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Comment by ceph_ | Hacker News Reader

I don't fully agree all of the top commenters points, but I do on their price one. Airbnbs used to be significantly cheaper than hotels and now, in many metros throughout the world, they're comparable.

It's just down to tradeoffs on what you're looking for. You can get a kitchen and a bit more space with an airbnb, but you give up on the hotel amenities of support/cleaning staff, and lounge/gym spaces. Don't get me wrong, I usually value a full kitchen over maid service. But I was able to stay at nobu for a comparable price to a 2 bedroom in Barcelona.

I do agree with your point about renting a room in someones place. But that's now a small fraction of airbnb's business compared to renting a full place.

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I have used AirBnbs nearly a hundred times and they are never comparably priced to hotels. But this seems to be an anti-Airbnb hate fest, not a rational discussion, so obviously data isn't relevant here.

Or, consider that Airbnb is different in different countries and experience varies accordingly.

I guess? I've used it in over a dozen countries in Europe, probably ±20 cities in the US, Morocco, Japan, Turkey, and more that I can't remember. I've never had any issues, beyond a few things with the space itself (e.g., the street was really noisy when the windows were left open.) Maybe a few could have been cleaner, but again, nothing that was nightmarish.

In my experience, hosts have been about half very cool and friendly and half professional, but minimal. My guess is that the people with extremely negative experiences either didn't look at reviews before booking and/or are the type that trash hotel rooms and have issues with spending 2 minutes cleaning up after themselves. Ask anyone that's worked in hospitality: that type of person is sadly very common.

Well I may be an exception but I have the complete opposite experience. I book trips last minute, like two to three weeks before flying, and maybe that’s why the three times I booked an Airbnb at San Antonio, Hawaii, and Los Angeles were absolute nightmares. Mold (I’m talking flood damage mold), dusty/dirty. Haven’t had the same experience even with cheap motels, and to me the extra 10% was worth it.

That being said i had an excellent experience in Switzerland. My host went off Airbnb soon after that and launched her own website.

Me too, but that was in the past before $200 cleaning fees for a 2 night stay. It's not always the cheaper option anymore.

You actually never offered the only data that could tie all this together: How far in advance are you booking?

Depends on the trip, but I wouldn't say there's any particular pattern. Sometimes a month ahead, sometimes a week. The day before, almost never.

Meanwhile the last few trips I've been on I booked multiple months in advance. Perhaps this is the root cause in how your experience is so different?

I don't know how that would be relevant at all. If anything, booking further out probably has a better success rate, as you have more time to research the right location and property.

Hotel prices tend to rise the less notice you give before your stay. So when you (you specifically) book closer to the date of your stay, you find hotels are more expensive. This suggests that because you book accomodations much closer to the date of your stay, you find hotels more expensive than Air B&B; whereas others, who may book further out, apparently found hotels cheaper.

It's not that everyone else, or you, are necessarily wrong about which is cheaper. I suspect you just plan your trips differently or with a different timeline than other commentors.

Hmm, that makes sense, but I guess the types of hotels wouldn’t be priced as low as the Airbnbs anyway. $30 a night for example is a very cheap hotel rate but a typical Airbnb fare in Central Europe.

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