re: The Airbnbust continues

Wife and I took a road trip to Idaho and stayed in AirBnB's. The vast majority were good experiences, and only a handful had issues. I went with nothing but "super hosts" and extremely high reviews, and still most were the nicest home in a lower-middle class neighborhood.

All of the homes we stayed at were adequate but there was no "perfect home." Some would have uncomfortable beds, one didn't have a shower, only a tub; another showed pics of a beautiful backyard (we had a dog) only to arrive and see the yard was a disaster construction zone.

If we hadn't brought the dog we would have stayed at hotels, and after this trip and staying at 8 AirBnBs, I learned how to really read the reviews and "read between the lines" of what the reviewers are politely trying to say.

Edit: I will say that outside of one AirBnB, the checkout instructions were literally "just lock up and leave" so that was nice.

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quote:Never understood why someone would wanna pay the same price as a hotel but you have to follow bunch of rules and there’s no conveniences available.

STRs tend to work best in groups of 4 or more.

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I use VRBO, the convenience of having a driveway, a backyard with some amenities and no walls next to another group of people is why I stay in a STR vs a hotel/motel....however you're correct, the STR is a real bargain when you have at least two couples sharing the cost.

It's WAY more than one percent in the most desirable areas of New Orleans.

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One of the cities I live in has made it illegal to rent out your private home for a duration of less than 30 days unless you have a transient business license that is almost impossible to get. The city code enforcement does not play around with people attempting to conduct illegal short term rentals.
I think these sort of zoning laws will expand as fatigue from short-term rentals grows.

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Yeah, there's a lot of these newish laws in NYC that have made some difference but seem a bit easy to get around since 1/4 of anything happening here is "off the books".

Like with almost everything:

freedom to do what you want seems like the best idea

then people "dust bowl" it by going on a feeding frenzy without thought or care of the big picture and future impact

then there has to be a lot of messy laws that are expensive for tax payers and get enforced unevenly

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For the record, in all my years of staying in ABNBs, I have NEVER, not once, had to wash sheets or do any laundry of any kind.)

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We almost always end up having to do laundry at some point during an airbnb stay to have clean towels.

Most I've stayed in had checkout instructions that said to load and run the dishwasher and to put dirty towels in the wash and start it before you leave. Have had a few with instructions to remove the sheets from any beds that were used.

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Never understood the AirBnB hate on here.

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Same, but I've learned to use it as a search engine instead of a booking tool. Use the easy to use app to find a place, then use that info to find the direct listing and book that way usually for at least $100 less.

I really like it when traveling even with just the wife... we rarely cook but being able to make a simple breakfast without leaving anywhere is nice and she goes to bed earlier so me having a living room is amazing.

That said...for business trips I love and get excited about the simplicity of hotels.

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We’ve had nothing but good experiences,

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Same for me, we do one big guys trip a year for LSU games, 12-14 people so we get big houses but the worst of the lot was just not as good as the others but still fine - worst thing was one of the bathrooms the water didn't really get all that hot and I've been of a few trips with my siblings so probably about 8 or 9 in all and no bad experiences.

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I have no clue why someone would choose to stay in an Airbnb instead of a hotel.

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Because we want more space. Because we want to fix breakfast and lunches ourselves instead of eating out all the time. Because we are a family and want to have a full kitchen and nice living area. Because we don't want to have all the beds in one room and be required to go to sleep when the 4 year old does. I could go on and on.

I have not have one single bad experience on either VRBO or Airbnb. I'm really not sure where all the hate comes from unless you just never bother to see the entire price till you book. All the fees are listed if you look. We have stayed in some very nice penthouse apartments in cities (Toronto, Denver) some nice houses out in the country (several in the Hill Country), places all over. Sometimes hotels are cheaper and sometimes they are the same price. But we always have more room with nice living spaces and kitchens that allow us a better experience and to save money on food and drink. I just find having more space very convenient.

It is hands down a better experience for a big group. There are gorgeous homes including pools, game rooms, etc. that are much cheaper than the same size group staying in a hotel. Additionally, you save a lot on breakfast and packing lunches.

My departure list is “If you have time”
1 start the dishwasher
2 strip the sheets of the beds you slept in (So the HK knows which to wash)
3 empty the trash.

That’s it. I don’t ask for anything else. That way I can keep the cleaning fee to a minimum. $75 fee for any length of stay.

The extra fees people are mentioning. Hotels are charging the occupancy fees as well. They don’t advertise them either.