AIBU to dislike staying in Airbnbs?

[Whatsnewwithyou]

AIBU to dislike staying in Airbnbs? We've done it a few times and while DH likes them, I prefer hotels. I find Airbnbs to generally not be very clean (although I'm sure there are exceptions). Not that our own home is spotless but all those little hairs from strangers in most Airbnbs all over the bathrooms, couches, etc really disgust me.

DH likes being able to have our own food and more space. I like having breakfast in little cafes, lunch from a bakery, etc.

I don't find Airbnbs to generally be much cheaper than hotels particularly in places like London.

So AIBU to say to DH "no more" or should I keep trying? If you prefer Airbnbs to hotels please can you tell me why?

I do like holiday cottages if we're going to stay somewhere for a week due to food preparation and privacy but they usually seem more professionally managed and usually much cleaner than Airbnbs!

I think it depends on the AirBandB.

We’ve stayed in them both in the U.K. and in Europe and never had anything less than spotless accommodation.

But if you don’t like them, just say so!

I don’t like them either, much prefer a hotel where someone makes my breakfast and tidies my room for me

It totally depends on the Airbnb though.

We just stayed in a Villa via Airbnb, which was cleaned daily and provided a breakfast basket that we consumed next to our private pool, on our private terrace.

You can’t get that in a hotel.

I don't want to make my own breakfast on holiday so prefer a hotel, but we don't often go for more than 3 nights in the UK or short haul.

I more feel like I don't trust them. Friends have had really odd behaviour from owners before like locking away kitchen utensils despite advertising a fully equipped kitchen.

Who makes the breakfast etc when you are self catering? DH wanted to do air B and B so I agreed as long as he did all the meals and tidying etc. We’re staying in a hotel next year :)

I imagine that having only one space to clean an airbnb is potentially cleaner than a hotel. I developed a horror of the grime of hotels when I had small children crawling on the filthy sticky carpets and touching the bedspreads where naked bums had probably sat (not envy). Of course there is potential for same in an airbnb but I have been a cleaner in hotels and have an airbnb property and my airbnb property is clean enough to be able to eat off any surface as it is cleaned as I would like to find any rental accommodation. My own house is fairly grotty mind you but that's okay because it's our grot

I've only ever stayed in very clean ones, but they've been basically holiday homes. In fact, we booked one in Croatia (which had enough room if someone slept on sofa and shared pool). By the following summer it had been renovated/ extended. It was massive with private, indoor/ outdoor pool (huge doors/ ceiling which opened), 3 kitchens, 5 bathrooms. I've never stayed somewhere like it and is now completely out of our budget.

If you stay in an Air BNB you do realise you can still go out to cafes and bakeries to eat don't you?

I had a lovely time in an Airbnb, it was beautiful, spacious and cheap. Until the host gave us a bad review saying that we hadn't washed up the wine glasses to her satisfaction! (they were clean but had water marks apparently) It left a bit of a sour feeling to the end of our holiday.

No ReservoirDogs, I thought they locked me in until I could prove I had self-catered 🙄

FASH84

We use air BnB sometimes, we're off to Portugal next week and have an air BnB booked, last holiday in January we stayed in a hotel. Last air BnB we had a good system, where DH would get showered, then dressed while I showered, he then popped out to the local bakery for pastries and coffee while I got dressed and we had breakfast on the patio, we lunched out some days although did stock up from a local deli, just cured meats, cheeses, olives etc so if we wanted a picnic lunch to take with we'd just bung some bits in a cool bag, and pick up some crusty bread en route. We ate out every night. You don't have to make it hard work!

For me tbh the issue has been cleanliness mostly rather than anything else, and I haven't really found a benefit such as it being cheaper to compensate. It sounds like I've just had bad experiences but I just think that usually a professional hotel cleaner will do a better job than an Airbnb owner who in my experience leaves hair everywhere.

I love staying in airbnbs.
I haven't had a bad experience yet.
Always read the reviews and choose carefully.
I like having a kitchen and a washing machine. Less packing.

I've stayed in a few. Some have been fine. Some have been absolutely amazing. Always had great service from the owners. DH is a complete convert.

Having said that, if it were down to me, I'd be booking hotels because I love love love hotels and I also think AirBNB (ditto Uber) are doing the "locals" no favours and I feel a little uneasy about this.

They have their place. Why does it have to be 'no more' - can't you alternate between AirBnB and hotels?

We even do combo holidays - 5 days in one city in and AirBnB, 5 days in a hotel elsewhere, or 5 then 2 in the same city in a luxury hotel.

All the homes I've stayed in have been spotlessly clean with very helpful hosts. We like the homely feel of them, and chance to have somewhere to chill that is private, but not essentially a bedroom. On the other hand, I hate having to feel like cleaning after short stays, so always refuse for 2-3 day trips. We're also not especially breakfast people, so staying somewhere we can have a bit of toast before lunch is nice.

Breakfasts normally come free with hotel rooms. 3 breakfasts (not coffee and pastries, but a full plate as I'd have in a hotel, plus coffees and juice) can run to £25 per couple so end up adding a fair bit to the food bill.

AIBU to dislike staying in Airbnbs?

Of course you aren't! You're allowed your own opinions you know

I really dislike hotels, i feel on edge all the time and hate having people clean up after me. I've only ever stayed in very clean airbnbs and really like em.
People are different, you prefer hotels. Maybe tell your husband that you need to go to hotel's for half your holidays? And go out for lunch and breakfast wherever you're staying.

We prefer it because our kids are very young and all sharing one room would be a disaster. They wake up early and most hotels don't serve breakfast until much later. We also eat dinner earlier than most European restaurants open. Overall, it's just less stressful and cheaper. We also like that many of them have toys, cots and high chairs.

I like them and continue to use them, despite two bad experiences (location incorrectly described in both cases, and AirBnB refunded me after a lot of complaining and sending of proof). We have a young daughter, and having (usually) a separate room for her, and cooking facilities, is much more enjoyable for me than a hotel. Despite having to sort my own breakfast.

Have stayed in a few, normally places where its significantly cheaper, so where the hotel prices are crazy, e.g. New York, Copenhagen, French Riviera.

Airbnb is just a booking portal isn't it? There's no such thing as a 'typical' airbnb, it's just a way of booking self catering apartments, villas etc. I've seen the same properties on Airbnb and also places like Booking.com or Holiday Lettings.

So some will be clean, others less so, just like hotels. They've all been slept in, had hair shed all over and god knows what else by multiple strangers.

I like the space of self catering, plus being left alone and not 'made up' every day by the cleaners, which isn't really necessary.

And there's no need to cook - we nearly always eat out or have easy food, so lots of cafe breakfast and bakery lunches, or we're quite capable of buying break, cheese, ham, olives etc for a low effort meal.

But I don't use Airbnb, because they don't tell you the exact location until you've booked and the circle is quite big and it's usually important to me for the beach, bars, restaurants etc to be in walking distance, so I generally use other sites that tell you the exact address of the property before you book (but I quite often book direct anyway - you usually save quite a bit that way, or get a better apartment for the same price).

Breakfasts normally come free with hotel rooms. 3 breakfasts (not coffee and pastries, but a full plate as I'd have in a hotel, plus coffees and juice) can run to £25 per couple so end up adding a fair bit to the food bill.

They're not free, they're factored in. My OH and I often miss those full breakfasts anyway in bed! But an AirBnB is usually £10-15 a night cheaper, I find.

With AirBnBs, I find it's 50:50 as to whether they'll leave you bread, butter and jam to start you off (which I prefer, as it means you don't have to find a supermarket immediately).

I love AirBnBs. Have stayed in tens of them I imagine and the vast majority have been spotless. The ones that weren't would just have been a bit dusty as opposed to filthy. I'm very careful when booking though, read all reviews, check photos and do a bit of googling before booking. I tend to wake up early, whilst my DP needs a bit more sleep, so they're perfect as I can get up and potter in the rest of the apartment/villa/whatever whilst he sleeps in the bedroom, which I can't do in a hotel. I do like the occasional hotel as well, they have their advantages (no problems with storing luggage if you're flying home late, always someone on reception if you have questions...), and I do love a buffet breakfast, thought that also has it's own pitfalls (scoffing far too much, being so full you skip lunch then become deliriously hungry by the end of afternoon and eat too again before dinner )