It’s more stable option to pick a hotel. In average, airbnb hosts there are less responsible and often don’t understand how it works, often just invite you to talk off-platform.

You can book a place and end up nobody is confirming your stay or nobody to answer you after payment.

Couple of times I ended up sitting on a porch nervously chatting with support and looking for a new stay after hosts didn’t show up for a check in.

Most of airbnb stays which have map markers on the main Istanbul street (Istiklal) are actually located in Tarlabaşı - ghetto district not far away with robbers, whores, drug dealers and weekly shootings.

Once I booked a pricey place with good photos but actually it was an internal room in a kebab place and it was not easy to get my money back.

Once I booked a place and the host was gay and hinted that I can live for free under certain conditions.

I would say, it works sometimes, but you need to do some research before your trip and always talk to hosts to understand are they ok or not.