AirBnB's Pricing Algorithm

This is anecdotal, but staying in Airbnbs made my cross country drive from Richmond, VA to Seattle much better than if I had stayed in hotels.

1) The prices were significantly cheaper. I stayed in a room in a beautiful home in Spokane for $35 a night. Sure, you can find rundown 2 star "hotels" for $50 - $60 a night, but trying to find something of comparable quality in a hotel would increase that substantially. Where Airbnb was great was in little towns and areas in the midwest. I stayed in the entire top floor of the most amazing, one hundred year old creamery turned bar turned home in Fertile, IA for $65. Hotels in any nearby city / town were much more and couldn't come close to matching the value.

2) Being able to stay in interesting places really is a benefit. I stayed with an amateur chef in Cincinnati who cooked a fantastic breakfast that otherwise would have cost me $15 at a hotel. I stayed with Yellowstone guides in Belgrade, MT that told me exactly where I need to go the park next time I visit. When I was tired some days and wanted the hotel experience, hosts were more than happy to let me have that.

3) If you want to be really sure you're staying somewhere great, look for superhosts. I never had an experience that didn't match up with the reviews that a host received. Reviews on airbnb actually make hosts and guests accountable for the quality of the stay.

4) The local experience is what you make of it. Hosts typically will let you control the amount of interaction you want to have. It's impossible for them to predict what everybody wants, so you have to communicate.

All of your points don't match up at all with what my experience has been. I love the experience and quality Airbnb helps provide and hotels are always my second choice now.

You're forgetting families, folks who prefer to cook their own food, and the fact that in many places, AirBNBs can let you sleep more people than a hotel room for less money. Also, depending on your destination, there might be AirBNBs where there aren't hotels (in city neighborhoods, near your relatives, etc.).

Hotels still work for some folks, some of the time. Likewise AirBNBs/VRBOs, etc. Different benefits, but they're definitely there.

I use AirBNB on nearly every trip my family takes. AirBNB has the best interface for vacation property rentals. VRBO and HomeAway have improved a lot in the past few years, so it's less of a win now, but for an important window, the dynamic AirBNB interface blew the old static VRBO interface out of the water.

As for why I prefer an apartment rental, that's entirely down to family stuff. With two adults and two kids, we can share two queen beds in a hotel room, but that's tight. When the kids go to bed at 8pm, I have to take my computer down to the lobby to work or play. We can get two adjoining rooms, but that's expensive. In an AirBNB, I close the door to their bedroom, and sit in the living room right next door with my wife and all the amenities of the listing. When they get up at 5am due to jetlag, I can sleep in in the master bedroom while they play in the living room and watch TV. AirBNBs also usually have full kitchens. That's nice both for making full breakfasts in the morning (my wife likes eggs, and it's a lot cheaper to make a quick scramble on the kitchen stove than go out), and for re-heating the kids leftovers from the restaurant meal we had the night before.

Hotels also generally provide full daily housekeeping services. That adds to the cost. I don't need someone to make my bed for me every day. I can do it myself in 2 minutes.

Just as an example, I booked an AirBNB in Brighton UK for around $100/night with hotels in the area running $200+/night.

It sounds like you are ignorant of airbnb's services and have likely never used them.

> I still don't understand how's staying at an airbnb rental is more compelling than staying at a hotel.

> the prices are considerably higher

I am in the middle of the valley and I rent bedrooms for $60-$120 depending on season and demand. I've seen entire apartments for less than $100 a night in my area as well. When I first moved here I stayed in a shared space for ~$40 / night for a few weeks.

I challenge you to show me a nice hotel for less than twice that price. The Sheraton near my office is usually > $350 / night.

> Once you checked into you Airbnb rental, you are on your own

Any good host will be more than willing to provide recommendations on local services. Many will also already have their guidebook on airbnb filled out which has a map of local recommendations. Airbnb is built on two way feedback between hosts and guests. As a host would you really risk a poor review over not spending 5-20 minutes to help orient a guest?