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Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

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Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#111

Post by latchkey »

Mizza wrote: post #52

Is anybody else kind of over AirBnb? I loved it for a while, but now prices have gone way up, the "cleaning fees" are exorbitant and make navigating/browsing a minefield, and I've had a few sketchy incidents (which were, admittedly, a side effect of choosing the cheapest place I could find), including one where the apartment manager came in, went through our clothes and _stole the bed_. I've found myself just using h…

Agreed! I lead a nomadic lifestyle between my campervan and staying in short term rentals and it has gotten to the point that all of the various sites are now a minefield on many fronts. Between scams, poor pictures and fees, it really is a huge challenge.

My last rental in West Seattle was a super cute little house that I found on Zillow and I was lucky because it was owner rented, which saved us both on all those pesky lame fees.

The days of VC-backed low prices are over. Now we get to experience the joys of paying them back for their investments.

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#112

Post by canada_dry »

Checkout https://airbnbhell.com for a litany of horror stories from hosts and guests.

I found the site after my own bad experience: bait-n-switch in Hong Kong ("executive suite" was really a nasty cockroach infested mess). Airbnb was utterly useless.

I still occasionally use airbnb, but am much more cautious and revert back to using a hotel if anything about airbnb's offerings look off.

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#113

Post by AnimalMuppet »

dorchadas wrote: post #95
WhompingWindows wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hotels are more reliable and organized, but I prefer AirBnB in general. I like feeling a part of the neighborhood or city, I like the home-y vibe of most AirBnBs. Hotels in contrast are a bit sterile and cookie-cutter, for obvious reasons, and some may prefer this vibe. Different strokes for different folks.

Have you thought about how the things you like out of AirBnB come at the expense of those things for actual residents of the city? Each home that's in AirBnB is one that's not on the long term market for locals, pushing them further and further out for tourists' convenience.

By the same logic, every hotel is a big building that's not an apartment building. But travelers have to stay somewhere...

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#114

Post by runako »

Mizza wrote: post #52

Is anybody else kind of over AirBnb? I loved it for a while, but now prices have gone way up, the "cleaning fees" are exorbitant and make navigating/browsing a minefield, and I've had a few sketchy incidents (which were, admittedly, a side effect of choosing the cheapest place I could find), including one where the apartment manager came in, went through our clothes and _stole the bed_. I've found myself just using h…

I've had much more luck with VRBO/HomeAway and smaller regional sites (e.g. https://www.seashorevacations.com) than with AirBnB. Also looking forward to trying the Marriott vacation rentals as an option.

Feels like you get a more "traditional" type of vacation rental owner. More professional? More likely to outsource all the management to a professional management company? I've been scammed on AirBnB, never through any other site.

(The AirBnB scam was fortunately "only" the one where they switch you to a property in a different building because the one in the pictures is "under repairs". I didn't make too much of a stink about it because we had been traveling for a long time. But it's still fraud.)

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#115

Post by rawtxapp »

Mizza wrote: post #52

Is anybody else kind of over AirBnb? I loved it for a while, but now prices have gone way up, the "cleaning fees" are exorbitant and make navigating/browsing a minefield, and I've had a few sketchy incidents (which were, admittedly, a side effect of choosing the cheapest place I could find), including one where the apartment manager came in, went through our clothes and _stole the bed_. I've found myself just using h…

I think airbnb is great for month long stays, anything shorter doesn't make too much sense once you factor in all the fees (p.s. use Australian version to see the prices with all fees included on the search page).

I really like their direction of enabling month-long/flexible stays and considering whether I replace my lease with that so that I can move around more easily and see different places rather being stuck at the same place for 1+ years.

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#116

Post by runako »

chrisseaton wrote: post #82
rhino369 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hotels are usually easier and cheaper EXCEPT if you actually want a whole house. Traveling with kids and a babysitter requires like 3 rooms and having a kitchen is a huge plus. So for that, its really good.

> Traveling with kids and a babysitter I'm pretty sure you already know that travelling with personal domestic staff is a vanishingly tiny niche requirement of the super-rich.

This is a strong statement. In much of the US, an au pair can cost less than full-time professional daycare.

Similarly, many US households have access to a car. Most American vacations are road trips.

Getting a 3 bedroom vacation rental instead of a 2 bedroom and driving the au pair up in the back seat is not solely the province of the super-rich.

[For the record: I do not have an au pair, nor have I taken a babysitter on a trip.]

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#117

Post by rhino369 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #82
rhino369 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hotels are usually easier and cheaper EXCEPT if you actually want a whole house. Traveling with kids and a babysitter requires like 3 rooms and having a kitchen is a huge plus. So for that, its really good.

> Traveling with kids and a babysitter I'm pretty sure you already know that travelling with personal domestic staff is a vanishingly tiny niche requirement of the super-rich.

In my case, its just my father in law who lives with me and watches my daughter.

But many upper middle class people have nannies, au-pairs, etc. Upper middle class isn't very large, but they are certainly the demo for an AirBnB in a tourist destination. Average people don't really travel much.

Even if you don't have a babysitter, having a kitchen to feed your kids yourself is huge.

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#118

Post by DantesKite »

Mizza wrote: post #52

Is anybody else kind of over AirBnb? I loved it for a while, but now prices have gone way up, the "cleaning fees" are exorbitant and make navigating/browsing a minefield, and I've had a few sketchy incidents (which were, admittedly, a side effect of choosing the cheapest place I could find), including one where the apartment manager came in, went through our clothes and _stole the bed_. I've found myself just using h…

I don't have any strong opinions about it one way or the other.

It's like a hammer.

Useful in certain circumstances for me.

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#119

Post by rhino369 »

msh wrote: post #74
rhino369 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hotels are usually easier and cheaper EXCEPT if you actually want a whole house. Traveling with kids and a babysitter requires like 3 rooms and having a kitchen is a huge plus. So for that, its really good.

Travel with a baby sitter?!?!? How big can that market be?

Doesn't have to be a 100k/year governess. Lot of families bring grandma/grandpa or a niece along to help with the kids.

Re: Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away

#120

Post by cannabis_sam »

rhino369 wrote: post #119
msh wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Travel with a baby sitter?!?!? How big can that market be?

Doesn't have to be a 100k/year governess. Lot of families bring grandma/grandpa or a niece along to help with the kids.

Who would describe their parents (the kid’s grandparents) as “babysitters” in this context?

(It’s a genuine question, might be some cultural differences at play, but in my family this would be a family trip with a grandparent, not a family trip with a “babysitter”.)

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