Uh Oh. #Airbnbust is trending on Twitter and Reddit.
What’s going on with Airbnb?
It all started with a viral post in a Facebook group dedicated to Airbnb Superhosts.
Hosts complained about a huge decrease in bookings in the past few months.
Here’s what we found in a post written on October 7th, 2022:
“Has anyone seen a huge decrease in bookings over the last 3 to 4 months? We went from at least 50% occupancy to literally 0% the last two months.
I’m just curious if this is something only going on with my property or if other people are seeing similar things.”
So, let me ask again – what’s going on?
Why Travelers Dislike Airbnb
Many travelers have stopped using Airbnb for the following reasons:
- Extra hidden fees (like why do you need so many extra fees on top of the actual price per night? Cleaning fee, service fee, and occupancy taxes and fees? Like, what?)
- In some destinations, you’ll also need to pay for water or electricity bills at the end of your stay. Isn’t that crazy?
- Some hosts can be discriminatory.
- Some hosts are going overboard with house rules.
- There have been multiple stories of fake hosts and fake listings, hidden cameras, and last-minute cancellations, giving Airbnb a bad reputation.
Airbnb Debates
Many hosts also complain about travelers.
And it started some interesting debates.
For example, if a host charges a $200 cleaning fee, should the guest clean after himself? Probably not. And what about trash? Why should the guest empty the trash? Isn’t this covered in the cleaning fee?
And what about the housing crisis in some cities/countries? Many locals need to leave the city to afford to pay rent. Isn’t this an ethical issue?
Final Thoughts
There was a time when Airbnb was cheaper than hotels – nowadays, it’s the opposite.
Hotels are often cheaper than Airbnb.
Websites like Booking.com are now offering apartment rentals, too, without any additional fees like cleaning, service, etc.
While I used to love Airbnb, I’m not a big fan anymore.
Here are the reasons why:
- You can only see the final price before your book an Airbnb. The pricing is not super transparent.
- You must organize check-in and check-out time with the host (this can depend on the Airbnb chosen, though). I had two or three experiences where the host was late for more than 30 minutes, and you simply don’t experience that in hotels.
- Now, I can book apartments via Booking.com – so this is more convenient for me because I also get a Genius discount as a frequent traveler.
- Airbnb terminated partnerships with bloggers and content creators on bad terms – and many of us lost our trust in Airbnb.
I do hope we’ll see more villa and apartment listings appear on Booking.com in the future so that we can have better options.
As a result, we wouldn’t have to rely on websites like Airbnb, with hosts who can cancel your booking at any time and with so many extra hidden fees.
Are you thinking of staying in a hotel instead but feeling unsure? Read about the pros and cons of staying in a hotel.
