Airbnb is adding cleaning fees to a new ‘total price’ of bookings in search results after people complained listings were misleading::Airbnb’s CEO said that he’s heard guests “loud and clear” that pricing on the platform isn’t transparent and “checkout tasks are a pain.”
Why “before tax”, doesn’t that still confuse things?
Pretty sure it has absolutely nothing to do with user complaints and everything to do with talk of regulation.
Honestly AirBnB used to be cool but now it kinda sucks.
Even though there’s now a ‘total price’ option, booking a basic hotel is still less painful. There’s cleaning fees and a lot of hosts have stupid requirements like you have to do the laundry or take out the trash or whatever. If I’m paying hotel level fees I want hotel level service. Plus every now and then you hear about one of these places having cameras in the unit. Fuck that.
AirBnB fucking sucks now. There needs to be a term like “slum lords” for AirBnBs. They outsource so many properties to property managers and the house is disgusting PLUS they charge you the cleaning fee.
Just stick with hotels.
Airbnb is a bane on our society and massive contributer to the housing shortage.
This company needs to get sued into oblivion with their shitty practices and non transparent charges.
I’ve been using hotels instead of Airbnb for a while now, and it’s most often cheaper or similar price, and better service.
That is wildly different depending on location and number of guests
Same here. I’ve almost completely given up on Airbnb. The convenience of a hotel is also much higher than being either in someone’s home, or an ugly “cheapest stuff at Ikea” Airbnb.
I see this on Reddit all the time and I chalked it up to a marketing campaign by hotels because it’s just so wrong, at least where I am.
Here AirBnB just isn’t really comparable to a hotel.
In a hotel you get a bed, bathroom, a tiny desk, tv chair, and microwave. When you pay more the room is functionally the same, just maybe in a better location or nicer lobby.
With short stay accommodation you get an actual dwelling. Even in a tiny studio apartment you have a full kitchen and an actual table.
Obviously if hotels & short stay were like for like then you would stay in a hotel if that were cheaper - but that’s just not the reality here. Short stay accom is dramatically more comfortable.
I think the only thing keeping me to Air BnBs is the kitchen honestly
Yeah, that’s no small thing for me.
If I’m away for a week working or on holiday I so much prefer being able to make my own meals. I have unusual dietary preferences, so restaurants just aren’t appealing for days at a time.
We always look for extended stay hotels for this reason, especially when traveling with my parents who would much rather heat up a home cooked meal vs fast food when traveling. Usually we can get 1 room instead of 2 since a lot of time the rooms are suites so my wife and I can take the sofa bed.
That’s why I love the hotel suites with kitchenettes. With the help of an electric roaster we were able to bring Thanksgiving to my step-son, who was away at school.
Aw that’s awesome! Yeah I should look for kitchenettes next time I travel!
I can’t say it’s always available, but you might want to look for suites? I stayed in a hotel in Ocean City that had a full kitchen, and most timeshare resorts (that you can also rent) tend to have that too.
Oh that’s a good idea. I’ll def look for one of those next time. All I really would need is a small stove!
With short stay accommodation you get an actual dwelling. Even in a tiny studio apartment you have a full kitchen and an actual table.
That’s not always the case. In many places short stay accommodations have become like hotels. Many also have what’s more like half-kitchens - a small electric stove, a sink, microwave and kettle. That’s better than no kitchen at all, but it’s not like you can cook anything you want there.
Well yeah, but you can look at the listing and see what kitchen facilities are available?
In a hotel? Of course. There’s all those “extended stay” hotels and in some places they have weeklies, which you can rent for a night or a week or a month. But the point is, all the rooms are the same so you know exactly what you’re getting.
all the rooms are the same so you know exactly what you’re getting
You don’t know what you’re getting when you stay in privately owned short stay accommodation ?
I’ve always found listings are far more descriptive than hotels.
True, but if you wanted those things before AirBnB, they existed, they’re called aparthotels e.g.: https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/art-las-palmas.es.html?label=gen173bo-1DCAMYsQIoggJCGmxhcy1wYWxtYXMtZGUtZ3Jhbi1jYW5hcmlhSApYA2i7AYgBAZgBCrgBF8gBD9gBA-gBAfgBAogCAZgCAqgCA7gCp7PVpQbAAgHSAiRkYWQxZjI5NS1hMDBhLTQxMzYtOTI3OS1jNWM1OTczYjAxYWTYAgTgAgE
with a kitchen, washing machine, etc. Very common in touristy areas for decades.
The main difference between an AirBnB and a generalized hotel is that the former is supposed to be inhabited by the owner most of the year. The others are hotels pretending to be something else.
Here in Australia “bed and breakfast” set ups were common before AirBnB. Local councils would even put up street signage for you.
The common assertion in these threads is that “hotels are similarly priced” which is just not the case here if you’re comparing like for like.
In Australia $250 AUD (~$200 USD) in a major city will get you a proper studio apartment in privately owned short stay accommodation, or a smelly bed + toilet arrangement in a sketchy hotel with stains on the walls (literally).
I travel a lot for work and while you can find hotels which are cheaper than airBnB, there’s just no comparisson on the features provided.
I have seen this too. From my experience mainly USA. For example 1 night in Destin FL $150, with $100 or $150 cleaning fee. Colorado is the highest I have seen with $200 cleaning fee.
Canada and Mexico $30 cleaning fee lol. It really depends on the location errrr country.
Yep, it’s nice to be a customer and not be rated and reviewed based on how well you cleaned up after yourself. Also dislike how Airbnb is a different interaction with the host every time. Some hosts are nosey or overbearing. I prefer the hotel front desk and then to be an anonymous customer after that.
It’s great playing a cleaning fee when the host expects you to strip the bed and take it to the laundry, empty the bins and leave the place spotless
Since they’re gonna keep the fee anyway, might as well floss yer ass on the sheets I guess!
After 10 years of users begging for it.
What a customer focused company, a reliable travel partner.
That’s how you know they’re starting to feel the pinch of people being fed up with them.
Finally. I’ve seen listings where the cleaning fees double the full cost
Just checked and I was shocked to see how much any place was for a weekend… but I guess it is a weekend and I was looking at August… so there is that. Idk, I just assumed it wouldn’t cost $380 to rent someone’s RV that is across a street (not even abutting) from a lake for 2 nights…
Yeah… Unfortunately it’s the only decent website/app I know that let’s you rent nice secluded cabins to vacation in so I’m stuck using it
I heard vrbo was supposed to be another popular option, I haven’t used it much though yet.
Oh I’ll check it out! Thanks!
Airbnb, the great destroyer of communities.
“Yup yup, we hear you loud and clear, everyone, it’s all good bro”
[Doesn’t turn full price on by default]
Incoming follow-up, if challenged…
“So we actually paid an expert consultant to tell us that a percentage of our user population actually wants to be actively deceived whenever they use our service. So by default we will still obscure these non-negotiable fees that you will definitely pay in the final pricing.”
It’s almost as if they don’t want people to use their service.
Decent hotels were cheaper than airbnb’s last time I went traveling.
If you want more than one room AirBnBs are a viable option. But then you can book them through booking.com just as well.
However for solo travelling you’re generally right, hotels are better.
Last time i stayed with Airbnb, the host complained that I didn’t sweep the floor and take out the trash. I paid the cleaning fee!
There is a level of hostage taking that makes you question the whole logic of digital economy. If one side (customers) are complaining and the other side is not (house owners), then, the madness is not that bad. But this is insanity. Both sides complain every time yet keep going back to the hostage situation.
Isn’t that the endgame of enshittification?
Aha! What a beautiful concept.
Indeed. Perfectly described.
What do the owners complain about?
Money, probably
The amount the owner often asks you to do yourself would make you think they should be paying you the fee.
