We’ve stayed at VRBOs for years and only had issues once or twice, and that was because the house was far less convenient and comfortable than they looked in the photos. VRBO has never asked us to upload our IDs or photos (so far), nor have we had any crappy unresponsive hosts. I do much prefer staying at places where the host is an actual nearby person and not a corporate entity. We’ve actually become friends with the host of a place we’ve stayed at many, many times, and exchange holiday cards with her.
Many hotels still do this, just not every day (unless you request extra services). I guess they look tidy that way, but I’ve never understood the appeal. I don’t even make my bed at home except when i wash the sheets (maybe straighten the covers a bit if i want a smooth service to pack my suitcase or sort socks) and even then, i just tuck in the bottom, not the sides, because… Why?
Same. If I need more towels I just grab them from the housekeeping cart in the hall or get them from the front desk.
Factual (AFAICT) answer: Making hospital corners and then tucking the sides of bedlinens under the mattress is a fast and efficient way to construct a smooth stable surface that makes the top bedspread look smooth and neat. No worrying about sheet edges peeking out from under the skirts of the bedspread, etc.
Fast(est) undo: Remove bedspread, grasp the top edge of the topsheet turnover (with any enclosed blankets) right at the side of the mattress, pull out the tucked-in linens along mattress edge down to the bed foot in an “unzip” motion. Yank out the hospital corner at the foot too if you really want to go wild ‘n’ free. Repeat on other side.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled Airbnb rant. 
This is when you request turndown service.
The one good thing is that they did leave a mint. I’m pretty sure it was an Andes mint. They were pretty awesome. That was the only thing I appreciated about that service.
Also, I just now learned that Andes mints are made by the Tootsie Roll company (though they haven’t always been; they were independent, then bought by a Swiss company, then sold to Kraft, then sold to Brach’s, and most recently to Tootsie Roll in 2000).
Also also, the name is interesting… They were started by a guy named Andrew Kanelos, and he sold them from his store “Andy’s Candies” (that name is awesome IMHO) but the story is that the guys buying boxes of candy to give to women did not like another guy’s name on the box. (It was the 1920s so go figure.) So he changed the store to “Andes Candies”, and that was also the original name of the company making the mints. The mints themselves have a picture of a mountain range on them, implying the Andes Mountains, and they always have as far as I’ve known them. But it’s really because they were created by a guy named Andy.
Anyway, back to griping about Airbnb!
Well, when you rent an Airbnb, you don’t have random staff showing up to make your bed. I guess that’s something in its favor.
But you don’t know if they have a hidden camera or not, so that’s a downside.
For some people.
To be fair, you don’t know if your hotel room has a hidden camera either. In fact, per lots of movies, it’s pretty easy to install one to catch people doing things they shouldn’t.
Yeah, but hotels have a greater
Ooops: got posted before I finished.
It’s true that anything could happen anywhere, but the problem with Airbnb is that you are getting random strangers as owners with little vetting.
Who vetted Norman Bates?
If your hotel does something illegal, they have a boatload of reputation to lose and probably hundreds of millions or even billions in assets to go after.
Your Airbnb host can probably have the property listed under their brother’s name in 48 hours, with no visible (to the user) connection to the malfeasor.
I question this. It’s true an individual home owner might be willing to offer shoddy service and not worry about their reputation. But Airbnb the corporation is representing thousands of home owners and it’s looking at the big picture. If an individual home owner does something bad to a renter, Airbnb is going to step in rather than let that guy tarnish the entire business.
I know someone who got kicked off Airbnb (not for secret cameras but for racial discrimination). He just rented the condo to his brother, and then just listed it under a different account.
This was four or five years ago, so maybe they are doing more checks now. But at least at that time there were no physical checks or inspections. And this is in one of the most consumer and renter friendly states in the country.
I had a seamless experience with Airbnb reservations recently. Booked an apartment but had to cancel and the refund was applied immediately.
Reserved a different apartment two weeks later and it was instantly booked. Minimum interaction with host. No invasive questions or requests. There were no mandates about cleaning or placement of used sheets and towels. In fact there were no rules beyond no smoking no pets no parties. Just an implicit expectation to not act like a savage I guess. And upstairs lived the owners.
Some hosts trip over themselves providing pages of instructions and how to’s. Or they want to provide homemade goodies and ten kinds of coffee pods. It’s all good.
My stay recently was in an immaculate garden studio apartment. Brick two or three family in a Chicago neighborhood, refreshed and updated modern kitchen and baths(2)!) large shower could accommodate two at a time 
. Super comfortable queen bed. An eclectic mix of vintage and new furnishings, historical framed prints lining the hall. But the one detail that really stood out to me that I really appreciated was the pitcher of filtered water in the fridge. IYKYK.
My mom’s house cleaners have started doing this, at least in her guest bedroom (I didn’t happen to notice if they do it in her main bedroom too). I assume it’s to keep the bedding up off the floor so they can vacuum more efficiently. The sheets and blankets hang down close enough to the floor that they’d have to flop the edges onto the bed, vacuum, then flop them back down and smooth them out. I assume people who are good at hospital corners can get the tucking and smoothing done right quick, eliminating one small step.
@Kimstu would you typically run the vacuum when making a bed in the hotel? (when not changing sheets)
Hmm. None of my bedding extends far enough over the edge to reach the floor. But that’s an interesting theory.
(I can do hospital corners. I’m fact, i do. I just don’t tuck in the sides, because at some point i realized that i don’t like sleeping with the sides tucked in, and it was dumb to do with just to have to undo it late at night, when i was tired.)
I’m not Kimstu, but do have motel maid experience. Rooms where I worked were vacuumed any day there had been a guest the previous night (unless a multi-day guest had requested that housekeeping not bother them), whether or not sheets were being changed.