True! Yet not true… You have a captive audience so at least you know the majority of respondents have some skin in the game!
In the sense of a “good survey,” all true. Which I thought you were making a point about what a bad survey it would be if it were a real survey. Asking this group as my poll sample is on the same level as asking my “Intro to Women’s Studies Class” poll questions about the role of handguns in familicide in 1982.
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Precisely! What is it that you want to actually know? Sincere question, not intended as provocative in any way. I was thinking maybe you should have phrased it thus:
- Yes, several times. I love airbnb, it’s the best!
- Yes, a few times but only when I’ve asked the host for all kinds of special treatment and they’ve complied. It’s been a bit hit and miss. Of course, I’ve been honest in the reviews.
- Yes, once. It was awful. Nothing like my place. Never again.
- OMG, no! Are you kidding?? That would make me a “guest”! I’m not a pleb!
edit just a joke, not serious
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Have been an Airbnb guest 6 times.
Every place was different, 2 places in the UK, 1 in Athens, one in Australia, one in Cairo and one in Japan.
One private room in the early days…never ever booked one of those again because I felt like a squatter. The rules were over bearing, there was no place for "us"and we felt like cash cows.
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I’ve been a guest many times using Airbnb and VRBO. This month I’ll be staying in Airbnbs in Reykjavik, Quebec City and Montreal. I also booked one in Sedona for October. As a guest I find it highly frustrating to search the site. My husband is 6’4" - we prefer a king size bed. I don’t know of any way to search on that feature, which means I’m going through dozens of listings to check the bed size.
I find many of the descriptions are not up front about the property - nearly booked a property in Knoxville that didn’t disclose it was a basement in someone’s home - I only found out after reading several reviews. I was stunned at the photos while looking for the Sedona stay. One unit had a tipped over trash bin with trash falling out of it and another had dirty bed linens piled in the hallway…
I’m generally happy with the homes we rent. Here are stories about some of our more memorable stays:
I rented a home in Point Loma, San Diego at $550/night - for our family of 8. The house capacity was 16. It was a lovely home with pool, hot tub, outdoor kitchen and gourmet indoor kitchen, however, the kitchen was furnished with what appeared to be garage sale items, no matching flatware or even matching plates. It contained only the most basic (and cheap) pots/pans - no cutting boards, colanders, serving dishes etc. - not enough to cook a meal for a party of 8, much less 16. We were grilling and having a side veg/salad - nothing complicated.
In 2017 I rented a flat in York, UK 2b/2bath for a party of 4 - five nights- GBP 275/night. Fabulous location, super clean. The host left us with one roll of spare toilet paper - the rolls in each bathroom weren’t full rolls. I really don’t like trekking out on holiday to buy a roll of t.p. when I’m spending $400+ US a night for a place. This host also had a 100+ page user manual for the flat with the instruction manuals for every appliance and electronic.
My worst experience was in AR this past April. The house was a small 3b/1 bath 900 sq ft for 2 of us. When we checked in, the house was about 90 degrees, there were 8 plug in air fresheners throughout the house. The smell of fake flowers was overwhelming and literally sickening. I had a ziplock bag in my car, so we gathered them all and put them into a bag in the laundry room - we could still smell them, so I moved them to the back porch. Carpets were stained, light bulbs were out all over the house, 8-9 in total. The glass globe on the ceiling fan in the living room was broken (a pie shaped wedge with raw, sharp glass edges.) Plastic mattress covers on both beds with polyester sheets. Bathroom towel bar was torn out of the wall. There was no welcome book or instructions on anything. The HVAC control was so old the writing had worn off and I couldn’t get the a/c to come on. The trash bin was at the curb when we arrived and stayed there throughout our 3 night stay - I would have brought it in, but there was no garage and the property lines weren’t clear - no clue where its home was. This was a 5 star property with super host status.
In Nashville last year I rented a 4b/4 bath home for $500/night. It was listed as “accessible” - I was traveling with my aunts, two of whom have mobility issues. The “accessibility” was walking through the yard and up two steps through the back door (which you couldn’t access w/a key - had to be opened from the inside.) The luxury beds were too high for either of my aunts to climb up to, so off I went to Walmart to buy 2 step stools and a shower chair (which I didn’t expect them to have - but advertising accessible, I would expect a grab bar in the shower). This home was adamant about using the dark brown wash clothes to remove your make up - they left two in each bathroom - 8 washcloths for 8 ladies for 4 nights. I’ll reuse a bath towel, but won’t reuse a washcloth - if you want me to comply with your rules, don’t make them impossible to follow! At this price point I expect to have seating for your house capacity. This home had 2 sofas facing each other, comfortable for 6 people, not 8. Each day we had to move 2 dining room chairs back and forth so we could all sit together in the living room. The cleaning fee for this home was $375 - and we had to clean the kitchen ourselves to “guest ready condition”.
Last month we stayed in the NY Finger Lakes region for a family wedding. There were 5 of us, 4 bed/2 bath $400/night. We checked in and the house was sweltering, all of the windows were open. We closed up the house and turned on the A/C. By the time we returned that night the house had cooled off downstairs, but the upstairs was still VERY warm. We found a stand fan in our closet and another in the bedroom next door. There were two small windows in our room and we opened those, but couldn’t get a cross breeze. The fans were too short to reach the windows and it was about 78 degrees in the room - not a comfortable night for us. I contacted the host the following morning and she admitted they had been having issues w/ the A/C upstairs - she recommended closing all of the vents downstairs, and cranking the temp down to 68. We had to move furniture to access all of the downstairs vents, but that fixed the issue.
My best stay ever was in San Diego, CA - and it was my first Airbnb stay. I was meeting my family at the Point Loma house later in the week, but flew in early to visit w/ friends. I was there 5 nights, 3 on my own, until my mom joined me. Stella was my host and she lived in the basement unit of a small ranch home 2b/1bath. The house was pristine clean and so comfortably appointed. There was a nightlight in the hallway and another in the bathroom. A small throw on the sofa, nice TV, great outdoor sitting area, nice kitchen - and she left me a breakfast basket with a dozen eggs, english muffins, butter and jam, a few tea bags, etc. Her house rules were clearly spelled out on the website and in a concise house manual. She was friendly, but not intrusive and I truly felt at home. The stay was effortless.
I appreciate a host going above and beyond for us. One recent stay in Sarasota had us arriving at 11:00 PM. The host messaged that she had picked up a pack of muffins and some fruit for the next morning - super thoughtful and we weren’t forced to head out early for breakfast or look for an open grocery late at night in an unfamiliar neighborhood.
I expect the place to be clean, as pictured, well maintained and for the host to respond w/ any issues we’re having.
I always leave private comments if I see something amiss. As a host, I would want others to do the same for me. I didn’t rate the Point Loma home - it was one of my first stays. Other than the AR stay - 4 stars - I’ve rated everyone with 5 stars.
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I’ve stayed 30-ish times (more if you count occasions that someone else booked the property but I stayed there). The places I pick are generally much nicer than the ones my husband finds, though since we started hosting, he’s gotten better at discerning the photos/descriptions, and I’ve gotten better at reviewing places (I was a bit of a dick early on).
I prefer AirBnB’s to hotels for anything more than a couple nights’ stay, or if I have an early flight to catch. I only book entire place listings, unless it’s my daughter and I traveling alone - hubs is too much of an introvert to deal with other people.
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That AR review was too generous. I would have been out of there and demanding a refund.
The only other remark I would make would be about “price point.” A couple of these places like $500 for a 4/4 or $550 for a party of 8 with pool…those don’t seem like posh places. There are other variables of course but without knowing what else is available I might suggest upping the budget.
Thanks for sharing, that was in interesting read.
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We visited someone in an AirBnB in Sedona that absolutely blew me away. I kept waiting for Tony Montana to show up at the top of the stairs with his little friend telling me to get out of his house.
I’m just amazed they allowed visitors. Or is that why you expected to be told to get out?
No, I was joking about that. It was a house that had 8 or 10 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, Florentine style statues in the gardens, spiral staircases, crazy nice place. I don’t think guests were forbidden, I can’t imagine it would have been booked if so. We had our own place to stay overnight.
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The $550/night was in 2013 - gated community, very nice home - appointments just didn’t match the home. I also paid extra per day for pool heat. $500/night was on the higher end for a Nashville home - midweek, discounted stay. Again a very lovely home in a great neighborhood, about 20 min drive from downtown. I foot the entire bill for these family trips and with 8 airfares, entertainment and the lodging, that’s about my financial limit - unless I can start getting much more for my vacation rental 
Agree that 4 stars was very generous in AR. It was the only place available near the small town where my family lives. The rate was $79/night - a far cry from what I usually pay per night. I wasn’t sure if that condition was acceptable to folks for $79 or why every other guest (35) rated this place 5 stars.
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I think the standards were much different then. People didn’t know how to be great hosts and guests were just happy to have options…Maybe. I know my rental (b. 2014) is much nicer now than then but only a little more expensive.
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Every time I have booked it has been in a private room…least expensive option. And usually just spending about 10-12 hours to sleep on an overnight pit stop.
Agreed. I have improved my rental and service as a result of each experience as a guest - maybe I can write off my stay next week in Iceland as business research??
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20+ years ago my husband and I bought a timeshare, so I’ve been accustomed to “whole place” rentals with multiple bedrooms/bathrooms and a full kitchen/dining room since then. We still own the timeshare, so it usually doesn’t make sense to us to rent through Airbnb.
However, on a long trip about 3 years ago we needed a stop over point, and so I booked an airbnb room in someone’s condo. It was a nice, clean place with a comfy bed, nice TV, private bath and loft area for guest use. I was looking forward to meeting the hosts but they hid in their bedroom until we left.
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I would have, if you hadn’t been 450mls away 
JF