r/travel • u/sokorsognarf • May 08 '23

Question Have you ditched Airbnb and gone back to using hotels?

Remember when Airbnb was new? Such a good idea. Such great value.

Several years on, of course we all know the drawbacks now - both for visitors and for cities themselves.

What increasingly shocks are the prices: often more expensive than hotels, plus you have to clean and tidy up after yourself at the end of your visit.

Are you a formerly loyal Airbnb-user who’s recently gone back to preferring hotels, or is your preference for Airbnb here to stay? And if so, why?

14.9k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

120

u/hot_chopped_pastrami United States May 08 '23

I understand the economics behind it, but I still think it's one of the reasons AirBnB has gone downhill. Sure, owners were always looking to make money, but it used to be less about completely maximizing profits at the expense of the guests. In the beginning, lots of owners would rent out their extra rooms/units and put in these cute homey touches. Now so many of them are bought by landlords with no connection to the property who fill them with cheap TJ Maxx and Ikea furniture and nickel and dime all of the people who rent them out. Sure, it's how capitalism works, but that also means I have the right to say that I'm not going to stay at a place where I have to pay an exorbitant cleaning fee and still do the majority of the cleaning chores.

31

u/Dyssomniac May 08 '23

I mean it definitely is. Like all of the gig economy, it's been stripped of the humanity and trickled upwards into the hands of people who are either idiots and over-leverage or people/companies with wells of cash to buy outright and rent eternally.

1

u/geometric_order May 08 '23

The trust fund kids ruin everything, man.

2

u/Liberator- May 09 '23

I remember one time I paid quite high cleaning fee, just to find a fridge full of rotting food and extremely dirty bathroom.

Not even mentioning how many rooms which prices were lower than the cleaning fee itself. Hilarious.

1

u/ConsiderationHour710 May 09 '23

Okay but what furniture do you put in your apartment if not ikea?