Comment by dekz | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dekz | Hacker News Reader

I'll chime in with my Airbnb experience. There's always one out there that's going to bite you, I'm travelling around Europe and using AirBnb mostly. I've had great experiences with using them in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France. Then there is the outlier which makes you question using it at all. There is one thing you pay for in hotels and that is service and it is a requirement. With a hotel you won't ever be stranded in a foreign country, but with Airbnb it's possible.

I recently booked a stay in Prague which seemed positive, with quite a large number of positive reviews. Normally with all my other airbnb stays, I contact the host many days before and organise a way to check in and a time. This has worked out well, we simply meet at a specified time, talk and get given the keys and shown around the place. Back to the story in Prague, I contact the host 4 days prior to check in and receive no reply for those 4 days. The listing on the website becomes 'disabled' and the last calendar activity of the host is 6 weeks ago. There are then reports saying that previous tenants where 'bumped' to a different apartment as there was a problem with the listed apartment. This raises alarm bells to me and the last thing I want to do is arrive in a foreign country and be left stranded. Which is exactly what happened. I contacted AirBNB a day prior to the event detailing the 'fishiness' via online medium and have only received automated replies.

Luckily our host in a previous city had a friend who could arrange us a stay at short notice. Don't get me wrong, people are people and there are fantastic people out there.

So really the price difference is a multitude of services, and how much you will risk being stranded or mislead.

Why would you be left stranded if this AirBnB booking fell through? Unless you had absolutely no money, what's to stop you booking a cheap hotel or hostel for the night?

I've never used AirBnB and have no real plans to. However, I have traveled around Europe extensively, and some of the best times were when I simply arrived somewhere and then attempted to find accommodation.

I rode my motorcycle from London to Spain, toured for two weeks and never booked a single hotel in advance (my GPS packed it in on the second day too, so I played with paper maps). Only once was the first hotel I entered unable to find me a room.

I traveled around Sicily on public transport, mostly buses, a few trains and ferries. Again, I never booked accommodation in advance, always found somewhere and was never stranded.

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear, the booking didn't 'Fall through' as you phrased it. As per AirBnb's terms once you have booked the stay, on the day you have to 'assume' everything is ok regarding the check in and rock up to a random radius of where the apartment is. So even though I wasn't able to contact the host and organise a meet up time, Airbnb gives you a rough location of where the apartment is (host doesn't have to specify exact address) and you meet there at some time. Check the FAQ and the terms here (https://www.airbnb.com/help/question/88).

I was left stranded as the check in time was 'organise with host', no specified time and the apartment location was a broad area. I had neither a time nor a place to check into, that's how I was stranded.

I had organised a Plan 'B' knowing this may happen so I didn't spend the night on the street.

I contacted AirBnb via their website a day before this event and still am yet to receive a reply from their customer support.

I think you're arguing my point any way, it's harder to be stranded from a hotel, either they will find you a room or they will point you somewhere else who can.

Plan B is important with AirBnB. I'm staying in an apartment right now I found on there (Prague as well), and it worked out well. However, like you said renting an apartment from an individual could easily leave you stranded. I mean, you could show up to get the keys, and they're simply not there. Maybe they're late? Maybe they had an emergency? Maybe they forgot? You need that backup plan and a location of a nearby hotel, hostel, number for a taxi, etc, just in case. This doesn't happen with a hotel. Nonetheless, I'm going to stick with AirBnB. I enjoy renting apartments, they have a lot more character than hotel rooms, are cozy, and you feel like you're a part of the city, which is why I travel in the first place.

> what's to stop you booking a cheap hotel or hostel for the night?

Special needs, traveling with others, just plain tired after a long trip, middle of the night, better amenities, better accommodations, hotels are booked full, maybe some of those available hotels/hostels are super shady and I don't want to be among strangers there. As much as I love the idea of being able to travel freely, I also like the assurance that I know where I'm sleeping at the end of any given day.

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