You've seen a host before? I've never seen one.

I met one once. Because he was renting out the bottom floor of his townhouse in DC, so he was on site anyway. Nice place, mostly, with rave reviews. Complimentary candy, soda, and even beer when we arrived (late at night after a long flight, so the snacks were very welcome. But holy crap the bed was awful. Hard as a rock, firmest mattress I've ever tried to sleep on. Ended up sleeping on the couch. And the power kept failing each day we were there, though that seemed to be a neighborhood thing, not specific to his apartment. Just bad luck.

I'm back to hotels because that was the closest I came to having the quintessential perfect AirBnB experience. Any halfway decent hotel has better service, better beds, better climate control, better everything pretty much.

> quintessential perfect AirBnB experience.

I don't think its the luxury you are defining it by. Its a room in somones house that comes with its pros and cons.

Not sure if you’ve never used it, but a vast number of AirBnBs are entire home/apartment rentals.

right. I was talking about the 'quintessential' part. Entire apartments isn't quintessential airbnb, atleast for me, I've been using regularly for over a decade. Op was also talking about airbnbing someones floor in a condo not 'entire apartment'.

It’s about meeting hosts, not sure if you read the posts properly, or what the point of the needless snark is

> It’s about meeting hosts,

> I'm back to hotels because that was the closest I came to having the quintessential perfect AirBnB experience.

since when do hotels have 'hosts' ? I even quoted that line in my original response. Airbnb = 'air bed and breakfast' , i.e renting an air mattress in someones home, that was the original idea anyways. Renting 'whole apartments' came much later and insn't a 'quintessential' airbnb experience.

> Not sure if you’ve never used it

Also, I read that as snark too.

I have had amazing airbnb hosts in South America, but usually these hosts are essentially running hotels. Hosts in the US were the worst. One host in NYC, whose slum apartment I stayed in for a few weeks, checked up on the apartment several times while I was at work to turn off the air conditioning (that I left on to avoid coming home to 85 degree heat). Another charged a $300 cleaning fee for a week-long stay, and then complained to me that I left dirty dishes in the sink - apparently they didn't come clean the place for several weeks after I left.

> that I left on to avoid coming home to 85 degree heat

My sympathy is with the host here.

Even if it was a tiny window unit left at a high thermostat temperature? The thing could not cool the place down in a reasonable time if it wasn't running 24/7.

The cheap fuck of a slumlord wanted to avoid paying $5/day in electric bills for the thing. This wasn't central air.

maybe you only book 'whole house/apartment' ? . I usually book a room in hosts house as a single traveller. I always see the host, i even went skiing with one last week.

Mostly in Europe and Africa. When we stayed in AirBnBs in Europe we've met the host almost every time. One helped me park my oversized rental van and then paid for the parking since it didn't fit in the spot that came with the house. Another was there to show us all the amenities. Another was there to tell us to pretend we were his friend because rentals weren't allowed. And the one in Africa did a whole grocery shopping for us because she knew we were arriving late with kids and wouldn't have any food to feed them in the morning.

But yeah I've only ever met one host in the USA, and that was because they lived next door.

Once, when I stayed in Petaluma many years ago (I think 2014 or 2015?) but it was maybe 5 minutes?

They gave us a small tour, showed us how to use some appliances (like the heater) and showed us how to use the door code, and walked through the expectations (at that time, they were simple, was happy to accomodate).

That was it.

Every time after that, nope, never once.