Air B &B ridiculous charges

[notjudgingjustasking]

Just wondering what others think. We've used Air B&B amongst other sites very many times very successfully in the past but now that they seem to have marginalised other options like home away owners direct etc their prices seem crazy high.
They give a headline price of say £200 per night but then when you look at booking there's now a service fee and a cleaning fee. Surely all this should be in the headline price?
I love staying in a private property because of the freedom and privacy but looking at our plans for this year it actually works out a similar price to stay in a nice hotel wi th breakfast.
Am I imagining this? I doubt the property owners are benefitting from these extra charges.
What is a service fee?

I’ve just been considering AirBnB for the first time and was appalled at the completely unrealistic rates versus a decent hotel.

Thought it must be me........

Borneobabe has summed up Airbnb nicely. I have stayed in many of the AIrbnbs in a particular area and would be very unlikely to return to any of them.

And just to add the map locations on Airbnb are not necessarily accurate - a place out in the country down a rough lane is shown as being in the middle of a town in the area I visit.

What's a cheaper alternative to airbnb? I think it's a bit tedious trying to track down a host directly, there must be another similar reputable site out there

What's a cheaper alternative to airbnb? I think it's a bit tedious trying to track down a host directly, there must be another similar reputable site out there

Just google for uk holiday homes. There are loads of "directory" style sites. Although some have minimum numbers of nights, plenty offer 1 or 2 nights. Full variety of homes from studio apartments through to 3/4/5 bedroom homes. You could also google for apartments in your specific city - there are also city/location specific directory sites and plenty of private websites. Yes, it'll take some time and effort to find what you want - if you don't want to do that, then you need to use a site like AirBnB - people are willing to pay for it for a reason - usually ease/convenience!

I live in a tourist hotspot, and it is really hard to get a long term family home to rent because so many landlords seem to prefer Air BnB lets. I am hoping the arse falls out of it before we need to move again.

What's a cheaper alternative to airbnb? I think it's a bit tedious trying to track down a host directly, there must be another similar reputable site out there

For villas in Spain a better alternative is spain-holiday.com. Most enquiries go directly to the owners (at least at the moment!) and so you're not paying the extra service charges.

I’ve never used them. Much rather book direct with the owner.
Wouldn’t even consider it now after reading this thread

Personally you know how much the rental is before you pay.

If you don’t like the amount you can always not go ahead.

Dp was a firm advocate of hotels and took a lot of persuading to try a villa holiday.

Even on the plane he was saying if we didn’t like it we could always book into a local hotel.

He now sees the light and doesn’t want to go into a hotel again.

Dp has some quite bad scarring on his torso because of his cancer operations and won’t use a public/hotel swimming pool so having our own private pool is for him a definite plus.

We are moving in a few months and I am keeping an eye on the AIRbnbs in certain areas as we will probably put furniture and cats into new place and we will go into an Airbnb for a month so we can get the place sorted. (New kitchen new bathroom, new flooring, painting etc)

They have their place and getting rid of them will just make things a lot awkward for those trips and stays when a hotel just won’t do

I flot between the two. It’s easier when travelling with young kids to have multiple rooms so that you don’t have to stay awake on the dark in a family room post bedtime. If I’m travelling alone I’ll usually go for a hotel instead as facilities are better. There are some ludicrously highly priced places - but still some decent bargains.

I've noticed this in Edinburgh, I have relations there and used air bnb and noticed the prices have went far higher. I generally stick to premier inn et al now.

It seems to work best when staying in a room only.
I find it hard to find reasonable value hotel/b&b single rooms when I go away by myself.
I've just booked a room for a night which only has £5 in added fees.

I won't use Air BnB again after an owner cancelled a week before our trip to Legoland in Denmark. No other suitable accommodation available so I ended up paying double the price to book a campsite chalet last minute! Only compensation was a refund and 10% off booking an alternative which was useless. I know friends this has happened to as well, just too risky when travelling with kids.

Service and cleaning fees have risen astronomically. For our latest holiday to Copenhagen we're going in a hotel instead. It was cheaper and we get a lovely buffet breakfast included.

Another thing I don’t like with Air BnB is that the hosts can give the guests a rating. Yes, yes, I get it that if someone absolutely trashes your place you hosts want a platform where you can “warn” others about the guests. But such damage is a matter for the police. Leaving a bad score on air BnB is not going to punish the guest or get your place fixed and back in the shape it should be.

My score as a guest dropped when I stayed a week in a room (where no cleaning products were provided) and the host complained that the carpet had to be vacuumed after I left! He charged a cleaning fee anyway! And surely you would vacuum a room at least once a week anyway and certainly after a guest has gone and before the next one arrives. He left a review saying he wants to “make sure no other host has the same experience”.

I won't use Air BnB again after an owner cancelled a week before our trip to Legoland in Denmark

This is one of the things I look at before I book.

Sometimes you can tell if a host has form for this.

Too many amateurs using AirBNB as it's so easy to set yourself up as a host. Luckily, their listings are usually poor, so you can tell which ones are professional and who are the amateurs/chancers. Unless there are lots of photos and a very detailed description of the property, I won't even think of booking. Then I go on to check reviews etc - the first sign of any themes (i.e. the same issue repeated or lots of average/low reviews) and I walk away. But then again, I only use AirBNB as a last resort anyway. Last time was in Venice about 3/4 years ago - it was OK, kind of, but still pretty poor despite good ratings - location not as described, amenities not as described, faulty shower, no iron, only 1 cooker ring working (out of 4).