Why you should never use AirBnb and why hotels still rule

by dejan • 13 years ago

30 59 13 years ago

New Link: http://pastebin.com/QqMbAgsF

gamegoblin• 13 years ago

  >Why you should never use AirBnb and why hotels still rule

I feel like this title is a bit linkbait-y...

Sure there are plenty of reasons not to use AirBnb. There are also plenty of reasons to use it. If you are going on a special/important trip in which the variability of AirBnb isn't appealing, don't use it. But NEVER use it? Sounds a bit extreme.

Anonymous98232• 13 years ago

I've used AirBnb around the world (entire apartment, not shared), so let's look at the advantages you mentioned...

1. You typically get more space than a hotel, and a kitchen. Currently I'm living in an entire 2 story house in a city center that I rented off AirBnb. It was a third of the cost of a cheap hotel room for a short term stay. Remember, you can negotiate prices on AirBnb, I've never paid full price, and typically get 20 - 70% off depending on the length of stay.

2. Personal touch. A lot of the places I've rented were in a family owned home, with separate apartments. On a number of occasions the host has taken time to pick me up and drop me off at the train station, for free. They've also taken time to go out for drinks, or just to walk around their city for an hour or two. When you're traveling to a new city, having a local family that's lived in that location for the past 20 years show you around, is a unique experience, and one you don't get with hotels. I've also had hosts leave me gifts, souvenirs, free wine in the fridge, plates of food on the counter, etc.

3. You feel like a local. Hotel rooms are extremely generic, and you feel disconnected from the city. Staying in an apartment or home, you get a better experience for the culture.

4. Free internet, not nearly as common in hotels.

Anyway, most of his concerns can be avoided by reading the reviews for the host. Also, send the host a few messages back and forth to see how reliable they are, and how quickly they respond. I've spent half the year living in all sorts of AirBnb apartments, and don't plan to consider hotels again anytime soon.

dejan11• 13 years ago

I would generally agree with you, but your thinking is along the lines of "cheaper", in every point.

Cheaper sometimes gets more expensive and then you change the opinion. The author mentions he was a heavy AirBnb user, just as you are. It's interesting to read about the causes that make one's perspective change.

0xdeadbeefbabe• 13 years ago

How about these:

Why hotels are still nicer than AirBnb.

Why you should probably not use AirBnb and why hotels still rule.

If you are looking for victims advertise on AirBnb.

mkmk• 13 years ago

The author is upset because he was accused, and charged, for breaking a bed that he says he didn't break. It also sounds like the customer service wasn't great on AirBnB's part.

This is actually an interesting point, but unfortunately the message is weakened by references to the murder rate in Chicago and insinuations of covered-up rapes and murders in AirBnB apartments.

peterwwillis• 13 years ago

It doesn't help that it's a completely anonymous post. If they had put their reputation behind it maybe it would carry more weight. On the other hand, it's much easier to attack someone anonymously as there's no way to respond to it.

ianstallings4• 13 years ago

He/she might be in a lawsuit and worried that his post will cause trouble. Just one reason he could be anonymous. Perhaps he/she also worries about retribution. Who knows.

owenmarshall• 13 years ago

Yeah, the point is almost completely lost in the histrionics, but if he's correct that AirBnb places a higher value on protecting renters than on guests the system is open for abuse. That's not to say that is what happened in this case; one side of the story, and all.

But just think - AirBnb could've avoided this discussion entirely for the cost of a crappy IKEA bed. Eat the $350, silently flag both parties - the property owner to see if they are trying a scam, and the author to see if he has any damage complaints in the future - and move on. Then we wouldn't even have to wonder who was in the right and who was in the wrong!

toomuchtodo• 13 years ago

But just think - AirBnb could've avoided this discussion entirely for the cost of a crappy IKEA bed. Eat the $350, silently flag both parties - the property owner to see if they are trying a scam, and the author to see if he has any damage complaints in the future - and move on. Then we wouldn't even have to wonder who was in the right and who was in the wrong!

Yes. Exactly this. This is how you do business.

kalleboo• 13 years ago

AirBnb could've avoided this discussion entirely for the cost of a crappy IKEA bed. Eat the $350

This is what AirBnB did for us. I rented an AirBnB house with some friends, and after we checked out we got some bogus charges from the hosts (plumber's fee… it's our fault they have poor plumbing?). AirBnB told us they ruled in our favor and we didn't have to pay, they told the host they ruled in their favor and gave them the money.

Another anecdote to the pile.

w1ntermute2• 13 years ago

I've only used AirBnb once, and my experience was far from optimal. The service was not great (to be expected when the owner has no experience in the hospitality industry) and it was rather expensive, but cheaper than a hotel for a long-term stay, particularly because access to a full kitchen lets you avoid eating out for every meal.

I used AirBnb because it provided housing for a couple of months, which is too long to stay in a hotel and stay sane for me. But I would never use Airbnb for a trip a week or less in length.

pavel_lishin• 13 years ago

The service was not great

I never expect service when I'm using AirBnB. I expect a room, or an apartment, that I can stay in, while the host and I both stay out of each other's hair.

If I'm staying for a long term (>1 week), I suppose I'd take it for granted that I'd at least have access to the laundry facilities, if not be able to just dump my bedsheets in a laundry basket and be able to pull clean ones out of the closet.

w1ntermute2• 13 years ago

I expect a room, or an apartment, that I can stay in

It was basic stuff like this that I had problems with. For example, the host was not there when I arrived the first evening, and neither was the person that the host had said would be present - something I find unacceptable. And then the host got confused and thought I was leaving a day before I was, which I had to then sort out over the phone. These are the sorts of things that I shouldn't have to think about.

ianstallings4• 13 years ago

I don't use AirBnB for a lot of reasons, and he lists a few I agree with. Just like renting a place on craigslist the motto seems to be buyer beware. I'd rather just avoid any issues, spend more $ if need be, and stay in a hotel.

I never got the "BnB" part anyway. Isn't it just B, for Bed. Where does the breakfast come in?

karlkatzke3• 13 years ago

Many of the times I've used AirBnB, there was a (very basic) breakfast, or the materials for a basic breakfast, provided. Ex: One place had backyard chickens and an herb garden, and you were welcome to forage for eggs and use herbs from the backyard to make yourself breakfast. Other times, there was bulk granola and milk provided.

ianstallings4• 13 years ago

Hey, that's something. I'd take it gladly over nothing. I was honestly curious if any of them came with a breakfast made by the host, which in some places might be worth staying for just to enjoy! If my grandmother was alive, staying with her would be worth it just for the morning meal :)

vidar• 13 years ago

Historical artifact.

jaredsohn• 13 years ago

Also, instead of Air BedAndBreakfast, the name is really airbed and breakfast, but they have expanded beyond airbeds.

http://techcrunch.com/2008/08/11/airbed-and-breakfast-takes-...

_mulder_• 13 years ago

It's a shame you have arrived at this opinion. I couldn't work out if you'd actually tried AirBnB from the tone of your post, or just don't like the sound of the idea.

I'll say, from my experience, you're missing out on some exciting, beautiful and really great places to stay. Its not for everyone though, some people do enjoy the predictable, bland, plastic appeal of a hotel room.

Personally, I find hotels great for last minute plans, AirBnB doesn't do last minute unfortunately.

ianstallings4• 13 years ago

I think you're staying at the wrong hotels my friend. A lot of the ones I've stayed at in were far from plastic or bland. But I tend to spend a lot of $ when staying somewhere and usually choose 4 star hotels. A lot of those were "trendy" style hotels with very cool decor. Others were just plain luxurious. As for predictable? Yes, I like predictable when I'm sleeping in a strange bed ;)

I've never used AirBnB, the concept doesn't appeal to me anymore than a typical vacation rental I can find on craigslist. Maybe for a month long rental in a beach rental, but a weekend stay in Brooklyn isn't something I'm trying to do in a stranger's home. Not ruling it out completely, just skeptical.

dejan11• 13 years ago

After this, likewise. I've just booked a hotel in NYC instead, I want to relax on my trip, and not think about these issues and have peace of mind, so I can focus on the reason why I am traveling at first place.

flaugh• 13 years ago

This is FUD.

zerooneinfinity• 13 years ago

Just used it, 20 bucks a night to stay in Boston for the weekend, great experience. Never say never.

jseliger• 13 years ago

The fundamental question is whether you wish to risk lower service (in some capacity, like the deal with the beds) for lower prices.

That's a trade-off, and if you're unwilling to risk lower service for lower prices you should not in fact use AirBnb. If you are willing to risk that trade-off, you should.

karlkatzke3• 13 years ago

Wow. I don't usually feel the need to defend a service that has been unfriendly to people that I know in the past, but this article makes it's points poorly.

I've used AirBnB, typically when traveling in Austin or the west coast, a couple of times now. I've never paid more than half the cost of a (cheap) hotel room. Many times, the host has been gracious with their time and kitchen, they have had other amenities like being close to public transit and in a quiet part of town, pets (I love dogs, and my day feels incomplete unless I've gotten to quiet down for sleep with a dog warming my feet), free internet, and they've made it easy to stay as close to my normal routine and life when it would otherwise be completely derailed. I don't have enough time or energy to battle the illness and malaise that level of disruption brings.

Obviously, buyer beware. Just like I check hotel reviews to make sure there are no reports of bedbugs, I verify the type of area that the hotel is in and what kind of crime I can expect to know what personal precautions to take, and I try to book by calling the hotel to get a handle on customer service, I do the same with places I would stay listed with AirBnB.

When I travel for business, I generally have to stay in hotels. The difference is night and day. I'm locked into whatever food is available in the hotel or nearby, especially if I don't have a rental car. This makes it hard to stay on a diet. It's tough to get exercise sometimes. Counting food, it costs three times as much to stay in a hotel. If money is not an object, that's totally your call, but I could've bought two Ikea beds for the difference between AirBnB and a hotel the last time I traveled on my own time and bill to Portland, Oregon.

dejan11• 13 years ago

Your points about food and exercise apply to both AirBnb and hotels?

Thus, one goes to hotel and most often to AirBnb just to sleep over, not to "live" there.

karlkatzke3• 13 years ago

Good point. Sometimes, yes. I think the differences I was identifying are that the AirBnB places I have stayed had kitchens or kitchenettes, laundry, and other things available more often, to the point that it was easy to select for these things and didn't add to the cost. It's also been easier to find AirBnBs in neighborhoods that were walkable (because people live there!) as opposed to many hotels that didn't have access to parks or roads that weren't major arteries.

dejan11• 13 years ago

new link: http://pastebin.com/QqMbAgsF

Harj• 13 years ago

I sublet my apartment four months ago and have been Airbnb'ing around the world since. I've stayed in 17 different places across seven countries and not had a single bad experience.

Things aren't always perfect, just as they're not always with a hotel, but the responsibility is on you to tell the host. I've not yet met a host who wasn't responsive when I asked for something. Seems odd to me that you wouldn't mention your sleep was so uncomfortable to the host before checking out.

I'm sure there are bad hosts out there but I feel I've stayed at enough Airbnb places now to be confident in saying they're in the minority.

uladzislau2• 13 years ago

There's something wrong with how Airbnb ratings work. You can rent based on dozen of 5 star well written reviews, nice description and photos and find yourself in a shithole in the end.

hawkharris• 13 years ago

I called my AirBnB host for instructions on how to get into her Boston apartment because she had forgotten to leave me a key.

A few minutes later I was creeping through a pitch-black, cold basement with half-inch-deep murky water flooding the concrete floor, using my iPhone as a flashlight.

The moral of this story is: If you use AirBnB often enough, you may become the protagonist in an M. Night Shyamalan movie.

uladzislau2• 13 years ago

Man, you should write fiction. Your description is so vivid and concise at the same time.

dejan11• 13 years ago

i guess that is the part of the "adventure" in AirBnb :D

dominotw2• 13 years ago

According to their CEO, "We're not classified as the brokers, we're just the service." [1]

I am not sure why they are expected to do dispute arbitration if they are 'just the service'. You don't expect craigslist to refund your money for a transaction that was enabled by craigslist.

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/technology/matching-travel...

dejan11• 13 years ago

exactly my thinking. If they do take deposit, they should take it on both sides, and have proper a arbiter. The guests bring their valuables too.

jbail• 13 years ago

Because AirBnB charges sizable booking fees, people have an expectation that they will assist at some level if/when things go wrong. Furthermore, AirBnB themselves asserted that they have some responsibility. Remember when that apartment in SF got ransacked? Now they offer their $1 million insurance. Clearly, they are more than "just the service."

dominotw2• 13 years ago

So I guess 'just a service' ruse is just avoid enforcing licensing/permits on their hosts.

Shady much?

tjbiddle• 13 years ago

Could anyone post a mirror, or the content in a comment? The site looks to be down for me currently.

dejan11• 13 years ago

http://pastebin.com/QqMbAgsF

level092• 13 years ago

Thanks you for this post, I stopped using Airbnb as well since they closed my account without providing any justification.

http://nidalalhariri.com/post/55999109847/airbnb-closed-my-a...

no one from their management/support team even cared to respond to my blog post/tweets.

ceejayoz• 13 years ago

Am I missing something? Why is the post titled "AirBnB racism"?

dejan11• 13 years ago

I think you can induce it from the name. Sorry to hear, had it happen to me on a few occasions too, but I just decided it's not worth the fight.

level092• 13 years ago

Sorry for the confusion, after verification with a Syrian Passport, they decided to completely close the account.

This is not a new thing, we get this when we deal with banks, embassies, and other online services like hosting, ecommerce etc ..

I would happily accept the usual answer "Syrian is sanctioned by the US law, and we cant accept syrian customers" but what pisses me off is that they only decided to completely ignore it.

xfour• 13 years ago

Can't seem to load the site, can anyone copypasta or mirror?

Tycho2• 13 years ago

I've been on two family holidays to Paris which my parents organised. Unbeknownst to me, they used AirBnB to book them. Anyway basically we got to stay in really nice family sized apartments which meant we could spend time together in the evenings in the lounge, had the option of cooking our own meals, no disturbance from the maids or guests arriving middle of the night, relax in the flat when it was raining... in short I'd never want to spend money on hotel rooms if I could have that sort of experience. Obviously there's different use purposes though and it must depend a lot on the letter (but i take it there's some sort of feedback system?).

dejan11• 13 years ago

if you had one bad experience, that left you bitter, would you use it again?

Tycho2• 13 years ago

I think it's analagous to eBay, although admittedly typically involves much more money. The concept of renting holiday appartments/rooms has been around for much longer than BnB though, so I don't see it as fragile.

dshep• 13 years ago

I think Airbnb is a good service. However it is not a hotel service, and I think they try to market it a little too similarly to one. For instance, making a booking is usually a much slower back and forth process between you and the host. It can be frustrating if you are expecting it to be immediate like it is with a hotel. Generally for a short stay I find its easier just to go with a hotel. It is nicer for finding longer term rentals, when the extra effort is justified by the cost savings and better accommodations.

tbarbugli• 13 years ago

thats how life works man

calbear81• 13 years ago

If he felt that he was charged incorrectly by AirBnB, he should dispute the charge with his credit card company and have them take care of it with AirBnB. AirBnB would then have to make a case that indeed the guest broke the bed and was liable for the damages and that burden might be high enough that they just rather eat the cost. Of course, I'm not sure who is really at fault here since so far it's a he said/she said affair.

Why you should never use AirBnb and why hotels still rule

Related Stories