Airbnb is adding cleaning fees to a new ‘total price’ of bookings in search results after people complained listings were misleading::Airbnb’s CEO said that he’s heard guests “loud and clear” that pricing on the platform isn’t transparent and “checkout tasks are a pain.”
Can’t scroll past an air bnb post without stopping in to say fuck air bnb for its role in the housing crisis. It should be banned unless it’s owner occupied.
As many other things on the internet, the original idea was great (renting your couch or a room in your house for tourists to accommodate and feel a local experience, but once it reached the masses, and speculative companies bought properties just to rent them and pay cheap labor to maintain the rooms, it became BS one more time.
No matter what those whose drive is pure economical touch, they always ruin it.
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Money doesn’t turn people evil. Humans are inherently greedy. Money is the scalpel that exposes our true self.
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But Capitalism
Here’s a hint, capitalism isn’t the problem. Capitalism allows us to do what we want, which means we can be greedy. Freedom is a two edged sword. One that I will gladly take cuts from while it enables our way of life. No one else is responsible for your safety but you.
Capitalism is definitely the problem here. When profit above everything is the goal and how the system operates it’s always going to lead to things like this. Capitalism doesn’t “enable our way of life”, advances in technology allowed that all capitalism does is ensure the majority of those gains are going to the people at the top instead of society as a whole.
I dont think people are inherently greedy. We are taught from a young age the need for money which in turn makes people greedy. Ie nurture not nature
If people grew up on small farms with only a bartering system, i dont think people would hoard resources nearly as much.
It may be i want to see the best in people but i do believe most people would rather help others than not.
We are taught from a young age the need for money
Bartering isn’t any better than using fiat. Fiat allows economies to function at a level bartering can never approach. To say we ‘need’ money exposes your ignorance.
I really hate when people make this claim that humans are inherently greedy. I usually find that the people who believe in this are greedy people who want to believe that it’s natural. It’s a way for them to feel less guilty about a quality that can be deemed unsavory.
It doesn’t take much to find evidence that goes against this claim. Buddhist monks who take vows of poverty, teachers who teach to help children despite low salaries, family members who spend money to help other family members, true Christians who follow the footsteps of Christ, and the list can continue.
In addition, consider this, almost all of animalia on Earth takes only what they need. Lion prides aren’t hunting prey to the brink of extinction. Bees take only what they need to maintain a healthy hive. Historically, most Native American tribes only took from the land what they needed to live.
No, humans are not inherently greedy… Humans are inherently adaptable. This is something all animalia shares. And currently, our societal systems rewards those who make and hold onto the most money that they can. What this means is most of the “successful” people in our society are likely somewhat greedy. This causes some of us to believe that greed is necessary to survive, but most of us focus on being happy and having enough money to maintain that happiness. Money promises security, and security helps keep people happy; but you don’t need to be a multi-millionaire in order to be secure.
Money is not evil, it becomes evil when it becomes the primary purpose of doing something. Like if I choose to fix bikes in my home town the money is there to offset the costs but if I choose to make money fixing bikes in my home town then the purpose is entirely different.
It’s also obvious that most of the savings in the US anyway go away when you’re running it as a business. AirBnB has basically turned into VRBO, but apparently sketchier.
100%
In my city it is banned unless owner-occupied, but it’s not enforced (along with other small crimes like bike theft). Since its not enforced, and everyone knows it, nobody adheres to the rule! Whole condo blocks, townhouses etc, all bought up for vacation rental now.
I guess it’s much like everywhere else, but hey, at least we have a rule!
I’ve been using hotels instead of Airbnb for a while now, and it’s most often cheaper or similar price, and better service.
Here AirBnB just isn’t really comparable to a hotel.
In a hotel you get a bed, bathroom, a tiny desk, tv chair, and microwave. When you pay more the room is functionally the same, just maybe in a better location or nicer lobby.
With short stay accommodation you get an actual dwelling. Even in a tiny studio apartment you have a full kitchen and an actual table.
Obviously if hotels & short stay were like for like then you would stay in a hotel if that were cheaper - but that’s just not the reality here. Short stay accom is dramatically more comfortable.
True, but if you wanted those things before AirBnB, they existed, they’re called aparthotels e.g.: https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/art-las-palmas.es.html?label=gen173bo-1DCAMYsQIoggJCGmxhcy1wYWxtYXMtZGUtZ3Jhbi1jYW5hcmlhSApYA2i7AYgBAZgBCrgBF8gBD9gBA-gBAfgBAogCAZgCAqgCA7gCp7PVpQbAAgHSAiRkYWQxZjI5NS1hMDBhLTQxMzYtOTI3OS1jNWM1OTczYjAxYWTYAgTgAgE
with a kitchen, washing machine, etc. Very common in touristy areas for decades.
The main difference between an AirBnB and a generalized hotel is that the former is supposed to be inhabited by the owner most of the year. The others are hotels pretending to be something else.
Here in Australia “bed and breakfast” set ups were common before AirBnB. Local councils would even put up street signage for you.
The common assertion in these threads is that “hotels are similarly priced” which is just not the case here if you’re comparing like for like.
In Australia $250 AUD (~$200 USD) in a major city will get you a proper studio apartment in privately owned short stay accommodation, or a smelly bed + toilet arrangement in a sketchy hotel with stains on the walls (literally).
I travel a lot for work and while you can find hotels which are cheaper than airBnB, there’s just no comparisson on the features provided.
With short stay accommodation you get an actual dwelling. Even in a tiny studio apartment you have a full kitchen and an actual table.
That’s not always the case. In many places short stay accommodations have become like hotels. Many also have what’s more like half-kitchens - a small electric stove, a sink, microwave and kettle. That’s better than no kitchen at all, but it’s not like you can cook anything you want there.
Well yeah, but you can look at the listing and see what kitchen facilities are available?
In a hotel? Of course. There’s all those “extended stay” hotels and in some places they have weeklies, which you can rent for a night or a week or a month. But the point is, all the rooms are the same so you know exactly what you’re getting.
all the rooms are the same so you know exactly what you’re getting
You don’t know what you’re getting when you stay in privately owned short stay accommodation ?
I’ve always found listings are far more descriptive than hotels.
I think the only thing keeping me to Air BnBs is the kitchen honestly
We always look for extended stay hotels for this reason, especially when traveling with my parents who would much rather heat up a home cooked meal vs fast food when traveling. Usually we can get 1 room instead of 2 since a lot of time the rooms are suites so my wife and I can take the sofa bed.
That’s why I love the hotel suites with kitchenettes. With the help of an electric roaster we were able to bring Thanksgiving to my step-son, who was away at school.
Aw that’s awesome! Yeah I should look for kitchenettes next time I travel!
Yeah, that’s no small thing for me.
If I’m away for a week working or on holiday I so much prefer being able to make my own meals. I have unusual dietary preferences, so restaurants just aren’t appealing for days at a time.
I can’t say it’s always available, but you might want to look for suites? I stayed in a hotel in Ocean City that had a full kitchen, and most timeshare resorts (that you can also rent) tend to have that too.
Oh that’s a good idea. I’ll def look for one of those next time. All I really would need is a small stove!
Same here. I’ve almost completely given up on Airbnb. The convenience of a hotel is also much higher than being either in someone’s home, or an ugly “cheapest stuff at Ikea” Airbnb.
Yep, it’s nice to be a customer and not be rated and reviewed based on how well you cleaned up after yourself. Also dislike how Airbnb is a different interaction with the host every time. Some hosts are nosey or overbearing. I prefer the hotel front desk and then to be an anonymous customer after that.
That is wildly different depending on location and number of guests
I have seen this too. From my experience mainly USA. For example 1 night in Destin FL $150, with $100 or $150 cleaning fee. Colorado is the highest I have seen with $200 cleaning fee.
Canada and Mexico $30 cleaning fee lol. It really depends on the location errrr country.
I see this on Reddit all the time and I chalked it up to a marketing campaign by hotels because it’s just so wrong, at least where I am.
Tell me again why I would ever choose to get a room through AirBnB? Or travel across a city using Uber? Or have my food delivered by GrubHub?
Everyone wants to claim they have no money, and yet all these services needlessly add cost and complexity to what used to be a far more simple and cheaper purchase just a few years ago. I’ll take a taxi to my hotel room and pick up my own food thankyouverymuch.
Where I am Uber is the only option for an on call taxi.
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Where I am they are few and far between, will definitely take longer to arrive (if they arrive - no way to know if they are coming or not) and will be more expensive. They drivers will also almost certain try to long-trip you, hassle you for more tips, etc.
Uber isn’t perfect but it’s way, way better than a taxi here
Where I am there are taxis you can hail and prebooked. The hail taxis don’t come out here unless someone takes one out from the city, and the prebooked ones can only really be booked well in advanced. However I can summon an uber immediately.
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When I used to use it, over 10 years ago, it was great for couch surfing for a six pack and staying in peoples spare rooms for like $20. Did it all over Australia and Europe in college.
Now I think they’ve positioned themselves as being high-end hotel alternatives, because there’s more margin there. It was never good for that.
Today they’ve positioned themselves as a means for landlords to make a large amount of money from short stay holiday rentals instead of residential rental.
It allowed me and my friends to sleep in London for pennies compared to a hotel room.
And yet when I looked at places in Vegas, they were all shittier and more expensive than actual hotels. I really wanted to save money, so I really tried to give it a chance, but nothing that came up was worth it when I could just get an actual hotel. And the more I thought about it, I’m also just not comfortable using AirBnB as a single woman. Maybe other people have felt totally safe and had nothing happen and that’s great. But I know I would never feel one hundred percent certain there’s no cameras, and that whoever’s renting it wouldn’t just walk right in.
I’ve also seen those AirBnB management companies renting out rooms in the larger LV casinos for the same price, with the same amenities, and with the same resort fees. That one’s a total mystery to me.
And now they’re advertising AirBnB “rooms” or whatever it’s called where you sleep in a bedroom in the same house as the owner? While the owner is just…there?! That would just be so uncomfortable and awkward to begin with, but it also just kind of seems like a matchmaking app for serial killers.
Airbnb was originally the room concept, it’s was for couch surfing! Now it’s used to jack up housing prices for the profit of the few, naturally!
From what I’ve been able to work out - AirBnB doesn’t make a lot of sense in the US at this point - it often costs as much or more than an actual hotel or resort or more traditional house rental, and there’s all these extra gotchas with it that make it really… well - not interesting to me because of uncertainty, and that’s just financial and if you’re actually going to have a place to stay when you get there. Some of that was potentially worth it when it was 1/3 the cost I guess, but now that it’s popular, people aren’t doing it “for cost” or “to get a little extra for an unused room or whatever” but as a business. And guess what? Hotels, being competitive, already have close to the cheapest IT CAN BE in a given area to stay as a business venture.
On the resorts rentals, it’s really weird, but many places have partnered with AirBnB to I guess get them listed there also - basically like companies that have listings on eBay, Amazon, Walmart online, NewEgg for the same thing. It’s just a place people go more than say expedia. Of course, I do wonder how many people who are inclined to stay in those resorts are going to AirBnB anyway, vs just direct to the resort or more traditional booking methods.
Edit: Remembered - I’ve been told it’s very different in Europe still, so I guess it pays to check when traveling to other countries. If you’re ok with the tradeoffs for the savings.
Can’t speak for Vegas, that’s on an entirely different continent. But it helped that there were 5 of us.
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Doubt.
Quick google search shows quite a few hotel rooms under $100/night. Divide that with 1 or 2 other people and you’re talking about having a clean, safe place to stay with no other headaches for the night for roughly the cost of a reasonable meal.
And yet it happened…
We were sleeping with 5 of us, at that point you simply can’t beat a cheap AirBnB for price.
Frankly I trust my real-life experience literally doing it over your quick Google search.
I can believe you - people when travelling are so used to hotels they’re stuck in that “Hotel Room” mindset, which is great if it’s 2 people, or 2 couples that share a room. I don’t think many people have looked into “larger accommodations” so the “economy of scale” as it were can kick in. And I can see renting an entire house if you’ve got enough people going, for long enough, to be more economical. I know it has been for 1week or so. It’s hard to compare most hotels where people tend to stay for less than 5 days IME, and have less than 4 people to larger group trips.
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In cities yes. It still is unparalleled for renting small holiday homes in “rural” areas. E.g. Scottish Highlands, French Brittany.
That is the proper use case, where you would otherwise book an other B&B.
Indeed, I’ve used airbnb several times now to rent a vacation home in the French/Belgian/German countryside. For that it’s great. Cheaper than renting a bungalow somewhere and you have more space.
I get food through doordash because I can’t be arsed to pick up my own food on a lazy weekend. I’m also on the edge of nowhere, so I tip well. (This is a rare treat, not my primary means of feeding myself.)
Airbnb has never had appeal for me. I like the clear expectations of a standard hotel room.
I rather not have my food messed with by some random delivery person thankyouverymuch
Around here, bags of food for delivery are sealed up tighter than Ft. Knox (figuratively). Tape, staples, plastic bag around the outside tied up in knots you have to cut to get through. Plus, food deliverer germs are no worse than food preparer germs. I have enough innate germaphobe in me that I actively refuse to worry about my food being tampered with in ways I won’t notice. If I did that, I’d never eat any food I didn’t prepare myself, from ingredients that came in their own wrapper (banana, cantaloupe, live mussels).
No thanks. Between all the extra plastic and waste to keep people from tampering my stuff, to food getting cold and rubbery if left in a container for too long, to extra cost, it’s all a big fat no from me.
Airbnb is a bane on our society and massive contributer to the housing shortage.
This company needs to get sued into oblivion with their shitty practices and non transparent charges.
Finally. I’ve seen listings where the cleaning fees double the full cost
Honestly AirBnB used to be cool but now it kinda sucks.
Even though there’s now a ‘total price’ option, booking a basic hotel is still less painful. There’s cleaning fees and a lot of hosts have stupid requirements like you have to do the laundry or take out the trash or whatever. If I’m paying hotel level fees I want hotel level service. Plus every now and then you hear about one of these places having cameras in the unit. Fuck that.
“Yup yup, we hear you loud and clear, everyone, it’s all good bro”
[Doesn’t turn full price on by default]
Incoming follow-up, if challenged…
“So we actually paid an expert consultant to tell us that a percentage of our user population actually wants to be actively deceived whenever they use our service. So by default we will still obscure these non-negotiable fees that you will definitely pay in the final pricing.”
It’s great playing a cleaning fee when the host expects you to strip the bed and take it to the laundry, empty the bins and leave the place spotless
Since they’re gonna keep the fee anyway, might as well floss yer ass on the sheets I guess!
AirBnB fucking sucks now. There needs to be a term like “slum lords” for AirBnBs. They outsource so many properties to property managers and the house is disgusting PLUS they charge you the cleaning fee.
Just stick with hotels.
It’s almost as if they don’t want people to use their service.
Decent hotels were cheaper than airbnb’s last time I went traveling.
If you want more than one room AirBnBs are a viable option. But then you can book them through booking.com just as well.
However for solo travelling you’re generally right, hotels are better.
The amount the owner often asks you to do yourself would make you think they should be paying you the fee.
Pretty sure it has absolutely nothing to do with user complaints and everything to do with talk of regulation.
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That’s how you know they’re starting to feel the pinch of people being fed up with them.
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I will never understand how this is a fucking thing. Let alone so fucking much? Don’t want to have to pay to clean up after your guests leave? Then I guess you are in the wrong fucking business assholes.
