I’ve rarely used AirBnB. Once for a longer term apartment stay a decade ago, once for an (actual) B&B that advertised on the site.
When it first launched I heard fabulous stories from my mother’s friends - a bedroom in Mayfair/Barcelona/Paris for $25! That was when it was people renting out a room in their house. Staying with a local used to be part of the sell.
Yet the business model very quickly pivoted to whole apartment rental, and whole buildings were bought out by short-term rental entrepreneurs. It was no longer someone making a few dollars from a spare bedroom. I heard horror stories from both sides (shady hosts, misrepresented properties, rip off additional charges for guests; or of party-throwers trashing the place, stealing stuff, etc from the hosts). I’m usually traveling alone and honestly I feel much safer just checking into an actual hotel.
What has been interesting lately is the discourse pivot to more people saying hotels are a better deal and AirBnB is no longer worth it. Chore lists (!!) and various demands on guests, to the point that the site even put restrictions on what guests could be asked to do.
But AirBnB has defenders, people who insist they prefer it for various reasons. The main one seems to be wanting to travel as a group. That they “need” it for families. And it struck me how much the existence of AirBnB has actually created that travel model. What did people do before this supposed necessity came along?
Yes summer cottages existed, and families went together to resorts etc. Hotels had cots for the kids, and offered adjoining rooms. College kids would pile 6 into a motel room on a road trip to see a concert.
But the idea of renting a whole house, just for a couple of nights, was never so easily an option. And now there is a whole segment of the population who treats that as their standard travel model. Thanks to AirBnB making it an option.
My big concern with AirBnB, and I have used them in foreign countries with bad hotel options, is that they invariably take housing stock off the market driving up prices for locals. And then those locals say they need to AirBnB their places in order to afford their rent, so it is a vicious cycle driving up housing costs. And of course young people then protest for more government housing, or rent-controlled housing, which do not allow you to AirBnB and will take more housing off the market.