Not sure how AirBnB has a $100 billion market cap. The use case for an AirBnB, which is mostly large group travel, seems limited when comparing to the use case for a hotel (every other type of travel). Marriott and Hyatt combined have a lower market cap than AirBnB.
Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras
71–80 of 527 posts
Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Any service that's so pedantic about cleaning isn't a service that most customers would want to use. Airbnb is trying to have it's cake and eat it too putting the responsibility on "hosts" to be the bad guys. It's just lazy and callous to not have strict bounds of responsibilities customers are expected to engage with.
And that’s reason #13563 I would never do an AirBnb and we just stayed in hotels during our year of “nomadding”.
Good for you. We never used it in 10 years of nomadding. However, we did abuse it constantly by contacting hosts and then cancelling the request and paying them cash rent at a negotiated price for a month or two. Idk how well that would work anymore.
Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras
#73Next they need to ban giving my personal info to 3rd party services. It's becoming common now to upload guests' personal info into cloud property management systems, and set up things like wifi with services that offer a discount if you provide guest info. It's gross and when I complain about it to AirBnB they do nothing.
I went to an Airbnb where the host had a ledger of all the previous guests that had stayed, with their personal information and their passport number. And it was left in the apartment for you to sign, so I had access to the passport number of literally hundreds of people from all over the world. And it wasn't a mistake as the host asked you to sign the ledger when you arrived.
In some countries, maintaining such a ledger is actually required by law.
Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras
#74I almost forgot how annoying Airbnb is until I started staying in hotels again. I will gladly take a smaller property in exchange for dealing with people that have actual hospitality training, daily room cleaning, room service, etc. Hotels are just a nicer experience. I don't want to spend my vacation cleaning the room or worrying about a "host."
Airbnbs are amazing for: - Group get-aways where the point is being together at the place, not seeing the sights of whatever area you’re in. - Families traveling, especially when not staying in a city core - Trial runs at living in a place - Areas poorly served by decent hotels They’re bad for lots of other scenarios. [edit] oh and the less time you’re staying the worse they tend to be—stuff like cleaning fees and ha…
I have had all good experiences as an individual using them. It seems almost all abnb disaster stories stem from families or groups staying in a place. Even couples.
By biggest complaint though is that the cleaning fee is priced for groups and families. I'm paying $60 for someone to come and arrange the pillows at worst.
Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's hard to gauge cleaning effort: if a guest uses every dish in the kitchen without doing a wash up, they cleaning crew could be there for hours. But if a guest is tidy, then the cleaning fee should be nothing. The hard part is that you need to reserve and pay for a cleaning crew as if it was always a disaster.
> if a guest uses every dish in the kitchen without doing a wash up, they cleaning crew could be there for hours If it is $200 then that should cover 10 man hours of cleaning in a developed country. I had similar issues as a guest on Airbnb, paid a cleaning fee $100+ and then had complaints that I left food in the fridge (like normal a pack of milk or something not growing new lifeforms) and couch pillow on the floor…
Ha, $20/hr for house cleaners is so 2020. They're much more than that in reality.
Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras
#76I'm worried this ban will only affect honest hosts. Anyway, what Airbnb should really ban is hosts charging a mandatory cleaning fee when also requiring their guests to do the cleaning. We just stayed at one this weekend, and like almost all our previous bookings, the host asked us to: - Take off all bedding and towels and start a load of laundry - Do all the dishes and start the dishwasher (but required to hand-wash…
At this point the cleaning fees are just a scam to make the listing fee seem artificially lower. People did the same thing on eBay by making the items almost free but the shipping expensive, until they fixed the eBay interface, e.g. by letting you sort by price + shipping and showing shipping fees before you click.
Cleaning fees aren't a "scam" - most property owners really do need to pay someone to clean the property at the end of a stay.
But, as another commenter said, they can be used as a way to encourage longer stays, as with most places you only pay a single cleaning fee regardless of the length of your stay. But, again, it's just a fact that these rentals are usually just cleaned between guests (as opposed to a hotel when cleaning is done daily so it can be rolled into the nightly rate).
Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras
#77Amazing that this even needs to be stated
Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's hard to gauge cleaning effort: if a guest uses every dish in the kitchen without doing a wash up, they cleaning crew could be there for hours. But if a guest is tidy, then the cleaning fee should be nothing. The hard part is that you need to reserve and pay for a cleaning crew as if it was always a disaster.
> if a guest uses every dish in the kitchen without doing a wash up, they cleaning crew could be there for hours If it is $200 then that should cover 10 man hours of cleaning in a developed country. I had similar issues as a guest on Airbnb, paid a cleaning fee $100+ and then had complaints that I left food in the fridge (like normal a pack of milk or something not growing new lifeforms) and couch pillow on the floor…
In my area cleaning rates are around double that.
Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras
#79I'm worried this ban will only affect honest hosts. Anyway, what Airbnb should really ban is hosts charging a mandatory cleaning fee when also requiring their guests to do the cleaning. We just stayed at one this weekend, and like almost all our previous bookings, the host asked us to: - Take off all bedding and towels and start a load of laundry - Do all the dishes and start the dishwasher (but required to hand-wash…
You can avoid those listings if you want.
You are only responsible for the tasks they specify up front in the listing under "rules". If they didn't list it up front, before you book, you don't have to do it. If they try to spring some tasks on you upon arrival, that's their problem.
Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
> if a guest uses every dish in the kitchen without doing a wash up, they cleaning crew could be there for hours If it is $200 then that should cover 10 man hours of cleaning in a developed country. I had similar issues as a guest on Airbnb, paid a cleaning fee $100+ and then had complaints that I left food in the fridge (like normal a pack of milk or something not growing new lifeforms) and couch pillow on the floor…
Have you tried to hire a cleaning person recently? $200 will get a small apartment cleaned, maybe. For a thorough cleaning of a modest house prepare to pay 2-3x that at least.
$600 for a house is far beyond typical prices