Air B&B

[Twisted Tenon]

So I am planning a trip to the US west Coast later in the year and am busily booking accommodation. When I got to San Francisco I was in for a rude shock as the cost for reasonable accommodation is almost double to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. I happened on the Air B&B site and was pleasantly surprised by the prices. BUT I am a bit cautious about the whole business having heard some shocking tales (mostly Australian I think).

I've googled some horror stories, but there seem to be a lot more positive stories out there. Just wondering if anyone here has had experiences either good or bad with it?

TT

[Dibbers]

I haven't personally, but a lot of my colleagues swear by it. Only thing you need to look out for is to make sure its an entire property and they're not just renting out a room...

Vegas is always cheap as chips for accommodation as they expect to recoup the costs on the tables... they did off me that's for damn sure! Bloody american money all looks the same... you look in your wallet and think "Nah I haven't spent that much" till you realise all that's in there is $20 worth of $1 bills!

[AlexS]

No experience in American AirBnB, but several in the UK & one in Melbourne, the experience was generally positive, and in a couple of cases, excellent. One in the UK was a bit ordinary, but I wouldn't say it was bad.

[damian]

My neighbour was hosting for a while. We are going to tassie in february and booked some of them. Hope to spend the majority of our time in them. I suggest you read the reviews. The people who host and stay are like the general population. Most people are really good but there is always that few maybe 3% who stuff it for everyone.

My impression is airbnb themselves are like ebay, they say they will do something but don't. If it goes pear shaped plan to be on your own.

[forrestmount]

We stayed in a house whilst staying in the Samona Valley. It was booked on Airbnb however we had no real host as we had the whole house. The only negative I had was we had to thoroughly clean before we left e.g mop floors etc. this is not really what I want to do on holidays.


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[Dareen]

The main thing, is do your research thoroughly. We have stayed in Airbnb in Namibia, South Africa, Canada and the US and several times in Aust. during the last few years and have had good to excellent stays always. My wife spends hours researching, especially the reviews and it has paid off.
Have heard some pretty awful stories as well so maybe we have had luck with us.
All the best and enjoy yourselves.
Cheers, Fred

[Mr Brush]

If you stick with the heavily (positively) reviewed ones, you can't go far wrong. I travel around NSW a lot for work, and have used Airbnb almost exclusively for the past 18 months. I only resort to hotel/motel accommodation if there isn't an Airbnb available reasonably close to the work site. Unfailingly excellent experiences, but I generally go for places where I'm renting a room/rooms in a house where the owner is present - I don't need a whole house just for little old me. Met some really nice people along the way, and many are very flexible on providing meals if required.

[Fuzzie]

AirBnb actually started in SF so you should be able to find something reasonable there. We used some places off AirBnb up the West Coast a couple of years ago, always choosing apartments or house, not rooms, and stays of at least a few days. All were good experiences, but we like to self cater so filtering for a good kitchen facility is our primary concern. In our experience a good kitchen means the rest is going to up to standard.

If you are just look for reasonable priced accommodation in SF perhaps look at this hotel (https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/union-square-plaza.en-gb.html?aid=311984;label=hotel-56172-us-romSRy_sjUgAGDdH2owDiwS162177392864%3Apl%3Ata%3Ap1%3Ap2%3Aac%3Aap1t2%3Aneg%3Afi%3Atikwd-122953636%3Alp9069123%3Ali%3Adec%3Adm;sid=8dadedc5a03476d4f5a58794c8786069;dest_id=20015732;dest_type=city;dist=0;hapos=1;hpos=1;room1=A%2CA;sb_price_type=total;srepoch=1516316311;srfid=ba45d80c2df07939e8ce8ac32ae7355c2ea75e0cX1;srpvid=0fb1a18ba4f700f8;type=total;ucfs=1&#hotelTmpl). It's basic but we were very happy with their service. Our plane was delayed by a day and a half and they were very helpful when we contacted to let the know we were delayed and not no shows. Even though our travel insurance probably would have paid, the hotel didn't want to charge us for two nights booked accommodation that was not used.

[Lappa]

Christmas 2015 used Air B&B in Paris and Bruges - booked by the DIL who’s in England. Paris was brilliant, Bruges was average - not suitable for the grandkids even though it was posted as such..

[david.elliott]

Daughter and boyfriend just got back from SF and echo exactly your problems. SF accomm is horrifically expensive. The hotel they booked turned out to be not quite as shown either. The room had blood spatter on the walls next to the bed and was always hot...like really hot.

When leaving one day they saw the room next door's door was open so they had a look as they walked by.

The two double bunks in the room had been converted to hydroponic setups with the bottom bunk holding the plants and the top bunk used to support the lights, hence the heat!


Unsure why they did not AirB&B the US trip, so far Korea, Japan, the UK and Singapore AirB&B experiences have been universally great for them. Japan was odd only so far as the english instructions for the Microwave were for another machine altogether.

[rustynail]

Best thing since sliced bread. Do your research.

[tonzeyd]

+1 to read reviews, do as much research as you can before booking and have your expectations in check.

Think of air bnb as this, imagine all the people you know having a spare house renting them out on short stays. Now imagine how many people will be good hosts and how many you wouldn't stay in even if you were paid to do so. Thats essentially airbnb in a nutshell.

I'm sure you'll hear as many horror stories with people with regular bed and breakfasts and "5 star" hotels.

The biggest difference between air bnb and hotels is regulations, which obviously adds to the cost of running a hotel. it also means there is a "standard" which you could expect at a hotel.

Also some Airbnb's are not someones spare house/holiday home so can be bit of an experience when you move in.

[Twisted Tenon]

Thanks for all your replies gents. Very helpful. I think I’ll give it a go. What can go wrong:)

TT

[AlexS]

I generally go for places where I'm renting a room/rooms in a house where the owner is present I'd echo that advise. The only one I went to that wasn't too good was the one where the owner wasn't present.

[rrich]

If your visit is truly to San Francisco, my advice would be to stay in the East Bay that is convenient to BART. Bart will take you into downtown very easily. Parking in San Francisco is almost impossible and very expensive.

I've always felt more comfortable staying in a hotel rather than in someone's home, even that of a friend or co-worker.

[Twisted Tenon]

If your visit is truly to San Francisco, my advice would be to stay in the East Bay that is convenient to BART. Bart will take you into downtown very easily. Parking in San Francisco is almost impossible and very expensive.

I've always felt more comfortable staying in a hotel rather than in someone's home, even that of a friend or co-worker.

Thanks for the heads up rrich. We were looking around the Oakland area anyway. I won’t be driving around San Francisco either.

TT

[artme]

We have been Air BnB hosts and have never had any problems with guests. In fact we have Super host status.

We have also used Air BnB in the States and Canada as well as here in Australia. Never ha a problem.

Best part is the dollars saved!!

It all boils down to thorough research.

[rrich]

My experience with Oakland is not good. I was sent there for training. The hotel (Holiday Inn) was across the street from the football stadium. My room had been broken into at one time another as evidenced by the damage to the door jamb. I left nothing of value in the room. On another visit I had to go to one of the company equipment sites in downtown Oakland.

I'm from (Originally) Brooklyn, New York. The term "A cop (Police officer) on every corner means, at the intersection of two busy streets there is a 'Cop at every corner' means at an intersection of two streets there is a cop directing traffic and generally keeping pedestrians under control. In Oakland 'A cop on every corner' means four or five cops, one directing traffic and four controlling the pedestrians. This was mid day and not after dark.

I'm from Brooklyn, as I've said. I've driven (rental car) through Oakland. Oakland is the only place that I've ever deliberately locked all the doors of the car. My advice is to find lodging in the east bay that is walking distance to BART. (Bay Area Rapid Transit) If not walking distance, then a short hotel shuttle or taxi ride.

[Cliff Rogers]

Some OK, some not so, several bad experiences.

On one occasion, we couldn't get into the property & the contact details we had been given had been changed, we wasted an afternoon/evening of our holiday just trying to get into our accommodation.

On more than one occasion we have had the booking canceled, once was after it was confirmed & paid for & we had to then go through a rigmarole to get or money back.

Then we lost $1000 on the last booking & won't go near them ever again.

Something went wrong on the web site while we were doing a booking & we ended up booked into the wrong place & they would NOT give our money back.

They are crap to deal with if you have a problem, you lose, they win, no compensation.

We use Booking.com now, they don't take the money off your card until after you have checked in & sometimes they don't even take it until after you check out.

I would much rather use Booking.com than ScareBNB.

ScareBNB bought themselves a $1000 worth of negative advertising from me.

[Twisted Tenon]

Some OK, some not so, several bad experiences.

ScareBNB bought themselves a $1000 worth of negative advertising from me.

Thanks for that Cliff. Was this overseas or in Aus?
TT

[Twisted Tenon]

My experience with Oakland is not good. I was sent there for training. The hotel (Holiday Inn) was across the street from the football stadium. My room had been broken into at one time another as evidenced by the damage to the door jamb. I left nothing of value in the room. On another visit I had to go to one of the company equipment sites in downtown Oakland.

I'm from (Originally) Brooklyn, New York. The term "A cop (Police officer) on every corner means, at the intersection of two busy streets there is a 'Cop at every corner' means at an intersection of two streets there is a cop directing traffic and generally keeping pedestrians under control. In Oakland 'A cop on every corner' means four or five cops, one directing traffic and four controlling the pedestrians. This was mid day and not after dark.

I'm from Brooklyn, as I've said. I've driven (rental car) through Oakland. Oakland is the only place that I've ever deliberately locked all the doors of the car. My advice is to find lodging in the east bay that is walking distance to BART. (Bay Area Rapid Transit) If not walking distance, then a short hotel shuttle or taxi ride.


Thanks for that rrich. Nothing beats local knowledge. So is East Bay on the San Francisco side or the Oakland Int Airport side of the bay?

TT

[rrich]

Oakland and the Oakland airport are on the East side of the bay.

The BART map
https://www.bart.gov/stations

There are nice hotels in Walnut Creek and Concord. Before I retired I tended to gravitate toward the better hotels. Now I have spoiled my wife and she prefers the mini suite rooms at the better hotels. There seems to be a lot more hotels in Concord than Walnut Creek. (Our office was in Walnut Creek,)

Look the area over using Google Maps.

[Twisted Tenon]

Oakland and the Oakland airport are on the East side of the bay.

The BART map
https://www.bart.gov/stations

There are nice hotels in Walnut Creek and Concord. Before I retired I tended to gravitate toward the better hotels. Now I have spoiled my wife and she prefers the mini suite rooms at the better hotels. There seems to be a lot more hotels in Concord than Walnut Creek. (Our office was in Walnut Creek,)

Look the area over using Google Maps.

Thanks for that Rich. I previously found Portland on that transit map and thought it was handy to a variety of lines. I’ll follow it up.

TT

[artme]

Some OK, some not so, several bad experiences.

On one occasion, we couldn't get into the property & the contact details we had been given had been changed, we wasted an afternoon/evening of our holiday just trying to get into our accommodation.

On more than one occasion we have had the booking canceled, once was after it was confirmed & paid for & we had to then go through a rigmarole to get or money back.

Then we lost $1000 on the last booking & won't go near them ever again.

Something went wrong on the web site while we were doing a booking & we ended up booked into the wrong place & they would NOT give our money back.

They are crap to deal with if you have a problem, you lose, they win, no compensation.

We use Booking.com now, they don't take the money off your card until after you have checked in & sometimes they don't even take it until after you check out.

I would much rather use Booking.com than ScareBNB.

ScareBNB bought themselves a $1000 worth of negative advertising from me.

You must have been most unlucky Cliff! We had an instance where the description did not meet the reality and contacted Air BnB by phone. They found an alternative
for us immediately AND gave us a $50 voucher!

We did have a bit of a strange host in Honolulu - found him with his ear to the keyhole. Reported this to Air BnB for which we received a thank you.

[Cliff Rogers]

Thanks for that Cliff. Was this overseas or in Aus?
TT

Both, the money we lost was on a booking in Sydney.

The cancellation after the deposit was paid was in Singapore.

The other cancellations were Singapore and Sydney.

The access problem was in London.

Canada was reasonably good, we did have one place in Toronto that a bit dodgy, lots of weird rules.
Things like...
'Don't go in the front door, always use the side door.'
'Don't speak to the security guards, if they ask where you are going, tell them you are visiting a friend.'
'Don't order in food to be delivered.'
'Don't go to the reception desk if you have a problem, email or text us.'
It turns out it was an apartment in a secure complex that wasn't supposed to be sub-let.

We've struck a few places that were sub-let when they weren't supposed to be, some of them were the normal residence of the person we were renting off & they would just move out & crash with a friend or family while we were there. No major problems with that, just a bit weird being in somebody's place with all their stuff still there.

[Cliff Rogers]

... contacted Air BnB by phone. ....How did you manage that?

[dazzler]

We use airbnb every year when we travel to Japan. All good experiences thankfully. Much cheaper than hotels and with six of us its really then only way.

More and more are really just private holiday rentals without any real 'love' in the place sadly, compared to the beginning of bnb.

[artful bodger]

Friends here in Hobart had airbnb'd thier place out only to find the clients had run ads in the local rag advertising the sexual services they were a offering. Not real love, as you had to buy it.

[dazzler]

Friends here in Hobart had airbnb'd thier place out only to find the clients had run ads in the local rag advertising the sexual services they were a offering. Not real love, as you had to buy it.

Surely their sisters know the address?

[damian]

For what it is worth here is my experience in Tasmania..

We rented 3 properties, all self contained and separate.

Hobart was a converted back of shed. Properly lined, air conditioned. Bed was on a mezanine floor with a steep ladder/stairs. Host specifically flagged this before, it was not a problem for us. $327.90 for 5 nights. Fantastic.

Launceston was a granny flat in the front yard. It was on a main road, full of mosquitoes. Lots of problems. Nothing was flagged in the reviews nor by the host prior and now there is a dispute over marks on the carpet. The front yard was covered in something, rotting berries or bird droppings. I don't know. We had a pretty unhappy week, not helped by Launceston itself. Pretty awful place.

This situation is not that big a deal but it really has opened my eyes to how badly this can go wrong. The review system is worse than useless. There are many accounts of airbnb deleting negative reviews, and there is an inbuilt incentive to not make waves. Instead of building trust the system is specifically misleading. I doubt very much that I will do it again. $386.70 for 7 nights

The third place was wonderful also. Spare 3 bed house on a dairy farm and Oldina. We absolutely loved it and it was such a relief to have some space after the cramped situation at Launceston. $377.78 for 5 nights.

So 2 out of 3 and cheap as chips. The problem is you are putting yourself in a vulnerable position. If it goes wrong you can be stuck with no where to stay with no notice. You might have someone trying to extort money from you, or there are claims of sexual assault some women have made against hosts, or anything in between. To me it's just too risky.

I'm planning to build myself a new slide on camper for my ute and go touring with that. I know I'm a sicko but I really like caravan parks. I find almost everyone is friendly, on for a chat and often interesting.

2c.

[dazzler]

You make some good points Damien. I think of Airbnb just like I do flying Tiger air. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t and you have to be prepared to walk away sometimes.

Though Tasmania has some pretty crap accommodation. Twice when we lived there we checked in to the room and checked back out again to the bewilderment if staff.

[Cliff Rogers]

.... Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t and you have to be prepared to walk away sometimes. ....
Yup, for us it was 3 strikes & your out, the last one cost us $1k, won't touch them ever again.

[dazzler]

Hi Ciff

Your matter seems very unusual;

"Something went wrong on the web site while we were doing a booking & we ended up booked into the wrong place & they would NOT give our money back."

Seeing as the money you paid stays in trust until either both parties agree the contract has been fulfilled (both happy) or the matter has been through dispute resolution it would indicate that your claim was not supported by airbnb.

What was their response to your claim that the website was in error?

daz

[AlexS]

Used Airbnb in the UK a few times, it ranged from excellent to just OK. Best was a husband & wife who were having a BBQ as I arrived, so I was invited to join in with them & their friends. the next day husband, a stand up comedian, had a gig away, so wife gave me a guided tour of the area.
I stay at an Airbnb in Melbourne whenever I visit. Friendly host, clean, comfortable.
I'm planning to visit Paris in July and am about to book there. Life's an adventure.

[FenceFurniture]

Only one experience, recently, and in Bendigo with fletty and ShaneSmith80. It was excellent, and as described. NEVER book a place that only has a couple of pics - that means they are hiding the rest. Plenty of pics = no surprises. If you are worried about traffic noise then just ask them before you book.....or take some Silicon Putty earplugs and listen to your heart :D

[Twisted Tenon]

We'll be traveling around the US West Coast for about 15 days and have booked a mixture of hotels & B&B. I've listened to the advise and have done my research. We have looked for self contained cabins and rooms. We have checked out the hosts too. I.E. the hosts we have selected are themselves B&B travelers and have good reports about them as tenants. It is a bit of a risk I 'spose, but what the heck. The worst that can happen is that we will have to shell out for more expensive accommodation if it falls through for some reason.

TT

[damian]

I don't want to labor the point but the third place we stayed at had a photo of a washing machine in a laundry. I assumed we would be able to wash. Just before we moved I spotted laundry crossed off in the amenities and asked the host. Nope, no washing in the house. I had to make some quick arrangements. When we got there there was no water in the laundry and the washer had gone.

So maybe photos are no guarantee either..

They would argue that it states clearly in the amenities list that there is no washer...

As I said 2 out of 3 were fantastic, but it doesn't matter if 99/100 are fantastic if the 100th kills robs or rapes you...

Your all grown ups, make your own choices. :)

[Cliff Rogers]

Hi Ciff

Your matter seems very unusual;

"Something went wrong on the web site while we were doing a booking & we ended up booked into the wrong place & they would NOT give our money back."

Seeing as the money you paid stays in trust until either both parties agree the contract has been fulfilled (both happy) or the matter has been through dispute resolution it would indicate that your claim was not supported by airbnb.

What was their response to your claim that the website was in error?

dazWe stopped the credit card & disputed the charge, card services said it was legit, scarebnb said it wasn't an error on their part, the host said to cancel the booking & she would refund us the money, she didn't, we lost a whole week's worth of accommodation.

We won't ever go back, they bought themselves $1K worth of negative advertising.

T

[Twisted Tenon]

Just an update. We ended up staying in three Air B&B's. two in the US & one in Canada. All were very good experiences. We met the hosts in two of them who were very helpful with info on sightseeing and public transport etc. All in all a very positive experience. The key as many people indicated was to do your homework and check the reviews. Would do it again.

TT

[dazzler]

Glad you had a good experience.

My sons just came back from Japan and hit a snag the day before they were due to check in at Osaka.

Typhoon caused their bnb to be flooded and the host offered them a choice of three services apartments to stay in, met them at the train station and helped them through Check-in.

Pays to stick with superhosts I think.


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[AlexS]

My Paris AirBnb also turned out to be quite good. Exactly as advertised, clean, friendly but unobtrusive hosts, plenty of tourist info in the room. It was in the African quarter which I knew, but I never felt uncomfortable at any time of the day or night, and there was plenty of exotic food nearby. There were more spivs and gypsies around the tourist areas.