Just checked my account, we stayed at 167 places in the last 5 years.
I remember having a request to run a washing machine once - and sure thing I did. It's just a push of a button, not like I'm doing laundry by hand, and if a couple minutes of my time (that otherwise would be spent circling around the place and quadruple-checking if I packed everything I've brought with me) saves someone half an hour then I'm happy for a quick and meaningful distraction. As for the dishes and kitchen utensils - some hosts ask, some don't, but I wouldn't leave them dirty either way, that's just common sense and basic respect to the property.
Don't remember seeing any outrageous cleaning fees - although I haven't really bothered to check the fee structure, all I care about is the grand total and whenever it fits my budget - the rest is simply irrelevant to me. Airbnb used to suck about not showing the total amount right away (which led to this cleaning fee fiasco), but I believe it's long fixed.
Then, I typically spend about a week's worth of evenings carefully going over the listings, multiple times. Airbnb's search is mostly a joke, one can only find a decent place by setting only the most basic filters then methodically going through the listings checking if they're accurate, have a decent number of photos (listing descriptions are useless, have to actually see the kitchen, shower and "dedicated workspace"), favorable reviews, no obvious red flags, checking surroundings on the maps and so on.
Either way, for the long-term stays a good Airbnb house or apartment beats a hotel (YMMV). And ever for the shorter-term (1-2 week) stays I always checked the hotels and always ended up picking an Airbnb because it was a more attractive option.
This is the key. You're valuing your time at nothing. Which is fine, if it works for you.
It doesn't work for me. I want to do a quick search, using the basic parameters, and to be able to trust my search without going full CSI.
Increasingly, with Airbnb (also booking.com, also eBay, and now even Amazon), the results of a quick search cannot be trusted. In the case of Airbnb, hotels offer a "more reliable" alternative for the busy person.
It’s not good at all, but I’m not aware about any alternatives that can provide equally good results.
Having a good stay that I will enjoy is what I value of my time against. If I’m going to spend 2 months somewhere, I think spending a week isn’t worse than hating something every day for those two months.
It's a terrible experience. last 2 trips I've gone on I've ended up in hotels because all of the airbnb's had cleaning fees close to the nightly rate and an actual chore list for check out.
no thanks.