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Comment by virtualwhys | Hacker News Reader

FTA, $500 per day to rent an historic mansion overlooking the bay (i.e. before the bridge obstruction)

I have a family wedding to attend back east this autumn and we're looking at around that (before "service fees" and taxes) to sleep 5 out in the sticks of New Hampshire -- short-term housing has truly gotten out of hand, basically everywhere.

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They mention this was before the Loma Prieta earthquake which was in 1989; if we take inflation from 1980 to now into account that'd be $1600-1900 today. Probably still good value, esp. given the view, but I guess it does depend on how it was furnished at the time.

Yeah Airbnb has become so outrageously expensive and is so much less convenient than a hotel that it's almost never worth it anymore, it's crazy.

It's sad because AirBnB has also similarly shrunk the "suite" class of room that we as a 5 person family need. So we're forced into using AirBnB/VRBO because hotels only offer 2+2 (and most rental sites don't let you even look for 5 person rooms). Ugh.

I'm trying to book multiple(4) rooms for 9 people and most places I've searched just don't seem to support the idea of a group traveling. I don't want to call every place, I'm just trying to shop.

Sometimes, letting professionals help is the only way. They already know the places that can accommodate your party's size, and can often get very competitive rates.

Hiring this type of professional does not come at a "competitive rate"

Travel Agents tend to be free (for the traveler), what are you talking about?

Unless they are also free for the person renting out the place, wouldn't they simply raise the price by the cost of the travel agent?

Similar to apartment locators, the "agent" is often paid by a commission from the apartment rather than by the person using the service. So this is one of those cases where you are the product.

No doubt. But probably not specifically for this stay, so basically all the people who also rent this place without using a travel agent are subsidizing your use of the travel agent.

where does one find a travel agent?

I'm looking for one right now xD Using BBB and Yelp xD

Just search for 4. You're almost never going to get in trouble for sleeping 2 adults and 3 kids in a hotel room for 4.

Often you can find that they will charge $xx per additional person, if you go over the listed figure (if you choose to declare the overage).

More often they will declare >N persons a 'fire safety hazard' and refuse for your safety and security. And to help them make more revenue.

Cruise ships do this too, even if the extra person is an infant.

From personal experience, just stick the youngest on the floor

That’s outrageous. You could trip over one and sprain your ankle. We just tied ours outside and told people the kids identified as dogs.

What? Why?

The author probably intended it to be an hilarious joke, but they assumed you are as well versed in Fox News identity politics as they, sadly, are

You’re right about the first part. I don’t have Fox News so I’m not sure about the second part. I’m not particularly sad about it but thank you for your concern.

Personally, I got a good laugh out of it…

There's an active genocide going on but you just had to go there. This would have still been funny without this tired, old, cliche of a "joke"

No genocide at all. Most of our kids survived!

Kindness costs you nothing

This has been our experience

Negotiate if you’re staying for a month or more. I frequently get prices that are less than half the asking price.

You can always negotiate. When I did nomading I regularly only booked on or two days with booking and then asked for a deal for one or two more weeks if I liked the place.

At least the 15% or so fee from booking portals are easily waved. If you are off season and the hotel is empty anyway they often are happy to go even further.

Things must be different here (BC, Canada). I can't think of why I'd ever rent a hotel room when AirBnB's are usually a similar price and way more comfortable (usually).

Unless I had a worry about cancellations I suppose.

AirBnB is like the proverbial curléd girl:

When she was good, She was very good indeed, But when she was bad she was horrid.

This comment is Google's first hit for "curléd girl".

I don't know what that is, but it made me laugh!

I live in the US, and for most places I travel in-country, my experience is similar to yours.

There are exceptions, of course.

They are comfortable during the stay, but not when you arrive or leave and waste so much time there.

I never know if that Airbnb will have toilet paper, towels, shampoo, dishwashing liquid, etc. and for everything that they don't I have to do a supermarket trip and buy a quantity that would last 2 months when I'm staying 2 days.

Then when you leave, despite paying 20% of cleaning fees, you may be asked to do the dishes, vaccum the floor, etc.

All of that together has an extremely high cost, especially on a vacation.

In europe my experience is kind of the oposite. Airbnbs have been incrementally more expensive over the years. Thet are now as expensive as hotels, but without the quality of service.

Only times I enjoy airbnb are when I am travelling alone, don't need more than a room, and want to actually have the opportunity to chat and get tips from the host.

I have the exact opposite experience -- as someone who always wants two adjoining rooms (for kids). Doing that in a hotel tends to cost as much as 3 times what an Airbnb would cost, and the airbnb is more comfortable. You just need to actually read reviews.

Yeah what I've found with Airbnb is these days you need to optimize way harder for host quality/reviews and less for your actual preference in terms of location, price, furnishings. If the place has a 4.95, you will get what you pay for. 4.5-4.8 = there many be some hiccups. < 4.5 you might as well go to Vegas and put the money on black.

Well you have a very particular scenario, but in most cases, having to clean up everything, take the trash out, doing dishes, cleaning grill, taking linens out, collecting towels and starting the washer while still getting kicked out at 10? And paying hundreds for cleaning on top of that? You can’t enjoy the last day and you’re paying for it.

Been there, not even sure how it's legal to charge a (usually quite substantial) cleaning fee while having the guest do 1/2 the work.

In a Napoleonic legal system it might not be. Perhaps the question you should ask instead is why is it not illegal?

I must be staying in very different airbnbs than you. I have never had to do any of that. But I only stay with Superhosts and only 4.8 or higher.

I've never had to do any of that. AirBNB is way cheaper for my family of 6 (3 adults, 3 kids)

you’ve been very lucky. the list of “chores” i’ve had to do at the airbnbs i’ve stayed at is unreal. even worse when i was paying absolutely ridiculous cleaning fees.

If there's a high cleaning fee I just don't do the "chores"

I've found that level of chores to be pretty rare (and nonexistent in more recent years), and there was a push over the last year or so (from Airbnb to their hosts) to do away with much of that sort of thing. Not sure how well it worked, though. At any rate, reading through reviews usually tells you if the chores are excessive. And if it doesn't, and you end up doing more work than you'd like, you can always include that in your review. (I also noticed that nowadays many hosts advertise "no chores" in their listing description, or even listing title.)

Personally I don't mind taking out the trash and starting the dishwasher before I leave. I draw the line at doing laundry or actual cleaning, though. I'm always torn on being asked to strip the beds that we've used. On one hand... annoying... but on the other, that tells me that they won't waste water and electricity/gas cleaning stuff that doesn't need to be cleaned, which I like. Sorta in the same line as when a hotel will ask you to hang towels that you're ok with using multiple times, and leave towels you want washed on the floor or in the tub.

My assumption is that part of the reason for the excessive chores is that it's harder to turn around a property for a new guest when the cleaning crew isn't on-site. At a hotel, housekeeping just goes from room to room down the hall until they're done, and the hotel often has some amount of slack so even if housekeeping isn't completely finished, they can still check in new guests as they arrive.

At an Airbnb, the cleaning crew may not even be at the property for the entire run of a dishwasher. But I suspect the hosts that want you to do things like start laundry don't have an extra set of bedsheets and towels: in that case, screw them, they're being cheap and making you work for it.

> You can’t enjoy the last day and you’re paying for it.

You pay for nights, not days (same as a hotel). Regardless, I don't think I've ever "enjoyed" my last day in any kind of rented accommodation where the check-out time is noon or earlier. The entire morning is always about getting ready to leave.

You choose poorly, I’m afraid to say. I ask my guests to do nothing but lock the door behind them, and I don’t charge a cleaning fee.

Yeah blame me all you want but you’re an exception, not the rule. Good for you though and I hope to find more hosts like you.

AirBnB just needs to add a “no cleaning fee” search option.

I'm hearing AirBnB have for a little while now been playing fast and loose with reviews - genuine and fair negative reviews are being blocked, and it looks like this is to prevent (short-term) loss of revenue to AirBnB.

Well, you’re obviously not looking for abandoned navy mansions. Don’t worry, I’m not charging for this valuable tip.

Pardon the sidebar. What does FTA stand for? Googling the term doesn't seem to yield results that make sense to me.

From The Article, I assume.

From the article

New Hampshirite here: Wherever you're trying to stay, it sounds like you're doing it wrong...

Unless you're trying to be in, like, Lancaster during PorcFest or something.

Funny I had never heard about PorcFest until just now and drove by Roger's Campground less than an hour ago.

It's not that PorcFest is especially widely known. It's just that Lancaster doesn't have much in the way of inventory, and it books up for that one week, even though the event is at a campground.

you got me so excited!... till I could find no mention of pork and porcfest in the same sentence

tl;dr Porc refers to porcupines, which is their mascot for libertarians

Hotels in SF are affordable for some reason.

I, too, choose this man's Dead Wedding.

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