Airbnb 2022 Winter Release
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The prices are now pretty much the same, the discovery process is better when using hotel search engines such as booking.com and the overall quality and ratings can be easily cross-checked on multiple websites.
Compare that to the risk of having a crappy airbnb, whose ratings are of course skewed upwards, since they are the only ones in control.
Also, the airbnb website has become a slow unusable mess nowadays.
The map takes ages to load and scroll, it hides cheaper places by default and also doesnt include the fees that get tacked on in the end.
Airbnb previously had a lot of character & "true" shares (people renting our THEIR space).
Now, they seem to all look and feel the same... like a hotel. Except they come with the risk that something is off and there is no front desk.
I would check the reviews hoping that a previous guest would mention anything about the internet. Sometimes we took a leap of faith and it worked out. Sometimes a host would include a speed test screenshot in their images and that was great.
I spent a lot of 2021 and this year staying at AirBnBs for weeks, or a month, while working remotely. It does take a lot of energy to find the right place but we managed to barely have internet issues anywhere we went and we found that even places with about 15Mbps download (and even less upload) was still good enough for the 2 of us to work (and she was on video calls all day long)
> a real deal with a real deal chair, a external monitor I can plug in to.
We actually traveled with our own equipment so this wasn't an issue for us. We brought monitors, folding card tables to use a desks, and had standing desk converters[1] so chairs weren't needed. This relieved us of having to find places that had suitable workspaces. I can only imagine how much harder it would have been to search for places that had desks and chairs for 2 people to work
One thing I found annoying in AirBnB searches is that studios would show up when you put "1+ bedroom" and we definitely needed 2 separate rooms so that we could both be on calls at the same time. So if you needed a true 1 bedroom you would need to put 2. Seems like either AirBnb, or hosts trying to get their places in wider search results, conflate "room" with "bedroom"
1. This is the standing desk converter that I traveled with and that I'm still currently using: https://www.amazon.com/VIVO-Adjustable-Converter-Workstation...
I really like it but it was a pretty bulky item to travel with. My girlfriend's was a bit lower profile, having only one level (no separate keyboard tray). I probably could have made that work as well
During the pandemic, we tried one last effort. There was less interest then when we started in 2017.
Everything had shifted. It seems obvious now, but work from home setups went through a true evolution. If you used a computer during that time, you developed your WFH setup, and no longer needed something packable. We let it rest.
I might need to pick this packable, standing desk idea back up. The great relocation has made it more common (anecdotal) to travel somewhere for a month and work, yet decent standing desks don't come standard in an Airbnb.
Your comment inspired this - thank you.
[1] - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/raiseddesk/raised-desk-...
We've finished our traveling, for a while at least. There are chances of working remotely for a week or 2 in the future. In our longer travels I was using a large 2nd monitor but I have since gotten used to just my laptop screen.
2 small things about your raised desk that might make me hesitate to purchase it.
1. I am tall so height of the screen is important. The top of the card tables we traveled with are 29" off the floor so 25" on top of that is not tall enough for me. I think I'd need something with a 30" height to feel comfortable. If there was a countertop available to work on then the 25" might be ok.
2. It would be great if the part that holds the monitor could slope down a bit. I currently have my laptop on this stand¹ and I like how I can change the angle of it. I don't like to have the laptop sitting there open at a right angle, that bothers me for some reason. This is not a huge deal, I probably could get used to it being at a right angle.
These are problems specific to me and my needs and I know it can be hard to make something that's the right fit for everyone. You've done a great job already with the different notches so you can change the placement of the keyboard and laptop. I hope you do pick it back up!
¹https://www.amazon.com/Ergonomic-Adjustable-computer-Portabl...
To expand on that:
I could also bring my own sheets, they'll invariably be higher quality and thread count than those provided.
I could bring my own kitchenware, better than the two scraped and battered budget nonstick pans the place will be equipped with.
And so on. But I shouldn't have to as there should be a minimum of service expected based on what is advertised.
Then I realized I'm browsing Airbnb CEO's twitter. You never know with checkmarks on twitter these days.
Works well on large screens.
So... yeah, calling bullshit on ya, Brian.
Guess it just hits differently in Australia.