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Comment by andy_ppp | Hacker News Reader

I’ve had nothing but bad experiences with Airbnb and hosts who are basically trying to rinse as much money as possible for as little effort as possible. I’m not sure after a long journey I want to wonder around the Edinburgh fringe again, trying to decipher Scottish, while the wind is going crazy and there are millions of people floating around just to get keys. I think Airbnb is great if there are 15 of you sharing a flat but a lot less good if you’re a couple who want their lives to be simple. I really do not get why it’s so popular, it’s barely cheaper than a hotel after cleaning and service fees - and 100% less convenient.

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I have had both kinds of experiences.

Most of the time I get a good experience in an environment that I prefer over a hotel. It is wonderful.

But then there are times like the time we went to NYC, the host was lying about their address to avoid getting in trouble with the city, and expected to contact us on our way to correct that. However we were on an airplane, and when we arrived the host was asleep.

Ever shown up at a stranger's house, past midnight, with 4 kids expecting to go to sleep there? With them having not a clue why you are trying to break into their house?

I have.

Because I've had the opposite experience would you be willing to share how you pick places?

I rent: "Whole places", with a strong bias towards detached buildings, that rate 4.7 or higher on their scale, and have glowing reviews that mention how nice the host is. These are almost always $90/night or more, with an average of $120/night.

I have stayed at "conventional" B&B's that I've noticed apparently also list on AirBnB and they've been fine. I think a general point whether we're talking renting a room/apartment, ordering online FBA, etc. is that a lot of people bargain hunt. While that often works out, there's also a reason for the saying that if something looks too good to be true, there's a good chance you're going to get burned.

I’m not sure, now that I can afford a nicer place I usually book a hotel due to my previous experience. Maybe I should increase my price ranges and try again, but the key problem just means I really cannot be bothered. If they had places around town to get the keys from I’d be much more likely to use it again.

Having said that places usually are over £90 per night but this is very place dependant.

Most of the time when I travel, it's the city etc. that's the experience I'm looking for, not the accommodation. I have no doubt there are, even many, AirBnBs out there that are quite nice. But I'll usually go for predictability, as well as other amenities, like being able to leave my luggage for the day after I check out.

I find I get a much more real sense of the city living in one of its (non-hotel zoned) neighborhoods in a real house.

The issue is that when you do this via AirBnB you're actively participating in driving out the people who actually need to live there and who make up the city and give it part of its character.

And driving up the price of rent for those living there too...

I've had many bad experiences with airbnb. Also some really great (esp in the beginning), but usually those were huge places.

AirBNB is often more expensive, is a hassle with getting a key some times (other side of the city wtf), NO support in case electricity fails, some had dirty laundry. etc etc.

I've rented about 20 whole places. 50% had issues. 50% were good. Prices were almost always is the $120-$150 a night range. Examples of bad: claiming to have reserved parking but not having parking. Claiming to be one place but being another. Claiming to have usable internet but not. Claiming to have a bed but just having a cot. etc...

At this point I'd mostly choose hotels over AirBnB because generally a hotel will try to fix an issue but AirBnb never will. Their position is effectively "sucks to be you, you shouldn't have chosen that listing".

They policy is basically "unless it's life threatening shutup!" and the worst part is either you suck it up or you're out a day of your vacation travel etc as you try to scramble to find another place. It's not fun.

This is basically how I rent and I've also had great experiences.

I have rented a "non-Whole place" and I would say that was a pretty bad experience. Our room was supposed to be the only Airbnb, but two nights in, they rented out a room with a frosted glass separator next to us as "420 friendly" and the couple that moved in proceeded to have quite loud sex. We gave them pretty scathing reviews, which I am not wont to do.

And how did you review the room?

Poorly, but Airbnb's website has poor support for historical reviews so I can't actually see what I wrote. This was 4 years ago or so.

I likely would have been kinder if it weren't advertised as "whole condominium".

Ha, that may beat my weird one. I was with an ex, and we rented a room in a home across from Golden Gate park. We cleared with the resident that we would be back around 2am, and that it would be fine.

At 2am, they got mad at us for making so much noise. THEN at 6am, they start blasting some ethnic music as they proceeded to fry food for hours and party. Turns out they were VERY Jewish and were celebrating the Sabbath being over. Surreal.

Exactly, I think sharing homes with the whole population is very problematic as on average you’ll get a lot of people who aren’t really into Airbnb as a concept and don’t really care.

Getting home at 2am happens, if you don’t like it don’t rent rooms for money. In my head I edited out the expletives from that sentence :-|

I've had OK experiences, but I've acutely aware of how close I am to a bad experience, and it makes me uncomfortable. When I'm in a hotel, I'm never thinking "what if I can't get a key to the room," "what if a neighbor asks what I'm doing," "is there a hidden camera," etc.

AirBnB is on the long list of very successful startups that I absolutely don't get at all. Staying in some randos house feels so incredibly awkward and unpleasant to me. I'm genuinely surprised how many people are fine with it and even more surprised at how many people are willing to rent their homes to strangers. The whole thing just feels like a giant scam to dodge hotel tax.

I have a lot of good things to say about AirBnB, it's beautifully designed, the one time we used it, it was great. Awesome host and at that time, much cheaper than a hotel.

However I can't get over the service and cleaning fees, especially as they are added on the second page. I don't mind them, but why not include them on the listing page?

Not sure if it's an US thing or if it's something people actually falls for? This is a practice that is prevalent throughout industries, but one standing out of course is restaurants. The menu price: 20USD BUT + SF mandate + service fees + sales tax + mandatory tips, the dish is actually at least 30USD ? Why not just put that on the menu? In Sweden for instance (and most of Europe) the price you see in stores and on menus is the price you pay. Someone starting the next AirBnB and just shows you the actual price on the front page that is on your statement of your credit card in the end, will be very successful (I hope!)

Theres a chrome plugin that fixes the pricing you mention such that the search page shows the true combined price.

I never used AirBnB for that reason: The hotel was mostly the same price. But I guess if I were with 2-3 friends, the equation will change. AirBnB is bad deal if you are traveling alone.

If you pay at the higher end of rates and go with Superhosts, your experience will largely be flawless. I've never had a problem and my stays have been amazing, but I'm also spending hotel-equivalent prices or higher.

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