Ultra-liberal show The Young Turks absolutely nails the truth on AirBnB!

The idea is good.

The real joke is the company itself which had a better app in 2015 when I first used it. Since then the usability has actually decreased, and they've prob given the engineers $700 mil since then. That part is truly absurd.

The business might've made a little more sense in 2015 because that's when it was like couch surfing app. Right? Pay $40 to sleep on the someone's basement couch in a city where the cheapest hotels are over $150. Hosts weren't over-extending themselves.

Fast-forward to present day. Hosts are now realizing that it takes a lot of money and effort to maintain a modern AirBnB. More than they originally expected. They got burned out from cleaning their casitas. Or driving out to the middle of nowhere to re-setup their glamping thing for the next guest. So now they're asking guests to mow the lawn (Yes, seriously).

I’m going to Switzerland this spring, and the AirBnB “private rooms” cost the same or more than a decently rated 3-star hotel. I’d rather stay in the hotel, with breakfast, daily cleaning (if one chooses) and a front desk.

The truth about the collapse of Airbnb is beyond the scope of what mods here tolerate.

Even if they are operating at a loss, they may may make a sizable windfall when they sell due to the price appreciation that houses have traditionally enjoyed. Yeah, I know housing prices are stagnating at the moment, but over the long term, they may reap very good return on investment from this venture, and the modest income they received from leasing out the AirBnB might be helping make that ownership possible.

AirBnB never made sense ever.

I am glad this is coming to an end.

Fun read

It became outrageously priced with the worldwide market and extremely deceptive in tacking on the exorbitant 'cleaning' fees at the end. Same with vrbo. It also has had a very deleterious impact on the cost of urban rentals, because so many units were taken out of long-term occupant service for the much more lucrative short-term rentals.

I don’t know what you mean regarding the math never adding up. It did. You could make more Airbnbing a property than renting it long term.

The problem is that the hosts got greedy and didn’t realize, with a few exceptions, that people were only staying in Airbnb’s because they were cheaper than a hotel. Now that they cost the same (or more) why stay in one?

The ridiculous cleaning fees is also a major issue. It makes the site feel scammy and makes me not want to use it. If the room says $300 a night, then that is what I should pay. Taxes etc being added on sure, but $150 dollar cleaning fees, f off. It costs me less than that to have my entire house cleaned.

Renting an apartment is usually a good option when you travel to a big destination race. You can make yourself some coffee and breakfast at 4:30 am or whatever, and wash your stinky singlet and shorts afterwards. Such amenities are more common in apartments for rent than in hotels. However Airbnb doesn't facilitate this scenario much: they don't have 'pay at the property' option. Even with the free cancellation they freeze your money and there can be hidden fees, too, like service charges not refunded I think? Not 100% sure about this one. And for a big race you have to book months in advance to get a decent place at a reasonable price. I personally book a hotel with 'pay at the property' and 1-2 weeks out check if there are any airbnbs I like available. If yes, I cancel the hotel and book the apartment.

I'm myself more familiar with a completely different kind of hate on airbnb than discussed in this thread. People in lower-income areas get evicted to make room for rental apartments. You can see 'Stop Airbnb' signs in any southern European city which is at least some popularity with tourists – Lisbon, Valencia, Athens, Istanbul. If you rent on airbnb, you shouldn't mention in to locals just in case.

Who??

I used have an AirBNB in my spare bedroom. The guests would share the bathroom and kitchen with me. I was very old school hospitable, but it was my lived-in home. In like 2016-2017 I met all these cool travelers who were low key, interesting, and grateful for a place to stay at $30/night. I got all 5* reviews.

By 2018-2019 "regular" people started to use me as a hotel and for some reason started to expect hotel standards at this price point. One middle-aged woman with a designer bag who looked like she had fillers and plastic surgery complained about a hair on the sink. Several people complained about the mattress (which wasn't brand new, but was perfectly usable). Several people complained about the neighborhood. My reviews plummeted and the things people said hurt my feelings so I closed the AirBnB.

That's really interesting, and sad. Too bad there was no way for you to make sure your guests understood what you wanted out of the arrangement. I'm sure those chill travelers still exist and need people like you in the game.

I think this accurately captures what we all are talking about:

the only thing that matters is the only one we can't mention.

Are you referring to 42 U.S.C. Section 1981?

I live in a mountain town in the US where housing prices have been going crazy the last 5-6 years. It's depressing to look at the map of airbnbs in my town and realize how many houses, condos, apts and other full-time livable places have been converted to short-term rentals. If it's just a little spare room above your garage, ok. But so many 1-3 bed houses are going for 100k over asking just to be converted to airbnbs. I used to use airbnb a lot, but I've switched back to hotels because I don't want to be part of a similar problem in someone else's town.

Not to make this political, but part of our problem is being a blue city in a red state, where the state legislature has passed laws preventing our local gov't from regulating airbnb more. So much for local governance.

As an Airbnb host, I don’t relate to this stuff. I have a multi-family that remains booked nearly back-to-back except perhaps during 3-4 months of winter when I often long-term rent it anyway. My work is primarily messaging. Have a reliable maid who cleans well and never misses the schedule (or sends a replacement maid if needed). Guests’ experience is little different from a hotel except they never see the host face-to-face because of self check-in (except if there’s an emergency); in particular, they don’t have to clean anything when they check out. The only difference from a hotel is it feels like a 1BR home with a kitchen and with much more space than a hotel room. It’s probably not much cheaper than a hotel for guests, but it’s in a walk-friendly location and presumably guests see value in it, otherwise they won’t be booking it.

Jamin posting TYT is the latest example of his movement from Right to Left on the political spectrum. Now maybe extrapolate this to the whole rental market, or the whole economy.