Tbh ive booked no less than 8 airbnbs in the last 3 years and have always had zero issues in any of them. No ridiculous rules or deposits or anything, and a lot more privacy than getting a hotel. More importantly, always far cheaper than getting a hotel that isn’t questionably shitty
In that same span of time, Ive booked like 4 hotel rooms. One was a four star property that was great but stupid expensive. One was a “3 star” property that was shoddy as fuck, had bedbugs, and refused to give me a refund despite bringing one of the bugs to the front desk and politely declining to be put in another room. The other two hotels were decent but cost more than what they were worth compared to a STR. Hence I roll on with airbnbs
Why anyone would pay more for less space and less privacy I fail to understand.
Just an FYI, since privacy seems to be a big concern for you… AirBnB used to allow hosts to hide cameras inside of their rented spaces. It was explicitly allowed in their renting rules, under the premise of allowing owners to enforce rules and collect evidence in case of excessive mess/damage/theft. They banned hidden cameras in 2024, but over half of rental owners still admit to using them, and about half of all guests still report finding one inside of their rented spaces if they bother to look.
AirBnB never allowed hidden cameras; they allowed visible indoor cameras in common areas like a living room or kitchen. This isn’t to say that some nefarious hosts might have hidden cameras, which has always been an issue, but to say that they explicitly allowed it in their policy is patently false.
Horror story from Germany: colleague from my former workplace was living a bit after away and always rented local AirBnB locations until she found several hidden cameras, including one in the bedroom. This was before the official ban, but I’m never going to use the platform again.
Historically, Airbnb allowed the use of indoor security cameras in common areas of listings, such as hallways and living rooms, as long as they were disclosed on the listing page before booking, clearly visible and were not located in spaces like sleeping areas and bathrooms.
How do you read that and conclude “they explicitly allowed hidden cameras”?
I meant privacy moreso as in coming and going as I please without interacting with anybody or being surrounded by other guests. But that is a valid separate concern I suppose
Well it says something about at least one of the people in the interaction. What it’s saying may be related to seratonin reuptake, but who am I to judge.
It’s short for string, a data type in pretty much every programming language which traditionally is a length followed by a sequence of characters. Another storage approach used by C is to make strings just the sequence of characters with a 0 value on the end. However this approach was an optimization for 1960s technology which had aged into being a pain in the ass by 1961.
Tbh ive booked no less than 8 airbnbs in the last 3 years and have always had zero issues in any of them. No ridiculous rules or deposits or anything, and a lot more privacy than getting a hotel. More importantly, always far cheaper than getting a hotel that isn’t questionably shitty
In that same span of time, Ive booked like 4 hotel rooms. One was a four star property that was great but stupid expensive. One was a “3 star” property that was shoddy as fuck, had bedbugs, and refused to give me a refund despite bringing one of the bugs to the front desk and politely declining to be put in another room. The other two hotels were decent but cost more than what they were worth compared to a STR. Hence I roll on with airbnbs
Why anyone would pay more for less space and less privacy I fail to understand.
What sort of hotel are you staying at?
I just looked and the cheapest air BNB in my city is literally someone’s RV for $100 a night.
In most cities I can grab a room in a nice hotel for $100 to $150 per night. Cheap hotels are more like $80 a night.
Just an FYI, since privacy seems to be a big concern for you… AirBnB used to allow hosts to hide cameras inside of their rented spaces. It was explicitly allowed in their renting rules, under the premise of allowing owners to enforce rules and collect evidence in case of excessive mess/damage/theft. They banned hidden cameras in 2024, but over half of rental owners still admit to using them, and about half of all guests still report finding one inside of their rented spaces if they bother to look.
AirBnB never allowed hidden cameras; they allowed visible indoor cameras in common areas like a living room or kitchen. This isn’t to say that some nefarious hosts might have hidden cameras, which has always been an issue, but to say that they explicitly allowed it in their policy is patently false.
Here’s the archived version of the policy page in 2022: Use of cameras and recording devices
Just hypothetically speaking, is it against the end user license agreement to use a Wi-Fi jammer?
Horror story from Germany: colleague from my former workplace was living a bit after away and always rented local AirBnB locations until she found several hidden cameras, including one in the bedroom. This was before the official ban, but I’m never going to use the platform again.
& the host quite likely committed a felony under German law.
This is blatantly false. Got a source for your claim?
Which part are you suggesting is false?
That it was explicitly allowed in the rental agreement for the purpose of collecting evidence of rulebreaking.
I don’t know if you’re going to find anything that explicitly states that the security cameras are intended for security, but
https://news.airbnb.com/an-update-on-our-policy-on-security-cameras/
you’re looking for this.
From your link:
How do you read that and conclude “they explicitly allowed hidden cameras”?
I meant privacy moreso as in coming and going as I please without interacting with anybody or being surrounded by other guests. But that is a valid separate concern I suppose
“I’m chill if strangers watch me sleep, I just don’t want to have to talk to them”…what a world
Says something about how awful some people are to interact with when anyone would rather the alternative, doesn’t it?
Well it says something about at least one of the people in the interaction. What it’s saying may be related to seratonin reuptake, but who am I to judge.
STR?
Short term rental, an umbrella term for airbnb, vrbo, etc
Ugh just say the words.
It’s short for string, a data type in pretty much every programming language which traditionally is a length followed by a sequence of characters. Another storage approach used by C is to make strings just the sequence of characters with a 0 value on the end. However this approach was an optimization for 1960s technology which had aged into being a pain in the ass by 1961.