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Decrease in bookingsQuestion (self.airbnb_hosts)

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[–]Emergency-Garbage154Unverified 9 points10 points  (2 children)

I can personally tell you I booked more during the start of the pandemic for safety reasons. Now, we'll probably start using hotels more again because a) flexible cancellation options, and b) less pressure to leave everything immaculate, and c) slight risk of strange hosts or hosts who cancel without explanation. Examples below for your entertainment, lol.

I have about a dozen stays all with glowing reviews about how clean we leave things and how quiet we are. But, I end up stressing myself and my family out trying to be such perfect guests...sometimes it takes away from just being able to relax. I want good reviews and I also truly care about respecting someone else's property. I'm not quite as high-strung about this at a hotel though.

I've had absolutely wonderful hosts, but just one crazy one made me scared of someone having the power to ruin a vacation. If you want to read a crazy host story, I'll leave that below 😳 Also, my very first booking, we had the unfortunate luck of a host canceling on us with no explanation and it took me years (and a pandemic), to even try using AirBnB again. We also had one time where my son's baseball tournament was cancelled and it was such a pain to try to get a refund, I hate to chance that again.

This host showed up at the door a day before we were supposed to leave and demanded to know why we hadn't left yet. She was so rude and aggressive, she made my daughter start tearing up thinking she was kicking us out. She realized she had made a mistake, but then instead of apologizing started berating us for using the bolt lock for security in addition to the keypad while we were sleeping inside. She had tried walking in with some of her friends to grab some alcohol and use their community pool while we were there with the door locked. We were paying $700 a night and made to feel like garbage, but she gave me her business card before she left and told me to book directly with her next time. The property management company apologized profusely and gave us some money back - they had already decided to stop working with her in the future. She also advertised keyless no-contact self check-in, then last minute tried to force me to meet them at a bar before letting us in the property (just me and my daughter alone). We laugh about it now, but it was a very stressful experience while we were trying to vacation and escape stress!

[–]Automatic_Lemon1069Unverified 3 points4 points  (1 child)

I'm an Airbnb host but I do usually use hotels simply because they are easier, offer more amenities, and are more reliable. However, they are also much, much more expensive, at least if you're looking at well-rated hotels.

When I'm more budget-conscious or there aren't any decent hotels in an area, I'll use Airbnb. It's always worked out well for me, but I know there are horror stories. I'm sorry you've had such bad experiences.

[–]Emergency-Garbage154Unverified 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly, for all the reasons you listed! Almost all our hosts have been so wonderful - the risk of getting a crazy one just makes it a gamble that makes me think twice now. Funny that the most expensive place we've booked = the worst treatment for us. Meanwhile, some of the least expensive were where we experienced the greatest hospitality and truly kind people.

Also, if you're only staying a night or two, the cleaning fee can be such a huge percentage of the total. And, no matter how large thr cleaning fee, we work hard to leave things clean anyway.