To think airbnb prices are insane?

[DottyLS]

Hundreds of £ a night for places that are fine but not spectacular- who pays these prices??

Very much depends on timing and location. I’ve stayed at hotels in Central London for over £300 a night that look like they haven’t been decorated for 20 years. But the location is good and they were booked at short notice.

Each person renting out their property sets their own prices, not Airbnb. I've had some great value stays. I don't book anything that costs hundreds of pounds a night. Others might, especially if splitting the cost with friends, or maybe they are showing available as no one wants to pay the prices quoted.

There've been news stories about them struggling, so I suspect fewer people than previously.

It's not a great product though. You have very few rights when it comes to cancellation, sure they'll refund the accommodation itself but not anything else you might have spent. I don't use them, they're too shit.

Used to be good, was great for groups as an affordable way to rent a home so you could all be together, was a great idea, but got ruined by greed. The cleaning fees are ridiculous and the lists of do,s and don'ts etc totally spoiled the original concept

I refuse to use Air BnB, the whole concept has caused far too many problems as a business model.

As a solo traveler they're universally a complete rip off.

They often are a rip off in my opinion. Hotel prices without the service!

Exactly! I wonder with some of them if it's just taking a punt - if someone is willing to pay it's easy money?

we have had some great experiences, half the price of a hotel, with twice the space

I think some of them in the UK at least got very used to high demand in 2020-2022, because people were going abroad less. Whilst simultaneously using the pandemic as an excuse to demand more of the customers.

It's appalling. I've never actually booked anything because it's always a piss take. The price you see per night isn't even what you pay - they then add on cleaning fees, admin fees and who knows what else.

So no, I'll stay in a hotel, not have to hoover, wash, dust and tidy the place before I leave and pay less.

It was a great concept initially but now I'd rather go to a hotel.

Airbnbs are generally pretty grim in this country. It's not someone renting their flat out while they are away anymore - it's greedy landlords trying to get more yield.

I've been in some really grim ones and I worked for a company who had 40 flats on Airbnb and some were awful. Photos didn't show that though!

I travel a lot, and I find that AirBnB is almost always much better value than hotels.

It's come to something when it makes Centerparcs look like the cheaper option

It's not someone renting their flat out while they are away anymore - it's greedy landlords trying to get more yield.

Agree. I stayed in one like that a few years back and realised I really shouldn't be encouraging that kind of behaviour.

I'm currently comparing Airbnb with Booking dot com for an upcoming stay. Booking is definitely cheaper and I get rewards for using them. And I refuse to pay Airbnb's £50 cleaning fee for one night!

(Edited to remove automatic links!)

I recently paid £240 a night for a 3 bed house, compared to multiple hotel rooms that was a good deal

It's not Airbnb's fee it's the owner's fee. Airbnb are transparent about what fees they charge. Owners can set their own extra fees if they want, many don't.

I think it’s great if you’re travelling with kids or a group and need a kitchen. For a couple or solo travel, not so much.

Also brilliant for rural stays, but can be badly run - superhosts are what you need to look for.

We Airbnb our home when we go on holiday, like the way it was in olden days, and we are very grateful for the money, to be honest.

I’m not sure how you would turn a profit if you were paying a mortgage on an Airbnb property, unless you had loads of them. If you look on property websites in Italy, for instance, you’ll see loads of flats on the market in Rome that have clearly been used as Airbnbs.

Airbnb is usually cheaper than traditional holiday let companies and if you're a family that needs more than one bedroom it's much cheaper than a hotel. Also has the benefit of a kitchen usually. Recently paid £550 for 5 nights in a 3 bedroom flat in a European city in half term. Find me a hotel that could offer the equivalent in terms of value and safety.

I saw this place, really nice to be fair, decided to book then saw the cleaning fee, I was blown away by the size of it and thought perhaps it was a typo (it’s a three bed cottage with a hot tub for context), I contacted them to check and look at the response 🤣

Posters on here in scenic places like Cornwall and similar have mentioned lots of properties in their areas being Air BnB, sometimes with previously sitting tenants being kicked out to make way for more lucrative short term lets. I don't know how many properties any of these individual owners have though.

Well, that's a very broad and sweeping statement OP! Some are very overpriced - yes - but we've had many stays in places that were a good price and that worked out much cheaper and more spacious for four of us than staying in a hotel. Depends what you want and when. Certain places, like big cities or very popular holiday destinations, are always going to be expensive to stay in, but if you want certain dates in a certain location then you weigh up the options and sometimes Airbnb is the right one.

Never stayed in a bad one….always been a bargain compared with local hotel prices

@ButDoYouAvocado we stayed in a holiday cottage with 4 bedrooms, cleaning charge was £350 whether you stayed one night or more. We spoke to the owner who said that was what the cleaning company charged and that she makes no profit on cleaning, she said it also costs more to clean as it’s so adhoc when the property needs cleaning. Luckily we stayed for a week so it wasn’t too bad, but wouldn’t want to pay that for just a couple of nights stay.