This has definitely changed over time, the first few airbnbs I stayed in had actual hosts who were friendly and helpful but it's been a while since I've found anything that isn't just an empty apartment or the equivalent of a self-service boarding house.
Yes. I've stayed in AirBnBs in Italy, Germany, Hungary, and Japan, and mostly met very hospitable and helpful hosts that seemed genuinely interested in providing the best service. Maybe I'm picky with the listings, maybe I'm lucky, maybe it's a thing of culture like you suggest.
That's odd. Every AirBnB I've stayed at has been as impersonal as the most generic cheap hotel chain but with far more hassle and inconvenience.
The notion that you'd experience any kind of "community" or "sharing" with AirBnB has always seemed like pure marketing BS. It's cool that you've actually experienced it. Maybe it does happen sometimes.
Strange. I mean, we only have our own experiences to go by, but every time I've used Airbnb (throughout Europe) it's always been with a host who doesn't live there and shows no desire nor feels any obligation to show their city (much less talk) to the traveler outside of handing-off the keys. Even when their profile might say differently. They were all way more Hotel than Hospitality Club, so to speak.
I've stayed in many Airbnbs all over the world, and the majority of the city ones for the last few years are clearly just fulltime Airbnb, with basically zero personality. As soulless as a hotel room, sometimes more if they're trying to seem personal but clearly aren't.
A majority of the airbnb hosts nowadays are professionally managed ones at this point. I would say out of my last 10 stays, only 2 of them were hosts who actually lived in them. Airbnb is essentially a hotel operation at this point.
I am also becoming wary of using airbnb, for some of the reasons mentioned here. I did meet some great hosts, but at other times I felt I would have been better off e.g. in a hostel.
Also, people who care about hosting and getting to know travelers could just sign up to Couchsurfing or Hospitalityclub, which strangely don't seem to be booming.
In the beginning it was nice, you could actually meet interesting people. Now it mostly feels anonymous and impersonal, often you end up sharing an apartment with two or three other tenants and the landlord doesn’t even show up once. I prefer hotels now, price-wise the difference to AirBnB isn’t very large.
They recognize it exists. I'm even hearing podcast ads from Marriot or similar touting how much more reliable they are.
AirBnBs I've stayed in the past few years have all been janky, weird, and not really any cheaper than hotels. I don't have to do chores at hotels, and I can always get (and return) the key promptly. I've also been told on several occasions not to let anyone else in the building know I was an AirBnB guest. AirBnB used to be better, but the advent of "professional hosts" with many properties really degraded things. They often have the typical landlord mentality of expecting a lot of reward with little work or risk.
AirBnB hosts are unrealistic with their expectations. The raising costs, ridiculous cleaning fees, absurd "house rules", etc. make AirBnB pretty much a no-go for me these days.
Hotels have great amenities, really good customer support, and not too much BS.
With AirBnB it's an absolute gamble if you're going to get a good host or a wannabe slumlord. I don't think this is AirBnB's fault though, just general human greed, wanting to make easy money by providing as little value as possible.
I agree on some senses, but AirBnB often resembles hotels more than renting out a spare room nowadays.
Sure if you're booking an unknown, new, cheapo listing you could get anything. But large amounts of the high rating offerings are essentially hotels without a reception desk nowadays.
My take on it is that Airbnb is great unless you're the kind of person that doesn't trust strangers. Sadly, in the United States, the tendency to not trust strangers has been on the upswing for the last few decades.
I feel let down by many of the airbnbs we have visited lately. There is always some weird aspect that was never represented properly. I've always loved nice hotels tho. They've all been nicer than hostels tho.
I feel the same way. Some of my fondest travel memories are staying in airbnbs.
But in the past few years, at a seemingly accelerating pace, what an airbnb is has changed.
In the last few years when I've used them, not all but almost all of them have simply been unlicensed hotels run by investor-landlords who aren't present and at best will pay someone else to come meet you with a key, but usually just leave it in a lock box.
Everything feels cheap, and sketchy. There is no personality. You're not meeting anyone, getting local knowledge, living with a local. On the contrary, you're sometimes sharing the same apartment with other tourists.
If I don't get any of the good sides, all I'm left with is the downsides - unpredictability, suspicion from other residents in the building, the plethora of random ways things can go wrong when your host isn't available to help you out 24/7.
I'd honestly rather just pay the extra 20% or so for a basic hotel room to get the same thing but without those downsides. Booking.com or Hotels.com are now the places I go first, before Airbnb.
I'm not at all sure that Airbnb care about this to be honest. They obviously must be aware of it, yet it continues getting more like that, not less. I guess the growth and the numbers from running a cheap unlicensed hotel rooms service is just better than they could get from their original vision. Wish them well, but also wish the old Airbnb was back!
Does AirBnB have owner's/hoster's testimonials like CouchSurfing? It really goes a long way to show someone is trustworthy if they've stayed at 100 people's homes and everyone said nice things about them.
reply