Same here. When we moved to Florida in the 90s, we rented down at the beach fro a couple years and discovered the fundamental incompatibility between vacationers who wanted to loudly party until 2:00am out by the pool and those of us who had to get up at 6:30am to go to work. When we bought a house, it was in an area where short term rentals were specifically excluded.

I actually find sorting by chain to be useful in big cities- it's a quick and easy cull to go from 2000+ options to a nice list of 20 or 50 or so that will give me a decent variety in terms of price and location. And if that first list doesn't seem to have any winners, I'll move on to the next chain and see how those options look. But then I'm most interested in clean, quiet, and refurbished in the past 5 years or so and am trying to screen out properties that think that mold and mildew are a part of a property's character.

I'm also digging the rise of the nicer extended stay or aparthotel chain property- reliable, generally quite new, and with a proper hotel front desk while giving more space than a standard hotel room and the kitchen area gives you proper plates and cutlery to use to eat your take out food. And if I can get a free week at a Staybridge Suites in London or Adagio in Paris because of loyalty points, it's even better.