Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode

Post by HDThoreaun » Wed, May 14, 2025, 2:52 PM UTC

gwbas1c wrote: post #387

freddie_mercury wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the people who say hotels are better than AirBnb aren't traveling with kids. Having an actual kitchen when you travel with kids is great. Having actual separate bedrooms so we don't have to go to sleep at 8pm when the kids go to sleep is great. Being able to do laundry without tracking down a laundromat or pay exorbitant hotel prices is great. Having a living room or similar area with at least a few square me…

I have three kids. We prefer to stay in hotels with suites where the kids can sleep in a separate room. I prefer the fact that they have on-site staff. All hotels that we've stayed in for the past few years include a breakfast buffet. The kids generally prefer hotels because they have pools. We've found plenty of professionally run "resorts" where the space is like a small apartment, with a full kitchen and multiple…

Post by bwfan123 » Wed, May 14, 2025, 2:54 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #218

levocardia wrote: post #139

Maybe I'm in the minority but I've generally had very good -- or at least, "good as I expected" -- experiences at AirBnbs, even recently. Sometimes I've stayed with rich friends who book nice places, and the experience is, as expected, very nice. Many other times I have stayed at bottom-of-the-barrel places, which were, as expected, bottom of the barrel flophouses. But tolerably so, and true to the advertisement (fun…

I used to like Airbnb. It's not better or cheaper than hotels, but when travelling with kids it makes a big difference. Until I had a bad experience, that turned horrible. I saw a side of the company that made me think "never again". I rented a place from a "superhost" that looked very nice on paper. It was in fact very bad. Everything in the description was misleading, photos were doctored to look nice, "windows" op…

Post by slaw » Wed, May 14, 2025, 3:01 PM UTC

hnbad wrote: post #261

jen729w wrote: post #159

> Chesky figured that Airbnb’s experience in attractively displaying homes, vetting hosts, and responding to crises could make it more trustworthy than competitors and therefore the go-to option for virtually anything. Online reviews are totally broken. I recently spent a week at an Airbnb in the Gold Coast, Australia. The property was rated 5* but was tired and worn. The photos must have been 5 years old before a so…

This is a general problem. These things worked before those platforms became successful enough to warrant a cottage industry around them. Nowadays there are "reputation management" companies specializing in getting bad reviews deleted by any means and shady businesses will actively bribe or shame customers into giving them perfect scores. For a while everyone knew that 5 star and 1 star ratings are often fake and tha…

Post by fragmede » Wed, May 14, 2025, 3:08 PM UTC

bwfan123 wrote: post #437

aurareturn wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Potential hidden cameras is the #1 reason I prefer hotels over Airbnb. I've seen Airbnb slowly get banned in many places I've visited over the last 5-6 years. Hong Kong. Banned and heavily restricted. Singapore. Same. Saigon. Same. All of China. Same. Taipei. Same. I sold all my Airbnb stocks. I couldn't be wrong and maybe they'll find a way but it seems like the world wants less and less Airbnb and not more.

why are they banned ? is it violation of local regulations or is it pressure from the hotel lobby - specifically singapore which has capitalist aspirations.

Post by projectazorian » Wed, May 14, 2025, 3:12 PM UTC

ses1984 wrote: post #420

electric_muse wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps the difference is that you’ve been fortunate enough to never need Airbnb support to help you on something serious. When things go well, it’s amazing. When things go poorly, you realize how anti-guest the policies and support team behave. That’s when it changed for me. I realized how pro-host, anti-guest they are. Hotels generally seem to care when something goes wrong. Airbnb support behaves like you have inc…

Not every hotel cares. The hotel I’m staying at right now is dirty as fuck. The valve for the shower does not operate properly, the water pressure is extremely low and it barely gets above 90F. Other rooms in the same hotel have a different valve and the showers work fine. “We will send a maintenance person right away” it’s been a week. There is old food under and behind my bed. They empty trash in the hall once a we…