wco81

https://viewfromthewing.com/which-is...tel-or-airbnb/

Hotel chains promise to have some sanitizing protocols but you still have more chances to come into contact with or share the airspace with more random people.

But are Airbnb hosts making sure their places are cleaned well?

CDC recently said fomites from surfaces are less likely vector for transmission. Not impossible but less likely.

Do hotels have shared HVAC circulating through all the rooms?

Goldorak

My advice : just relax and have a life. Wherever you stay at a hotel or Airbnb, you'll be fine.

Annalisa12

I don't know which is safer but I think I'd be more confident at a hotel.

Finkface

I own a vacation rental and my cleaners have upgraded their procedures to meet VMRA standards. They have bought electrostatic sprayers that apply EPA registered hospital-grade disinfectant and which create an electronically charged mist that wraps around surfaces and objects for 360-degree coverage, and the additional tasks they have added to make sure every inch of my place and every item in it is sanitized and disinfected is off the charts. The downside is it takes them three times as long to clean now and costs twice as much. So I now can’t book back to back guests and I have to raise the cleaning fees I charge. Even with that, it will cost me money for each clean that I won’t recoup. Just the cost of doing business I guess. But in answer to the question, I have no doubt whatsoever that my cleaners will do a much, much more thorough and complete job than hotels will. Just the time factor alone - I doubt hotel cleaners will spend anywhere close to the time my cleaners do making sure the job is done right.

dddc

While I think it's great you're doing that, I don't think all BnB owners will be doing the same. Will the original type of AirBnb "host", one renting out a spare room occassionally rather than a purpose bought property, be cleaning to the same degree? There are many cash hungry investment clubs that have built and bought whole residential buildings and operate it as a clandestine hotel without the benefits of a reception and other services. They aren't worried about brand damage as it's Airbnb that takes the hit, who then say it wasn't them, but the individual rental. Similarly all hotels may not be the same, but as pointed out in the article, they have brand reputational risk if something goes wrong. I've seen Marriott also show the same sprayers going round their hotels. A hotel brand has that power to say if they are doing it that people will probably be more comfortable in believing it than AirBnB saying their "hosts" won't be allowed to book another guest in for 24 to 72 hours - what's to stop them using another booking site to let out the room? Sure, hotels have their failings too, but when it comes to who you trust least to do the right job, for me I'm afraid it's AirBnB and any similar orgs.

Goldorak

I am guessing that in 2 to 3 months from now, we will have threads about the toxicity and side effects of all those disinfectants

fransknorge

I am less concerned about whether or not there is disinfectants sprayed all overt the place (as long as cleaning is performed normally) as to whether you can open windows. This has become a new criterion for me to accept an hotel: opening windows so I can get fresh air inside twice a day for 30 minutes. This will be much more effective than disinfecting everything.
Then give me the ability to properly clean the cups provided for tea/coffee inside the room, to laundry my masks and a room service and I am good. Breakfast become serviced instead of a buffet, with clean cutlery. This should be good enough.

radonc1

Carry a container of antiviral wipes when you arrive and spend 30 minutes wiping down the areas that are of concern to you.

Unless the previous guest(s) had been substantially infected with the virus, had sprayed it around your room with abandon and absolutely no cleaning of said room was done prior to your arrival minutes after their leaving, that the likelihood of your coming in contact with an clinically significant (i.e. making you sick) load of virions is remote.

This is a respiratory disease spread by aerosolized droplets which are inhaled. I think that if you wipe down your surfaces with the wipes and continue to practice avoidance of hand to mouth and eye contact as well as hand washing protocols, that you will be safe in either an Airbnb or a hotel room.

FlitBen

I would look for a window facing the morning sun, so masks can be sterilized by sunlight in minutes. I would also ask for extra hangers to do the same for clothes that can be hung right. A packet of detergent and alcohol spray should take care of the glassware and other things to be handled, plus bags brought in from outside.

Agent69

I don't believe this is correct.

• the commonest form of transmission is via contaminated surfaces (you touch them and then touch your face)
• the second commenest form is contact with respiratory droplets (size > 5 microns). These don't travel far from an infected person (typically 1m, hence the 2m distancing rule)
• aerosolized particles (<5 microns in size) represent a very low risk of infection

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ent...Lx_OXQIPLvJaKC

fransknorge

This is an old paper (in COVID-19 times) that is not up to date with the latest findings, which is that aerosolized droplets are the most common form of contaminations, and that surface contamination is likely the less common (actually I *think* no cases could be traced back to contact contamination):
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7151430/
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...557v2.full.pdf
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2271-3

marcfrench

Check this out https://www.reead.com/en/airbnb-5-po...ing-2-1682017/ think when traveling alone, hotel is better

wco81

Does housekeeping wipe down surfaces as part of normal cleaning?

I think they vacuum, make the bed and then wipe down in the bathroom right?

They won't usually wipe down tables, desks, night stands?

Or chair arms?

What if housekeeping staff sneezes up a storm in your room?

Will the AC circulate it to other rooms?

bitterproffit

I am more comfortable in a Hampton Inn style hotel with individual AC units than I am in a high rise hotel (especially an older one with shared air handling) or an Air BnB. The glasses are single use, the bed coverings are cleaned, even before Covid, I was an obsessive AC Filter cleaner, but the Hampton Inn's and Hilton Gardens I have stayed at have always had clean ac filters.

When I do road trips, I travel with a plastic glass anyway, and I appreciate the single use coffee cups and paper cups in Hampton style hotels. Air BnB's have always not had a corporate cleaning standard, and sometimes the cleanliness is not really there.

I stayed in a VRBO for a week in November in FL and what I really liked about that unti was it was treated like a really nice hotel suite. No personal items or things left over from previous guests, cleaned duvet covers, individually wrapped soaps and toiletries (although I brought my own). It was really well cleaned (typical for weekly rentals).

I would be comfortable staying there again during Covid, but not in most Air BnB's

nk15

If I were to book a hotel, here will be my minimum requirements:

1. Windows that open.
2. No housekeeping at all while I am there, nobody gets in the room.
3. Bring your own sanitizers for some extra cleaning.
4. Ask for a room that has been vacant at least for 24 hours (preferably for 3 days), if possible.