One of the experiences of traveling for me is the hotel experience where I can just let go of all my worries and let the hotel handle everything from clean laundry to changing the sheets.
My main reason is that with Airbnb, you can rent a fully functional apartment or a house, not a badly functioning/uninspiring room with no amenities, no places to chill, all the furniture is weird and everything looks fake. Then you need remind telling people to not to clean your room everyday at 8am, and hear people slamming doors from 6am to 10am. When I travel I like to have a little downtime at the house, shop local groceries and cook some meals at the house.
The second reason is that you find amazing and variety places in the world. Some of my favorite ones has been a modern loft on a hillside in overlooking the lake Atitlan and surrounding volcanoes in Guatemala, A-frame cottage in the forest of Mendocino Coast, and a penthouse loft with 360deg view, filled with vinyl records in Berlin.
I never stayed in a hotel that I found have enjoyed that much, or been that impressed by it. They are all the same and so bland, even the most high end or expensive ones.
(Disclaimer, I currently work at Airbnb.)
The place argument repeats elsewhere. I have been visiting friends in Europe who didn't have guest rooms and I was able to able find airbnbs nearby while there were no hotels. I was able to get an airbnb close to a train station in Milan where no hotels exist (admittedly this is a cost issue -- obviously I could've went elsewhere in Milan to get a hotel for significantly more).
Quality/place. I went to Bratislava for a concert and the only hotels in walking distance had terrible, terrible reviews, I know what a socialist hotel can be, I had the bad luck to be born in Hungary and could only fix the problem when I was 31 (now I am Canadian, yay). I was able to get a nice airbnb within spitting distance of the venue.
There's the kitchen problem. I love going out for dinner and often there is food I could bring to my temporary home -- only if it had a microwave. People with various food sensitivities find it easier to cook.
It happened more than once that a hotel maid found it acceptable to put my teddy bear on top of the freshly made bed. I heard some find this cute. But for me, a stranger touched the teddy bear I am sleeping with for thirty years. No.
Don't dismiss price so easily. Three times, five times savings happens all the time when I go to the head office in Bellevue. Or I could stay in a motel but I am too old for that crap.
There might be more but these come to mind easily.
Ps. Wifi! How could I forget that.
I used to find short-stay serviced apartments for this; the kind of place where the service is once a week or so I could put up with. Now, there's AirBnB as well.
Most hotels, in stark contrast, provide a very sterile environment that is completely isolated from the city’s culture and lifestyle.
With small children, staying in a hotel room for any length of time is really difficult. Setting up a potable crib, washing bottles, feeding simple meals, etc are a pain in a small, often dingy, hotel room. Having a separate sleeping space for children, so you don't have to go to bed at 7:30 also makes travel much more enjoyable. A decent hotel with a true suite and kitchenette is generally very expensive.
I've also used Airbnb to book apartments for family visiting me in the city. Again, for an extended stay I'd rather they have the space and amenities that would cost a fortune to match at a hotel in the city.
The other 10% is two bathrooms and cost.
> what is the primary motivation
After a while, all hotels kind of blend into each other. With AirBnB it feels more like assimilating than visiting - you're living where the locals live. Plus each place you stay at comes with its own personality.
Plus while hotels are often confined to a particular part of town, I can get an AirBnb is some obscure part of the city to use as a launchpad for exploring.
Last week I stayed at an airbnb in Copenhagen shared with the owner which gave me tips about restaurants and nice places to visit. You don't get that at hotels, only flyers advertising whoever payed the hotel.