Thu, 11:45: Airbnb and Vrbo are going downhill like a hippo on a water slide
HARD AGREE.
I long ago got to the point where I discovered that, if you just know how to look, you can find perfectly good hotel rooms that cost around the same—and these days are often notably cheaper—than Airbnb or Vrbo rentals, and critically, at least hotels consistently provide actual amenities. These days I find the asking prices on Airbnb to be typically bonkers, and it used to be the economic choice.
This article has far worse horror story examples than I ever experienced, but I have also stayed in Airbnbs where it appeared we were sharing the limited supply of soap with the hosts. Ditto the towels. And of course there was that Airbnb host I rented from in Vancouver B.C. in 2018 who acted like I was the weirdo for wanting a top sheet on my bed, and when the review I posted wasn't perfect he actually messaged me to ask that I edit it to a higher rating. (That's not how this works.)
Sometimes Airbnb is the only available choice, for instance for a group getaway in a house on the water on a remote island, as in my trip to Fox Island at the end of May. That one was mostly fine, although the windows had not been cleaned in ages and the sliding glass door was covered in disgusting children's hand prints. We were also required to strip the linens off all our beds and leave them in the laundry room. Why are we paying to do these people's work for them? We don't have to do this shit in hotels, which aren't even on average any more expensive!
These "home sharing" hosts are business owners who don't actually know how to run a business. And don't even get me started on the number of units in the condo complex where we live that are being used exclusively for Airbnb, thus both directly and indirectly driving down the value of living in our building.
