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Comment by callmeed | Hacker News Reader

I have about a 50% success rate with AirBnB when using it. At a hotel I know what to expect and those expectations are met probably 90% of the time. I'm not going to enter a room at the Hyatt and have my eyes start watering because it smells so strongly of cat piss (actually happened). How can people argue that AirBnB is anything but pretty CSS and some tech. efficiencies on top of HomeAway/VRBO? It may be a substitute for a hotel, but it is not Hyatt.

You also forgot to bring up all the regulatory hurdles AirBnB faces in a multitude of cities, counties, states, and countries. I really don't understand how investors are not calculating that into the risk and valuation (maybe they are).

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You're comparing apples with oranges. Airbnb's success is thanks to people like me who can't afford the comfortable certainty of checking into a Hyatt every time I stay abroad. Airbnb's success rate and level of amenities compared to hotels of a similar price range is nothing short of incredible. I couldn't have done half the travelling I have without it.

Without even talking about Hyatt, AirBnB is not that much cheaper than most hotel chains in big cities. If it were like 50% of the price, yeah, why not, but usually it's about the same in the places where I go, so it does not make sense to play Russian roulette with them.

Airbnb can be cheaper if you don't mind sharing a bathroom and all other common areas, which is usually what people are comparing. That's somewhere between a hostel and a hotel, though.

If you want the same privacy you'd have in a hotel room, it will be about the same price if you're looking at a place in Manhattan and comparing it to one of the less expensive boutique hotels. Not to mention the fact that every single 'whole apartment' listing on AirBnb in NYC that doesn't have a proper license is operating illegally.

Honestly, I've been consistently let down by hotels, and so far only incredibly impressed with AirBnB. They've consistently cost me only 80-90% the local hotel rate, for twice the space, in-general-nicer accommodations, and a couple times it even included homecooked meals that were nothing short of unbelievable, just 'cause the owner was still staying there.

I also have a hard time believing that the cat urine thing happened- and that if it did, that you didn't report them to AirBnB. That sounds to me like the kind of thing they'd refund you(or more) for.

"...just 'cause the owner was still staying there."

Honestly, my favorite part of a hotel is not having to share a living space with a stranger.

Some people really like meeting strangers and especially travelling strangers.

If staying in the home of interesting strangers is part of what appeals to you about traveling, Couchsurfing lets you do it while paying 0% of local hotel rates.

That'w why you go to bars usually when you travel. It's nice to dissociate the place you sleep at and the place where you socialize.

Normally I'm not that kind of person! But at least once, it was such a nice surprise that we spoke for hours. I loved it.

I have more mixed experiences. The space is indeed usually bigger than a hotel. Whether it's cleaner and nicer is mixed. I would say housekeeping is not as consistent as a good hotel chain, though it is not usually too bad. Non-sleeping amenities are usually a bit better (good chance of some couches, decent kitchen, etc.), while bed is usually a bit worse. However the part that is really more of a hassle (in my fairly limited experience, again) is check-in and check-out: you really have to be much more diligent about exchanging phone numbers, arranging meet-up times, and double-checking everything, to avoid showing up at a location where there's nobody waiting for you. Whereas with a hotel you can just show up and there's a front desk.

Thats crazy. IN my experience a good hotel experience is not 9 in 10 trips, but instead significantly less.

I don't care so much about having a good experience, but I like the near-guarantee of an acceptable experience. I can't think of the last time I had a hotel stay that was below acceptable. I vaguely recall having to switch rooms once over an HVAC issue they couldn't solve. The total inconvenience to me there was well under an hour and that's probably been 10 years (and a corresponding 200 nights in hotels).

Do you find a hotel room unacceptable in some way significantly more than 10% of the time?

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