Submitted 3 weeks ago by diffaldo@lemmy.dbzer0.com to memes@sopuli.xyz
https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/pictrs/image/78fdba20-75f4-441f-a316-2fe47d28a6a4.webp
Also fuck enshittification!
AirBnb became popular when hotels inflated prices around certain events or were at capacity. Since then, AirBnb owners have jacked up prices to be more expensive than hotels, and you have to deal with the “landlord attitude.” It turned from a genuine service into another cash grab scheme.
And it also uses apartments that could’ve been regularly rented, worsening the housing crisis.
That applies to houses as well lol. For all of it, it goes even deeper too. It’s not just that buildings that were going to be rented are now airbnbs, but that another avenue of revenue is once again tied to hoarding livable buildings with no plans of residing in them.
Enshittification strikes again!
It has been years now that Air BnB has been so much worse than going through establidhed hotel/holiday rental booking methods. I’m surprised people still use it (do they?).
Don’t forget having to find the cameras watching you, and text messages every 38 minutes telling you to leave 5 star reviews.
For sure, people think they know where to put the cameras for the best show, but they really don’t. Gotta help them out with that.
The basic problem of AirBNB was that it was never going to scale. Individual condo owners will never be able to compete with the efficiencies of scale of hotels. Having cleaning staff have to drive from building to building can never compete with a bunch of rooms in a single hallway.
The AirBNB concept does make sense for a few niche applications:
Small rental units in locations where big hotels aren’t viable. (Think remote mountain cabins.)
Actual lived-in homes for people who are traveling and don’t mind strangers staying in their house while they’re away.
Neither of these scale. Cabin rentals can compete because it’s not viable to build a hundred unit hotel on top of a remote mountain. But that market can’t scale. Cabin rentals already have their own rental networks, and there are only so many of them. People renting out their actual residences can compete with hotels. You already have to pay your mortgage anyway, bringing in a short-term renter adds little marginal cost. But this model can’t scale, as very few people actually want to rent out their own homes while they’re out.
But AirBNB pulled the usual Silicon Valley bait-and-switch. Corner a market with unsustainably low prices, then raise them. The bait got many people to purchase rental units with the goal of renting them on AirBNB. But this was never going to be sustainable. Once AirBNB stopped subsidizing the rentals, the landlords have to raise the costs (both monetary and policy costs) to actually make the business profitable. And they simply cannot compete with the economies of scale of hotels.
Airbnb as a service for homeowners to rent to visitors is a great idea. Want to rent out your basement to weary travellers? Heres a service to do that.
Buying 20 single family homes to generate passive income is an incredibly stupid, antisocial, and dystopian idea.
Wasn’t that the original idea? I swear when my friend first used it he made it sound like crashing in a spare room.
very few people actually want to rent out their own homes while they’re out
Push up housing costs to the point they have to rent them out?
AirBnB became too many people’s “passive income”.
They don’t want to take care of the property or have too many to take care of, so they treat customers like house sitters for the luxury of renting the property as well as building equity off them.
Pretty messed up. In the early days Airbnb was ok, we used it a couple times, but ai wouldn’t want to mess with it today.
Gosh, I hate passive income. It doesnt do anything meaningful to society. Yet, it somehow gains more benefit from the invested resources than the people who create and use them.
They rebranded “Economic rent” to make it trendy. Adam smith is creating a vortex in his grave.
Somewhere in America a landlord is crying…
and it was being used by some corps to worsen the housing crisis too.
Idk my airbnb had a heat alarm directly above the stove, so when we decided to cook we discovered that it sets off above 45°C, is not a smoke alarm, and we were already overwhelmed with stress before that cataclysmic screech. I smashed it off the ceiling (because I can’t think through the noise to find the latch), told them “fuck you, hated the stay,” and I never got a fine.
Those are supposed to be an improvement for small spaces where smoke alarms can be too sensitive and go off all the time. Of course, they’re supposed to be on the ceiling.
To be frank it was a very small space aha - kitchen was just round a corner from the living space, almost 3 walls of a square, and about 2 metres wide. Nowhere for the heat to go but up
I’ve never stayed in an Airbnb, and after everything I’ve read online, I can’t think of a compelling reason to.
I’ve had good luck, but most of the time for a 1 night stay a hotel is better.
If it’s multiple nights or a group that’s where airbnb is more appealing. You have to put in the work to read everything the owner posts and the reviews to figure out if they are they type to engage in shenanigans. It’s worked so far, but ridiculous to have to check for it
Yeah, when I’m traveling, the one thing I need to be rock solid reliable is the place that I’m staying. I can’t constantly have some anxiety about some bullshit shenanigans with that. No thank you
They’re good for big groups and certain locations.
My wife has a big online friend group that likes to get together a couple times a year in various places around the US. For 15ish people, AirBnB is cheaper than hotels and lets everyone stay together in one place with room to congregate and cook real meals. It’s also easier to find cabins and stuff in remote nature areas than hotels.
We’re also planning a weeklong trip to NYC, and even with rewards points AirBnB was cheaper than a hotel.
Outside those specific circumstances, if it’s just us and we’re only spending a night or two in a less expensive location, hotels are basically always better
Yeah its supposed to be a cheaper way to stay but I’d rather pay a little bit more for the structure, show up check in at the desk, then just leave when you’re ready. If I want cheaper travel I’d rather just camp
Might be an American thing. Never had any significant problem or excessive demand on Airbnb, both as a host and a guest, in Europe.
They’re good for extended stays with other people, where you want multiple bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. Or if you want a more private stay in a scenic area away from other people.
If you’re a low-maintenance kind of pet that just wants a pull-out sofa to sleep on, a shower, and possibly a kettle+microwave to make coffee+bad food for a day or two, you can find Airbnbs at ¼ the price of a hotel.
At that price its going to be way out of where you want to be and possibly out of public transit network, be dilapitated and probably smell bad.
I’ve never done it myself, but there seem to be a couple of different reasons why it would be preferable over a standard hotel room.
Easier and cheaper way to get a huge living space with a kitchen for a large group of people.
The possibility of staying in a unique type of room that a hotel just can’t provide.
the only reason o can think to use one is for partying and eat the fees.
If you’re a party of 4 or fewer and are only staying for a couple of nights, a hotel with breakfast included is less of a hassle. Chain hotels also have a minimum baseline of quality so you at least have some expectation of consistency anywhere you go.
Unless the point of your travel is the accommodation itself, you’ll likely only be in there for less than 12 hours a day, so all you really need is a secure room with a clean bed and bathroom.
Separate bedrooms and a kitchen have a pretty high value for a lot of travelers. You are making a big generalization here.
AirBnB is not for ‘cheap’ stays anymore (if it ever was), it works a lot better when you use it to find quirky/interesting places to stay (like a treehouse!). People still try to use it to replace a hotel though. $100/night can usually get you a decent room with breakfast at a hotel in most areas.
Do most people care about “quirky” places to stay, or do they just want somewhere to crash?
That being said, the only use I see for AirBnB is if you’re with a group of people and you can get a whole house and you can split the cost.
It was a cool way for my wife and I to spend a night in a treehouse for our anniversary and wasn’t very expensive (and within reasonable driving distance of our home). Maybe ‘quirky’ is the wrong word but more ‘interesting’? 🤷♂️
I know some people that have had good experiences using AirBnB for long term stays but overall I’m not a huge fan. It can be nice to have access to a kitchen instead of having to eat out.
I absolutely despise the social media feel of AirBnB. I already hate creating more accounts. Why the fuck do I need to make a whole ass profile and tick off a bunch of interests and whatever, and then when I see a property I want to rent, send a personal message sucking up to the property owner? Yeah, no. Lots of options out there that don’t involve that bullshit ant it baffles me that anyone finds it attractive.
Seems more like data farming than renting a room
This is the Fed’s fault.
There should have never been less than 3 0ercent mortgages. They basically gave away free home equity to an entire generation. And you know what they did? Bought 2nd homes and allowed VRBO/AirB&B to thrive. Now with “normal” interest rates, none of this makes any sense.
I’ve been enjoying watching the Internet collectively bully that one AirBnB couple, Cassie and Jon.
I’m out of the loop on that one. What happened?
They’re a couple that just go crazy with what they expect from people that stay at their place. The clip that I first saw that I think made them go viral was them upset the guests left the TV remote in a different room (on the table next to where they keep their rulebook), moved a footstool, left the bed unmade, and left a few things of food in the fridge in containers. They do charge a hefty cleaning fee and have some crazy rules with steep fines like charging I think like $50 for every minute past their early checkout time or something.
Hotel: what do you mean you want guaranteed adjoining rooms. We don’t do that. You just have to roll the dice when you show up. Oh, and show up late, we will give you a room with the dumpster outside that gets emptied at 6am.
Also hotel when the room is in obvious disrepair: maintenance has gone home for the day (at the 4pm allowed checkin time), call again tomorrow to get the whining AC unit looked at. Oh and the windows don’t open and we don’t have fans.
Hotel: you want two toilets for your family of 3 since we can’t get you adjoining rooms? Ha ha ha. No.
Hotel: resort fees for the fitness room you don’t need or want. Yeah, those aren’t refundable.
Hotel: you smell gas in your room. That is completely normal, I with my degree in (maybe high school) am sure it is completly safe.
You gotta start reading hotel reviews, I’ve never had these problems. The last hotel I stayed at had fresh baked cookies (still warm) when we arrived at 8pm to check in.
For real. Never had any experience like such with hotels. And thankfully had experiences like yours as well (local treats in our room when we showed up.)
Hotels are great IMO… I’ll never stay in an airbnb for so many reasons but primarily because they’ve fucked housing markets around the world.
Well, vegas, Bellagio, vdara, aria… The gas issue was a luxury hotel in oregon. And outside of the gas issue, the place was certianly nice. Just brain dead front desk lady with no one else on sight.
Adjoining rooms. If you don’t travel with kids, you don’t know that pain. But 95% won’t guarantee anything. Of the 5%, they are always mysterious “sold out” of that thpe of room, though they have plenty of room empty.
Yea. They are a donkey. Hell, my last vacation from the States to Costa Rica and Panama had zero of those problems.
Damn what kind of hotels have you been staying at, that’s almost impressive.
The gas one was a luxury hotel in Oregon. The place overall was nice. But very short on staff. And thenone person at the front desk was clearly brain dead.
The others… major chains here and there as well as mgm properties in vegas.
Most travelers don’t travel with kids. They are usually traveling for business. So they don’t have the issues of adjoining rooms, or having to put 3 or 4 people in one room. Even the “suites” often only have one toilet. That’s because they cater to the solo travelers, or couples. They don’t really want families.
Airbnb: what do you mean you did not want to be next to a methlab? That costs extra.
Airbnb: oh yeah, we overbooked and someone else will be staying there too. Nope no discount available.
Never had either of those issues. And never knew anyone who actually had those issues for real. Just random internet people who claim it happened. Though I do favor vrbo over airbnb. But I doubt it’s much different.
I had to check this wasn’t ash shitpost community with a comment as embarrassing as this. Do you make a habit of being this confidently wrong about literally everything?
I am just describing my experience. Just because it wasn’t yours doesn’t mean it is wrong. Of course with an ego the size of yours, that is probably something you can’t fathom.
Hotels suck ass too. We stayed in a “luxury” hilton and it was shit. It looked nice at first, but then
They’re only being a little nicer right now because they’re losing business. They’ll go back to huge shits if they get the market share back.
Maybe I misunderstand the parking pass thing, but I’m not sure why you would get the money back just because you didn’t use it. My assumption (which may be wrong!) is that while you had that pass, capacity was allocated to you and could not be sold to someone else. Like buying a seat ticket and not showing up.
That said, I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that isn’t quite the case. I should probably give you the benefit of the doubt.
We asked and they said they would, then wouldn’t, multiple times. We were so annoyed at that point that we were going to annoy them back.
That’s just the Hilton for you, to be honest. I stayed in one in San Diego long time back for visiting a conference in the center right next to it. Was quite expensive and for that amount of money nothing special was given. I only had free wifi because I booked under the conference offer, so normally not even that was free.
The hotel can get away with it because they underpay an exploited worker to do all the cleaning. AirBnBs are so particular about cleaning because the owner is either doing it themselves or hiring an independent contractor. It’s bourgeoisie vs. petite bourgeoisie.
No… AirBNB’s are so particular because they are trying to make easy money.
I booked a AirBNB NYE once, where the bin at the bbq was overflowing, and the freezer was full of ice (so couldn’t use it).
If they can’t be fucked cleaning, they shouldn’t be operating one.
Oh sweet summer child. None of that’s accurate.
It sounds pretty accurate to me. How would you rewrite it for accuracy?
$1k deposit, but yeah
Not my first choice. But I stay in cabins a lot and all the good ones use Airbnb or Vrbo because they have to. You got big companies like KOA, but those are typically crowded.
Places like that used to have their own listings and websites before the craze, but now if they aren’t listed they go unseen.
Im extra careful, but I typically find some amazing off the beaten path places. Lot of family owned and well cared for areas.
Deposit at a hotel? I haven’t seen that before.
Wait how are they even able to enforce the fee?
I’ve literally never had an Air BnB owner ask me to do anything I don’t already do. I put shit away, I leave the place like I found it. I clean up after myself, and if the trash can fills while I’m there, I empty it. Always glowing reviews, 5 stars, would have me back again.
Meanwhile I booked a hotel for a short trip back to my home state, and when I arrived, guess what? the 3rd party site I used has no affiliation with the hotel whatsoever, and the place was overbooked by like, double the amount of rooms they had. Went to a different site, found a different hotel, exact same thing happened. Also every hotel that’s a reasonable price, i.e. one that is priced about the same as an Air BnB, is completely shit. Like the door to my room has obviously been kicked in before. They don’t give me fucking towels unless I go and ask for them. Room is disgusting, bed is disgusting, broken TV, shitty everything.
Yeah I’m just not using hotels anymore.
Why does the airbnb logo look like testivaries and a pegina?
By “both” keys, you mean both sets of replacements you got because you kept locking yourself out of the room, right?
Ironically the same brown central south American cleaning crew cleans up for the hotels and airbnb, also they are disappearing because of ICE
Family of 5. We stayed at an Airbnb in Salem, MA that was Harry Potter themed. Kids loved it. Good experience.
Generally though, hotels, please.
I booked a AirBNB once, and we had already driven an hour, and the owner said they never approved the booking, and “Airbnb messed up” when I called an hour into the drive
Nope, she clearly had forgotten to disable it that night. Then, after I argued, she said “oh just wait 10 mins, I’ll see if I can fix it”, and wanted me to sit there for 10mins in my car doing nothing.
Another time, its was NYE, it was $400 a night, and the bin there was overflowing at the BBQ, and, we bought ice cream but the freezer was frozen over completely, so it wouldn’t fit.
Air bnb people definitely don’t like that their rates don’t cover property taxes and they run a deficit every month. They charge fees to stay in the black. They’re just capitalist that think you have to make money on everything
Instead of this, can we talk about how AirBnB removed regulations around tourist accommodation everywhere and now people can’t pay rent? Hotels were regulated by governments for a reason. Taxis were regulated by governments for a reason. We opened the gates for anarcho-capitalism and let criminal leeches run away with the profits. Time to kick these criminal organizations out!
During the Plague, I had plenty of experience with both meal delivery apps (finding weird new ways how befuddled immigrants get scammed) and app scoots (it’s like public transport, but more unreliable and more expensive).
Don’t do app shit under normal circumstances, being the main lesson here. It’s going to be full of weird fucking shit.
There are different kinds of Airbnb’s. The shitty ones are usually individuals renting out a single property.
Good ones run pretty much as distributed hotels or actual b&bs. You know they’re legit if they charge you the tourist tax.
Is this like one of the most upvoted posts on lemmy?
I either camp in the wild or use a good solid well established Hotel with a decent service and Restaurant, preferably with near a beach with a pool. No shitty BnB bullshit fake ikea crap condo is ever going to top that. AirBnB is from stupid asses for stupid asses. Don’t tell me about the exceptions. I am talking about the rule.
wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Yeah, if it’s the same price why the hell would you not stay in a hotel instead of “pretend this random house is a hotel, but now with the added magic of no regulation”
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
A halfway decent kitchen
Addv4@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
“Oops, left a mess (had a crumb on the counter). $350 cleaning fee.”
ninjabard@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
There’s a plethora of extended stay hotels that aren’t much, if any, more expensive than a regular hotel that have kitchens.
tuxiqae@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
A kitchen and other amenities are a big reason
explodicle@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I stay at hotels like that sometimes.
kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Plenty of options around here. Staybridge has dinner and drinks Mon-Wed