There’s no denying that Airbnb has disrupted the lodging and hotel industry. It started out as a place where people could rent out their spare rooms or homes when they weren’t using them, but it is (obviously) grown and morphed into something much bigger. It seemed like it used to be more of just a one-off thing for people to do as a side hustle. Now, it seems like most Airbnbs are run by huge corporations and/or professional property managers. I have stayed in some amazing Airbnbs, and also had my Airbnb host try to charge me an extra $410. I even hosted an Airbnb for a couple of years (I’ve since sold that property and gotten out of the Airbnb business), so I know quite a bit about how Airbnb works and the pros and cons of Airbnb.
Airbnb is broken – how to fix it
So with all of that said, I got a real chuckle when I saw this tweet awhile ago. Sadly, the tweet itself has since been taken down, but this is what it said.
Airbnb is broken. Hear me out.
The space needs disrupting. Think:
– a building dedicated to hosting
– full service
– central location
– guaranteed amenities
– professionally trained staff
– knowledgeable conciergewho’s building this?
If your sarcasm meter is broken, he is basically describing (tongue-in-cheek) a hotel. It was rather amusing to read some of the replies where people missed the joke entirely. On the other hand, there were some good replies that fit right along with the original post, including this one:
A few notable players in no particular order but might make sense if you start from the end Notilh, ttoirram, ttayh, snosaes 4, nretsew tseb
— Alex Barreto (@alexbcnd) July 10, 2022
Is Airbnb broken?
So, is Airbnb broken? While I have had (mostly) good experiences when staying at an Airbnb, there are certainly some ridiculous things, many of which were catalogued in the Twitter thread above.
I'm curious … have any of you found yourselves more recently preferring a hotel over an Airbnb? pic.twitter.com/Dp8HD8Tw3c
— marty.com (@martymadrid) July 9, 2022
(SEE ALSO: Is It Time to Give Up on Airbnb?)
I think that it’s interesting that even though this was originally written a few years ago, the hotel vs. vacation rental debate is still raging.
Hotel vs Airbnb – Pros and Cons
There are pros and cons for staying in hotels vs staying at an Airbnb or another vacation rental. Some things about Airbnb that I like are:
- Location: Sometimes there just aren’t hotels where you want to go. I stayed in an Airbnb in Billund, Denmark, to go to Legoland with my son. There weren’t any hotels (or at least any points hotels) in the whole city.
- Having a (larger) place to yourself: We are a family of 8, so being able to spread out and not have to worry about disturbing the neighbors is a nice feature.
- A full kitchen: Being able to cook our own meals can drastically cut down on our total food budget.
On the other hand, hotels offer:
- Hotel points! This is a miles and points blog, after all, and getting “free” stays is a big reason I prefer hotels. With Airbnb, there aren’t really very many good ways to use points to pay for Airbnb stays. You can use purchase-erasing points like Capital One Venture miles, but that’s about it. Some cards like the new Capital One Venture X offer credits toward vacation rentals.
- “Free” breakfast and/or dinner: With a family of 8, staying in a hotel that offers “free” breakfast or dinner can also be good value.
- Consistency of experience: This goes back to the original point. When I stay at a Hampton Inn or a Holiday Inn Express or a Hyatt Place, I know what I’m going to expect. While there are a few brands (Choice for one) where you have to be a bit careful about that, knowing what to expect is a huge benefit.
What about you? How do you like to travel?
I’m curious to hear your thoughts on how you find yourself staying when you’re traveling. Do you gravitate towards hotels? vacation rentals / Airbnbs? I think there can be different options for different situations. But there’s certainly no doubt that I am getting annoyed with Airbnbs where it’s $59 / night with a $200 cleaning fee (and you still have to do most of the cleaning yourself).
Where do you typically stay when traveling? Do you prefer hotels or Airbnb?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Love the disrupting joke! I find looking for Airbnbs to be exhausting. And I think I understand not to trust the reviews at all…people know that prospective hosts can see every review you’ve posted, so there’s a cost with being honest. I’ve only stayed at one, and it was a mostly good experience, although the check in and check out times were inconvenient and I was a bit annoyed at all the directions like stripping the beds, taking out the trash etc. Particularly with the big cleaning fee.
Yes – I think there are reasons to use both Airbnbs and hotels but when I saw the joke on Twitter, it was too good not to share 🙂
It all depends on location. I can say that Airbnbs in Vancouver Canada in particular in Richmond is a much much much better experience than staying in hotels. The hotels in Richmond are old and small. Whereas the Airbnbs are cheaper and the buildings are recently constructed and so fairly new. Many of the Airbnbs are close to shops, mall, restaurants and so super convenient. But if I go to LA, no way I’ll do Airbnbs, it’s hotels all the way. So it all depends on where you go.
What’s broken is the cleaning and service fees that double the cost of the Airbnb’s. They need to fix this. I don’t stay at Airbnbs in the US because of this.
Yes – that is definitely one of the problems with Airbnb. As a (former) Airbnb host, I get it to a degree, because each turn I would have to pay a cleaner ~$150 to come in and clean everything and do laundry and such. But some of the cleaning fees seem like they are out of control.
We have stayed at many Airbnbs in the city where our son and his family live (eastern US). While some have been better than others, none have been terrible and the owners have always been considerate and helpful. AND they have always been cheaper than any hotels in the area, as well as providing more room and often being in a quieter area.
Sounds like you’ve had some great experiences with Airbnb – to me, there is no doubt that they make a lot of sense in specific situations
Airbnbs are generally broken and you just never know what to expect…………., especially with cleaning requirements and fees which are the biggest complaint! Airbnb/VRB organizations need to have a standard detailed explanation of service/expectation for each party for the elements of a stay so if a dispute arises there is a way to measure who is in the right or wrong and who is responsible for restitution!! Possibly with photos required before and after of all elements. This will eliminate the “Wild West” type of antics that give them a bad name when Owners or Renters behave badly because both can be outright liars!
I definitely agree and consistency is one of the biggest advantages of hotels IMO
You completely missed what’s broken. First, too many garbage fees. Consumers want to comparison shop and the full price displayed on the listing results page. Second too many dishonest owners who try to asses penalties etc. Third, most properties don’t match the description or the photos, and always worse. At least with hotels you know what you are getting. Until these issues are addressed most of us will avoid airbnb unless there is no choice.
Airbnb’s only useful purpose to me is a cheap place to crash, filling a price and experience gap between shared dorm hostels and hotels. Outside of that, it’s a hotel or VRBO for me. I find the latter to be far lower on the annoyance/bs spectrum vs AirBnB.
I have to say I love Airbnb, both as a guest and a relatively new host. I can think of only a few bad experiences I’ve had as an Airbnb guest, and some terrific experiences. Most recently we went to Hawaii with some friends and stayed in an apartment that was a five-minute walk to the beach and was half the cost of similar apartments we priced out through the Costco travel agency. Airbnb also gives you the opportunity to meet good people. So far (knock on wood) we have hosted some pretty awesome people.
I agree that excessive fees are crazy-making, though honestly I’ve had my most negative sticker shock experiences with this at hotels, not Airbnbs. I’ve stayed in hotels with unexpected resort fees, minibar fees (even if you just move an item temporarily to be able to use the fridge!), pet fees that are as much s $75 a night . . . and on and on. With Airbnb, I know all of the costs before booking, I can share meals with my friends and family, and can sometimes bring the dog. It’s great. I like hotels as well, especially if I’m traveling by myself in urban areas, but if I’m in a group I love a good Airbnb.