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Another issue: each listing will almost always include an exorbitant cleaning fee, to the tune of 20-X% of the actual listing (I saw multiple rooms advertised around $150-200 with cleaning fees of $100).That seems about right to me. The last time I had a professional cleaner clean my (at the time, 950 sq ft) home, around 5 years ago, it cost $100, plus tip. I'm sure costs have gone up since then, and IMO most Airbnb cleanings I've seen are more thorough than I remember that house cleaning being. I also expect cleaning costs have gone up due to COVID requirements.
As an aside, I think the percent-of-listing measure you're using doesn't make sense. It costs the same amount to clean a place if you stay there for one day or five. If the cleaning cost is going up as you add more days to a reservation, then that's weird and it sounds like the person managing the listing is doing something sketchy.
> In my opinion, Airbnb came to disrupt the hotel market, but hotels have caught up
I do think Airbnbs are still better than hotels in some situations. Hotels are just not all that fun if you have a bunch of friends who want to go on vacation together and hang out all the time, but common vacation spots will usually have plenty of rentals that sleep 8 or 10 or 12 or whatever (and will likely cost less than 4 or 5 or 6 hotel rooms).
Hell, even for a family of four, an Airbnb can be a much better experience. Sure, you can get a multi-bedroom suite at a hotel, but they're usually going to cost you more than an equivalent 2-bedroom Airbnb rental. Growing up, I remember my parents cramming all four of us into a small hotel room with two double beds, and it was not a pleasant experience at all.
When I'm traveling and am spending a week or more somewhere, I often enjoy cooking sometimes. Hotels usually don't offer rooms with kitchens, and those that do usually have crappy "efficiency" kitchens. Nearly all Airbnbs have a kitchen, and that usually doesn't add to the price like having a kitchen in a hotel room does. And even if I do go out for dinner, it's nice to always have a fridge to store leftovers, and a microwave or even stove/oven to use to reheat them. A hotel's minibar fridge is often not up to that task, and good luck reheating things.
> More seriously, I’ve been very disappointed with Airbnb recently. I spent the last two weeks in Manhattan. [...]
Definitely agree with you on Manhattan. For whatever reason, hotels tend to just be a better, cleaner, often cheaper choice there (I have a trip planned there that's coming up soon, and I've already booked a hotel). But I've done Airbnb in a couple dozen cities, both in and out of the US, and by and large the experience has been better than a hotel at the same price.