basically any hotel room, you know exactly what you’re getting and there is no time spent “getting settled”. Everything is very standardized, in a good way.
I know plenty of people that use AirBNB but I haven’t and don’t plan to. The product is too inconsistent for me. That being said I have booked (with good results) on VRBO and Turn Key. In both cases I am getting resort properties in areas I know so have a better idea what to expect. I’m sure there are nice AirBNB properties but also too many run down properties, spare bedrooms and over stretched “hosts” for me. I love to rent a condo or house on the beach but don’t do it via AirBNB. Obviously many people do.
BTW I hate the add on charges you documented. Also there are some properties that either require you to get insurance (pretty cheap) or have $2500-$5000 held against potential damages.
A lot of negativism on Airbnb, that’s a shame. We have stayed many nights in them all over the world and the US. Each one is an adventure. Hotels are cookie cutter and boring.
It’s more about relationships than a place to stay, at least in some of them. In Europe, the owner will usually meet you at the home. We’ve had many engaging conversations with them that gives you a connectedness to the culture that you certainly wouldn’t get behind a hotel desk. I can remember many of those conversations, but I couldn’t tell you what we did before or after that.
One cheap, historic log cabin in the mountains of Western North Carolina was particularly memorable. Arriving, only to find out you couldn’t put the toilet paper in the toilet, but in a waste basket. I’m thinking, this place is third world S^*# hole. I stayed there a week. It didn’t take long to find our it was a refuge for broken women. Newly single, I met some nice ladies that were simply amazing. One of the best weeks of my life!
We’ve stayed in rooms within homes, and still stay in contact with the owner(s).
Just keep an open mind when booking and don’t lose your sense of adventure. We look for to the next idiosyncrasy in lodging!
I’ve used Airbnb almost 60 times over the last 6 years for longer stays. Spending 7+ days in a hotel room can get old. Most outside the US.
All but a few experiences have been great. Lately I’ve noticed things trending in the wrong direction. Demand has increased but the product has not improved. And the fees are getting outrageous. Just booked one today, the advertised rate was $107/night but after fees and taxes jumped to over $150/night.
Also dislike the lack of a loyalty program. But I’d recommend at least using an airline portal to get some miles. BA, Qantas & Delta have or had offers for at least 2 miles/$.
I love Airbnb, VRBO and the like. I book about 10 a year for personal use and have done so for more than 10 years initially with VRBO but with Airbnb for the past 6 years or so. I have never had. problem and have stayed in wonderful places. As others have said, make sure you look closely at the pictures (and what is not in a picture tells you a lot – like the view), if there are only a few pictures there is a reason for that as well, read the reviews, and use your common sense. If the reviews strike you as fake, move on. A place that seems to be priced well below market is priced that way for a reason (unless it is a new listing). Like anything in life do you’re due diligence. Yes, the fees are annoying but it is little different for hotels these days.
We are big VRBO and AirBnB fans but there is no safety net for problems such as you outlined. Most of our rentals have been in Europe, France and Italy specifically. Every single one of them was immaculate and had immediate reaction to any questions. All provided a welcome gift.
Every one of our rentals in the US has been filthy – I mean really, really disgusting. The first owner where we encountered this was arrogant and nasty. The second time the rental agent totally ignored the photos and description I sent.
In the future I will take this to heart and never rent in the US again unless it is a timeshare kind of option. As an American I was truly embarassed by the cleanliness standards of these owners.
An excellent summary of the AirBnB experience. So far we have stayed in 4 and I would add the following to your observations:
(1) Checkin is usually 4pm and checkout almost always 10am. I often find flexibility for checkin as the property is sometimes vacant before you arrive. Almost never for checkout. For those who use timeshare this is nothing new or onerous.
(2) The property is rarely as nice as the photos. Usually the bathrooms are the weak point compared to hotels. The tradeoff is that you get more privacy, more space and the ability to cook food and store/reheat leftovers. A big plus under current circumstances.
(3) The main (and maybe only) reason that we use AirBnb is that it provides cheaper and better option for families with children and pets that don’t fit comfortably into a hotel room. The proper comparison is the cost of 2 hotel rooms v. Airbnb.
(4) The “fees” are always excessive and are a major disincentive. If a hotel experience (2 rooms or a suite) is cheaper we will almost always go with the hotel as the rooms are nicer and cleaner, not to mention property amenities like pools, gyms, food, etc.
Like eBay and Uber it is important to develop a rating as some owners won’t rent to newbies. So it is worth it to book airbnb a few times so that you will not be turned away when it is your best or only option.
My comments, though accurate, did not sufficiently elaborate the US/foreign differences, and the steady deterioration in recent years with stuff like bogus fees and property aggregators, as @Ryan mentions. You can still get the great experiences, but not guaranteed and sometimes it’s a lot of work. I tried and failed to get anything that looked like a good value for the money in La Jolla this year. (I’m not cheap. The offerings were sad, and poorly located.) So maybe the good years are behind us. That’s a real shame, and a great loss for adventurous travelers.
I’ve alway had great experiences using booking.com to rent exceptional apartments in Italy. Living year round in a small town community in the California Sierra Mountains, I have total distain for AirBnB and it’s lack of concern for our community during the COVID pandemic and a very dangerous fire season. We have a tiny cabin next door to our house, again where we live full time. During shelter-at-home, the yahoo owner rented every night to different “guests” and provides a Weber with lighter fluid. We see these huge flames when our forests are dry as kindling. We’ve communicated with our town who are outraged, but can do nothing. We’ve written to the idiot owner and AirBnB without response. The only good thing is we voted to raise the taxes on short term rentals in the last election, which of course will be passed onto the “guests.” AirBnB BE GONE!!!!!!
One of the commenters suggested that the comments here were “full of hate.” I would characterize the comments here as mostly truthful and realistic, tinged with some sadness and regret. Some folks are willing to put in the effort required to protect themselves from unscrupulous hosts, but for many of us the work required does not warrant it. And even if you do your homework the platform operators don’t really care about you, as the unaddressed complaints attest.
This service may have been wonderful in the past but the current direction does not look good.
In August we stayed in Bermuda for 3 weeks in 2 different AirBnB villas. We enjoyed both locations. The owners were on-sight and we enjoyed chatting with them. At the time we weren’t ready to be in a hotel and Bermuda has limited points hotel options.
In 2017 we had a fabulous stay in Havana at a 2 bedroom with a penthouse suite overlooking the Malecon. The owner made us breakfast every morning. After a couple of days, we asked about the clothing in the closets. We learned that she simply relocated to the former maid’s quarters when her apartment is rented.
Chose an AirBnB in Asheville so we could take our dog with us.
Although I prefer earning & spending hotel currency, AirBnB is sometimes the best option. I buy the gift cards through the MileagePlus app or from the supermarket depending on the promotion at the time.
With the exception of one host in Auckland, I’ve had only luke-warm to poor experiences with ABnB. Always for a full apartment (no shared anything). Quality doesn’t come up to a Residence Inn or the like, and with all the fees, turns out to be no bargain. The Auckland experiences (multiple stays) have been the exception with all of his apartments being top notch and super convenient. And now I just book it direct and we both save money.
Fees and bump up in prices are what has caused me to severely reduce my user of DoorDash, UberEats, etc. It was convenient during the pandemic but when you have fees, tips and then they increase the food item prices it gets too greedy for me. When I realized my two entrée meal from Texas Longhorn was about the same price as 2 large subs because in the first case I picked up the food via curbside delivery and in the latter case I used one of the delivery services, it was time to rethink my choices.
$400 a night including the booking and cleaning fees or $400 a night plus booking and cleaning fees which raise it by 50%?
How many bedrooms?
Amenities like garage, AC, etc?
I don’t know the TX coast but I didn’t realize it was so popular that it can fetch prices like that in the winter.
@wco “plus plus” 3 bedroom, 3 bath, garage, a/c. In normal times it wouldn’t fetch so much, but a property like this is at a premium at the moment.
A few comments about check in/check out time from a vacation rental owner. Firstly, while my home is much larger, it takes MANY HOURS to clean it. 5 beds, 3 bathrooms, kitchen, washing sheets and towels. Secondly, maybe yours was smaller so you think no big deal. Well vacation rental owners don’t have a staff of cleaners who can just run up and clean a room on a moments notice. We usually deal with small companies with one cleaning crew or maybe two crews at most. And those crews have many homes they service. So how exactly do you think it would work to have a 2 hour check-out/check-in window, when your cleaners might have 6 checkouts on that same day? Not to mention sometimes guests overstay and aren’t out when they are supposed to be, or are total slobs. Lastly, I will remind you that a vacation rental is NOT the same thing as a hotel. Each one is unique, as opposed to a hotel with hundreds or thousands of identical items, and actual employees.
People should not go to a vacation rental expecting a hotel experience. It is a different experience, for better or for worse.
The most positive thing I have to say about my only airbnb stay is that Amex approved my chargeback.
Until COVID we were travelling full time for 3 1/2 years. Mostly using Airbnb and mostly international. Our general rule is for 3 nights or less and Airbnb isn’t worth the extra hassle compared to a hotel. For more than 3 nights the extra space, living room, kitchen, etc are worth the hassle. That rule also means that all the fees are amortized over more nights so it’s less of a hit per night. The check in is certainly the area that gives me the most heartburn and while we’ve had some less than perfect check in we’ve only had one total disaster. Paris in early September and Airbnb did right by us. We found a hotel for one night and they paid for that. We found a new Airbnb listing for the other nights and they paid the difference between the listings and any transportation costs.
The critical thing with Airbnb is to know how to read and interpret the pictures and comments. Some of which varies by country If there is no picture is doesn’t exist (i.e. couch, etc). Read between the lines on the comments. Most people won’t write bad reviews. If all the reviews talk about the host, the unit is probably not good. Look for key words, noise, etc.
There are enough bad airbnbs out there that every airbnb guest is just some number of stays away from a disaster that will turn them off airbnb forever.
The rating system is very silly – I dont ever understand why being a paying customer I have to be “accepted” and “rated” by the for profit owner.
On top of that, those who have good experiences all say you need to do your homework, read between lines, understand the “noise”… that is total crap. Why would one go on a trip needs to do all these works in order to get a reasonable lodging place?!
The most scary part is that AirBnB platform does not seem to provide any back up to the customers when issues arise.
I have used VRBO, also a lot of Booking.com properties that are whole house / apartment – all in Europe. Almost all are satisfactory with some superb. I have found Booking.com customer support very good when there are issues. Some properties are cross-listed on both Booking.com and AirBnB. I would choose Booking.com 100% of the time. Their standard in property listings is trustworthy while AirBnB is total crap shoot.
Gary, if you’re going to visit Port Aransas, you should have “ponied up” for an AirBnB in Cinnamon Shore.
I have not used AirBnb. Too many horror stories. But I have used CyberRentals/VRBO. All the rules for AirBnb apply. Half of our rentals were excellent. A couple the units were not that great. But we never had our stays canceled. Like many have said, it depends on the destination. Provincetown, MA has no chains. Regular inns and B&Bs are limited as well. The only place where we have to rent units thru multiple private suppliers. Do I like it? NO!
But if a destination does not have normal lodging, we give AirBnb a look. If it looks dodgey, we don’t go to that place. Vacations are precious time off. I will not have it ruined by trying to save a couple hundred dollars.
This post and the comments crack me up. It’s as if rental homes haven’t existed before Airbnb or Covid. Rentals can always be a hit or miss, and risk and expectations need to be managed. VRBO is the OG in the space, and always my go to before pulling up Airbnb.
Personally, I’ve spent more on travel this year than usually, and all because I have to spend cash on rental homes within driving distance instead of miles and points for more exciting destinations. Not happy about it, but that’s the world we live in.
I had always been Pro hotel until our last pre pandemic trip to New Zealand and Australia. I was traveling with my adult son, which meant trying to find hotel rooms with some form of privacy for each of us (suite/2 rooms) which were $$ by comparison to Airbnb’s
For similar price as a single hotel room, we stayed in some fabulous places in Auckland, Hahei, Napier and Sydney! Based on that experience I wouldn’t hesitate to book Airbnb again.
I did my due diligence and read all the reviews, mapped locations, etc, and corresponded with the owners before booking, Zero disappointment with any of the places we stayed
@Jeannie – You mapped locations? Interesting. Airbnb doesn’t offer the address of a place you book until after you book it. This is for host privacy but comes at the expense of guest’s peace of mind. Glad you had a nice stay, but don’t pretend it was not a fluke. You’re sounding like a Robinhood noob who made a few lucky bets on 0 day to expiration $TSLA $PLTR calls. Keep going down the route and you’ll suffer for it. Lucky you the hotels will welcome you back with open arms.
@Julian – before Airbnb, rental homes were not really mainstream, so the niche marketplace involved hosts and guests who were much better informed about the circumstances. Gary’s point about Airbnb not communicating the need to take out trash or face a $50 fine is a great example of how Airbnb is irresponsibly pushing itself into the mainstream.
In case you all can’t tell, I hate Airbnb.
AIRBNB SUCKS D!
D being the organ that grows when you take the stuff Air Marshals have been recently accused of smuggling
Host addresses are also hidden in order to thwart local authorities who desire to regulate businesses operating in residential neighbourhoods. There are many well documented cases of hosts defying local bylaws and condo rules. When hosts and their guests act irresponsibly the locals start to put pressure on the politicians to crack down on the bad actors. It becomes a cat and mouse game.
@Kyle a little much $$ thanks 🙂
Irony alert. We only reluctantly tried Airbnb after Marriott reneged on our (Titanium Elite) graduation weekend reservation. One of the first comments about Airbnb resonated: ‘garbage platform with garbage standards’. That’s it, and that’s all. Never again.