Will wait a year or two to see if this makes airbnb reliable in any form.
The host of a friend's new year eye reservation in NYC one canceled less than 24 hours before check in as we were in transit to the city. That was an ordeal but Airbnb made it right by covering the difference for the next available comparable place which was significantly more expensive. Since everything was booked for the holiday, that turned out to be a penthouse.
We would almost all rather a hotel.
We're not going for the company, but for the price, and sometimes charm.
There should be professionals able to provide discount lodging with a bit of charm.
There is something perversely wrong with zoning in cities, it should be completely reasonable to have 'lodging' basically anywhere people live.
Literally any building could/should be used for temporary lodging with just a few parameters/adjustments.
In many cases, when traveling with my family, I'd much prefer an AirBnb/vrbo/condo. Our kids are too young to have two rooms, and getting too big to fit into a single room.
I guess a hotel suite could work, but it's generally a lot less space and less convenient. In HBO's White Lotus, the main family has a suite that looks like it would cost several thousand a night, but the teenage son is sleeping on a cot in the kitchen. In that scenario, having a 2-4 bedroom condo or home would be much preferable than an ultra luxury suite.
We've rented an Airbnb home basically on the beach in Kauai. No comparison to any hotel at any price in terms of comfort. In Italy, we've rented an Airbnb that had a bedroom hidden behind a bookshelf. For a five year old kid, it was like the coolest thing ever.
My kids broke an IKEA vase while there and the host asked for EUR 100 saying it had sentimental value. I countered EUR 50 (it probably cost 15 but it takes time and effort to replace things) and they accepted…
Another great VRBO experience was renting a house on a lake. Our friends had a house on the other side of the lake. Every morning my wife would drive around the lake with one kid, and me and another kid would row across to meet our friends. These experiences aren't possible with a hotel, at any price.
I've also stayed in an AirBnb that had cockroaches. We changed places the next day, switching to a place that was more than twice the price but infinitely better.
In short, I'd say that hotels and specific hotel brands have more consistency. Airbnbs can be amazing, and there can be horror stories. I guess it's like traveling to new places, foreign places. Much safer to stay with what you know, but you might be missing out on a lot.
Yes, lake houses will probably not be like that.