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Good. Cleaning fees and booking fees are clearly being abused to game listings to show low prices that instantly double or even triple when you go to check out.
Frankly Airbnb is already pretty scammy.
I have maybe used it 3 times in the last decade. Run into scams at least once where a rental in Denver/Aurora claimed there was AC and the compressor had been removed. But they still had the air handler and thermostats in and turned on. They also put brand new tower fans in each room because it was hot in the house (~87F or 30C) in the sleeping area. Then when we tried to contact them they were suddenly unavailable. So we just left and filed a complaint auth Airbnb which turned into a giant finger pointing session where the owner claimed we cursed them out etc. tried to get the negative review removed with similar tactics too.
Took a lot of effort to recoup the money.
The second rental (well third in the timeline, but second scam) the renter tried to claim we left the place a mess to try and keep the deposit on top of a cleaning fee. Despite they had instructions to do everything from dishes to washing the sheets, not disclosed when we arrived, which we did. But somehow still wanted to hold a 600 dollar cleaning deposit.
Idk what Airbnb does. I will never use them again. Just a total waste of time.
I haven't run into the same issues as you, but the prices are just silly now. Seriously, why am I shelling out for cleaning fees at a place where I still gotta do half the housework? Meanwhile, hotels pretty much got it all covered for about the same price. It just doesn't make sense.
Oh totaly agree. Thats why my third visit was like "is this just how people are now?"
I mean, it hit all the feels of a scam, but i didnt feel so much targeted as this was just how they did business. As if they were banking on us just not really having the energy to fight the BS and red tape. We even took pictures of the place at arrival and leaving. Mainly due to the first experience. But even getting someone at Airbnb to LOOK at the photos, and accept them as proof of anything was a tough haul.
The economics just don't work for short stays. It's expensive to clean an entire house, particularly if that involves washing multiple sets of sheets and towels.
Hotels are set up to be efficient at that with commercial laundry equipment and lots of identical rooms with no travel time between them.
Airbnb is almost always better value if you need multiple days and multiple rooms, but if you need one room for 2 nights then it can only really compete if labor costs are really low
For me, the benefit of Airbnb comes when traveling with a couple of younger kids. The added space and roominess + full kitchen is worth its weight in gold vs a hotel. And I say this coming off a recent vacation where we tried hotels again (including Embassy Suites). But if I’m solo, a hotel is often a better option.
Assuming the kitchen is equipped. In my experience it's always dull knives and Teflon pans scratched to hell.
Agreed with all your points. I used to love Airbnb because it was so much cheaper than staying in a hotel and would give you access to stay in areas much farther off the beaten path. But the last three times I have stayed in an Airbnb I or someone else from my party ended up on the phone for hours with them because the host blatantly lied about something in their listing or otherwise was inhospitable during the stay. Hotels are just way more consistent and when something does go wrong during your stay, you can at least count on a decent customer service experience.
I’ve never used Airbnb, but I’ve read enough stories like yours that I never will. It seemed okay for the first few years, but then people learned how to take advantage of the system. Now you never know if you’re doing business with an honest, fair person or a scammer… and you can’t count on the company to have your back.