Illegal host, electric shocks, slugs, leaks and no support – How Airbnb failed

This question is not specifically about the OP but in general about people that pay so much money for an Airbnb when they can have a room in a nice hotel for the same (or even less) money. I'm not talking about special occations (i.e people that want to organize party and stuff), I'm talking about traditional tourists. Why would anybody choose an AirBnb vs a hotel?

Maybe I'm not in the right mindset (or age?) but I've never even considered an Airbnb when going on vacation anywhere.

The reason AirBnB exists is that tourists are not properly accounted for in city planning and not properly serviced by hotels. There's a huge demand for what AirBnB provides (Serviced and short term accommodation). Hotels are inadequate for longer stays or where you just want the comforts of home, a good middle ground is the "serviced apartment" concept found in some places (entire apartment blocks reserved for short term rentals) however there are times when you want an entire house, not an apartment.

Having 0 support like Google would be much better than being promised help will come, then having various customer agents taking over your case from scratch and then after exhaustion, being told you won't be refunded or no action will be taken

For me this is true if I'm traveling for < 1 week If I'm gone for more than that i don't want to eat every meal out and want to have some food + drink stored in my accommodation.

I've booked about 10 AirBnBs over the past month, while travelling through Europe. I basically had to as my mental and physical health had deteriorated due to staying in hostels, with the never ending cycle of snorers, lights on, late night returns, etc. And hotels were absurdly expensive.

Each AirBnB that I booked, in

* Barcelona, Spain

* Amsterdam, NL

* middle-Germany

* Denmark

* Norway

were all someone's extra space in their house they had; or a side unit to their main house; or their entire place and they were on travel or business outside the country.

Additionally, ALL of them I booked were far, far cheaper than hotels by many margins, and I could cook to my diet in many of the spaces I stayed. That really helped cost wise too.

None of them had ridiculous cleaning requirements OR cleaning fees (and I clean the dishes and pots and pans I use by hand simply because I need them again or otherwise, and I'm not an animal). None of them had ridiculous AirBnB fees, although most were pretty much a good deal, and then AirBnB fees made it a bit less of a good deal.

Sorry for this sounding a bit preachy, I'm well aware of the damage AirBnB does to communities, cities, countries even but I'm baffled how many shitty experiences it sounds like people are having recently.

(there's a BIG anti-tourism/anti-AirBnB mentality and movement in Barcelona, which I experienced first hand not getting any change back for a 10 euro bill on a 2 euro purchase; minor but still, sheesh)

On the other side of that, I'm also fully on board with properties that were bought explicitly to use as AirBnBs or rental homes for tourists, to return to market, and I really hope that does happen. I say that because as evidenced by my experiences, there are still places that sort of follow the original ethos of AirBnBs: rent your extra personal space out.

I typed all this from a small basement area in Norway, that I booked on AirBnB, which is very comfortable, and relaxing. I made some great pasta too, which honestly I can't say I've ever been able to do in hotels. Also, I have far greater concerns with hotels and *bugs than with AirBnBs and similar stuff, but that's just me

Honestly though, I will probably avoid using AirBnB in the future as best I can, especially as it seems unnecessary through Japan.