Digital Exile: How I Got Banned for Life from AirBnB

Re:Digital Exile: How I Got Banned for Life from AirBnB by rsync on Friday July 13, 2018 @01:04PM (#17524681)

"If I want a professional hotel experience, I stay at a hotel. If I wanted a less predictable experience from people playing at running a hotel, I'd stay at one of these amateur hotels."

I really appreciate a nice hotel and often opt for that, however the ability to rent an entire freestanding home (or flat) is a game changer for families and groups traveling.

I find that there are some pretty simple heuristics you can employ to avoid these bad airbnb experiences ... the quality of the home/unit can instantly be assessed by looking at the bathroom and kitchen pictures. If you see shower curtains, you pass - if you see glass shower doors, you proceed. A high end surface and a nice range/stove in the kitchen pictures tell you everything you need to know about the unit.

As for the hosts, never, ever book with new hosts and always discuss things over the phone and get a sense as to whom you are dealing with.

The nicer and more expensive the unit, the better the experience you will have.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Digital Exile: How I Got Banned for Life from AirBnB by denimnerd on Friday July 13, 2018 @01:35PM (#17524958)

There's plenty of local property management companies that handle short term rentals. At least in tourist locations. We've been renting full houses for large groups since before the Internet..

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Digital Exile: How I Got Banned for Life from AirBnB by idontpost on Tuesday July 17, 2018 @04:14PM (#17552885)

And they all list their units on AirBnB now.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Digital Exile: How I Got Banned for Life from AirBnB by unethical_ban on Friday July 13, 2018 @02:00PM (#17525189)

>As for the hosts, never, ever book with new hosts

Ain't that a bit of a bootstrapping problem.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Digital Exile: How I Got Banned for Life from AirBnB by archagon on Friday July 13, 2018 @06:11PM (#17527288)

When I was traveling solo for a prolonged period of time, I occasionally booked with new hosts. They were substantially cheaper, and you could usually figure out if they were honest or not by having a quick conversation and carefully reading the listing. Never had any problems. At worst, the rooms were a bit dirty at times (which was fine by me). At best, they were some of the most attentive hosts I had, and I'm happy to watch their positive reviews grow over the years following my initial one.

There will always be people willing to take a risk.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Digital Exile: How I Got Banned for Life from AirBnB by dymk on Friday July 13, 2018 @02:39PM (#17525567)

Luckily enough for "power users", not everybody considers the motivations or risks around a gig economy. So there's always going to be some set of users out there willing to go through the vacation wood chipper that is a bad host.

[ Parent | on HN ]