I think I'm done with Airbnb

[MickiQ]

Exactly this. If I’m on holiday somewhere I am looking to eliminate stress not add to it.

I can't imagine any circumstances under which I consider using an AirBnB abroad, however low the possibility of turning up to discover it's a scam/misbooking/etc it's still going to be too high. At least in the UK you can hunt for somewhere else even come home if all else fails. My criteria for stopping abroad are much higher than when stopping away in this country. In the UK it boils down to bed/bathroom/breakfast and I'm good to go. Overseas things like the view and whether there's a pool become factors.

 

[pinkmonkey]

My main gripe is the hassle when arriving (or even the fear of this scenario: turning up after flying...,maybe dicking about with a rental, driving, parking...joining instructions 'call xxx when you get here'...xxx doesn't pick up, or phone doesn't work because some shitty setting or forren network shittery...xxx does eventually pick up, doesn't speak much english, tells you he's a keyholder mate of the owner, will be there in about 45 minutes...wheel all your luggage to a cafe (if one is open/near)...xxx turns up after an hour...has to spend 60 minutes apologising for shit that doesn't work, extra charges for using/breaking stiff, and making you feel like a student.

All to sleep on someone's worse-that-rental-standard bed?

I really really loathe the airbnb key holder bollocks with every fibre of my being, I feel like I’ve been asked to complete a level of the crystal maze, after just three hours sleep. And then the beds, I’ve seen more comfortable looking sanitary towels tbh.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I always used to like staying in pubs if i was going somewhere - really good atmosphere usually and very friendly. That was when they were £20 a night though - last time looked they were about £100 a night

Last time I booked to stay in a pub, the room was actually halfway down the street in terraced house that had no connection to the pub. I felt a bit cheated.

 

[two sheds]

Do they serve beer in bed of a morning?

 

[girasol]

We used Airbnb in Porto a few years ago and it was lovely but out of principle and out of what it has done to the property market in so many places I have no plans to use it again. Maybe if it actually supports some small town economy and it doesn't make it hard for locals to find housing... But how do you even check that with 100% certainty? Some places are easier than others to identify the impact, but you don't always have access to local knowledge and impact before going to a place.

 

[Spandex]

I can't imagine any circumstances under which I consider using an AirBnB abroad, however low the possibility of turning up to discover it's a scam/misbooking/etc it's still going to be too high.

These things aren't unique to AirBnB.

Long before AirBnB was a thing a friend travelled to Serbia only to find the apartment she'd rented wasn't a rental apartment. I remember sitting in a hire car in a small village in Sicily somewhere north of Etna waiting to meet the person who was going to show us to the place we'd rented when a question mark entered our heads and we thought 'What if he doesn't turn up? What if there isn't a house? (he did, there was, awesome holiday). I've been in traditional BnBs in the UK where the room is like a cupboard or the bathroom is a biohazard.

The concept of AirBnB isn't new. In Dubrovnik, before smartphones and booking Apps, when I didn't have somewhere to stay I went to the tourist office and payed to stay in a room in someone's house.

As has been said, the problem with AirBnB is the way loads of people have jumped onto it, places that should be rented to local families are let out as party flats in residential streets, people are converting their properties from usable homes into Air BnB bedsits, people are essentially setting themselves up in business as short let landlord's while dodging all regulation, shifty people can make £$€ from the good fortune of owning property with minimal oversight. And all of that leads to two problems - an unregulated short-term let sector where arseholes can get away with shit, and the removal of properties as places where people can live in a community leading to a shortage of housing and rising rent and house prices.

 

[planetgeli]

Scams come in all forms not just Air B and B. Booking.com have the temerity to claim they charge no fees. I don't know how they get away with this. Any owner will tell you its 15% cheaper without going through them.
I've also turned up at booking.com places here to be met by a 14 year old boy running things.

 

[furluxor]

Used it twice. Once I thought my visiting mother would be more comfortable if she had a flat to herself. We had to scrub it clean beforehand as oil was caked on everything and then we found out there was no bedding. That was Hackney. The second time it was a holiday with my siblings, we got a beautiful place in Rome but I think my sister paid a lot for it.

On the other side of the fence, people local to my area are talking about companies mass-buying flats to let as AirBnB. My landlady was going to sell the flat I live in but the prospective buyer wanted to run an AirBnB and she refused. I know a guy whose solution to being able to afford rent in London is renting a larger place and then AirBnB-ing the spare room(s).

Needless to say, I hate this whole thing.

 

[pinkmonkey]

Scams come in all forms not just Air B and B. Booking.com have the temerity to claim they charge no fees. I don't know how they get away with this. Any owner will tell you its 15% cheaper without going through them.
I've also turned up at booking.com places here to be met by a 14 year old boy running things.

This is partly the reason I choose airbnb when I work in Milan. The hotels become 4 x the price during the show. The ones I can afford are often as seedy as hell with lots of thieving going on. You turn up and they refuse your card and demand cash. It’s a lousy city for hotels.

 

[Chairman Meow]

I loved AirBnb back in the day. My best stay was either the one in a kangaroo sanctuary in the bush, where we were surprised by the owner bringing us piping hot chips from the chip shop. Which was 40 km away! We never did work that one out. Or the one we stayed in where the owners were celebrating something and insisted on us sharing their champagne. That ended up with us all getting stoned and the owner passing out drunk on the toilet after writing us a note saying we could stay free for seven nights, because he wanted us to come back (and he'd smoked all our weed }. I don't bother with airbnb any more though, by the time you factor in the cleaning fee a hotel is usually cheaper, unless there is a group of you. There don't seem to be as many as there used to be here, probably a good thing as housing is scarce here too.

 

[Elpenor]

My friend used to Airbnb her spare room when she wasn’t working due to ill health and lived in Brixton.

She got fed up of it after constantly being asked for drugs as most of the people were visiting for gigs at the Brixton Academy or whatever it’s called now

 

[Brainaddict]

There's a great data site that monitors airbnb - check out London London

It shows there are a bunch of really big landlords in on the game, like who is 'Veronica' exactly?

 

[skyscraper101]

Feedback is so crucial. If I ever stay in an Airbnb or hotel which provides a below par experience I feel it's my duty to warn others off via the feedback section in Airbnb (or TripAdvisor with hotels).

Similarly I think giving good reviews is also vital so people can actually make informed decisions on what to expect. Personally I wouldn't dream of operating an Airbnb purely for the money with no care as to who came and went. I'd want people to have a nice comfortable stay and get good feedback for providing it.

 

[Red Cat]

Scams come in all forms not just Air B and B. Booking.com have the temerity to claim they charge no fees. I don't know how they get away with this. Any owner will tell you its 15% cheaper without going through them.
I've also turned up at booking.com places here to be met by a 14 year old boy running things.

I used booking.com in the summer when i got a booking wrong, got a text from them to say you didn't show last night, an hour away from turning up in Dieppe with our two ND children with nowhere to stay. I was able to book an apartment within a few minutes, I got an email and text to confirm that it was ready within half an hour. I was very grateful for booking.com as you might imagine, the owner was very responsive to all our queries by text, location was central, flat was fine, it was such a relief.

 

[Gromit]

My friend used to Airbnb her spare room when she wasn’t working due to ill health and lived in Brixton.

She got fed up of it after constantly being asked for drugs as most of the people were visiting for gigs at the Brixton Academy or whatever it’s called now

A true business person would refer to that as upselling opportunities.

 

[Part 2]

Used whole lets several times with my son Lisbon, Zadar, Berlin, Milan, Osaka, Tokyo and Belfast off the top of my head. We don't spend much time in accommodation when we go places so the standard tends to be cheapest and most basic. Never had any real issues. The first one we went to in Berlin was soon after hearing about Airbnb and they left food for us as did the one in Milan.

Stayed in one in Valencia on my own, room in a flat where a woman and her daughter lived. It was during Fallas and everywhere else was really expensive. Weirdest thing was going for a shower in a seemingly empty flat and afterwards coming out of the bathroom to walk through the kitchen where a bunch of elderly women were sat round the table. I don't much care about stuff like that though, it was probably pretty weird for them.

My neighbour does it with a couple of her spare rooms and I occasionally see people walking up our drive and have to point them next door. Don't think the guests have ever been much inconvenience otherwise.

Down the road a couple of nice semis were built and apparently one is Airbnb and was being used to shoot porn. Same happened to someone else I know who was doing it. When she took the property off Airbnb and rented it long term she got weed farmers.

 

[editor]

I'm going on a whimsical trip to an obscure town in Pennsylvania later this week and booked one night in an Airbnb some time ago. I suspect that this one will be fine given the non-touristy destination (and there was no affordabled nearby hotels in the town anyway)

 

[flypanam]

We used AirBnB in Sicily recently, was pretty good experience the guy inherited it from his mother who passed away last year. He lived with his wife in the new part of town. Anyway our wee lad got very sick two days into the trip, he organised and took us to the doctor and the pharmacy. He also a day later bought us some essentials. I think if we didn’t have that local knowledge we may have been screwed.

 

[editor]

The people in my Airbnb seem to be actively avoiding me. When I come up the stairs at night I can hear people scuttling off into their rooms, and the reverse seems to happen when I close my door. I mean I could be imagining it, but you'd expect some kind of random encounters after 5 days!

If anyone has any time (I'm relying on internet connections in cafes here) I'd appreciate if they could look up the rules on shortening your visit. I really don't want to get the woman running the Airbnb into trouble but this whole set up does seem a bit of a swizz.

 

[Callie]

The people in my Airbnb seem to be actively avoiding me. When I come up the stairs at night I can hear people scuttling off into their rooms, and the reverse seems to happen when I close my door. I mean I could be imagining it, but you'd expect some kind of random encounters after 5 days!

If anyone has any time (I'm relying on internet connections in cafes here) I'd appreciate if they could look up the rules on shortening your visit. I really don't want to get the woman running the Airbnb into trouble but this whole set up does seem a bit of a swizz.

How many rooms? Maybe they booked 33% and hoped the last room wouldn't be taken?

I wouldn't take it to heart. As we've seen in this thread people aren't always social butterflies and might want to keep themselves to themselves but can't afford whole place?

Who knows. don't sweat it! Go have fun

I'm staying in 4 different air bnbs over the course of this week while I am away with my partner. We go for places with a kitchen and private bathroom. This is in Belgium and the Netherlands. We have never had any issues apart from one or two places that were shite but strangely cheap. You must read reviews, pay attention to fees, ask before requesting to book.

Reviews are really important as most people won't say too much outright bad but casually menton things that might be an issue "the street is lively and has a great nightclub scene" for example.

 

[pogofish]

. I'm in NYC and thought I was renting a room in someone's house. Turns out the 'superhost' is just someone who lives there for free in exchange for managing the property, and I'm one of three separate guests staying in a fairly small apartment. So it's more like a mini hotel with no en suite loo or security (the individual rooms aren't lockable).

I thought Airbnb was illegal in New York? Or at least operated under heavy limitation/conditions?

 

[Gromit]

People used to moan about the Ryanair extras. Hidden costs.

Same now with Airbnb.

I just pick the place I like. Look at the final cost. Then cost compare it with local hotels.
Pick the one best for you.

Yes it takes time. Yes its not all laid out on a plate for you. We're all too spoilt by instant gratification that taking time to do research and the leg work are now modern horrors!!!!

 

[Gromit]

Airbnb has been useful for me of late because my requirements haven't been 1 room, double bed please.

No they've been convoluted requirements.
Airbnb properties are generally better fitted for odd convoluted requirements. Hotels just assume everyone is a family or a couple that don't need separation.

 

[Lord Camomile]

Yes it takes time. Yes its not all laid out on a plate for you. We're all too spoilt by instant gratification that taking time to do research and the leg work are now modern horrors!!!!

Or.... we'd quite like to live in a society where we don't have to take time to do a load of research in order to avoid being financially screwed by someone who could make different choices?

 

[Spymaster]

Our experiences with AbNb have ranged from pretty good to absolutely shit, via utterly bizarre (pissed-up owner tried to stop me driving away by lying on the bonnet of the car). I've walked out of 2 refusing to stay, and only got a refund from 1 of those.

As already mentioned, many are commercial operations masquerading as private renters and the lack of regulation and often fake reviews make it something of a lottery. I left a blistering review of a place we stayed in, in Venice, where the fire escape was bolted closed, the toilets weren't attached to the floors, and everyone was eaten alive by bed bugs or fleas. It went up, but the company just closed down that listing and re-listed the property as if nothing had happened.

When you add the extra fees they're often more expensive than a reasonable hotel, which is now usually my first choice for travelling overseas. For UK travel, first choice is to stay in a pub, and there are several 'pubs with rooms' websites that are pretty good, or a hotel with a trusted recommendation (if you're going to Scotland, tap-up pogofish). We've also used VRBO (ex-Home Away) a few times and they used to be a bit better, especially regarding pricing transparency, but now most owners seem to advertise their properties on both platforms.

 

[planetgeli]

When you add the extra fees they're often more expensive than a reasonable hotel,

This just isn't my experience.

Admittedly I only have a small sample (2, about to be 3). And I ain't gonna post pics because that looks like showing off. But each time I've taken time to do my research and my results have been, well, outstanding. £35 a night in Kotor Bay for the best views imaginable, 2 double bedrooms and a balcony. £80 a night in Tobago up a mountain in a rainforest with infinity pool overlooking the forest and the Caribbean, four poster double bed and two other spare beds in separate rooms. There is no way we could have got a hotel for anything like that with the quality we got.

There's a lot shit about the way it operates and takes over towns and cities. But doing just a little research has gone a long way for us.

Fuck it.





What's so hard about a little research?

 

[danski]

Yeah, a shit ton of those in nyc

 

[ouirdeaux]

Never used Airbnb. As I've mostly travelled on my own, there didn't seem to be much, if any, money saved by doing so, and too much danger of scams, awkwardness or other unpleasantness. The only things I require from a hotel are cleanliness, security and closeness to whatever I'm there to do or see; everything else is a bonus (and often happens). Also, the associated problems that Airbnb causes with respect to housing available for local residents and neighbourhoods generally would be a nagging source of guilt.

I wouldn't rule out using it if there really were no other reasonable alternative, but not otherwise. Anyway, given that since Covid I haven't been further than a thrilling day trip to Doncaster, it's all been rather academic lately.

 

[Spymaster]

This just isn't my experience.

Admittedly I only have a small sample (2, about to be 3). And I ain't gonna post pics because that looks like showing off. But each time I've taken time to do my research and my results have been, well, outstanding. £35 a night in Kotor Bay for the best views imaginable, 2 double bedrooms and a balcony. £80 a night in Tobago up a mountain in a rainforest with infinity pool overlooking the forest and the Caribbean, four poster double bed and two other spare beds in separate rooms. There is no way we could have got a hotel for anything like that with the quality we got.

There's a lot shit about the way it operates and takes over towns and cities. But doing just a little research has gone a long way for us.

Fuck it.

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What's so hard about a little research?

Oh, I've had a couple of good ones too. We had a lovely place in Zadar with an owner who couldn't do enough for us; and an interestingly quirky gaff in Biarritz, but for every one of those we've had 2 where either the owners or the property have been misrepresented in some way. It's usually not the end of the world but I don't like feeling hoodwinked, and there's a myriad of lovely hotels abroad and owner-managed pubs here that I'd rather give my money to.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Yes it takes time. Yes its not all laid out on a plate for you. We're all too spoilt by instant gratification that taking time to do research and the leg work are now modern horrors!!!!

Not really. Some of us just don't want hassle and expectations to be predictable.