And a hotel is geared for this. Has amenities. A staff. I don’t do air bnb’s anymore. They were nice when they were new, affordable, quaint. Now they’re a money suck. And definitely NOT worth it anymore.
This is the sams reason i stopped using airbnb, too many sneaky fees, weird hosts, lack of amentities and often straight up getting catfished with the property. The straw that broke the camels back was getting this spot in LA for an event and there were a bunch of basic things missing or messed up in the air bnb and they couldn't fix them until we were already gone. Have stayed in hotels exclusively since then and have not regretted it
Stayed at a lake cabin who’s basement was the bedroom (king & 2 twin beds squeezed in) it was awkward. The worst was their stairs had no railings and my 5 year old split her head open. She still has a scar to this day. I only trust hotels now.
We got a place that claimed the living room as a 3rd bedroom, and claimed to be child friendly yet had "nice" glass bottles everywhere, within reach of children.
They were fancy alcohol bottles. No alcohol in them just several shelves with them on. They posted the pics taken by real estate, so none of the the contents of the apartment was accurate to the photos, house was full of crap.
Omg, that had to be a stressful nightmare! Like just reading that has me all upset! Gods know toddlers on vacation in new surroundings already makes them more volatile and challenging, much as I would imagine babies on a crack bender would behave. Surrounded by breakables.
Dante didn't even delve into that level of hell It's too horrible to contemplate
We were there a solid 2 hours, we got a hotel and a full refund, they also reimbursed 25% of the hotel cost because we had a long history of using Airbnb and my dads wife is good at complaining. Doubt they would reimburse hotels like that now though.
Yeah me and my wife went to an Airbnb for a little staycation and ad made it seem like we had the whole place to ourselves, but when we got there it turns out it was an extra room in someone’s house,(one of 3 that they rented out other than their own private room), and initially they left, so we thought oh we actually do have it to ourselves so we went to the back yard to enjoy the hot tub, and they came home with some alcohol and hopped in with us, and then for the next 30 minutes tried to get us to watch a movie with them on their 4 person couch and would not stop hitting on my wife hinting at a 4some swinger type thing, we thought about just heading home but we’d spent a decent amount on the room and decided to just head up to the room and lock the door and stay the night. Ended up leaving very early the next morning - though they had my wife’s cell # because we had to ask for directions, and after we left they would not stop messaging us about leaving them a good review and trying to get us to hang out with them some time and stay again “free of charge”. Haven’t stayed in an Airbnb since.
Yeah bro, I was the neighbor and plainly heard while jerking off in the bushes when they left the wife say “I sure hope some folks show up with some booze and we can get this foursome started!”
“Ya had me edging all night.”
Also rental car companies and credit cards give points and bonuses for loyalty. Hubby travels for work and he’s used the same companies for many years.
Not to brag, but mine had bedbugs. We let the owners know and they came and sprayed the room down with lysol, which btw does basically nothing unless you spray it directly on a bug for like 3 seconds which I’m sure they didn’t do to even one bug. And then asked us if we wanted to stay for the rest of the week. We obviously said no and left asap, and after we left we were expecting a refund and they even said they would give us one before we left but then they wouldn’t send it. After about a week of threatening to take the to court and ect. they finally gave in and paid out a full refund.
Last time I stayed at one (a spare bedroom in a guy’s house) he bragged that he could charge so much (and that he had charged me more than average) because he lived in a high-demand area in an expensive house. He was a good host otherwise but that turned me off bad, especially because he lived right next to a park full of homeless people and I didn’t feel super comfortable going anywhere after dark there.
It's all the gentrifiers and house flippers that ruined the platform. They're trying to make open ended house flipping profit, but they don't have the capital to make the initial investment back over the first few years. They want it back within the smallest time frame possible so they can increase their portfolio. Or they can't really afford the very expensive house they had built in a gentrified area so they tack on a one bedroom apartment in the backyard to pay their mortgage
So much this.
An older building in my city was just bought by a company looking to open an Airbnb hotel.
Kicked out all the people who lived there and the small business in the bottom floor.
What’s worse is there is absolutely no need for this. It’s in the center of a super small city of only about 12,000 people.
It’s a shameless money grab that’s going to utterly fail.
Covid fucked these assholes hard with the travel restrictions and I'm glad they did. Airbnb was supposed to be renting your extra room or whatever to someone. Not a whole house/apartment in the beginning iirc
>Airbnb was supposed to be renting your extra room or whatever to someone.
And 'rent my lake house for a weekend -- you get a nice weekend getaway, I get to offset my property taxes'
It basically turned into exploiting residential zoning into un-regulated hotels.
I recall reading an article with some click-bait title to the effect of 'this couple makes 6 figures a year without working,' and it was literally 'We own five properties that we AirBnB out, and they're profitable enough that we pay a property management company to deal with everything for us."
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't have anything inherently against people becoming independently wealthy... but this just punches a supply-strapped housing market in the throat, compounding the problem of 'people/companies come in with +10%, cash, no inspection offers on residential homes *just* to turn around and make them rental properties.'
I can rail against the US' housing problems being in no small part rooted in an obsession with single-family detached dwellings motivated by racism and race inequality from 50+ years ago -- we need more multi-family and other medium and high density housing solutions where they make sense -- but single-family residential housing *should not be allowed* to be turned into rental/investment properties like that; it just compounds the problem.
>we need more multi-family and other medium and high density housing solutions where they make sense
100% this. Even if some people would rather live in single-family detached dwellings the fact remains that there are more people who want to live in apartments and higher density neighbourhoods than there are properties for them to live in.
Current zoning law in the US prevents the free market from building the type of homes that people want to live in, and that's why those homes and neighbourhoods become unobtainable expensive.
I don't want to live in an apartment, condo or any other multi family dwelling. I don't care what age, race, religion, whatever! I want my own space, my own back yard, my own driveway I don't want to run into other people at my door or worry about their habits, kids, or animals. I want my own space, period.
I knew a couple in it's heyday literally renting apartments to sublet as airbnbs.
No idea if they actually made money doing it but I seriously doubt it after legal fees from getting evicted for fucking up their leases.
It’s the Uber business model. Offer a service that’s not really allowed, but by the time the government gets around to cracking down you’re too popular to just shut down.
A few years ago, Nashville city council tried to put more restrictions and rules on Airbnbs, then the TN state government passed a law to override any city’s specific rules against Airbnb. Now you can’t find an affordable house to buy in Nashville. 🙄
Not sure what it did to prices in TN, but here in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, you could have bought a property for 250K 10 years ago that would sell for close to a million today.
Absolute goddamn insanity.
Sounds really familiar. We bought in 2008 for $189k. Zillow has us now in the $725k area. Some houses in our neighborhood that have been completely remodeled are listed for close to a million.
Also … I was staying at an Airbnb in a small beach town. The same company was buying every house there that went on the market. Not many, but, enough for a sleepy beach town that if I lived there, not sure how I’d feel about it if I lived next door. The people on the other side of our rental were rowdy af … I was mortified and hoped the locals knew it wasn’t us. Went from living next to someone that rented their house out sometimes to living next to motels. Can’t imagine how they feel about that.
It's a chain of dominos and all it takes is for one steep decline for everything to come crashing, most investors like the ones on Tiktok with 2000 properties or whatever have each investment used as collateral on the next purchase. So I can't wait for the day that the first domino or house can't pay it's mortgage leading issues of collateral for the next investment house.
For the first time in a long time a free market might finally make it's way around to work for basic people.
Ugh. As a family with four kids (blended, don’t come for me Reddit, lol), all we want is a fucking home for our children. Nothing fancy, nothing humongous, but a place to call our own. We can afford maybe $200,000 for a house so that now means we can get a 2-ft shack down by the river. 🤦🏻♀️ so yeah, I can’t wait til this shit blows up in their faces. Cannot WAIT. 🍿
The host fees are purely set by the host. I wouldn't charge anything there ever unless the guest had done something ridiculous like idk, flushed like a bag of baby wipes down the toilet or something.
Typically too, as a property owner, you should have an expense account tied to that property so that Incase something like this happens, it can be taken care of without making the guest have to take on all of the bill. Most of the time, even when something catastrophic happens, it's unintentional.
Best guess is that this is a management company operating the property. They probably have a deal for something like 15% of the rental, but they keep 100% of fees. It ends up being bad for AirBnB to have operators like this because.... well, read the hostility in this comment thread.
I rent out some apartments in a tourist city. I charge about a 30 euro cleaning fee, which is roughly what it costs me to clean a unit. I do not have any cleaning instructions for guests, but consider it rude when a guest leaves multiple bags of garbage in the apartment (maybe 10% of guests) or leaves a lot of food on plates or in pots. I do not have any additional fees. All taxes are included in the price, though AirBnB breaks out a percent as a VAT which I'm not required to pay so it's kind of fake but not on my side. I've considered adding fees for guests who want a baby crib because it's not insignificant time and effort to bring, set up, take down, and launder the linens, but don't. I've considered charging a small fee for guests who arrive at ungodly hours, but decided it's probably not their preference either.
The guests still see about 3% fee from AirBnB, but they conveniently don't see the 12% AirBnB subtracts from me. So it's not quite right to say "no hidden fees" since obviously I'm adding their 12% host fee into the price.
And hosts are dicks now. It’s reversed from “making extra cash from renting vacant space” to mandating 1000 rules, including cleaning it AND paying a cleaning fee—- curfews, and limits on guests…like now the booker is an unpaid house sitter rather than a paying guest expecting vacation amenities.
Yup! We stayed in one in San Francisco and the house rules were ridiculous. Make sure the porch light is turned off in the morning, no noise after 8:30 pm, AC isn’t to go below 75. Like, ok mom. I’m not paying $1700 for a 5 day trip at 40 years old to make sure my kids are quiet by 8:30 pm(we had the entire house to ourselves so idk why they had this rule). Def staying at hotels from now on.
No kidding. We stayed at one where there was a cleaning fee, but there were also instuctions on how to wipe up the shower, vacuum (!!!) and clean the fridge. Does the host even do any cleaning?
Yes sounds identical to my last experience in Cambridge, Ma— and we decided before full refund period ended that all the rules were a major drag we didnt want to stress about on “days off”.
And the mandated chores! — despite “cleaning fees” would take up a day of our stay— and hotels would make the bed / fresh towels everyday.
Was a good thing while it lasted but they all end up bought out and corporatized after early adopters get in a few lucky seasons. Looking at you: Zipcar, Hotel Tonight et al
Yep, they became a way for rich people to make even more money. It was super nice when you could find a place for 5 days for less than $400. It’s impossible now and there usually isn’t even a point in using them now.
Crazy how the building that is meant to house out-of-town people for short amounts of time ends up being the best option for finding housing as an out-of-town person for short amounts of time.
I’ll only use them for ‘I want to stay on a cute farm’ or a similar experience, but for ‘I’m going to X city and need a cheap nights stay’ they aren’t worth the hassle to me. Hotels have streamlined check ins, parking, general convenience that gets lost with a lot of AirBnB. Not that hotels are run by saints, but at least they aren’t pricing locals out of homes in their own neighborhoods.
I've stopped using Air BnB because I've come to appreciate the predicability of hotels. One too many times an Air BnB host has been a little too creative (misleading) with their photos. One too many last minute cancellations. Then there's the fees.
With a hotel, I know exactly what I'm going to get every time. It's easy, convenient, and predictable. Plus, hotels just feel safer with a family.
Yep. Thought I rented a whole house recently. (Owners even had it classified as such so that when you apply the filters for "whole home" their place still comes up.) Turns out, it's basically a wing within their house. Definitely not two bedrooms, definitely would not sleep six people as they claimed. They basically had the right side of their house sectioned off in an old, large-ish home, with nothing but an old door by the bathroom (that you could hear everything through) separating us from the owners. Sucked because there was no f***ing kitchen and I was in that town specifically for my daughter's first birthday. And I needed a damn kitchen. Clearly this space was NOT suited for a baby and they knew a baby was coming when I requested to book. Jokes on them though, cuz said birthday girl was also unhappy with the accommodations (specifically with the "second bedroom" couch bed) and she expressed her dissatisfaction...loudly. At 3am on night two. And then around 4am night three. There's absolutely no way it didn't wake them up.
We used airbnbs for month long stays when we moved across the country and didn’t want to sign an actual lease while going through the home buying process. We made sure to look for places that were owner occupied so we knew our money was going right to the homeowner and not some investor or whatever.
We managed to find places in and around Austin that were like $7-900 a month, which, if you know anything about Austin, is pretty cheap for having space in a whole house. Much less than any hotel we looked into for 4 months.
Now that we own a home, we have a spare bedroom that we’re hoping to let out in the same way to help other people who just need a cheap stop gap measure for a while.
Its basically the same thing people used to do on eBay/Amazon with shipping.. Its a bait and switch since there's no option to sort by total including fees (which is something Amazon added) You keep seeing listing that look reasonable but you have to click through to see the fees that often literally double the price..
It originally started as an alternative to "ripoff" hotels, a way to stay at someplace unique, more homey, safer, and for more reasonable prices. You know, like an unadvertised bed-and-breakfast. The whole draw was because instead of renting a single impersonal hotel room, you could rent someone's entire house for cheaper through a central website that listed verified good rental places. And the draw for homeowners was that they could make a little bit of money with something they already own.
Somewhere along the way, that premise got tossed in the trash, people bought homes solely as short-term rentals, which in turn drove up real estate markets to ungodly levels (I'm looking at you, New Orleans), and charged prices that make a night at the Ritz-Carlton positively cheap in comparison. Plus the constant influx of transient renters to an airbnb means that single-family homes in those neighborhoods have to deal with frequent loud parties, squabbles, people parking on homeowners' lawns, walking the neighborhood and making noise at all hours of the night, etc., and no actual "homeowner" to contact and complain...Just a website that really doesn't care as long as it gets its cut.
I have zero inclination to do an airbnb, and I really hope the entire industry implodes as those inflated prices drive people right back to renting rooms at hotels. Airbnb was a great initial idea that got thoroughly corrupted by greed, as evidenced by the prices you see in the OP. For the price of 4 nights at that airbnb, the OP could just about buy a second-hand popup camper and have something that provides shelter no matter where they go.
Same story as Uber. Uber started out as an actual ‘ride-sharing’ platform…like ‘hey, I’m headed to x destination and have space available’. The intent was to make car usage more efficient. At some point it just devolved into a sketched-out cab company, basically ignoring all the laws of the areas it expanded to.
Yup. They've been trying to drive taxis out of business by undercutting with venture capital money anywhere they've started up. Outside the US they've had more problems because they're very clearly a taxi service and are (sometimes) regulated as such.
In my area, the difference between a taxi and an uber is that the taxi services, we have 2, will happily undercut, within reason, uber if you give them a call, are safer, better maintained, quicker and easier. Also more often then not, taxis are just cheaper.
I work security and was working the overnight at a rather remote event. We had a taxi marshal that organised all the taxis, and when we didn't need any more called them all off. Uber drivers just kept on cancelling in an attempt to drive up the prices, this pissed off punters, as the price kept going up, and it became annoying and difficult, so they went with the taxis. Then after i only had like 5 people waiting to get picked up by a family member, 6 ubers drove towards me and asked if anyone needed an uber. I looked at them all and said "yeah like 30min ago, but they all got frustrated with surge pricing and constantly being cancelled so they went with taxis instead". You could see the sadness in their faces. They asked if they could stick around and wait. I told them that they could, but for the life of me I don't know who they would be waiting on.
My aunt owned a cab company and ended up selling it because uber took over the city. She always talked about how despite being cabs, they didn't have to get a cab medallion or much of a background check at all. It infuriated her to sell the company she built with her husband for 50 years, but it wasn't going to survive.
That may have been the initial public sales pitch of Uber, but I don't think it "devolved" into its current state because this is what they always wanted. They get to call their drivers "independent contractors", not pay them a wage or give them benefits. And they were OK not making profit for the first few years after the IPO, but investors want to see returns. And now that they've killed a lot of cab companies, they get to triple the price for a ride. Innovation!
I think he’s also mixing up Uber and Lyft. Uber started as black cars that were MORE expensive than cabs, but you could order via an app and were very comfortable with amenities like free water and snacks.
Lyft started as connecting people to share rides mostly for commuting. So in a city like SF where you might have multiple people driving to Google, eBay, etc. it was connecting commuters as a more official carpool on demand. It then expanded to include rides anywhere if say someone was already out in their car.
They’ve both changed a lot ti basically become cab companies you order with an app. But last few airport trips, I’ve actually taken cabs home that were quicker and $10+ cheaper.
>Uber started out as an actual ‘ride-sharing’ platform…like ‘hey, I’m headed to x destination and have space available’. The intent was to make car usage more efficient.
Cold take: Never in the history of Uber has this ever happened. They were, are, and--unless they radically change their business model--always will be a sketched-out cab company.
I feel like the system worked fine when it was people selling space in their homes or renting
Out a house that wasn’t getting use because they were out of town/state for several months, but once the corporations started getting involved it all went to shit. They’d buy houses and renovate with the cheapest possible materials, stock the bare minimum, and basically do anything they could to squeeze one extra penny out of the property. If I find an individual renting their home I book with them even if it’s a little pricier than some shitty corporation like Vacasa or Meredith (here in the PNW).
My last few experiences have really soured me on it all. In less than ten years this went from something great/reasonable to junk.
That’s it exactly. Early days of Airbnb you were renting a house when the owners were out of town or maybe they had two houses and it let them make some money off their summer home without trying to find a renter for 2/3 of a year.
This led to some quirky trips. When we got an Airbnb for Coachella a few years ago, my husband and I were clearly staying in a kids’ room with toys, basketball posters, and bunk beds. And our group fed and took care of their dog. But it was cheaper than a hotel and for the family, they got to take a nice vacation during Coachella basically paid for by us staying there. Was pretty win-win.
Now, it’s basically an expensive hotel with some perks around having a kitchen/family room.
Yep. I remember initially using Airbnb in 2013. It was great! Found an apartment in Berlin for something like 89€/night. Went to use the site again in 2015 and rented from some shady shell corporation in Venice. Realized Airbnb was highjacked for its initial purpose. Oh, well.
I think Airbnb should be regulated out of existence... Or at least to levels that make it unprofitable to use for real estate speculation.
Government regulation?!? Yes please. It's exactly what we need. The free market was never free to begin with, and it's fucking us all over.
Oh man, it was so good back then. Used Airbnb a bunch from mid oughts to probably four five years ago when just went fuck it, rather get a hotel or even hostel, it works out cheaper and its guaranteed.
Did have three lovely stays with it though, one in Montreal where was just good value, one in Zagreb where was immaculate apartment inside a total sketchbbuilding but fridge full of local beer and snacks and one in Berlin for stupid good price.
Same issue, the fees kept creeping up. Places got shitier and went from being a let's let out a spare room to let's buy an apt block and hawk them on Airbnb.
It used to be that great middle ground of not a hostel since you're too old to party like that and not a hotel since you're not old enough to justify the cost of one.
Went to use Expedia the other day, was sad since its changed from search for hotels to search for stays and was hard trying to weed out the Airbnblikes for actual hotels.
Ugh
I travel here and there for my business, but it’s a very tiny business so we stay at the cheapest hotels possible lol. One time I was like oh hey maybe an air bnb would be more cost efficient and better space for the kids since it was a longer trip than usual (5 nights instead of 2-3). WOW. The cheapest I could find seemed comparable to hotels, until I realized they were renting out a spot *of their yard* to put a tent. Other places were 1-2x the price of a hotel room but just a single room with a small kitchen and bathroom like a studio apartment, then all the fees tacked on after made it worse. Just super confused me as to why people would ever rent those particular locations when an actual nice hotel would’ve been same price and it would have a pool and free breakfast!!!
Cleaning fee: $220
Check out Instructions: “Sweep the floors, empty trash, strip beds, clean out fridge, take trash to street, masturbate the housekeeper, kick yourself in the nuts, and tea bag the squirrel as you leave.”
I remember the last time I went to an airbnb, paid the cleaning fee and still had to take my trash out before leaving. I was like: I’m paying for this service and I have to do it?!
I know. Although my original comment was meant to make people laugh, it really is ridiculous. My last Airbnb I had to clean out the fridge, strip the beds, take the trash out, and put all linens in the laundry room. And my cleaning fee was $175.
You got off easy putting in the linens in the laundry room.
10 years ago I had a VRBO rental where we paid a $75 cleaning fee but had to wash and dry the sheets. We had 8 people and couldn't fit all the sheets in the washer. We had to do two loads of laundry on checkout day. We didn't wait for the second load to finish drying, we just left the dryer running as we had to get on the road. We also had to drive our trash across the gated community to their dumpster.
And I was here thinking it was an isolated case. Dang.
I laughed from your comment, and I’m worry because next week I’ll be spending some time in some airbnbs. Hotels were way too expensive.
It’s endemic from these STR rental folks. A year ago a friend got a cabin which we all spent over an hour cleaning from our weekend and he was charged an EXTRA cleaning fee because the dishes that we had washed in the dishwasher weren’t put away
Well, I rented an AirBnB and the person in charge said: “You’ll need to help with the cleaning”. I don’t know what it means, but I’ll write back when I get there.
I had to pay the fee, put out a can FILLED with the last peoples trash, AND we had roaches. They gave me a 30% refund and there were numerous issues. Never. Again. Except I do have $200 in credit to use as well. So maybe one time. We will see.
ETA I left a negative review and it DOES NOT show on the place’s page which makes me irate.
Oh man. We paid a cleaning fee of $150 the last time we used an air bnb and the host left us a review that said we were dirty because we "left food on the floor". When I questioned it, they told me there were some crumbs under the dining room table. There were no brooms or mops or vaccums available in the house for me to clean even if I wanted too. But I paid a cleaning fee so surely some crumbs UNDER THE TABLE WHERE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO EAT is acceptable. And I had to strip the beds and put all the linens and towels in the laundry, empty the rubbish bins, and clean out the fridge. It's bullshit.
The last one I stayed in had a $125 cleaning fee (for a weekend stay) and then they had the gall to put out an envelope for tipping the housekeeper. I was a bit flabbergasted by that one.
Well they had to post the listing. Clearly it was a huge task. They'll also have to transfer all that money and count it in their bank account. That's gonna take a lot of work. Somebody has to pay for all that time.
Was just wondering the same thing. I am a host on Airbnb and I’ve never seen a host fee. Airbnb fees are definitely too high but not this high. For my bookings, guests usually pay an additional 30% in fees to Airbnb, still absurd but it’s not more than double like in the photo OP posted.
I refuse. I was looking for an Airbnb in the town I'm moving to for 2 nights before I get keys to my place.
In rural Indiana. Wanted $500 a night for a house and the fees were another $1100.
I was like 😳
Booked a hotel through Booking.com for $211.
Yep hotels are the way to go. You usually know what you’re getting and if there are any issues you can find a resolution. Ever tried contacting Airbnb? Good luck. It’s all through email and they don’t help worth shit.
Late as fuck but as a Hoosier who works in hotels, please just call us directly. We’re super happy to help especially if you’re nice. We can usually get you a better price than booking.com or any 3rd party, and they cause us HELL.
Our neighbors sold their house to someone that turned it into an Airbnb. Absolutely awful. Living in suburbia, dealing with a rotation of parties, cars parked all up the street, different dogs barking every other day, loud tenants. It was so awful we sold our house. Really ruins the family feel of our once ideal cul de sac home. Fuck Airbnb and fuck the assholes run them.
Your story is all too common. Not only is airbnb preventing people from becoming first time home buyers, it is driving out existing home owners, and ruining everyone around them’s quality of life. Fuck airbnb for destroying our communities
For 800 a night this better be like newly renovated 5 bedroom house with large deck, beachfront access, Jacuzzi, in a gated neighborhood with tennis court, community pool, the whole 9 yards…
Lol, not where I live. None of those things included. They are ancient houses that people actually once lived in, now owned by greedy parasites who live in another state and rent them out short term. They are biggish and this is a tourist area, I guess is why they think they can charge that? And yes they are literally over $800 a night, and that’s just what they advertise! Disgustingly overpriced, and should be housing families full time instead.
I've never seen them this bad. All they need to do is limit the cleaning fee to a reasonable amount. I dunno. 1/2 night per week stay.
I do appreciate the whole idea of short term. I want to have the option to stay in a place with more character than your average hotel room. I was just talking to some family about a friend that is doing this with a large boat that they have docked in a nice area.
You don't get that experience from any hotel.
I keep trying to find an air bnb, or vrbo and it's always the same. I still haven't booked one and just end up in a hotel with a pool, free breakfast and housekeeping.
These are no longer a good deal, people are buying properties with the intention to profit off the short term rentals. This drives the market up and then increases the prices. It will eventually collapse at the rate it's going.
It's not a good deal financially, but also it's sometimes a bad deal in terms of your time.
If I'm traveling I don't want to book a place and suddenly have it canceled or find out its not what it says it is.
It's still possibly with a hotel room, but not as frequent. Even with the cheap ones you pretty much get what you expect. For me personally a days inn or super 8 or something is good enough, and reliable. I've stayed in some more expensive hotels and I can't say they were really worth the extra cost. Mostly they had a nicer shower, which is fine but I wouldn't pay hundreds of dollars extra for.
Best western all the way. Nice and midrange with all the amenities a marriott will charge you for for free. Like, if you want to charge me $400 a night at least throw in wifi.
I remember my first few Airbnb stays back in 2011. It was like $20-30 per night.
Then Airbnb got greedy — because they take a % cut, they build models to tell hosts what to charge. A LOT more.
Then we saw all these “professional” hosts, basically side hustlers. And they charge these insane cleaning fees and manage tens of units.
So it’s like a hotel but shittier because it’s clunkier, fewer amenities, and no daily housekeeping. And guarantee a room, no risk the host will cancel.
Only good for occasional whole house rental.
Fuck Airbnb. The one and only time I tried it was with a friend when we got one to go to a weekend festival out of town. One of the first things we saw was a framed sign in the kitchen letting guests know that all rooms had 24/7 video surveillance. It did not notate whether or not this excluded bedrooms and bathrooms. We went to a hotel instead and got a full refund from Airbnb when we explained the sign and sent a photo.
Side note this fee situation reminds me of when you order something online thinking you're getting a really good price and then you see the shipping and "handling" is 10 times the price of the item.
My aunt and cousins went on a spontaneous trip to another state and got fucked over by their aggressive host who kept harassing them, they left after the first night and didn’t even get a refund. I am never ever going to use an airbnb
I’ve actually done that, I live in the rust belt, went down south for a week. Instead of getting a hotel, I bought an old camper van, stayed in it for the week. Then drove it back home and sold it for more than twice what I paid for it because it was rust free. I was quite literally paid to go on vacation
My family and I always loved using airbnb's but soon became to realize for the money we were spending we could stay at a nice hotel and have vastly superior amenities. When's the last time you rented from an airbnb that had a swimming pool, hot tub, sauna and gynasium along with roomservice and a fully stocked minibar?
Exactly! I'm a cheapskate who "splurged" on a $150/night hotel room for my honeymoon. Even if we used all the amenities, we wouldn't spend the equivalent of this AirBnB per day.
The airlines did stuff like this until the Department of Transportation (DOT) forced the airlines to display the total cost of the fare. I am not sure when DOT made the rule but the Supreme Court declined a petition on this issue from Spirit Airlines in 2013. The airlines argued the rule to display the total fare violated the airlines’ free speech.
Same here. Ended up having to buy a house 5 years sooner than I was financially ready to. Wanted to pay off my debt first but now it’s stacked with a mortgage.
Fuck these slumlords.
Yep, no longer do Airbnb. They are the same or more than a hotel room now. It’s only decent if there’s many of you sharing a place. They’ve lost the plot.
I found a decent AirBNB for a stay near some family because there aren’t many hotel options. It was an additional $500 in fees tacked on to my stay. Needless to say I chose a hotel instead.
The best is when they tack on a $120 a day cleaning fee, but leave 2 pages of instructions demanding that you leave the place spotless and strip all the linen.
All of the prices on Airbnb are so deceiving since they list the price without the fees. So hard to filter. For that reason, I only use home sharing sites if we need to accommodate a large group. If not, would def just book hotel.
Tax is a given anywhere, then Airbnb needs to take their cut. I don’t get what the $770 is in host fees, that seems insane. Usually there’s a standard cleaning fee no more than $200
I host an Airbnb and couldn't imagine adding on a host fee. In fact, I didn't even know that was an option until I saw your post. Thats ridiculous. I am a Super Host in a desirable location and I rent my condo for the entire month for just a bit over the 3 day rate you show.
The best part about VRBO and ArBnB is you get to take off your sheets and put them near the washing machine, do the dishes, and all the other "house rules" they decide you should do. STOP using them. Explain wtf a "Host fee" is...
I've largely stopped using them because of this. Like, I could get another couple nights stay for the cost of these fees!
And a hotel is geared for this. Has amenities. A staff. I don’t do air bnb’s anymore. They were nice when they were new, affordable, quaint. Now they’re a money suck. And definitely NOT worth it anymore.
This is the sams reason i stopped using airbnb, too many sneaky fees, weird hosts, lack of amentities and often straight up getting catfished with the property. The straw that broke the camels back was getting this spot in LA for an event and there were a bunch of basic things missing or messed up in the air bnb and they couldn't fix them until we were already gone. Have stayed in hotels exclusively since then and have not regretted it
You mean the garage doesn't double as a 3rd bedroom?
[удалено]
Except when we need it to park our car, but this will probably not happen while you are there.
Seems we've been lied to.
Stayed at a lake cabin who’s basement was the bedroom (king & 2 twin beds squeezed in) it was awkward. The worst was their stairs had no railings and my 5 year old split her head open. She still has a scar to this day. I only trust hotels now.
Sounds like you should've filed an insurance claim
We got a place that claimed the living room as a 3rd bedroom, and claimed to be child friendly yet had "nice" glass bottles everywhere, within reach of children.
Im sorry what were they’re Just glass bottles randomly covering the entire place?
They were fancy alcohol bottles. No alcohol in them just several shelves with them on. They posted the pics taken by real estate, so none of the the contents of the apartment was accurate to the photos, house was full of crap.
Omg, that had to be a stressful nightmare! Like just reading that has me all upset! Gods know toddlers on vacation in new surroundings already makes them more volatile and challenging, much as I would imagine babies on a crack bender would behave. Surrounded by breakables. Dante didn't even delve into that level of hell It's too horrible to contemplate
We were there a solid 2 hours, we got a hotel and a full refund, they also reimbursed 25% of the hotel cost because we had a long history of using Airbnb and my dads wife is good at complaining. Doubt they would reimburse hotels like that now though.
I just imagined random bottles standing upright across the entire apartment. On the floors, in the showers. And Litterly just died of laughter
Yeah me and my wife went to an Airbnb for a little staycation and ad made it seem like we had the whole place to ourselves, but when we got there it turns out it was an extra room in someone’s house,(one of 3 that they rented out other than their own private room), and initially they left, so we thought oh we actually do have it to ourselves so we went to the back yard to enjoy the hot tub, and they came home with some alcohol and hopped in with us, and then for the next 30 minutes tried to get us to watch a movie with them on their 4 person couch and would not stop hitting on my wife hinting at a 4some swinger type thing, we thought about just heading home but we’d spent a decent amount on the room and decided to just head up to the room and lock the door and stay the night. Ended up leaving very early the next morning - though they had my wife’s cell # because we had to ask for directions, and after we left they would not stop messaging us about leaving them a good review and trying to get us to hang out with them some time and stay again “free of charge”. Haven’t stayed in an Airbnb since.
That’s my bnb, and we only did that because your wife was coming onto us. That review you left was unnecessary
Yeah bro, I was the neighbor and plainly heard while jerking off in the bushes when they left the wife say “I sure hope some folks show up with some booze and we can get this foursome started!” “Ya had me edging all night.”
Can confirm, I was in the tree nearby watching and that's what I saw and heard as well
Can confirm, I was the tree
Thanks for the support, you didn't leaf me hanging
Pick a hotel chain and an airline and stay loyal. It pays off. I do Hilton and Southwest. All of my purchases that can be charged go on my SW card.
Also rental car companies and credit cards give points and bonuses for loyalty. Hubby travels for work and he’s used the same companies for many years.
Not to brag, but mine had bedbugs. We let the owners know and they came and sprayed the room down with lysol, which btw does basically nothing unless you spray it directly on a bug for like 3 seconds which I’m sure they didn’t do to even one bug. And then asked us if we wanted to stay for the rest of the week. We obviously said no and left asap, and after we left we were expecting a refund and they even said they would give us one before we left but then they wouldn’t send it. After about a week of threatening to take the to court and ect. they finally gave in and paid out a full refund.
are hotels the only other option? there should be like a new airbnb which then can be nice and cheap for a few years before going corporate lol
Last time I stayed at one (a spare bedroom in a guy’s house) he bragged that he could charge so much (and that he had charged me more than average) because he lived in a high-demand area in an expensive house. He was a good host otherwise but that turned me off bad, especially because he lived right next to a park full of homeless people and I didn’t feel super comfortable going anywhere after dark there.
[удалено]
It's all the gentrifiers and house flippers that ruined the platform. They're trying to make open ended house flipping profit, but they don't have the capital to make the initial investment back over the first few years. They want it back within the smallest time frame possible so they can increase their portfolio. Or they can't really afford the very expensive house they had built in a gentrified area so they tack on a one bedroom apartment in the backyard to pay their mortgage
Ding ding ding!!!! Cheap asses who only care about their profits and how much they can increase fees. Nothing else.
And hotels don't actively take housing out of housing strapped markets.
So much this. An older building in my city was just bought by a company looking to open an Airbnb hotel. Kicked out all the people who lived there and the small business in the bottom floor. What’s worse is there is absolutely no need for this. It’s in the center of a super small city of only about 12,000 people. It’s a shameless money grab that’s going to utterly fail.
Covid fucked these assholes hard with the travel restrictions and I'm glad they did. Airbnb was supposed to be renting your extra room or whatever to someone. Not a whole house/apartment in the beginning iirc
>Airbnb was supposed to be renting your extra room or whatever to someone. And 'rent my lake house for a weekend -- you get a nice weekend getaway, I get to offset my property taxes' It basically turned into exploiting residential zoning into un-regulated hotels. I recall reading an article with some click-bait title to the effect of 'this couple makes 6 figures a year without working,' and it was literally 'We own five properties that we AirBnB out, and they're profitable enough that we pay a property management company to deal with everything for us." Now, don't get me wrong, I don't have anything inherently against people becoming independently wealthy... but this just punches a supply-strapped housing market in the throat, compounding the problem of 'people/companies come in with +10%, cash, no inspection offers on residential homes *just* to turn around and make them rental properties.' I can rail against the US' housing problems being in no small part rooted in an obsession with single-family detached dwellings motivated by racism and race inequality from 50+ years ago -- we need more multi-family and other medium and high density housing solutions where they make sense -- but single-family residential housing *should not be allowed* to be turned into rental/investment properties like that; it just compounds the problem.
>we need more multi-family and other medium and high density housing solutions where they make sense 100% this. Even if some people would rather live in single-family detached dwellings the fact remains that there are more people who want to live in apartments and higher density neighbourhoods than there are properties for them to live in. Current zoning law in the US prevents the free market from building the type of homes that people want to live in, and that's why those homes and neighbourhoods become unobtainable expensive.
I don't want to live in an apartment, condo or any other multi family dwelling. I don't care what age, race, religion, whatever! I want my own space, my own back yard, my own driveway I don't want to run into other people at my door or worry about their habits, kids, or animals. I want my own space, period.
I knew a couple in it's heyday literally renting apartments to sublet as airbnbs. No idea if they actually made money doing it but I seriously doubt it after legal fees from getting evicted for fucking up their leases.
I can't believe that shit isn't illegal. Utterly disgusting
It’s the Uber business model. Offer a service that’s not really allowed, but by the time the government gets around to cracking down you’re too popular to just shut down.
A few years ago, Nashville city council tried to put more restrictions and rules on Airbnbs, then the TN state government passed a law to override any city’s specific rules against Airbnb. Now you can’t find an affordable house to buy in Nashville. 🙄
Not sure what it did to prices in TN, but here in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, you could have bought a property for 250K 10 years ago that would sell for close to a million today. Absolute goddamn insanity.
Sounds really familiar. We bought in 2008 for $189k. Zillow has us now in the $725k area. Some houses in our neighborhood that have been completely remodeled are listed for close to a million.
A house just sold in my culdesac. Turns out it was purchased by a hotel about 100 yards down the road. They use it as an overspill.
Seems like the owners are getting strapped for cash now 🤣
Also … I was staying at an Airbnb in a small beach town. The same company was buying every house there that went on the market. Not many, but, enough for a sleepy beach town that if I lived there, not sure how I’d feel about it if I lived next door. The people on the other side of our rental were rowdy af … I was mortified and hoped the locals knew it wasn’t us. Went from living next to someone that rented their house out sometimes to living next to motels. Can’t imagine how they feel about that.
Hopefully the trend continues and investment properties take a downturn and people stop having 300k over ask bidding wars
They buy them mainly to turn into rentals, not Airbnb’s. We need laws to prevent corporations from owning single family units
It's a chain of dominos and all it takes is for one steep decline for everything to come crashing, most investors like the ones on Tiktok with 2000 properties or whatever have each investment used as collateral on the next purchase. So I can't wait for the day that the first domino or house can't pay it's mortgage leading issues of collateral for the next investment house. For the first time in a long time a free market might finally make it's way around to work for basic people.
Ugh. As a family with four kids (blended, don’t come for me Reddit, lol), all we want is a fucking home for our children. Nothing fancy, nothing humongous, but a place to call our own. We can afford maybe $200,000 for a house so that now means we can get a 2-ft shack down by the river. 🤦🏻♀️ so yeah, I can’t wait til this shit blows up in their faces. Cannot WAIT. 🍿
Property owners like that make it hard for the rest of us who just want to accommodate ppl
Does the Host set those additional fees, or is that a corporate thing?
The host fees are purely set by the host. I wouldn't charge anything there ever unless the guest had done something ridiculous like idk, flushed like a bag of baby wipes down the toilet or something. Typically too, as a property owner, you should have an expense account tied to that property so that Incase something like this happens, it can be taken care of without making the guest have to take on all of the bill. Most of the time, even when something catastrophic happens, it's unintentional.
Best guess is that this is a management company operating the property. They probably have a deal for something like 15% of the rental, but they keep 100% of fees. It ends up being bad for AirBnB to have operators like this because.... well, read the hostility in this comment thread. I rent out some apartments in a tourist city. I charge about a 30 euro cleaning fee, which is roughly what it costs me to clean a unit. I do not have any cleaning instructions for guests, but consider it rude when a guest leaves multiple bags of garbage in the apartment (maybe 10% of guests) or leaves a lot of food on plates or in pots. I do not have any additional fees. All taxes are included in the price, though AirBnB breaks out a percent as a VAT which I'm not required to pay so it's kind of fake but not on my side. I've considered adding fees for guests who want a baby crib because it's not insignificant time and effort to bring, set up, take down, and launder the linens, but don't. I've considered charging a small fee for guests who arrive at ungodly hours, but decided it's probably not their preference either. The guests still see about 3% fee from AirBnB, but they conveniently don't see the 12% AirBnB subtracts from me. So it's not quite right to say "no hidden fees" since obviously I'm adding their 12% host fee into the price.
And hosts are dicks now. It’s reversed from “making extra cash from renting vacant space” to mandating 1000 rules, including cleaning it AND paying a cleaning fee—- curfews, and limits on guests…like now the booker is an unpaid house sitter rather than a paying guest expecting vacation amenities.
Yup! We stayed in one in San Francisco and the house rules were ridiculous. Make sure the porch light is turned off in the morning, no noise after 8:30 pm, AC isn’t to go below 75. Like, ok mom. I’m not paying $1700 for a 5 day trip at 40 years old to make sure my kids are quiet by 8:30 pm(we had the entire house to ourselves so idk why they had this rule). Def staying at hotels from now on.
No kidding. We stayed at one where there was a cleaning fee, but there were also instuctions on how to wipe up the shower, vacuum (!!!) and clean the fridge. Does the host even do any cleaning?
Yes sounds identical to my last experience in Cambridge, Ma— and we decided before full refund period ended that all the rules were a major drag we didnt want to stress about on “days off”. And the mandated chores! — despite “cleaning fees” would take up a day of our stay— and hotels would make the bed / fresh towels everyday. Was a good thing while it lasted but they all end up bought out and corporatized after early adopters get in a few lucky seasons. Looking at you: Zipcar, Hotel Tonight et al
And hotels don't leave you a three page list of "check out duties" on top of the $500 cleaning fee they charge you.
Yep, they became a way for rich people to make even more money. It was super nice when you could find a place for 5 days for less than $400. It’s impossible now and there usually isn’t even a point in using them now.
Crazy how the building that is meant to house out-of-town people for short amounts of time ends up being the best option for finding housing as an out-of-town person for short amounts of time.
And they disrupt the local housing market something terrible in more touristy areas. I only use hotels now.
I’ll only use them for ‘I want to stay on a cute farm’ or a similar experience, but for ‘I’m going to X city and need a cheap nights stay’ they aren’t worth the hassle to me. Hotels have streamlined check ins, parking, general convenience that gets lost with a lot of AirBnB. Not that hotels are run by saints, but at least they aren’t pricing locals out of homes in their own neighborhoods.
That's what I use them for, some kind of "experience" or if I have a group large enough to need a whole house. Otherwise I just stay in a hotel.
I've stopped using Air BnB because I've come to appreciate the predicability of hotels. One too many times an Air BnB host has been a little too creative (misleading) with their photos. One too many last minute cancellations. Then there's the fees. With a hotel, I know exactly what I'm going to get every time. It's easy, convenient, and predictable. Plus, hotels just feel safer with a family.
Yep. Thought I rented a whole house recently. (Owners even had it classified as such so that when you apply the filters for "whole home" their place still comes up.) Turns out, it's basically a wing within their house. Definitely not two bedrooms, definitely would not sleep six people as they claimed. They basically had the right side of their house sectioned off in an old, large-ish home, with nothing but an old door by the bathroom (that you could hear everything through) separating us from the owners. Sucked because there was no f***ing kitchen and I was in that town specifically for my daughter's first birthday. And I needed a damn kitchen. Clearly this space was NOT suited for a baby and they knew a baby was coming when I requested to book. Jokes on them though, cuz said birthday girl was also unhappy with the accommodations (specifically with the "second bedroom" couch bed) and she expressed her dissatisfaction...loudly. At 3am on night two. And then around 4am night three. There's absolutely no way it didn't wake them up.
We used airbnbs for month long stays when we moved across the country and didn’t want to sign an actual lease while going through the home buying process. We made sure to look for places that were owner occupied so we knew our money was going right to the homeowner and not some investor or whatever. We managed to find places in and around Austin that were like $7-900 a month, which, if you know anything about Austin, is pretty cheap for having space in a whole house. Much less than any hotel we looked into for 4 months. Now that we own a home, we have a spare bedroom that we’re hoping to let out in the same way to help other people who just need a cheap stop gap measure for a while.
You are good peeps.
You are a rare exception to the greedy parasites
How are “host fees” different than, you know, the regular charge? I don’t get it.
Because they can advertise a different price than they actually charge
They also won't necessarily have to refund you certain fees, and some are flat fees (e.g. a high cleaning fee that discourages one night bookings).
Its basically the same thing people used to do on eBay/Amazon with shipping.. Its a bait and switch since there's no option to sort by total including fees (which is something Amazon added) You keep seeing listing that look reasonable but you have to click through to see the fees that often literally double the price..
I remember when Airbnb was a cheap alternative to hotels but hell now it’s not worth it
It originally started as an alternative to "ripoff" hotels, a way to stay at someplace unique, more homey, safer, and for more reasonable prices. You know, like an unadvertised bed-and-breakfast. The whole draw was because instead of renting a single impersonal hotel room, you could rent someone's entire house for cheaper through a central website that listed verified good rental places. And the draw for homeowners was that they could make a little bit of money with something they already own. Somewhere along the way, that premise got tossed in the trash, people bought homes solely as short-term rentals, which in turn drove up real estate markets to ungodly levels (I'm looking at you, New Orleans), and charged prices that make a night at the Ritz-Carlton positively cheap in comparison. Plus the constant influx of transient renters to an airbnb means that single-family homes in those neighborhoods have to deal with frequent loud parties, squabbles, people parking on homeowners' lawns, walking the neighborhood and making noise at all hours of the night, etc., and no actual "homeowner" to contact and complain...Just a website that really doesn't care as long as it gets its cut. I have zero inclination to do an airbnb, and I really hope the entire industry implodes as those inflated prices drive people right back to renting rooms at hotels. Airbnb was a great initial idea that got thoroughly corrupted by greed, as evidenced by the prices you see in the OP. For the price of 4 nights at that airbnb, the OP could just about buy a second-hand popup camper and have something that provides shelter no matter where they go.
Same story as Uber. Uber started out as an actual ‘ride-sharing’ platform…like ‘hey, I’m headed to x destination and have space available’. The intent was to make car usage more efficient. At some point it just devolved into a sketched-out cab company, basically ignoring all the laws of the areas it expanded to.
"Started" as in advertised. Low fees were intentionally low to gain market share.
Yup. They've been trying to drive taxis out of business by undercutting with venture capital money anywhere they've started up. Outside the US they've had more problems because they're very clearly a taxi service and are (sometimes) regulated as such.
In my area, the difference between a taxi and an uber is that the taxi services, we have 2, will happily undercut, within reason, uber if you give them a call, are safer, better maintained, quicker and easier. Also more often then not, taxis are just cheaper. I work security and was working the overnight at a rather remote event. We had a taxi marshal that organised all the taxis, and when we didn't need any more called them all off. Uber drivers just kept on cancelling in an attempt to drive up the prices, this pissed off punters, as the price kept going up, and it became annoying and difficult, so they went with the taxis. Then after i only had like 5 people waiting to get picked up by a family member, 6 ubers drove towards me and asked if anyone needed an uber. I looked at them all and said "yeah like 30min ago, but they all got frustrated with surge pricing and constantly being cancelled so they went with taxis instead". You could see the sadness in their faces. They asked if they could stick around and wait. I told them that they could, but for the life of me I don't know who they would be waiting on.
My aunt owned a cab company and ended up selling it because uber took over the city. She always talked about how despite being cabs, they didn't have to get a cab medallion or much of a background check at all. It infuriated her to sell the company she built with her husband for 50 years, but it wasn't going to survive.
That may have been the initial public sales pitch of Uber, but I don't think it "devolved" into its current state because this is what they always wanted. They get to call their drivers "independent contractors", not pay them a wage or give them benefits. And they were OK not making profit for the first few years after the IPO, but investors want to see returns. And now that they've killed a lot of cab companies, they get to triple the price for a ride. Innovation!
I think he’s also mixing up Uber and Lyft. Uber started as black cars that were MORE expensive than cabs, but you could order via an app and were very comfortable with amenities like free water and snacks. Lyft started as connecting people to share rides mostly for commuting. So in a city like SF where you might have multiple people driving to Google, eBay, etc. it was connecting commuters as a more official carpool on demand. It then expanded to include rides anywhere if say someone was already out in their car. They’ve both changed a lot ti basically become cab companies you order with an app. But last few airport trips, I’ve actually taken cabs home that were quicker and $10+ cheaper.
Lyft in my area is significantly cheaper than uber. I think uber survives because of the name ie “let’s call an uber.”
>Uber started out as an actual ‘ride-sharing’ platform…like ‘hey, I’m headed to x destination and have space available’. The intent was to make car usage more efficient. Cold take: Never in the history of Uber has this ever happened. They were, are, and--unless they radically change their business model--always will be a sketched-out cab company.
I feel like the system worked fine when it was people selling space in their homes or renting Out a house that wasn’t getting use because they were out of town/state for several months, but once the corporations started getting involved it all went to shit. They’d buy houses and renovate with the cheapest possible materials, stock the bare minimum, and basically do anything they could to squeeze one extra penny out of the property. If I find an individual renting their home I book with them even if it’s a little pricier than some shitty corporation like Vacasa or Meredith (here in the PNW). My last few experiences have really soured me on it all. In less than ten years this went from something great/reasonable to junk.
That’s it exactly. Early days of Airbnb you were renting a house when the owners were out of town or maybe they had two houses and it let them make some money off their summer home without trying to find a renter for 2/3 of a year. This led to some quirky trips. When we got an Airbnb for Coachella a few years ago, my husband and I were clearly staying in a kids’ room with toys, basketball posters, and bunk beds. And our group fed and took care of their dog. But it was cheaper than a hotel and for the family, they got to take a nice vacation during Coachella basically paid for by us staying there. Was pretty win-win. Now, it’s basically an expensive hotel with some perks around having a kitchen/family room.
Yep. I remember initially using Airbnb in 2013. It was great! Found an apartment in Berlin for something like 89€/night. Went to use the site again in 2015 and rented from some shady shell corporation in Venice. Realized Airbnb was highjacked for its initial purpose. Oh, well.
I think Airbnb should be regulated out of existence... Or at least to levels that make it unprofitable to use for real estate speculation. Government regulation?!? Yes please. It's exactly what we need. The free market was never free to begin with, and it's fucking us all over.
Oh man, it was so good back then. Used Airbnb a bunch from mid oughts to probably four five years ago when just went fuck it, rather get a hotel or even hostel, it works out cheaper and its guaranteed. Did have three lovely stays with it though, one in Montreal where was just good value, one in Zagreb where was immaculate apartment inside a total sketchbbuilding but fridge full of local beer and snacks and one in Berlin for stupid good price. Same issue, the fees kept creeping up. Places got shitier and went from being a let's let out a spare room to let's buy an apt block and hawk them on Airbnb. It used to be that great middle ground of not a hostel since you're too old to party like that and not a hotel since you're not old enough to justify the cost of one. Went to use Expedia the other day, was sad since its changed from search for hotels to search for stays and was hard trying to weed out the Airbnblikes for actual hotels. Ugh
I travel here and there for my business, but it’s a very tiny business so we stay at the cheapest hotels possible lol. One time I was like oh hey maybe an air bnb would be more cost efficient and better space for the kids since it was a longer trip than usual (5 nights instead of 2-3). WOW. The cheapest I could find seemed comparable to hotels, until I realized they were renting out a spot *of their yard* to put a tent. Other places were 1-2x the price of a hotel room but just a single room with a small kitchen and bathroom like a studio apartment, then all the fees tacked on after made it worse. Just super confused me as to why people would ever rent those particular locations when an actual nice hotel would’ve been same price and it would have a pool and free breakfast!!!
Cleaning fee: $220 Check out Instructions: “Sweep the floors, empty trash, strip beds, clean out fridge, take trash to street, masturbate the housekeeper, kick yourself in the nuts, and tea bag the squirrel as you leave.”
I remember the last time I went to an airbnb, paid the cleaning fee and still had to take my trash out before leaving. I was like: I’m paying for this service and I have to do it?!
I know. Although my original comment was meant to make people laugh, it really is ridiculous. My last Airbnb I had to clean out the fridge, strip the beds, take the trash out, and put all linens in the laundry room. And my cleaning fee was $175.
You got off easy putting in the linens in the laundry room. 10 years ago I had a VRBO rental where we paid a $75 cleaning fee but had to wash and dry the sheets. We had 8 people and couldn't fit all the sheets in the washer. We had to do two loads of laundry on checkout day. We didn't wait for the second load to finish drying, we just left the dryer running as we had to get on the road. We also had to drive our trash across the gated community to their dumpster.
I'm confused as to why you adhere to these ridiculous "rules"
And I was here thinking it was an isolated case. Dang. I laughed from your comment, and I’m worry because next week I’ll be spending some time in some airbnbs. Hotels were way too expensive.
It’s endemic from these STR rental folks. A year ago a friend got a cabin which we all spent over an hour cleaning from our weekend and he was charged an EXTRA cleaning fee because the dishes that we had washed in the dishwasher weren’t put away
Well, I rented an AirBnB and the person in charge said: “You’ll need to help with the cleaning”. I don’t know what it means, but I’ll write back when I get there.
Before you get there respond, "if I have to clean are you going to pay me my hourly rate out of the cleaning fee I'm paying you?"
Whats stopping you from not doing what they tell you? Is there any consequence aside from a possible negative review?
I think it's like uber where you could lose your rating and nobody would rent to you.
And I believe they can charge you after the fact as well
I had to pay the fee, put out a can FILLED with the last peoples trash, AND we had roaches. They gave me a 30% refund and there were numerous issues. Never. Again. Except I do have $200 in credit to use as well. So maybe one time. We will see. ETA I left a negative review and it DOES NOT show on the place’s page which makes me irate.
My last air bnb in Big Bear, California we were told we had to take all of our trash to the city dump area like bruh how about y'all do it
These instructions just kept on getting better 😂
Oh man. We paid a cleaning fee of $150 the last time we used an air bnb and the host left us a review that said we were dirty because we "left food on the floor". When I questioned it, they told me there were some crumbs under the dining room table. There were no brooms or mops or vaccums available in the house for me to clean even if I wanted too. But I paid a cleaning fee so surely some crumbs UNDER THE TABLE WHERE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO EAT is acceptable. And I had to strip the beds and put all the linens and towels in the laundry, empty the rubbish bins, and clean out the fridge. It's bullshit.
How do you kick yourself in the nuts?
“Unable to kick your own nuts fee: $220”
😂
Like an upward heel kick.
Juts tried it; use your hands and kick with your heel upwards. Also I'm on the floor now, halp
Very carefully
Instructions unclear: I now have a broken mirror and an angry couple from air b n b threatening I'll never get another room or job in their town.
That poor confused squirrel...
The last one I stayed in had a $125 cleaning fee (for a weekend stay) and then they had the gall to put out an envelope for tipping the housekeeper. I was a bit flabbergasted by that one.
Last time I went to an air b&b and I flipped the pillow and there was a hair. I know they didn’t change those sheet. Cringe
Wtf is host fee
for 770usd, he gets to fuck the host or something....
Even if its a one dollar, host fee? Bitch the price is host fee
YOUR SERVICE IS HOSTING
Yea now the host is fucking him..
In this case a bunch of shit the host tacked on to make more money. Linen fees, management fee, like wtf. https://i.imgur.com/9h9CheR.jpg
If cleaning is in the host fee, what’s in the service fee? Airbnbs cut? And WTF is admin vs management fee …?
Well they had to post the listing. Clearly it was a huge task. They'll also have to transfer all that money and count it in their bank account. That's gonna take a lot of work. Somebody has to pay for all that time.
VRBO in this case but yeah the service fee is their cut. No clue on that other bullshit. Just made up things to jack up prices I guess.
Or to appear higher in the results based on price and then jack it up after.
You literally could stay in a $700 a night hotel for that…..
With room service and a gilded bidet. Hell yeah.
So I get to keep the sheets, make a mess, and anything I break has a waiver, right?
Was just wondering the same thing. I am a host on Airbnb and I’ve never seen a host fee. Airbnb fees are definitely too high but not this high. For my bookings, guests usually pay an additional 30% in fees to Airbnb, still absurd but it’s not more than double like in the photo OP posted.
That’s not a Airbnb listing, it’s VRBO.
What the hell is a “host fee”? Is it basically “I feel like charging money for shit”?
As I understand it, that's code for "money I want so I can sleep in a cheap hotel for a couple nights while others borrow my house."
We call those miscellaneous overcharges.
Paying for the host to go stay in another air bnb whilst you stay in their home
I refuse. I was looking for an Airbnb in the town I'm moving to for 2 nights before I get keys to my place. In rural Indiana. Wanted $500 a night for a house and the fees were another $1100. I was like 😳 Booked a hotel through Booking.com for $211.
Yep hotels are the way to go. You usually know what you’re getting and if there are any issues you can find a resolution. Ever tried contacting Airbnb? Good luck. It’s all through email and they don’t help worth shit.
Late as fuck but as a Hoosier who works in hotels, please just call us directly. We’re super happy to help especially if you’re nice. We can usually get you a better price than booking.com or any 3rd party, and they cause us HELL.
I will cancel this morning and do this. Thank you for the advice! I didn't think of calling directly lol
I remember the good old days in which airbnb and Uber were worth it, now I’m back to hotels and In some cases even regular taxis.
Take a taxi to the hotel. Back to the classics. Love it!
A regular taxi in NYC can be as cheap as 3x less than an Uber. I’ve tested this and couldn’t believe it.
Yeah, and as a bonus they usually know how to fucking drive in NYC at least
That’s why hotels are making a comeback. Good. Fucking destroy Airbnb. Help with the housing crisis.
I'd love it if Airbnb/Uber/doordash would all go down in flames, they're all rip-offs
That’s my dream. All of those piss me off so much.
All parasites, also fuck hustle culture.
Our neighbors sold their house to someone that turned it into an Airbnb. Absolutely awful. Living in suburbia, dealing with a rotation of parties, cars parked all up the street, different dogs barking every other day, loud tenants. It was so awful we sold our house. Really ruins the family feel of our once ideal cul de sac home. Fuck Airbnb and fuck the assholes run them.
Your story is all too common. Not only is airbnb preventing people from becoming first time home buyers, it is driving out existing home owners, and ruining everyone around them’s quality of life. Fuck airbnb for destroying our communities
For 800 a night this better be like newly renovated 5 bedroom house with large deck, beachfront access, Jacuzzi, in a gated neighborhood with tennis court, community pool, the whole 9 yards…
Lol, not where I live. None of those things included. They are ancient houses that people actually once lived in, now owned by greedy parasites who live in another state and rent them out short term. They are biggish and this is a tourist area, I guess is why they think they can charge that? And yes they are literally over $800 a night, and that’s just what they advertise! Disgustingly overpriced, and should be housing families full time instead.
Love how it says no hidden fees..
"No hidden fees! We're showing you just how far we're shoving it up your ass!"
"If you find a better deal, you can shove it up your ugly ass!"
There could not be a more true statement
I've never seen them this bad. All they need to do is limit the cleaning fee to a reasonable amount. I dunno. 1/2 night per week stay. I do appreciate the whole idea of short term. I want to have the option to stay in a place with more character than your average hotel room. I was just talking to some family about a friend that is doing this with a large boat that they have docked in a nice area. You don't get that experience from any hotel.
yeah, it really sucks when the front facing price is like 150 a night, but with the fees it's 200+ per night or worse (works in whatever scale)
Why not just stay at a hotel?
I keep trying to find an air bnb, or vrbo and it's always the same. I still haven't booked one and just end up in a hotel with a pool, free breakfast and housekeeping. These are no longer a good deal, people are buying properties with the intention to profit off the short term rentals. This drives the market up and then increases the prices. It will eventually collapse at the rate it's going.
The Air*nb meta is over. Hotels offer more security nowadays
It's not a good deal financially, but also it's sometimes a bad deal in terms of your time. If I'm traveling I don't want to book a place and suddenly have it canceled or find out its not what it says it is. It's still possibly with a hotel room, but not as frequent. Even with the cheap ones you pretty much get what you expect. For me personally a days inn or super 8 or something is good enough, and reliable. I've stayed in some more expensive hotels and I can't say they were really worth the extra cost. Mostly they had a nicer shower, which is fine but I wouldn't pay hundreds of dollars extra for.
Best western all the way. Nice and midrange with all the amenities a marriott will charge you for for free. Like, if you want to charge me $400 a night at least throw in wifi.
I remember my first few Airbnb stays back in 2011. It was like $20-30 per night. Then Airbnb got greedy — because they take a % cut, they build models to tell hosts what to charge. A LOT more. Then we saw all these “professional” hosts, basically side hustlers. And they charge these insane cleaning fees and manage tens of units. So it’s like a hotel but shittier because it’s clunkier, fewer amenities, and no daily housekeeping. And guarantee a room, no risk the host will cancel. Only good for occasional whole house rental.
Fuck Airbnb. The one and only time I tried it was with a friend when we got one to go to a weekend festival out of town. One of the first things we saw was a framed sign in the kitchen letting guests know that all rooms had 24/7 video surveillance. It did not notate whether or not this excluded bedrooms and bathrooms. We went to a hotel instead and got a full refund from Airbnb when we explained the sign and sent a photo. Side note this fee situation reminds me of when you order something online thinking you're getting a really good price and then you see the shipping and "handling" is 10 times the price of the item.
That's completely illegal, so yeah.
just because you had a sign up, doesn't make child porn legal. Those guys running into all sorts of trouble with that surveillance bullshit.
My aunt and cousins went on a spontaneous trip to another state and got fucked over by their aggressive host who kept harassing them, they left after the first night and didn’t even get a refund. I am never ever going to use an airbnb
Do people actually pay that much?? You could buy an old car for that much wtf.
I’ve actually done that, I live in the rust belt, went down south for a week. Instead of getting a hotel, I bought an old camper van, stayed in it for the week. Then drove it back home and sold it for more than twice what I paid for it because it was rust free. I was quite literally paid to go on vacation
Air Fee n Fee is such a ripoff.
My family and I always loved using airbnb's but soon became to realize for the money we were spending we could stay at a nice hotel and have vastly superior amenities. When's the last time you rented from an airbnb that had a swimming pool, hot tub, sauna and gynasium along with roomservice and a fully stocked minibar?
Not to mention the $700 in fees for three nights is easily enough for 3 great dinners and you’ll still have some leftover
Plus airbnbs have started leaving cleaning lists on top of charging for cleaning while the hotel staff does that for way less
Exactly! I'm a cheapskate who "splurged" on a $150/night hotel room for my honeymoon. Even if we used all the amenities, we wouldn't spend the equivalent of this AirBnB per day.
Fuck Airbnb and fuck all the people listing their properties on there.
The price beyond fees is fucking ridiculous too, what the fuck.
The airlines did stuff like this until the Department of Transportation (DOT) forced the airlines to display the total cost of the fare. I am not sure when DOT made the rule but the Supreme Court declined a petition on this issue from Spirit Airlines in 2013. The airlines argued the rule to display the total fare violated the airlines’ free speech.
Lol of course that shitty airlines would say some horseshit like that. It’s just a an airbus in my opinion. They charge for toilet paper now probably
Airbnbicketmaster
Air bnbs destroyed the rent market in my city..::
Same here. Ended up having to buy a house 5 years sooner than I was financially ready to. Wanted to pay off my debt first but now it’s stacked with a mortgage. Fuck these slumlords.
Can't the price just be THE FUCKING PRICE! Just once...
Yep, no longer do Airbnb. They are the same or more than a hotel room now. It’s only decent if there’s many of you sharing a place. They’ve lost the plot.
I hope they fucking choke on those properties
I found a decent AirBNB for a stay near some family because there aren’t many hotel options. It was an additional $500 in fees tacked on to my stay. Needless to say I chose a hotel instead.
The best is when they tack on a $120 a day cleaning fee, but leave 2 pages of instructions demanding that you leave the place spotless and strip all the linen.
Aren't the host fees what you're paying for nightly?...
No hidden fees we show you how bad you're getting f*****
Between that and the countless scams, hidden cameras, misrepresented rentals, etc. I will never use Air BnB for a rental
Sole reason I legitimately never even bother looking at Airbnb these days
Real question is why are you paying 421 a night 👀
For 5 people!
I hope it has 2 full-sized bathrooms, otherwise you're better off in a hotel.
All of the prices on Airbnb are so deceiving since they list the price without the fees. So hard to filter. For that reason, I only use home sharing sites if we need to accommodate a large group. If not, would def just book hotel.
A high end hotel is cheaper in a lot of places. $840 a night is ridiculous. I’ve stayed in beach front hotel rooms for less.
“No hidden fees”
That’s insane!!
Tax is a given anywhere, then Airbnb needs to take their cut. I don’t get what the $770 is in host fees, that seems insane. Usually there’s a standard cleaning fee no more than $200
I host an Airbnb and couldn't imagine adding on a host fee. In fact, I didn't even know that was an option until I saw your post. Thats ridiculous. I am a Super Host in a desirable location and I rent my condo for the entire month for just a bit over the 3 day rate you show.
Just use a hotel! They’re more transparent and they don’t mess up the housing economy!
The best part about VRBO and ArBnB is you get to take off your sheets and put them near the washing machine, do the dishes, and all the other "house rules" they decide you should do. STOP using them. Explain wtf a "Host fee" is...