Since I work at one, I stay at hotels free (within my brand) so I can't say I have much experience with airbnb. I do feel they cater to very different markets though, I don't necessarily begrudge the existence of airbnb, even if they are kind of our competition.
OTAs on the other hand, can all get fucked.
I usually prefer hotels too, but I’ve never had this issue. What I don’t like is the extra fess they add though. Makes it hard to compare prices since “per night” has almost no reflection on how much total cost of the stay.
When I was in Rome I had a beautiful apartment for $70 per night with a terrace garden, a balcony, a grill, a full kitchen, a private laundry room, locals cafe, locals bakery. You don’t any of those things with a hotel, and yet mediocre rated hotels in that area were like 5x more.
Airbnb hosts hiring maids so you have to check out early but still making you do all the cleaning 🤡
Air BNBs all the way! I just got back from one in NC mountains. We rented a lodge right next to a river with a cow pasture literally next to the house. Besides a washer and dryer...It had a hammock, fire pit, grill, farm fresh eggs, sweets from a local bakery, plus milk and orange juice and a stocked coffee bar. Then there was also a basket of decent snacks.
The Airbnb before had the same attention to detail but much smaller. They owned most land near the house so they built 2 little cabins near them to rent. This one came with a "free" bottle of whiskey. It also had a Blackstone and fire pit as well.
All hotels offer is the same shitty breakfast foods and coffee. Much rather be enjoying my vacation even if we wanted to spend half the day home at an Airbnb. Can't beat the perks. Just need to do your homework, not all Airbnb's are shitty rented side rooms. For the last 5 years my extended family and I had rented several houses big enough for the 9 of us. All with plenty to do around the house when you need a break from driving, hiking, restaurants and shopping.
I've rarely had problems at airbnbs in Canada and while traveling. Had one host claim we broke her hot tub by "setting the temperature too high" lol, but we told her to go ahead and go through airbnb arbitration and she dropped it immediately. A few places that weren't as nice as the pics, that's a given, but never been straight up scammed personally so I don't know what I'm doing right!
Hotels are definitely boring though and I guess that can be a good thing, but then I would've never experienced eating papaya and smoking weed while staying at a metal hut in a beautiful tropical garden right off a Costa Rican beach while hanging out with about a dozen kittens!
It depends on what you want. For my family, having space for the kids to hang out and play, inside and out, is a huge plus. Also we like to cook some of our meals while on vacation.
Yes, an hotel room is more expensive than an Airbnb but the convenience makes up for it.
What are we comparing Airbnbs to? At least in large cities, the price of an Airbnb would be equivalent of a Motel 6 or Best Western. If you want the Hilton or Marriott, it would be at least 2x or 3x the price of an Airbnb.
True story