Tag Archives for airbnb.
Find the property. Book direct. The host saves Airbnb fees, you save Airbnb fees. You lose out on Airbnb protections but those may not be worth much to the host or to the guest.
Airbnb says they cost hosts up to $3 million. One San Francisco host shares what that coverage actually looks like in practice, when a guest clogged a toilet and created a leak from a separate upstairs unit into the whole home – causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. After six months, they want the owner to settle for about 10% of the costs.
When you make a product or service illegal that doesn’t mean it goes away, it’s just no longer legal. See also drugs, prostitution. And that brings with it a whole host of other problems. New York City’s housing supply issues have nothing to do with Airbnb in any case. The problem is that it is too costly and cumbersome to build new housing! While other cities are looking at New York City’s Airbnb ban as a model they’d love to emulate – and hotel lobbies are pushing them to do so! – it should be a cautionary tale.
A California dentist put his home’s ‘in-law suite’ on Airbnb and lived to regret it. Their guest booked a six month stay at $105 per night for $20,793. They’ve been there for about two years, rent free for 18 months. And they’re demanding $100,000 to leave – with California law on their side. She even wants a refund of her twenty grand for the first six months of her stay, too!
A senior citizen – an Airbnb Superhost himself – booked a house for 8 siblings to stay in for their brother’s funeral. A total of 5 of them actually stayed at the property. Over the course of the week several people came over to pay condolences and care for the family.
Airbnb rules are frequently infuriating. You pay a cleaning fee and still have to clean. Just stick it in the rate, right? And the list of chores can be maddening. I’ve been told to carry trash to a community dumpster several blocks away, and I’ve encountered condos with lock boxes over the thermostat to prevent use of the air conditioner. Others have been told to wait on property to manage repair services, and to mow the lawn.
Here’s a reported notice to guests, though, that contains some items I haven’t seen before
A hidden camera inside a power outlet in the bathroom of an Airbnb is going viral after a group of girls found it on a birthday trip. They were skeptical when one friend was paranoid about cameras in the home they’d rented, but they eventually searched and found that the camera facing the shower – a shower they’d all used.
Airbnb takes a Minority Report approach to pre-crime profiling, banning people from renting who they deem likely to engage in prohibited activities like house parties before they’ve done anything improper.
And, it turns out, they ban people who are associated with people ineligible to rent.
I’ve seen horror story after horror story, from requiring guests to mow the lawn to losing a day of their long weekend having to wait for plumbers. But I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like the listing from Corpus Christi, Texas that includes a charge of $50 per minute for late check-out and $50 per minute for early check-in (something usually offered free, if a unit is available). The property owner likes $50 charges, adding that much if guests wear shoes in the house. also
I’ve even documented instances where the difference in room rate was over $450 per night! It’s amazing that even as hotel chains spend a lot marketing that you’ll find the best rates on their rooms through their own websites, hotels are unloading rooms for less through Airbnb.
One guest even managed a successful Marriott best rate guarantee against an Airbnb listing.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
