Every “innovation” in the picture…should never be used…except Uber
It’s the holidays, there are a dozen(+) people in your family, and you want folks to fly in from out of state and have the kids play together in a living room while the adults cook together in a kitchen.
VRBOs are sold out.
Is Airbnb OK, if you respect the neighborhood (as best you can while still doing a short term rental)? If you rent from a family who happens to be out of town and not from a superhost with a hundred homes?
Like with most things that are successful on this list, AirBNB isn’t inherently bad, and there’s no reason why you can’t hypothetically have an ethical, positive experience. But it followed the typical late-stage capitalist enshittification script, and to have that experience you have to fight through many many barriers erected by both the company and hosts to maximize profits.
I’ve had some very nice experiences with AirBNB back when it was a startup, and when you were interacting with hosts who actually lived in the places you were staying. But at this point I’ve fully stopped using AirBNB and hotels are now a better, cheaper experience unless you find a unicorn property/host. 19 times out of 20, AirBNB is just a nightmare of hidden/high fees, abusive corporate “hosts,” and AirBNB being absolutely, reliably unwilling to help mediate or solve any problems.
Just from a logistical perspective, holiday cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen sounds like an absolute nightmare, especially with Airbnb where you’re at the mercy of the host for how well equipped it’ll be.
If you rent from a family who happens to be out of town and not from a superhost with a hundred homes?
If there were some way to ensure this was the case, then I agree with you. As soon as you get people treating this as a business, it becomes a problem.
It’s the holidays, there are a dozen(+) people in your family, and you want folks to fly in from out of state and have the kids play together in a living room while the adults cook together in a kitchen.
VRBOs are sold out.
Is Airbnb OK, if you respect the neighborhood (as best you can while still doing a short term rental)? If you rent from a family who happens to be out of town and not from a superhost with a hundred homes?
Like with most things that are successful on this list, AirBNB isn’t inherently bad, and there’s no reason why you can’t hypothetically have an ethical, positive experience. But it followed the typical late-stage capitalist enshittification script, and to have that experience you have to fight through many many barriers erected by both the company and hosts to maximize profits.
I’ve had some very nice experiences with AirBNB back when it was a startup, and when you were interacting with hosts who actually lived in the places you were staying. But at this point I’ve fully stopped using AirBNB and hotels are now a better, cheaper experience unless you find a unicorn property/host. 19 times out of 20, AirBNB is just a nightmare of hidden/high fees, abusive corporate “hosts,” and AirBNB being absolutely, reliably unwilling to help mediate or solve any problems.
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Have you seen AirBnB pricing and some of the policies/fees the owners of properties have implemented? Cheaper to buy a camper.
Just from a logistical perspective, holiday cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen sounds like an absolute nightmare, especially with Airbnb where you’re at the mercy of the host for how well equipped it’ll be.
If there were some way to ensure this was the case, then I agree with you. As soon as you get people treating this as a business, it becomes a problem.