# Have you ever stayed at an AirBnB/Homeaway type of place? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 22, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915 "2018-04-22T21:20:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/41 "2018-04-24T15:11:36Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Isnt there some cheap Airbnb-like service where you basically just rent a spot on someones couch for the night? Couch surfing. Never used it but I can the appeal to the starving student. > **[Couchsurfing](https://www.couchsurfing.com)** > > Triff Locals auf der ganzen Welt und übernachte bei ihnen ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/42 "2018-04-24T16:26:29Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Isnt there some cheap Airbnb-like service where you basically just rent a spot on someones couch for the night? You can do it with Airbnb, in fact I think that was the original intention, that someone make money by renting out a spare room or couch for a short period. The doing it as a business bit came later. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/43 "2018-04-25T06:33:50Z")
I found myself in one without meaning to. A place advertised as a BnB through Booking turned out to be a too-friendly, way pushy guy renting out a bedroom in his home. It’s one of two times I’ve given a bad review, and in fact reported him as false advertising. I’ve had houseguests through Mensa’s SIGHT program but that’s a private organization and it’s not a business relationship at all. The guests knew what was being offered, I had personal references on those I hadn’t met before. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/44 "2018-04-25T13:33:37Z")
Before any of you try this service for the first time, I highly recommend you read this informative brochure on AirBnB’s and their ilk: > **[Amazon.com: The Apartment (Blumhouse Books): 9781101972946: Grey, S L: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Apartment-Blumhouse-Books-S-Grey/dp/1101972947)** > > Amazon.com: The Apartment (Blumhouse Books): 9781101972946: Grey, S L: Books ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/45 "2018-04-25T14:20:39Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Uh, this is pretty much what I thought they where. A ‘guest’ room in a strangers house. I would NEVER do that. No way in hell. > > I wouldn’t want to share my space with co-workers either. I mean WTF? this. the whole concept just seems _icky_ to me. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/46 "2018-04-25T15:15:56Z")
I’ve stayed at an AirB’n’B a dozen times, and only had one bad experience - which is better than my experience with hotels. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/47 "2018-04-25T15:28:44Z")
A good portion of my family and I stayed at an AirBnB when we took a weekend-long vacation to Polson. The hostess was very nice and turned it into a, well, bed-and-breakfast, making us food and just hanging out with us. She really went out of her way to make us welcome and had a clean house, as well. It was very similar to the _Gasthaus_ experience I had in Austria and Germany, and I’ve definitely been in worse hotels. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/48 "2018-04-25T15:41:31Z")
How is an AirBNB different from a regular B&B? Decades ago my parents found B&B a reasonably priced alternative to a hotel. Now they seem much more expensive than a hotel. hoe is an Air ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/49 "2018-04-25T16:40:58Z")
> [@svd678](#): > > How is an AirBNB different from a regular B&B? Decades ago my parents found B&B a reasonably priced alternative to a hotel. Now they seem much more expensive than a hotel. I’m at the very bottom of the market, searching for very cheap lodgings, and AirBnB is far better at that level than hotels or hostels. I’m staying in spare rooms, and occasionally sleeping on people’s couches. All I ask is a bed, a shower and a towel, and I’m usually paying $30 a night for a room in the middle of the city, close by public transit. And I know that my business is helping these folks out, giving them some extra income. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/50 "2018-04-25T16:43:17Z")
> [@svd678](#): > > How is an AirBNB different from a regular B&B? The _ad hoc_-ness of it, and having a centralized website to match people willing to run an _ad hoc_ B&Bs to people who want to stay in those B&Bs. To be clear: A company could easily spend hundreds of thousands or millions on a good website, when you compute the all-in cost of web design, backend development, hosting, and bandwidth. AirBnB takes that cost away, for a percentage of the price of every booking, and therefore allows individuals to get into the B&B business in a way which allows people around the world to find them and book with them. _That_ is a serious shift in the economics of these places. > [@](#): > > hoe is an Air I’m sure she is. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/51 "2018-04-25T17:10:35Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > The _ad hoc_-ness of it, and having a centralized website to match people willing to run an _ad hoc_ B&Bs to people who want to stay in those B&Bs. > > To be clear: A company could easily spend hundreds of thousands or millions on a good website, when you compute the all-in cost of web design, backend development, hosting, and bandwidth. AirBnB takes that cost away, for a percentage of the price of every booking, and therefore allows individuals to get into the B&B business in a way which allows people around the world to find them and book with them. _That_ is a serious shift in the economics of these places. There is also the host/guest rating system. Looking up comments on your host builds confidence, and vice versa I’m sure. I’m with the people who have no desire to have a room or a couch in someone’s house or apartment. I’ve never done that in all my Airbnb rentals. Costs more, sure, but there are plenty of standalone places available. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/52 "2018-04-25T18:36:06Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > There is also the host/guest rating system. Looking up comments on your host builds confidence, and vice versa I’m sure. > > I’m with the people who have no desire to have a room or a couch in someone’s house or apartment. I’ve never done that in all my Airbnb rentals. Costs more, sure, but there are plenty of standalone places available. Right. We basically rented out a section of a summer house or similar, so we got a nice multi-room place with refrigerators and an actual kitchen. It was _much_ nicer than any hotel in that area would have been. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/53 "2018-04-25T19:48:29Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I’m at the very bottom of the market, searching for very cheap lodgings, and AirBnB is far better at that level than hotels or hostels. I’m staying in spare rooms, and occasionally sleeping on people’s couches. All I ask is a bed, a shower and a towel, and I’m usually paying $30 a night for a room in the middle of the city, close by public transit. And I know that my business is helping these folks out, giving them some extra income. Due to a scarcity of Airbnbs near my folks’ place when my dad died last summer, I had to bite the bullet and book a single room rather than a whole house or suite; it made me nervous b/c I was traveling alone. Luckily, it was a newly renovated farmhouse whose owners were working toward the final certifications for it to become a sober living facility, so I wound up w/ a 3000 square foot house w/ a big sun porch, creekside sitting area and ponies to myself. While I don’t remember much from those few days, I do recall the quiet, simple things there that made the experience bearable. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/54 "2018-04-25T22:19:26Z")
I have in the past. These days I’m moving away from AirBnB & back toward hostels & cheaper hotels. Too many hosts have pulled last minute cancellations. The level of everything (cleanliness, intrusiveness, privacy) is too variable, and it is a little weird sleeping in someone’s bed. Also, I travel solo. These days, it’s pretty much at the point where AirBnB is only cheaper if I take a single room in someone’s house (and often times, not even then). if I want the whole place to myself, it’s cheaper to get a hotel room. (It’s also usually more convenient to get a hotel room) > [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > I travel to Seattle for work a couple times a month. The hotels my company prefers are not great while at the same time being quite expensive. I always Airbnb now. I found one host that bought somewhere between 5 and 10 of the same exact unil, all stacked up from the 10th to the 23rd floor of a new condo. They’re all identically furnished, quite comfy and very well equipped. About half of what the hotel room would have been. From a public policy standpoint, this annoys me. That guy is running a hotel while conveniently sidestepping regulations about hotel ownership. > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Isnt there some cheap Airbnb-like service where you basically just rent a spot on someones couch for the night? Some of the cheaper AirBnB’s in larger cities are effectively that. ---
**Author:** ![laurieb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/51bf81/32.png) [@laurieb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laurieb)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/55 "2018-04-26T14:21:12Z")
Yes, multiple times. I feel like they’re more intimate than big name chains (I’m looking at you, Hilton) Been to ones in Paris, London, Bangkok, and Cape Town, among others. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/56 "2018-04-26T14:54:28Z")
> [@laurieb](#): > > Yes, multiple times. I feel like they’re more intimate than big name chains (I’m looking at you, Hilton) > > Been to ones in Paris, London, Bangkok, and Cape Town, among others. that “intimacy” is exactly what turns me off of the idea. I’d feel like I’m invading someone’s personal space. ---
**Author:** ![laurieb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/51bf81/32.png) [@laurieb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laurieb)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/57 "2018-04-26T15:18:17Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > that “intimacy” is exactly what turns me off of the idea. I’d feel like I’m invading someone’s personal space. I actually like it. I’m an extroverts extrovert, so I make friends REALLY easily. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/58 "2018-04-29T03:40:09Z")
> [@laurieb](#): > > I actually like it. I’m an extroverts extrovert, so I make friends REALLY easily. I’m an introvert, but can handle being someone else’s guest for night. The only time I was on a couch was in Milwaukee during Summerfest, so I had to take what I could get. My hosts were a pair of graduate students, and I was happy that my two nights as their guest probably helped their limited income. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/59 "2018-04-29T10:05:31Z")
I’ve not used AirB&B but for pretty much every holiday we take we use the various owners rental sites to hire apartments. Far cheaper than hotels, much more space and amenities and perfect for us as we like our privacy and the ability cook and clean clothes (making travelling with hand-luggage very easy). Choosing the apartments where owners are at hand also makes fixing any issues much easier, we’ve never had a major problem that the owner hasn’t sorted out straight away. e.g we were in Cairns for Easter and a two-bed apartment cost us £70 a night. We were in Kaprun, Austria for xmas and that was £100 a night. We stayed in Rome in October a couple of years ago and a massive 2 bed apartment in the centre cost us £90 a night. It’s a no-brainer for us. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915/60 "2018-04-30T13:29:08Z")
I haven’t. My co-workers 21ish year-old daughter and her friends stayed in one in Brooklyn, after I advised him to adviser her not to. They ended up in an apartment with a couple and their baby. They were asked to babysit and to loan the couple money. As a near-60 year-old I would have been able to resist those requests. His daughter and her friends were not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-at-an-airbnb-homeaway-type-of-place/812915.md?page=2)