duchy

I was never too convinced on Airbnb but 2016 I decided I'd give it a go.

My first stay was on 110 year old sailing ship moored in the centre of Gothenburg and converted into a hotel. The hotel sells through all the usual suspects but sells its non ensuite rooms for 50-75% less for non ensuite rooms (shower is opposite ) . I was treated exactly the same as any other guest paying full rate and it was a really good experience.

The next was in Aurora in the Chicago 'burbs a traditional Airbnb room. The hosts were charming and interesting people and kind enough to offer me a ride to the station when I was leaving. The room was comfortable and clean, exactly what I needed and closer to where I needed to be than the nearest hotel for a tenth of the cost.

We also had two stays in self contained holiday homes in Devon both were warm, comfortable and amazingly cheap. One even greeted us with our own Christmas tree as our stay was the week before Christmas.

I have another booked for Liverpool later this month.

I read all the reviews carefully and wouldn't book an un reviewed stay . My expectations have always been exceeded. It certainly doesn't work for all my trips but it definitely has its place in my travel planning.

Fa Hz

I have stayed in an airbnb in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, New York, Rome, Cinque Terre, all great experiences, but I always book places that have received enough positive reviews / visitors. It's extremely important to contact the host before booking in case you have special requests (I usually need my bags stored, and that's not always a possibility since it's not a hotel, but I find that experienced hosts always give options)

Xtofsingap

Hi,

i have been renting different house. Most of time went well with good rate versus hotel. Saying that I will not use airbnb anymore.
Last christmas I rent a house in kuta/bali for my family. House was in very bad condition and not in line with pictures. We refused to stay there and went in a hotel near by. Host refused to refund us and airbnb did not give us any support.

So conclusion is that airbnb is a bet and can go both ways. Up to you.

iahphx

Welcome to flyertalk.

Yup, bad stuff is more likely to happen with an airbnb rental than with a more traditional lodging option. And you're less likely to get help if things go wrong. That said, there are good ways to minimize the risk. In your case, were there previous reviews for the property? I generally ONLY book airbnb properties with lots of 5-star reviews (unless I have no other reasonable lodging option) and, so far, this strategy hasn't failed me.

BTW, there's been a great run of discounted airbnb gift cards available online in the USA, especially from Amazon. By combining discounts (buying the airbnb gift cards with discounted money), I bought several hundred dollars of airbnb money at about 40% off. At that price, I find airbnb to be useful, especially for overseas, non-urban lodging. Booking airbnb is definitely a risk-reward proposition.

alanslegal

Exactly, I read the reviews and make sure the potential place has lots of reviews and lots of positive comments I haven't stayed in an airBNB lately though (damn you hotel status!!) but have previously used it in Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, London, Split .... and have had only positive experiences.

snic

I've used AirBnB twice, once for a visit to Rio and once for a lake house in the US. Both times it went really well, with really nice hosts no major problems. Of course there are always going to be bad experiences, but that's true with hotels and B&Bs as well. In my view, the risk is worth it because you get to experience life at your destination like a local. For instance, in Rio I stayed in a fantastic apartment in a bustling residential neighborhood that had no hotels, but did have lots of restaurants and street life. It was a totally different experience than staying at a hotel, and I plan to repeat it whenever business trips take me to interesting cities for more than a day or two.

The lake house was a bit more dilapidated than we had expected, but to be fair there were plenty of hints about this in the reviews (and the very fair rental rate reflected the condition). The trick with travel is to roll with the punches, and that's what we did - and we had a great vacation. With these two positive experiences in hand, I've booked two more AirBnBs for our family vacation to Europe this summer. One of them has only 3 reviews, but they are very positive and the place looks like a dream come to life. If it's a total disaster - well, we'll find somewhere else to stay and not let that ruin our vacation.

BuildingMyBento

How so? Wouldn't that be something...if I did airbnb in Egypt, Thailand, or India, for example, and got local prices at tourist attractions. Unless your presumably local host gave you a tour, what's so special about airbnb?

I should mention that - through friends - I've used airbnb a number of times. I much prefer the safety net of a hotel (safety in terms of recourse in case something goes awry).

snic

I mean that I had an apartment for a week in a residential neighborhood where I would have otherwise not been able to stay, and I went shopping, dined out, etc in that neighborhood. That's a different experience than staying at a hotel near the beach. This was a work trip, so I didn't really do any of Rio's tourist attractions - but of course I wouldn't expect to be treated like a local if I showed up at, say, the Sugarloaf cable car speaking only English.

The only similar option would have been a B&B, because sometimes they are located in similar neighborhoods. But I had the whole apartment to myself, and I liked the privacy (no one I had to talk to at breakfast, when I'm at my pre-coffee grumpiest). And it was much cheaper to buy my breakfast groceries locally than to have it prepared by a host, which adds to the nightly cost of a B&B. The apartment was surprisingly reasonably priced, given how nice it was and the fact that it was on the top floor of a 10+ story building and had wonderful views.

I agree that a hotel can provide some sense that you'll be taken care of if something goes wrong, but all you have to do is read Tripadvisor reviews to discover that quite often, the hotel won't fix a problem to a guest's satisfaction, at which point the guest's choice is to stay and put up with it or leave and find another hotel. It's really no different with AirBnB. I did have a minor problem at the apartment in Rio, and after I contacted the host it was fixed immediately, just like it would have been at a good quality hotel.

mot29

I've completed 39 airbnb stays going back to 2011 in an artists studio in Paris that is still bookable.
Only 2 bad experiences, on in Guangzhou that was a nice apartment, but not well-located. I stayed 1 night and then gave up on it -- the price was so cheap that I really didn't care about losing the money.
The other was in Amsterdam where I was renting one room in a multi-room apartment. Unfortunately, the other guests sort of took over -- one sleeping in the shared living room and leaving a mess in the kitchen. I contacted the hosts and let them know I was moving out. Host worked with me and I got a refund for the nights I didn't stay -- and airbnb even refunded the booking and cleaning fees.
I generally try not to be among the first guests at a place, but maybe will try it out -- someone has to write the first review?

dinanm3atl

Used AirBNB a bunch but recently has trickled off as hosts seem to realize the hidden money maker is the 'cleaning fee'. Two nights at Daytona Beach on a 150/night place and the cleaning fee is 100 dollars. My entire house is 100 dollars... this is a condo/suite.

I've seen this all over the country. It makes what should be ~350 OOTD to be almost 500 dollars OOTD. It's frustrating. I'd rather see it 180/night and a reasonable cleaning fee. My assumption is AirBNB takes their fee PLUS a percent of the rental price.

iahphx

Yeah, I've gone through the Airbnb listings, thought I had found something suitable and then the high cleaning fee killed the deal. The most frustrating part was wasting the time looking at the listing. Kind of like an unexpected "resort fee" popping up. I don't know how the airbnb fees to hosts are structured, but obviously making your money in cleaning fees makes your property look cheaper than it is (but can also discourage short stays).

I still believe airbnb is best overseas in countries where you don't have to pay a premium for "atmospheric" accommodations. I've certainly been generally satisfied with my rentals in Europe, Latin America and Oceania. Somebody once said that every American thinks their property is worth more than it really is, and there's some truth to this. In the USA, if you have access to cheap stays with hotel points (and if you're reading this post, that's likely), that's going to be your better option 80% of the time. Your next best option will be using deals at the online travel agencies (like buying hotels.com gift cards and then using discount codes). That's probably best for 15% of stays. Unless you have a fetish for homespun accommodations or are couch surfing, airbnb is probably good for less than 5% of USA accommodation needs.

Astrophsx

Unless their availability calendar is mostly booked up I will negotiate the price. I would say many times when they've been willing to negotiate they send me a lower nightly offer and have completely forgotten about their cleaning fee.

Mauibaby2008

I have always believed that you will get more bookings without having the cleaning fee and even the security deposit.. so I do not require either.. I just accept replacing the occasional broken window shade, drip pan.. as a cost of doing business. I won't lie I guess I have the "cleaning fee" priced in :-)

And I think haggling with with an Airbnb host is cheap. At least in my little niche of Airbnb hosts, we do not accommodate those type of guests.. but then again we are in an area where we have 100% occupancy for a good 6-7 months of the year...

dinanm3atl

Yes. It's a mental thing. OK 160/night is 350-400 out the door. Nope it's 490 out the door because the cleaning fee at this property is 100 dollars. Mentally I would rather just see it being 180-190 a night and the cleaning fee is 30 bucks or something reasonable.

OR 'all in' pricing. No fees, no hidden this or that which is found at the final page of check out.

And yes. Used AirBNB 100% in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto outside of 1 night at a Capsule Hotel for fun. Great experience all around being in actual residential areas as opposed to major tourist/bustling areas. Plus all locations were real Japanese homes. Made it more fun.

Finkface

I posted this upthread. I can't speak for others but I don't make money on my cleaning fee. In fact, I lose money to keep it competitive. Cleaners in my area charge anywhere from $130-$160, and mine is $130. I pay that whether you stay for 2 nights or for 20 nights. I can't not get it cleaned after you leave so what would you have me do? How do you build it into the rate when I have no idea how long a guest will stay? If I add an extra say $30/night, then I lose money on short stays and those who book longer stays pay more.

The way AirBnB works, if I build it into the price, a lot of people aren't even going to see my place because they want a cheap place and my daily rate will be higher than they search for, and/or they don't even look at mine because the next guy (with a separate cleaning fee) is lower.

So to say that a $130 cleaning fee for a one bedroom condo is a rip off when you pay $100 for your entire house is ridiculous. A regular house cleaner vs a hotel-like cleaning service are two completely different things. If they don't provide linens, then factor in an hour and a half just for laundry, which you may not have on the premises. Even if they just swap out linens and do it later, it is still time they are working for you. If they do provide linens, then factor in the cost to provide them (mine charges me almost $400/year) plus their costs for commercial laundering. Still think it's too expensive? Your house cleaner likely doesn't do your laundry and if they do, it can be done while they are cleaning the rest of your house.

Plus, in tourist areas with high numbers of vacation rentals, the cleaners know there are more of us than them so they can and do charge ridiculous prices. And they also know we rely on them heavily so we can't go elsewhere once we find a good one. Do you know how hard it is to find a good cleaner who you know will show up in the short window we have each and every time? 365 days a year, including holidays? If your house cleaner doesn't show up, no big deal. If mine doesn't, I have a very unhappy next guest. So they can charge what the market will bear, which is much higher than your regular house cleaner.

And that doesn't even take into account regional price differences. It is market driven and we are at their mercy. So don't think for a second that most of us are using the cleaning fee to make money.