AirBnB Troubles?

[Basil 742]

On 6/29/2023 at 8:58 AM, CHIEF said:

Curfews and quite hours are because a lot of idiots want to have parties and loud music going 24/7 during their stay. Some of the AirBnB locations are right in the middle of neighborhoods with working families. We had two houses, in our neighborhood, that people purchased for AirBnB party pads. After about 2-3 bookings where the clients stayed up and partied by the pool, threw beer cans in the neighbor's yard, and got into yelling matches at three in the morning, the HOA shut them down, and made a rule eliminating AirBnBs. Apparently, communities all over the nation are doing this using HOAs or deed restrictions. Idiots are the reason we cannot have nice things.

CHIEF

To be fair, you live in Granbury.  Odds are people renting there are going to be some beer-swilling rednecks looking to party and stir shit up.

[Macanudo 12917]

1 hour ago, troph said:

Depends on the purpose. We are driving to Colorado for a month stay.  The drive in this case requires two over nights. One in Lubbock and one in Pueblo most likely. Two hotel rooms at the comfort inn? $300. One Airbnb in Lubbock in a hood that’s just a bunch of clean lower middle class houses? Below that. Pueblo, same thing. I’m sitting on a couch watching the news, posting and doing some work while sipping on my coffee. Mundane Airbnb’s are perfect for traveling overnight. 
 

Of course the month stay is through Airbnb - what hotel is going to provide fishable river front access in Colorado and the amenities of a home for a month? None.

 

Two nights to get from Austin to (anywhere in) Colorado?   Austin to Lubbock is a 6 hour drive.    Lubbock to Pueblo is 6.5 hours.   I'm not saying you have to drive all the way to Pueblo on day one but it's not a three day drive.   We do Houston to Breckenridge in two with a stop in Amarillo.    Residence Inn (Marriott) is your friend.   You should be able to get a 1 bedroom suite (king bed in the bedroom with a pull out in the living room) or a 2 bedroom suite also with the pull out in either Lubbock or Amarillo for 160-200 a night.  

[Brisketexan 104217]

38 minutes ago, Js1 said:

I did that once.  I had an overnight in Madrid (it was like landing at 10am and flying out the next day at 9am) and I wanted to be in the city.  I literally never saw the dude the 18 or so hours I was there.  Was just a private room/bathroom in his 2 bedroom apartment. 

When I did one in Toronto, I was in their basement apartment. I could hear them upstairs, but I never saw them.  Had my own entrance and stuff.

The weirdest one was in Luxembourg City, it was an apartment in the back of a co-op art studio and one of the nights, they had some sort of Ted Talk thing that I crashed when I came back for the night.  Very weird walking in and all these Luxembourgers were like "hey, it's the American traveler!" 

But I probably wouldn't do the private room again. 

We did the private room thing twice, each time for the kids.  First time, the girl wanted to visit the University of Edinburgh (one of her uni options).  So, we booked the visit for right after her return from an exchange program in Germany.  She was 17, and we couldn't put her in a hotel by herself due to age limits.  So, found an AirBnB that was a couple of female university students renting out their extra bedroom.  It was actually nice -- she had some locals to kind of look out for her and give her advice.  They talked to her about how it was cool that she was traveling by herself, all that sort of thing.

Second time was when the boy was 16, and we connected with him in Germany after his exchange there.  He extended his trip to stay after his classmates went home, but to keep the cheap airfare booked as a group, he still had to fly home out of Frankfurt.  Well, the rest of us were flying home out of Copenhagen.  So, we put him on a quick flight to Frankfurt, but he needed a place to crash near the airport.  A room in a private home that had great reviews for just this purpose -- lots of travelers who needed a place to crash for a night before an early flight the next day.  Again, at his age, hotels weren't an option.  He got to his room, dropped his stuff off.  Walked down the street to an Edeka to pick up some stuff to make dinner.  Cooked a dinner in the shared kitchen, went to bed, caught an early cab to his flight.

So, the "shared room" has its purpose and place.

[CHIEF 5052]

55 minutes ago, Basil said:

To be fair, you live in Granbury.  Odds are people renting there are going to be some beer-swilling rednecks looking to party and stir shit up.

It was mainly rednecks that live in a $150k house, I imagine, but with wakeboard boats and trucks that cost more than their house individually. I know several of those types.

CHIEF

[Deej 76373]

44 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

that was a couple of female university students renting out their extra bedroom.

I've seen that movie. 

[CycleTex87 2952]

Currently staying in an AirBnB so this hits close to home. 
 

I will say this, I was looking to book an ABnB in a small Texas city, and found an interesting one but the host didn’t disclose the actual address until you had booked the place w/ deposit.  Once I had the actual address it turned out the property had an active train track essentially in the backyard.  I cancelled the reservation but they went ahead and kept the $60 or whatever non-refundable booking fee for holding the reservation for five minutes. 

Edited June 30, 2023 by CycleTex87

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4964]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

Just booked a 2 bedroom apt in CDMX with a friend in Polanco - $350 total for 3 nights. $58ish bucks a night for each of us. 

Yeah, we stayed in Polanco in a three bedroom apartment with parking for something pretty cheap this past winter as well. Unfortunately, we all took turns spraying out of both ends and my wife got to spend her birthday trekking back and forth to the bathroom.

[Biff Tannen 45432]

3 hours ago, Goredho said:

Last experience I had with AirBnB was my last.  Was taking the fam to Austin, booked a house with a pool in Covid times so kids would have something fun to do.  4 weeks after my booking, the property owner cancels my reservation saying that the property got double booked with someone on another platform, they were first, so my booking got the axe.   He got pissed and threatened to not issue a refund when I started asking why it took 4 weeks to figure that out.  The asshole had great reviews, almost perfectly positive feedback.

Oh, well, not the end of the world, except my credit card had already been charged, it was going to take a couple weeks to get a refund processed, the trip was now a couple weeks away, and there was nothing available with a pool in the area.  We cancelled the trip.

I had other great experiences with AirBnB previously, but time, specifically leisure time with my family, is my most precious resource.  You fuck with that once, we’re done.  I’ll take less convenient, more expensive hotels because they are reliable, consistent and don’t carry the risk of fucking up my family vacation.

This is more common than you think because people don't realize they can sync their ABB and Vrbo (and other platforms) calendars or they are too technologically inept to do it.  It's a copy and paste operation, but that's still too much for some.

Word to the wise, make sure you send a message to the host when you book and ask questions.  Stay in touch with them and confirm a couple of times about your dates, things to do in the area, etc.   Mainly this just keeps them thinking about your booking and hopefully they will realize if they fucked up or not.

[troph 24486]

2 hours ago, Macanudo said:

Two nights to get from Austin to (anywhere in) Colorado?   Austin to Lubbock is a 6 hour drive.    Lubbock to Pueblo is 6.5 hours.   I'm not saying you have to drive all the way to Pueblo on day one but it's not a three day drive.   We do Houston to Breckenridge in two with a stop in Amarillo.    Residence Inn (Marriott) is your friend.   You should be able to get a 1 bedroom suite (king bed in the bedroom with a pull out in the living room) or a 2 bedroom suite also with the pull out in either Lubbock or Amarillo for 160-200 a night.  

17 hours to our place and Tesla charging adds about 6 hours (btw our supercharging is free so that saves about $200 in actual charges just on the way up). 23/3 = 7-8 hours a day. I’m done with 10+ hour drives - back, sciatica, sore hips from sitting (sure troph from sitting), and the need to log an hour or two of work time.  And I’m not sharing a room and bathroom with two teenage boys. No thanks hard pass. 

Edited June 30, 2023 by troph

[YGIFS 19447]

We're taking a very similar route from Fort Worth tomorrow (eventually to Pike's Peak, not too far from Pueblo).  SiL is addicted to STR's.  She called my wife to chat about a rental for Saturday night before booking.  And I wanted to stay out of it, but thought 'for one night' for 6 of us?  That's overkill.  But it was cheaper than any hotels in Amarillo that allow their dog.  We'd spend half the time choring for the owners.  So her husband and I found a badass cabin on top of Palo Duro.  Yeah, there's no kitchen or screen TV but it's state park rates and a view to die for.  Apples and Oranges I know, but I would never conceive of an STR for one night, probably why most have minimums---although more turnover---more fees. 

The house near Pike's Peak is lovely and all, but because it has a kitchen...their family feels compelled to eat every meal at home.  Kinda takes the fun outta seeing the local joints, one thing I don't like about STR's, make you feel like you need to utilize the kitchen  'cause it's there and you paid for it.  And I know we'll all spend the last morning cleaning so we can have the honor of paying hundreds in cleaning fees just hours later.  But hey, great location.  I just know it was some mom somewhere that invented this idea, not a VC portfolio company.  "Wouldn't it be great instead of scattered across multiple hotel rooms, we were all right on top of each other 24/7 all cozy-like for days on end ? "

 

[Brisketexan 104217]

4 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

We're taking a very similar route from Fort Worth tomorrow (eventually to Pike's Peak, not too far from Pueblo).  SiL is addicted to STR's.  She called my wife to chat about a rental for Saturday night before booking.  And I wanted to stay out of it, but thought 'for one night' for 6 of us?  That's overkill.  But it was cheaper than any hotels in Amarillo that allow their dog.  We'd spend half the time choring for the owners.  So her husband and I found a badass cabin on top of Palo Duro.  Yeah, there's no kitchen or screen TV but it's state park rates and a view to die for.  Apples and Oranges I know, but I would never conceive of an STR for one night, probably why most have minimums---although more turnover---more fees. 

The house near Pike's Peak is lovely and all, but because it has a kitchen...their family feels compelled to eat every meal at home.  Kinda takes the fun outta seeing the local joints, one thing I don't like about STR's, make you feel like you need to utilize the kitchen  'cause it's there and you paid for it.  And I know we'll all spend the last morning cleaning so we can have the honor of paying hundreds in cleaning fees just hours later.  But hey, great location.  I just know it was some mom somewhere that invented this idea, not a VC portfolio company.  "Wouldn't it be great instead of scattered across multiple hotel rooms, we were all right on top of each other 24/7 all cozy-like for days on end ? "

 

Counterpoint on the kitchen being a plus: I like it when we're traveling someplace not in the US.  We can hit a local store or market, and get some cool, different, and fresh stuff to make meals with.  Pretty cool to hit a local mercado, buy what's fresh, and make some goodies.

But yeah, here in the US, it's mostly useful for when you have a large group and just want to save some money on meals.

[Bateshorn 9853]

2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Counterpoint on the kitchen being a plus: I like it when we're traveling someplace not in the US.  We can hit a local store or market, and get some cool, different, and fresh stuff to make meals with.  Pretty cool to hit a local mercado, buy what's fresh, and make some goodies.

But yeah, here in the US, it's mostly useful for when you have a large group and just want to save some money on meals.

Travel hack: Get a cheap ass pocket knife sharpener and keep it in your suit case.  Like an accusharp or something. it will put an edge on those dull ass ikea knives in every airbnb if you plan on cooking.  Just be sure to get one that will get through airport security. 

[troph 24486]

23 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

We're taking a very similar route from Fort Worth tomorrow (eventually to Pike's Peak, not too far from Pueblo).  SiL is addicted to STR's.  She called my wife to chat about a rental for Saturday night before booking.  And I wanted to stay out of it, but thought 'for one night' for 6 of us?  That's overkill.  But it was cheaper than any hotels in Amarillo that allow their dog.  We'd spend half the time choring for the owners.  So her husband and I found a badass cabin on top of Palo Duro.  Yeah, there's no kitchen or screen TV but it's state park rates and a view to die for.  Apples and Oranges I know, but I would never conceive of an STR for one night, probably why most have minimums---although more turnover---more fees. 

The house near Pike's Peak is lovely and all, but because it has a kitchen...their family feels compelled to eat every meal at home.  Kinda takes the fun outta seeing the local joints, one thing I don't like about STR's, make you feel like you need to utilize the kitchen  'cause it's there and you paid for it.  And I know we'll all spend the last morning cleaning so we can have the honor of paying hundreds in cleaning fees just hours later.  But hey, great location.  I just know it was some mom somewhere that invented this idea, not a VC portfolio company.  "Wouldn't it be great instead of scattered across multiple hotel rooms, we were all right on top of each other 24/7 all cozy-like for days on end ? "

 

For the record Pueblo isn’t our destination, we are staying on the roaring fork for a month. Fuck Pueblo in the goat ass it feels as hot as Texas sometimes.

[troph 24486]

And short stays in big cities ? We are pretty much done with Airbnb - hotels are much better and we aren’t there to cook so a kitchen isn’t needed, even the coffee experience we typically enjoy in a cafe as opposed to a couch in the living room.  

[Goredho 17267]

45 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

This is more common than you think because people don't realize they can sync their ABB and Vrbo (and other platforms) calendars or they are too technologically inept to do it.  It's a copy and paste operation, but that's still too much for some.

Word to the wise, make sure you send a message to the host when you book and ask questions.  Stay in touch with them and confirm a couple of times about your dates, things to do in the area, etc.   Mainly this just keeps them thinking about your booking and hopefully they will realize if they fucked up or not.

Or just book a hotel and avoid having to gestate your reservation.

[Grade of D as in David 13253]

4 hours ago, troph said:

Depends on the purpose. We are driving to Colorado for a month stay.  The drive in this case requires two over nights. One in Lubbock and one in Pueblo most likely. Two hotel rooms at the comfort inn? $300. One Airbnb in Lubbock in a hood that’s just a bunch of clean lower middle class houses? Below that. Pueblo, same thing. I’m sitting on a couch watching the news, posting and doing some work while sipping on my coffee. Mundane Airbnb’s are perfect for traveling overnight. 
 

Of course the month stay is through Airbnb - what hotel is going to provide fishable river front access in Colorado and the amenities of a home for a month? None.

 

Driving to Colorado from Austin and you need two overnight stays? How are you traveling?

 

 

Hope y'all don't get dysentery.

[troph 24486]

11 minutes ago, Grade of D as in David said:

Driving to Colorado from Austin and you need two overnight stays? How are you traveling?

 

 

Hope y'all don't get dysentery.

Read my second post. 
 

Quote

17 hours to our place and Tesla charging adds about 6 hours (btw our supercharging is free so that saves about $200 in actual charges just on the way up). 23/3 = 7-8 hours a day. I’m done with 10+ hour drives - back, sciatica, sore hips from sitting (sure troph from sitting), and the need to log an hour or two of work time.  And I’m not sharing a room and bathroom with two teenage boys. No thanks hard pass. 

 

[Grade of D as in David 13253]

Just now, troph said:

Read my second post. 
 

 

Yeah my bad I posted when I got to the end of the previous page. 

 

Still, please avoid the dysentery.

[Biff Tannen 45432]

1 hour ago, Goredho said:

Or just book a hotel and avoid having to gestate your reservation.

Well yes, but if you want to go the STR route, what I said is a best practice.

[YGIFS 19447]

I heard you can get dysentery now at Tesla charging stations west of the Mississippi.  Or maybe I shouldn't have stopped to chat with that with woman at the Platte River.

[dcbc 14367]

2 hours ago, Deej said:

I've seen that movie. 

 

TWICE

[66BUFF 2541]

1 hour ago, troph said:

For the record Pueblo isn’t our destination, we are staying on the roaring fork for a month. Fuck Pueblo in the goat ass it feels as hot as Texas sometimes.

Melon country in that area

[Baboontyme 2805]

Then again sometimes those cleaning fees are necessary. Here is the bedroom my 13 year old slept in on Sunday morning at our house rental in Gatlinburg after gorging on pizza and Waffle House all weekend. Do not click. I warned you.

Spoiler

 

[HRSchenker 2248]

On 6/30/2023 at 10:07 AM, CHIEF said:

It was mainly rednecks that live in a $150k house, I imagine, but with wakeboard boats and trucks that cost more than their house individually. I know several of those types.

CHIEF

Do you recall ever hearing about an airbnb where some guests did something on a table near the water they thought no one could see? I'm asking for my buddy Jake....

[Murfdogg21 4398]

I have never received a complimentary breakfast and think they should change their name to airB

[kevwun 15569]

They seems to mainly be a thing in Europe.  We have gotten wine, beer, sodas, bottled water and snacks from the hosts in Europe.  Not so much in the US.

[ImissWallyPryor 9044]

21 minutes ago, kevwun said:

They seems to mainly be a thing in Europe.  We have gotten wine, beer, sodas, bottled water and snacks from the hosts in Europe.  Not so much in the US.

We were given a partial box of generic Oat-eos and a half empty jug of milk in a Minnesota AirB, so there is that.

Not to mention numerous opened condiments, peanut butter, and jams. 

Edited July 3, 2023 by ImissWallyPryor

[RDCanecutter 26195]

On 6/30/2023 at 10:07 AM, CHIEF said:

It was mainly rednecks that live in a $150k house, I imagine, but with wakeboard boats and trucks that cost more than their house individually. I know several of those types.

CHIEF

A house is just a house but Truck-Boat-Truck is a man's identity.

[Homercles 10205]

On 6/30/2023 at 12:37 PM, Grade of D as in David said:

Hope y'all don't get dysentery.

 

[thunderlounge 7695]

On 6/29/2023 at 7:53 AM, Biff Tannen said:

The cleaning fee is set by the host and 99% of the time is reflective of the actual fee they are charged by their cleaning crew.

This. 
 

I have one on VRBO, and the cleaning fee is $150. Exactly what the lady charges me.

Granted the house sleeps 12, but beside the point.

On the flip side of that, people suck. They really, really suck. 

To the point I had to require the extra insurance with the booking or your not staying. 
 

Now I will rent to repeat clients on the side without that, but only after they’ve proven to be good guests.

You may be surprised how many people just throw all care to the wind when staying at someone else’s place.

It really can be a nightmare, and those dumb fucks ruin it for everyone else.

[fattyflattie 4636]

Booked a private RV spot on a bay yesterday.  The property is basically two RV slots, with one large T-head pier into the bay.  Got an email shortly after booking last night asking what our intention was with the stay. “Our family likes to and regularly fishes this bay, and would like to use the RV instead of condo/house this trip”.    Approved.   Then, a few minutes later, an email comes inquiring about family size.   “Wife, husband, 3 kids 10 to 7”.   

“Oooh that’s going to be a problem, as we only allow 8 guests at any time on the property”. Maybe you can find another RV couple that only has 3, or rent out both spots (for 2x the cost)?”  

They literally stated this is to protect the grass.  Now been trying to get the $$ back and the woman is flabbergasted that we won’t 1) leave one the kids at home, 2) search for a couple to join our family trip, 3) double our price and not use the spot next to me.   With such a dipshit fucking rule, why not state that upfront?  Especially since you are only providing a fucking driveway to park in.  Apparently they keep these two spots pretty booked up, good for them. But that’s the kind of thing you would think would be good to know before exchanging funds.  

[PittsburghTiger 6127]

On 6/30/2023 at 9:42 AM, Js1 said:

I did that once.  I had an overnight in Madrid (it was like landing at 10am and flying out the next day at 9am) and I wanted to be in the city.  I literally never saw the dude the 18 or so hours I was there.  Was just a private room/bathroom in his 2 bedroom apartment. 

When I did one in Toronto, I was in their basement apartment. I could hear them upstairs, but I never saw them.  Had my own entrance and stuff.

The weirdest one was in Luxembourg City, it was an apartment in the back of a co-op art studio and one of the nights, they had some sort of Ted Talk thing that I crashed when I came back for the night.  Very weird walking in and all these Luxembourgers were like "hey, it's the American traveler!" 

But I probably wouldn't do the private room again. 

Very weird walking in and all these Luxembourgers were like "hey, it's the American traveler!" 

Boy, that sure had the potential to be an awesome Penthouse Letter!

[huge 3787]

8 hours ago, Brad Wesley said:

I can definitely relate to your frustrations with Airbnb. I've had similar experiences where the costs were almost the same as hotels but with added stress. Some hosts could be more polite about rules, and I've had a couple of stays where getting issues resolved was a real headache. I totally get why you'd say goodbye to Airbnb for family trips. Mixing things up works best for me. For shorter stays, I often go for hotels where I know exactly what to expect. However, if I need a place for a more extended period, Airbnb can sometimes be worth it, especially for unique spots.

Brad you own half the town!

[atomheartbevo 89301]

[BamaATL 16592]

2 hours ago, huge said:

Brad you own half the town!

He's just pissed they don't allow monster trucks

[YGIFS 19447]

It's my (vague) understanding that in certain, more popular markets---AirBnB has like a "preferred" vendor list of cleaning services.  The owner has to use one of them so AirBnB gets lets complaints about the place when they check-in.  I'm sure there's some sort of kick-up % paid by the service back to AirBnB for being on said list.  Is that kinda right?  Like I get a one-off place in the middle of nowhere, owner just uses who they can or does it themselves.  But like in the Hill Country, or Central Austin, or by COTA---I would think AirBnB can say, "Here's a half-dozen services you can use which meet our guidelines for timeliness, cleanliness, and price."  Or am I missing something? 

[Chult86 335]

We manage over 5,000 "AirBNB" reservations every year, some direct bookings, some VRBO, etc.

My advice:

• Traveling with kids and their friends/another family, get an AirBNB
• Traveling to a spot with a specific view or niche location (log cabin, ON the beach, etc), get an AirBNB
• Traveling to a city/general area, get a hotel room

When I travel for work it's always a hotel. The usual joke within our industry is never try to slit your wrists in an AirBNB, the knives are too dull and you'll just end up scratching yourself.

[Biff Tannen 45432]

14 hours ago, YGIFS said:

It's my (vague) understanding that in certain, more popular markets---AirBnB has like a "preferred" vendor list of cleaning services.  The owner has to use one of them so AirBnB gets lets complaints about the place when they check-in.  I'm sure there's some sort of kick-up % paid by the service back to AirBnB for being on said list.  Is that kinda right?  Like I get a one-off place in the middle of nowhere, owner just uses who they can or does it themselves.  But like in the Hill Country, or Central Austin, or by COTA---I would think AirBnB can say, "Here's a half-dozen services you can use which meet our guidelines for timeliness, cleanliness, and price."  Or am I missing something? 

This is not a thing that I'm aware of.  They may have lists of cleaning services in certain areas, but there is no requirement for the host or property management company to use them.

[Chult86 335]

14 hours ago, YGIFS said:

It's my (vague) understanding that in certain, more popular markets---AirBnB has like a "preferred" vendor list of cleaning services.  The owner has to use one of them so AirBnB gets lets complaints about the place when they check-in.  I'm sure there's some sort of kick-up % paid by the service back to AirBnB for being on said list.  Is that kinda right?  Like I get a one-off place in the middle of nowhere, owner just uses who they can or does it themselves.  But like in the Hill Country, or Central Austin, or by COTA---I would think AirBnB can say, "Here's a half-dozen services you can use which meet our guidelines for timeliness, cleanliness, and price."  Or am I missing something? 

Not to be rude, but this isn't true in any fashion at all. It's entirely up to the host to ensure cleanliness. AirBNB will habitually side with the guest during any sort of dispute about the property. We had a refund given by AirBNB because the guest said the pool was unusable... because of the thunderstorm.

[Biff Tannen 45432]

Figure I'll put this here since I've been seeing more and more of these shitty interactions between hosts and guests.  I think there needs to be a recalibration on both sides of what expectations are for short term rentals.

 

I've seen guests be pieces of shit to hosts and vice versa.

There's a big control issue among hosts, which I can understand when it is their personal home or vacation home that has been in their family for years, but far too many of them don't understand that they are running a business and the guests are the customers.  When you make it difficult to book or stay at a property, the guests don't come back.  Some hosts treat it like it is a special privilege for them to accept bookings and that the guests should comply to their every whim and ridiculous rule they can think of.  They also don't seem to understand how that type of behavior hurts other hosts, and the entire industry in general, because when a guest has a shitty experience, they are most often turned off of STRs forever (see this thread).

On the other hand, many guests don't seem to get that this is not a hotel experience.  Many of these ARE family homes and there are guests that are just pieces of shit and treat properties like rock stars treat hotels.  

 

Then you get into a huge deal with reviews where both sides just use them as retaliatory tools for the slights they think they received during the stay.

Add in social media, which just propagates misinformation among both sides, and it becomes a very fraught situation.

 

These are usually the extreme ends, but I've just noticed it getting more and more common, it seems.  

[956 Worldwide 34230]

I think honestly it’s what @Aqua Buddha said above, people want to be in the landlord or “investment” industry and not the hospitality industry.  The simple fact is that once you start advertising a place by the night, you’re putting yourself up against hotels and the people who want to stay at hotels.  
 

There are ways around this, but you have to accept the trade offs of sometimes having it sit empty for a few days or making a bit less money in exchange for less stress.  Having minimum stays to attract a different type of guest, hiring a property manager (hugely important) and looking at it with a business eye.  Run the daily rate at nearby hotels to see what clientele you’re competing for and then don’t be surprised when you get that clientele’s behavior. 
 

I would never in a million years rent my car out on days I’m not using it at Enterprise rates.  If you just can’t bear to part with a beloved cabin but can’t afford the taxes, that sucks but you have to know what you’re getting into when inviting the public inside.  No one will care for it the way you want them to. 

[YGIFS 19447]

2 hours ago, Chult86 said:

Not to be rude, but this isn't true in any fashion at all. It's entirely up to the host to ensure cleanliness. AirBNB will habitually side with the guest during any sort of dispute about the property. We had a refund given by AirBNB because the guest said the pool was unusable... because of the thunderstorm.

It's why I prefaced it with "vague understanding."  I don't know.  We did it once when Formula1 started and cleaned ourselves (this was before kids, so it was much easier).  I guess a "suggested" list of vendors and/or DIY/hire out sombody else you know makes sense.  I don't really know or give a shit.  Since the proliferation of these in the last 5-10 years, I think we've had instances where the house was immaculate, other times it looks like a 60-minute rush job.  I wish there was some uniformity to the swimming pools though.  Rented places with pools that were immaculate, others where it was completely unsafe and filthy with green water and dead animals.  Still others who overhaul the chemicals and shock the shit outta the pool 45 minutes before you get there so you can't really use it the first 24 hours of your 48 hour stay.  I don't mind wiping a few things down upon arrival or just using paper plates.  But I'm not gonna spend first few hours of my vacation dealing with your pump, filters, skim, buckets, and topping off the pool which is a foot too shallow.  /rant

[F250 28614]

I recently stayed at a beach house in Virginia Beach via VRBO. I was a bit hesitant due to all the complaints mentioned in this thread. Surprisingly, upon arrival the house was Immaculate, pool was in excellent condition and the rules were minimal.

We spent part of our trip in hotels while visiting Gettysburg, D.C., and Fredericksburg. The days we spent at the beach house were far superior to the hotel stays.

[Chewbacca 7665]

I can't stay in Airbnb or VRBOs in good conscience anymore. After seeing first hand what they are doing to the housing markets in vacation destinations, I'm hotel only these days.

[Updawg 2253]

It all depends on location and type of place.vrbo is definitely better compared to Airbnb