This is exactly correct and some renters do it intentionally. Things like this are on the news from time to time. Here is one from two weeks ago.
When I worked at Toys R Us 30 years ago, we did the exact same thing. That’s nothing new.
And it’s not really “pushing back”, just say no and the person at the checkout doesn’t give a shit. Trust me, I was that person many years ago. I asked because it was my job to, but it didn’t bother me either way how you answered.
There are also factors going the other way. There’s a tax you pay on short-term rentals (like a hotel) in Texas. If you’re staying in a place for more than thirty days, this tax doesn’t apply.
And here is an article from the Airbnb website on the issue. It’s aimed at hosts but explains the issues.
Rules on Airbnbs/short term rentals vary widely by jurisdiction down to the municipality level. In the City of Santa Barbara the minimum stay is five days and the owner much live on site unless you are in the “Coastal Zone” in which case it’s more like a regular hotel. The Coastal Zone is if you are something like less than half a mile from the beach.
There was an earlier thread about Airbnbs that made me curious and much to my surprise there is an Airbnb around the corner and two houses down from me. It had hundred of reviews! We are 0.8 miles from the beach so the owner or manager lives in a little ADU attached to the house. They are doing something right because it was invisible to me.
Sure, but if I’m the Airbnb host, I’m not really concerned about you having to pay the tax as if it was a hotel room. I’m gonna be more worried about the “30 days means you’re tenant” rule, because that affects me. I might even cancel the whole reservation, because if you are one of the people who deliberately looks to stay longer than 30 days to gain tenant rights, you might not leave willingly at the end of a shorter stay.Places that have that rule typically apply it not only to homes and apartments but often hotels as well.Years ago , when I worked with a population that was often homeless, the city rented hotel rooms in addition to shelters. Anyone placed in a hotel room was only theere for 28 days . At which point they had to go back to the intake unit and be placed again.
I’m guessing it was invisible mainly because the owner/manager lived on site, even if not in the same unit. Because the reason I know the house across the street from me is an Airbnb ( or similar) is because guests do things like park across my driveway ( they didn’t mistakenly think it came with the rental, it’s across hte street and down the block) , use the neighbor’s trash cans ( and get the neighbor a ticket because they didn’t sort the recycling.) Easier to prevent those things if you are there every day.
That person was just plain dumb. She says
Because Hermosa Beach restricts short-term rentals in her neighborhood, Weissman said she can only offer bookings of 30 days or longer.
and
Weissman said she now hopes her experience will help spur legislation aimed at protecting short-term rental owners in similar situations.
but seemingly never made the connection that she can’t rent for less than 30 days because Hermosa Beach doesn’t want short-term renters in her neighborhood and therefore are not going to protect the owners. Most likely the only reason they allow rentals of 30 days is because that’s how a month-to month rental starts, even if it lasts 30 years.
She is absolutely an idiot and some of this is on her. The renter is an asshole who took advantage of an idiot.
I’ve always had pretty good luck with AirBnBs. It takes work though. Know what the competing prices are for a hotel, make sure all fees are included in the AirBnB quote (this is easy now), and check reviews mostly to make sure the host is real. The more experienced the host the better. Like most things, too good to be true probably means it’s a lie.
I’m not sure if there is a scam angle to putting up fake rentals, because the host isn’t going to get any money if the place isn’t real. Just to fuck with guests seems unlikely. As I’m watching destinations for good lodging, what I usually see is new places appear, stay available for a few weeks, and then vanish. I can make up explanations, but I really don’t know why that is a trend. My fear is booking one of those, and then having it cancel at the last minute.
Biggest risk I’ve had was one night with a new host in Boise. It all worked out, but we were one of the first few guests in their recently remodeled ADU. I gambled because the downside was tolerable. It was Boise, not parents’ weekend at BSU, one night, and we’d have a car. Worst case was paying twice as much for a hotel, which was already the alternative option.
People a few houses away have a basement ADU on AirBnB. The biggest issue we have is that the dog spends a long time sniffing out of state cars. Looking just now it is about $140/night. Based on how often a car is parked there, I’d say they’re about 50% occupancy. An extra $2000/month (before fees, expenses, and taxes) seems pretty good.
How are people feeling about Vrbo? I’ve only ever used them rather than Airbnb and only ever had fairly decent to good experiences, but I’m at least fifteen years out of date. Same general enshitification or has their somewhat distinct whole-property niche meant fewer issues?
We’ve used Airbnb maybe two dozen times and our experiences range from good to fantastic. I’m not sure if it’s just luck or not. I’ve found it crucial to read the entire listing very carefully, as well as all of the reviews.
I never would have wanted to rent a room in someone’s house so don’t mind if the glory days of Airbnb are over. We did rent an en suite bedroom once with its own entrance but the host wasn’t around, much less chatty.
I’ve never successfully rented from Airbnb, nor tried vrbo. But I’ve rented an apartment several times, through a hotel or a management chain, and had good experiences. When we visited Hawaii, we were about 50/50 hotels and apartments, and the apartment rentals were uniformly nicer (and required a little more overhead in terms of maintenance.)
We were good guests, and if there were signs asking us to remove our shoes so as not to track sand into the place, we removed our shoes. Left everything clean, etc.
I haven’t used VRBO since before AirBnB was a thing. When AirBnB was making a big splash as the new way to stay places, I kept thinking VRBOs been doing that forever.
A brief Wikipedia search to make sure the dates actually lined up with my memories shows that VRBO was created to rent out a Breckenridge, Colorado ski cabin, which is exactly what I used VRBO for way back when[1].
Anyway, I check VRBO everytime I’m getting an AirBnB, but they’re always more expensive for comparable places, so I end up going with AirBnB. I have no idea why that is the case.
might have been Frisco or Dillon ↩︎
There’s only one place I ever rent on Airbnb - an apartment in a historic building in Pioneer Square in Seattle, which used to be a brothel located above the oldest operating tavern in the city, rented directly from the owner of the building. Never had a single negative issue or surprise fees and it’s usually cheaper than a hotel in downtown Seattle and more comfortable.
Wild parties are the least of it. I’ve read of cases here where pimps rent out large Airbnb houses and use them as human trafficking prisons.
A recent one:
https://mynorthwest.com/crime-blotter/sex-trafficking-aurora/4060695
I use Vrbo from time to time and have done so for quite a few years. Never had a problem.
The problem with Airbnb is that the business model assumes that both the host and the guests are responsible, reasonable and respectful individuals.
When you are staying at a regular hotel or motel, you can trust the band and know that they will (generally) not have problems or will solve any problems that come up.
Likewise, hotels can assume that a certain percentage of their guests are asshats and they may have to eat a certain amount of expenses dealing with them.
But because Airbnb doesn’t really help with side out if there are issues, there is a lot more risk involved for either side.
Here’s from today:
https://mynorthwest.com/crime-blotter/shooting-party-capitol-hill/4264809
Okay, an update in case anybody is invested in my tale.
As I posted, I made a reservation with Airbnb. I found the verification process questionable but I attempted to comply. When I had problems I contacted the Airbnb help center, which told me I had completed the verification process.
I then received a notice from Airbnb saying my reservation had been cancelled because I hadn’t completed the verification process. I started over and resubmitted my reservation. I figured I was going to have to redo the entire verification process also but when I submitted the reservation, Airbnb told me I had completed the verification process.
I expected I would end up receiving another cancellation but this time I received a notice saying that my reservation was confirmed. I have no idea why the first reservation was cancelled and the second identical one, with the same information, was confirmed.
I have checked into this whole verification process and have found that it used to be optional. But Airbnb made it mandatory in 2023. I have never encountered this before, including in several Airbnb rentals since 2023. But I will note that in the past, the account was listed under my mother’s name. She may have been grandfathered (or grandmothered) into the system. But my mother asked me to handle the reservations this year so I made them using my name. This may have been what belatedly triggered the verification process. No idea why it worked so poorly except that it appears to rely heavily on ai.