this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2023
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A lot of this anti air bnb stuff feels like astroturfing by hotels. Sure there are plenty of annoyances, but everyone I know still likes them even if they like to complain about them.
The society harm is a real thing though. companies buying up homes to rent them is a real problem. But these articles that treat airbnb like it’s so obvious that no one like them feel very artificial.
We had the chance to stay at an airbnb when our house was being worked on.
We found that most of the places around us were trying to compete with Hotels on price.
Which is fine. Except that the hotels had more/better amenities… for the same cost.
I can barely trust some rando to drive me around to a destination in the city. Why would I trust other randos to let me rent and use their house? And not break housing or safety laws in the process? It is 100x more complicated than just driving me from point A to point B.
Lots seem to trust Uber/Grab/Lyft or whatever to drive them around. I don't think it's that complicated.
That's precisely what I was comparing it to. Transporting somebody in a car for 15 minutes is much different than providing housing, a bed, and a livable space for a week.
Neither are that difficult.
My circle has all turned on Airbnb. It's a gamble. It used to be the gamble was worth it because it was cheaper than hotels, but now that they're the same price, it's not worth it.
Last time went great, the time before was not properly cleaned to guest standards, and they restained the wood walls in the kitchen so the whole place was permeated with an awful chemical smell that kept me from sleeping. At a hotel, you can just switch rooms if anything is suboptimal. At an air BNB, you're stuck. Everyone in my circle has had half good half bad experiences and it's just not worth risking your trip over.
Annoyances? The last time I used AirBNB, there was literally no HEAT in the unit we were staying in. Just because it was San Diego in February doesn't make that legal. We left and got a hotel the next day and I had to fight with them to get a refund.
That's the last time I ever used the service, and I used to be a regular.