sedubby

This is worth a read: https://medium.com/matter/living-and...b-6bff8d600c04

Tragic story. Worth remembering that renting a place on Airbnb is no safer than renting a place on Craigslist. If your immediate inclination to anything on Craigslist is "is this a scam" like me, you should take the same precautions if you choose to rent on Airbnb.

This tale highlights a bit of a freak accident, but the central argument still holds and that is Airbnb takes zero responsibility in ensuring even a basic level of safety (fire alarms, mold inspection, bed bugs, sane hosts) for any of its guests.

Boraxo

Wow - thanks for sharing. Have never done AirBnB and no regrets now.

meech

I have had very good luck with VRBO. There is something about airbnb that gives me pause.

MTHTravel

Looks like a pretty ridiculous article to me.

Of course, Airbnd is not perfect and I had my issues in the past as well:
- no warm water for a week in Bangkok
- no Air condition in Kyoto for a few days
- host tried to claim money from me, for a damage which I have not caused
- host cancelled 24 hours before my upcoming stay

But to paint a picture that Airbnb is life treating, looks out of place to me.

MTH

Forrest Bump

Airbnb is pure genius, at the point now is getting spoiled by professional room renters and hotel-like listings. This is where the management is falling.
But accusing them to be "unsafe" is off base and frankly the flourishing of articles like this on a daily basis seems to be pushing it towards a pattern.

Mauibaby2008

you read reviews of a hotel before you stay, right?

Read the reviews of the hosts before you stay, and you'll get a pretty good idea of what you're going to get.

(I'm a host with 75+ guest reviews)

gungadin

What you said. Many negative reviews of vacation rentals could be avoided if people read the reviews and asked questions of the owners. I get a little tired of reading that people did not know stuff that was clearly in the reviews.

MaxBuck

I'm sure AirBnB is great for the people who like and use it.

I'm not one of them, and don't see that changing.

ft101

It was a tree swing in a guy's garden, hardly AirBnb's fault?

mike2200

I find Airbnb's fee high and the fact that the Host may allow a cancellation but Airbnb doesn't refund its fee to be extreme, so I avoid them.

Mauibaby2008

^^ I find this extremely interesting actually. The fees are outrageous and there really isn't much competition in the space so they can essentially charge what they like

CDTraveler

In the area where I live, there have been 3 hit-and-run deaths in the last 2 weeks. If you want perfect safety, never leave your home. Oh, wait, there could be a house fire, CO leak or home invasion attack, if the tornado or earthquake doesn't get you.

That article struck me as more about catharsis than research. There have been millions of Airbnb stays, and he cites 2 deaths and claims their policies are life threatening? How many people died in hotels, or were raped or robbed in hotels in the same time period?

Do travel agencies take responsibility if the guest who books though them dies at the hotel? Do they do due diligence on every property they sell their clients?

I've had good Airbnb stays and not so good stays. I've also had good and bad hotel experiences. For example, in a *** star hotel in Portland, Oregon, my then toddler son experienced his first major asthma attack. When we went to the parking garage to get the car to go to the ER, we found the hotel staff let the nightclub next door completely block the garage exit with their valet parking after 10 p.m. The doctors in the ER advised us that something in the hotel environment had probably caused the asthma attack. The hotel staff was beyond hostile when we asked for a different room, so at 4 a.m. we moved to a different hotel. I contacted the city office responsible for inspecting and licensing hotels and found out the first hotel was not even licensed to operate, and the health department found major mold contamination in the air condition that had been blowing directly at my son as he slept. We then spent 4 months disputing the bill with the first hotel, who tried to charge us for the whole 5 nights we had been booked there. So staying at a *** hotel that's listed on multiple booking sites, like Expedia, is no guarantee that the hotel will operate in a safe and responsible manner.

j_the_p

Pure click bait. I've never used AirBNB, but this is just sensationalism.

There was a murder and some traffic accidents in Chicago last night. Where's the sensational article on the dangers of traveling to Chicago?

KoKoBuddy

Buyer beware, like always. If it looks too good to be true it probably is. You can spot the scams a mile away.

I've used several services like AirBnb, Vrbo, etc. And while a couple of places weren't quite what was advertized - place was smaller than pics seemed or the subway stop was 15 min walk instead of a 5 min walk as was on the description, stuff like that - I've never had a truly bad experience.

I've also never used this service outside of North America and I doubt I ever will.

Glamette

It really is sad to read.