To not get the appeal of airbnbs

[cadburyegg]

I've stayed in a couple with a friend and she's always booked it, so I'm not familiar with the requirements/setup.

I just can't get comfortable with staying in someone's home 🙈 i just felt like the owner could reappear at any moment! I would much rather stay in a hotel/travelodge even if it means just a bedroom without any kitchen facilities.

With one we stayed in lately, we were kept waiting about 10 mins outside for the owner to get the keys, which wasn't a big deal, but it got me thinking, what would happen if the person just didn't turn up?

Also, my friend insisted we had to leave the place absolutely spotless because otherwise her ratings would suffer. But we paid a hefty cleaning fee...

Am I missing the appeal?

We only use the 'sole use' ones, where it's basically a holiday cottage. We prefer sorting our own food & wine and having a sofa/lounge area to chill in the evenings. Plus they are in a greater variety of locations than hotels.

We've stayed in air bnbs and only use ones where you get the whole place to yourself. I find them useful if you want to just stay a night or 2 somewhere. We have 2 teens and it's often cheaper than 2 rooms in a hotel as we don't want to all be in the same room.
But I'm aware they are an issue in lots of tourist areas

I prefer them to hotels, particularly for longer stays. We only book the sole use ones too.

I have used them for work trips as well as holidays.

We prefer self catering generally and holiday in a caravan, holiday cottage or air bnb. We used to camp a lot when dc were young but they don't enjoy it now. I don't clean especially throughly but put rubbish out, wash up etc.
We do a mix of eating in and eating out/takeaways. I find s/c or caravan more relaxing than a hotel.

I love Airbnb and VRBO. We can get up at separate times, have a nice drink in the evening in the outside space and each go to bed when we’re each ready. No sitting on the bed in a small hotel room bumping into each other. I paid £12 for a glass of wine in a hotel last weekend ~ at an Airbnb bringing my own I could have had a ( much better) whole bottle.

Never stay in someone’s home though unless it has a completely separate entrance. As for cleaning ~ say what? I leave it tidy but never strip beds, hoover etc. That’s what the cleaning fee is for. And I have 5* reviews.

We used them a lot when the children were smaller. Remote quirky locations in Scotland, I love those. I would never stay in somebody’s actual home while they’re away. Sometimes I use airbnb just as a searchengine and when i’ve found something i try to google its own webpage and book through there… it is often cheaper.

But now the children are older (and spoilt) and they want more facilities on their holiday. And the rates have gone up incredibly, a midweek airbnb or centre parcs sometimes cost the same.

I don’t like the idea of them at all. I have a really nice house so I don’t want to spend money staying in someone’s else’s house which is probably not as nice as my own. We’ve rented cottages in the past and I had the same feelings as they were always quite tacky in the way they were decorated. I also hate the idea of worrying I’d break one of the owners rules (even though I probably wouldn’t). I’d rather stay in a really nice hotel or go budget with Premier Inn, who I’ve never had a bad experience with. Lots of hotels are dog friendly so it’s never a problem on that score either.

Depends on the air bnb. A lot of people are advertising holiday cottages in air bnb and i don’t mind using these. However, I’ve also stayed on a camp bed in someone’s dining room and didn’t enjoy this (didn’t realise this at time of booking). The hosts were very pleasant, but felt a bit if an interloper.

Also Airbnbs are decimating the housing market for people in some parts of the UK. I don’t want to be part of the reason why local people are having to move away from their families. I’d rather find a nice family run local hotel.

I think they fulfil a different niche to hotels personally.

I use airbnbs when I'm with a group, when I want to self-cater and when I want to stay in a great spot in a city with good views. Also usually cheaper than equivalent quality of accommodation in a hotel.

I use hotels when I'm travelling alone, and just for a couple of days so happy to eat out and be confined to a smaller space.

Exactly this! It's just another platform for finding holiday lets.

Having said that, when we were in Paris in 2019 we rented an apartment through AirBnB from a woman who was off travelling in South America for a month. It was fabulous - so much more space than a hotel room (we have 3 teenage kids), nice residential area with local small supermarkets and bakeries. The property was being "managed" by her friend who lived the next floor down who was able to give excellent recommendations of local eateries and things to do. It's a really good way of getting a feel of what it would be like to live there.

£32/night for a clean sleeping space, when I don't need to shower or eat in & only stay on the premises for 10.5 hours... when all proper B&Bs in area are like £80/night. Yeah, I'll take that.

ps: I have totally got into staying in someone's spare bedroom & chatting to the hosts. They are all proper characters so far. (maybe I am, too).

I use AirBnB a lot, sometimes choosing to book a whole place but often staying in a room in someone's home. Staying in someone's home is usually much cheaper than a hotel and when we've been using them on cycling trips means we can check there is somewhere secure for our bikes. I spent a chunk of my 20s backpacking, camping and hostelling. I like the social aspect and local knowledge you get from it.

I'm old enough to remember when the couch surfing site began, I feel like AirBnB in someone's home is a grown up version of that!

It's just self catering accommodation. Most air bnbs are only used for guests, just like a hotel but (thankfully) maintained by people with a stake in them. There's always been this sort of place available, as a child in the late 70s early 80s my family used to hire a house in Scotland. I wouldn't worry about people turning up, most are run as a business, the owners want guests to be pleased. I suggest ignoring the star rating of reviews and read the reviews, looking for recent ones as well. Most people manage to get any issues worked into their review even if they are being cautious.

Airbnb is simply a platform so the accommodation is as varied as the people who host them. They don't all use local housing stock. There are annexes, shepherds huts, tree houses, tipis and more. They don't all have a cleaning fee, that's totally down to the owner. It has some great new filters to find really interesting places so if you choose Superhosts and read the listing/reviews carefully you will find some fabulous places to stay.

We stay in them a lot and love airbnb. You often get a whole apartment for the price of a cramped bedroom in a hotel, it's also great to have the option to cook your own meals and not have to eat out every time as it saves a lot of money. We tend not to stay in a room in someone's house though, we always stay in apartments as we're not very sociable.
We've never had someone not turn up but try to avoid anywhere that doesn't have any reviews.

We have used loads, but I make heavy use of filters. Only a place we have to ourselves, that is clearly a let and not a place where the owners are away (study the photos, if there's a load of personal stuff there, I'm not interested), Super Host only, and I read every review. Check dates of reviews too, if there's a bad one from a few years back, and all the recent ones are good, I ignore it. I look for properly detailed reviews, not just a cut and past "thanks for a great stay." I want to hear what made it great. When I wrote a review, I keep all that in mind, and make sure to point out the things we really enjoyed. Haven't had a duff one yet, but I suppose there's always next time....

Have stayed in many and always had good experiences until the one we stayed in last year in France.

Two families so ten of us stayed, paid thousands for the place including over £200 cleaning fee, the host texted me very aggressively after we'd left to complain we hadn't stripped the beds (there was nothing in the property information asking us to) and hadn't hoovered and mopped!

We'd left it what I would call basically clean and had cleaned throughout our stay but didn't feel we should have to basically pay to deep clean the place ourselves. Left a really bad taste in the mouth and spoiled the memories of the holiday for me.

I think because the owner's children were cleaning the place themselves rather than actually employing a proper cleaner they felt they shouldn't actually have to do any work...

Me and DH have been using Airbnb for years now and have stayed in over 40 places mainly in the UK but also in France, Belgium, Holland, Sweden and Spain.

We like having a proper house or flat to stay in rather than just an hotel room. Comfy sofa(s) rather than having to sit on the bed in an hotel.

We also like being able to cook if we want to. We both like cooking so certainly don't see it as a "chore" to cook when on holiday. We can eat nice meals then rather than pay for something we can cook better ourselves. Even if we only use the kitchen for breakfast we can still choose our own time for eating rather than being restricted by hotel times. We are early risers and most hotels don't start their breakfast early enough for us.

Also like that we have never once had a problem with noise when staying in an Airbnb unlike staying in an hotel. Always people coming back early hours of the morning, talking at the tops of their voices, slamming doors etc. We also always seem to get the noisy sex couple next to us!

Almost always the Airbnb's are cheaper than even the cheap hotels like Travelodge and Premier Inn so a no brainer to have so much more room, peace and quiet and the option of cooking.

I wouldn’t use one. SIL booked one for us and I didn’t like having to clean the place AND pay a cleaning charge. Surely it should be one or the other?

People I know who use them mention cost and prefer self catering.

I don’t use them as prefer hotels and feel like I would be helping price property out of reach for local people.

If you are renting a house they are just holiday cottages by a different name.

The only reason I’d book them as as alternative to a hotel though is to save money.

… but I’ve never cleaned one and my ratings are fine! You pay a cleaning fee.