There's a wide variety of possibilities here:

- Not wanting staff or service.

- Wanting something that looks and feels like a home rather than a hotel room. This isn't available everywhere.

- Wanting something that isn't shared with a bunch of other hotel guests. (Aside: I have no problems with apartment buildings banning AirBnB/VRBO, because that's much more "cheap hotel substitute that might bother neighbors" than "unique offering that isn't likely to bother anyone".)

- In general, wanting something unique that doesn't tend to exist as a hotel.

It's difficult to quantify. Perhaps it's something as intangible as a space optimized for _living_ (like an apartment) as opposed to a space optimized for _profit_ (like a hotel).

Whatever the case, despite the existence of the options you list, Airbnb's are still popular. There's clearly some significant differentiator between them and an Airbnb.

It's definitely the vibe. A lot of it is how the space is decorated. The random assortment of furniture and other stuff in an AirBnB contributes quite a lot to the atmosphere people are looking for.

But there is a psychology to it that is, as you say, hard to pin dow. A hotel that has a random assortment of plates and cutlery in the kitchen (like my last AirBnB did) would feel cheap and tacky. The AirBnB didn't.

1. An actual kitchen that's good for cooking complex meals. This is great for family trips on holidays.

2. 3+ bedrooms. Good luck finding that in Hotels.

3. Things like private hot tubs or pools, BBQ in the backyard, etc are almost unheard of in hotels.

4. Laundry machines.

As far as I can tell, these do not exist in any meaningful number in Barcelona. They also rarely exist in city centers, at least everywhere I've seen in Europe. That's why entire buildings were turned into AirBNB.

Or, holiday homes. These are furnished short term rental apartments with kitchens, often washing machines and dishwashers, etc. Common in parts of Europe. But at least in Germany they are well regulated and you actually sign a rental contract for your stay. I suspect that makes them a lot less accessible for tourists from abroad.