Comment by facet1ous | Hacker News Reader

Comment by facet1ous | Hacker News Reader

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Eh. As an Airbnb host, honestly I've never been given any slack by Airbnb. Maybe they've made some recent changes, but in my experience they pretty much always side with the guest even over minor things and I'm the one that has to fight tooth and nail for fair treatment when a guest abuses my house or breaks the rules.

Hotels are definitely nice if you like the pampering they provide (e.g. clean your room everyday), but the value of Airbnb is getting amenities and space of a house for an affordable rate. Good luck booking a hotel suite (w/ kitchen, common room, etc) without paying insane rates north of 1k a night. That's where Airbnb shines.

Can't speak to your experience, but there are heavy, heavy penalties for the behavior you're describing - you can't just do that carefree as a host. I would probably lose my business if I let that kind of stuff happen even just once or twice.

That being said, shitty hosts are out there. If they have extensive review history and positive remarks (over ~4.7/5.0 rating) it should be fine. I've honestly never had a bad experience as a guest over 5+ years of staying at Airbnbs with that criteria.

> Good luck booking a hotel suite (w/ kitchen, common room, etc) without paying insane rates north of 1k a night.

Isn't this the domain of extended stay hotels, like Residence Inn (Marriott), Staybridge Suites (IHG), and Homewood Suites (Hilton), and serviced apartments? They don't tend to be in the $1k/night range.

Yeah but those aren't as commonplace. And I'd still say good Airbnbs would have much better amenities (and charm for that matter).

It really depends. They may have a lot of charm, but also cut every damn corner with basic things like forks and knives. I've been in a few places that I swear must have purchased their cutlery from some aliexpress outlet for $5 or something. The edges of the forks were razor sharp.

Don't even get started on how few of them clean the dishwasher filter or anything like that. Ever looked at the filter trap on one of those places? Yuk!

> Good luck booking a hotel suite (w/ kitchen, common room, etc)

This seems like a huge luxury that is not needed for most travelers. If you really need the kitchen and entertainment spaces then you're going to pay a lot even with Air BnB ("alot" being super subjective).

For 1-2 nights? Probably not. I don't think having access to a kitchen or sitting area is a "massive luxury" for someone staying a week or longer for a vacation, work, etc. though.

The point is you get these amenities (or at least of them) for around the same price as a hotel room.

In some big markets (New York City or similar), it might be above a hotel room rate, but still a really good deal if you consider the value.

I just feel like there is an adequate "middle option" where you get a hotel room with a den and rely on the breakfast bar / hotel and local restaurants, to plug the gap while still paying the average hotel room price. I could see marginal cost savings cooking, but even the price of groceries (especially when not local-savvy) is quite high.

This is the common scenario if you have multiple family members who want to jointly rent a house. A hotel doesn't quite cut it for that. Granted you can all book at the same hotel but it isn't the same as renting a whole house for a week.

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