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I’m puzzled by all the comments about how unreliable Airbnb hosts are. From Airbnb hosts, no less. Surely, if you pick a listing which is a Superhost with lots of glowing all 5 star reviews, you’re pretty safe? It’s not like an Airbnb host could hypnotise or blackmail that many people. And unlike hotel reviews, you can be sure that the review is by someone who actually stayed at the listing, as opposed to (say) a competitor making stuff up to ruin business.
Personally, I’d be fine with an Airbnb listing, provided it was highly rated. Otherwise, no. And I’d personally prefer Superhosts.
This is why I will be forever grateful to the guests who stayed with us when we were just starting in Airbnb. They look a gamble because we had no reviews and no star ratings (of course) and yet still stayed with us. And the great thing is that we refused to take Airbnb’s advice and set a low price to attract our first guests,
What about new hosts, or farely new hosts? I was once a brand new host, and so were you. And why are you puzzled? Have you stayed in many Airbnbs yourself? Not every host is wonderful like us. Many host are not that wonderful at all. I stayed with hosts who were irresponsible, indiferent, plain rude, dirty and weird. Once i booked a listing with bad reviews only because that was the only price i could afford, and bad it was!!.
When I started 3 years ago there were about 50 hosts in El Paso so you didn’t have much choice. Now I’d have a hard time going with someone with no reviews. Maybe a description of them as older and responsible would make me try them. I would not stay with anyone who made it clear they were renters not owners or who seemed desperate for money. Someone older and more stable.
That’s a fair point. But Airbnb doesn’t provide any way to know whether hosts are new. All you can see is that they have no reviews. And obviously, staying in a place with no reviews is risky. Would I take a risk on a host with no reviews? Possibly, if the place looked really nice, and the listing overall made a good impression. But there would have to be a compelling reason to prefer that over someone with an established track record.
(Ooh, expanded post. Edited in response.)
I’m puzzled because it seems to me that using an Airbnb isn’t risky provided you choose suitably, as stated above.
None yet. I don’t travel much, sadly.
Again, pick someone with excellent reviews, preferably a Superhost, and there shouldn’t be a problem.
Now, granted, such people might not be available, but that’s a different kettle of fish. At least in this city, there always seems to be plenty of vacancies, often by people with excellent reviews. I haven’t extensively researched the issue, of course.
Again, reviews are not always reflect reality.
And there are not that many superhosts out there especially if you need specific areas. Anyway Fahee, i stayed in 100s of Airbnbs and you stayed in none:joy:
So who had a better expertize?
Can’t argue with that one. But I do think that if many people are satisfied with a place, it can’t be bad. It might be ok/mediocre. Airbnb does seem to encourage “inflated” reviews, we all know that.
Possibly not. But do you need a lot? Airbnb lists around 100 Superhost listings for Bombay. Some of the hosts have multiple listings, so let’s say 70-80 Superhosts.
I don’t think it’s about expertise. But you certainly have the experience, and I don’t. But were the bad Airbnbs you stayed in highly rated? If they were, you truly have cause for complaint, and I hope you left them bad reviews.
I stayed in SF at one superhost house and the house was just terrible. It was smelly of cats, and so messy. But the lady was so incredibly sweet. She was a professor in Berkley and really personable and super sweet. All her reviews were excellent due to her personality. I just could not make myself write that she is messy. And this is how i am sure she got her superhost status.
FOr example there is not one superhost in my price range in my town. WHat if aomeone wants to stay close to Hard rock for under 50$ a night, and there is no superhosts there and no listings with perfect reviews? SO they go for what available if it fits the budget.
You sound like its my fault that there are bad hosts out there and i did not pick my stays correctly. If it was just that simple: just read reviews and book superhosts.
Are you shore? Where there is huge competition there are also Host who will play dirty. They send their friends/family/other guest with kick backs, to stay with other host that are their competition. Those guest live bad reviews and rest is…
Where I am we have more Host than any other city in the State, it is outright dogie/dog business. Well boomerang has a way of eventually getting back.
I hosted an elderly woman last night who was recently introduced to airbnb by her daughter. She loves it and is planning to always look first for an airbnb, second for a hotel.
Ok, to be more precise, the join date says when the host joined, yes, but does not tell you when his/her listings were “activated”, which is the important information here. For example I think I joined Airbnb sometime in 2014, but my listing went live in April 2016.
It seems surprising that all her guests felt similarly. But, if I was a guest in someone’s home, I agree I’d have a hard time saying bad things about their place if they were very nice. But if there were significant problems, I’d probably harden my heart and mention them.
That’s certainly a possibility, yes. But in most places, in India and outside, I’ve looked there seem to be tons of hosts (in alarming numbers, actually), often with stellar reviews. But I guess it depends. And I wasn’t really considering cost here. To an Indian, most things look expensive.
Sidebar: who would have thought there would be so many people willing to let strangers into their homes, often for quite modest sums of money?
Yana, I think you are taking my comments way too personally. My original comments did not mention you in any way, and nothing I’ve said here is specifically directed at you. Regardless, if you feel offended by what I’ve said, I apologise.
I haven’t read anything on this thread at all so far (yet), but I’ll say…it all depends.
It depends if there is a hotel OR airbnb where I want to stay.
It depends on whether or not there is a host there I think I can easily communicate with.
It depends how easily I can get into the space once I arrive.
It depends what is asked of me upon departure.
It just…depends.
On a personal level, I am either feeling it in some places or I’m not. But since we started hosting–yes, we’ve been airbnb first, hotels second. And it’s always worked out very well, so we’ll stick with it until we have an experience that warrants otherwise.
