https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2023/08/25/new-yo...
For a single person they tend to be a bit expensive since you usually pay the price for two, and hostels, which can accommodate single travelers are not common in the US. But there are plenty of shared AirBnBs.
If, on the opposite you are traveling in a larger group (4+ adults), hotel options are again limited. You often need to split the group into distinct rooms, which is not the most friendly.
For business travel, hotels all the way, but for vacation, AirBnB often had the best options for my situation (single, traveling alone or with a group of friends) in several countries including the US.
What are you going to do when there's a dispute, a crime, or a disaster?
Hotels are insured and their employees are bonded for lots of stuff. Hotels are highly regulated for a lot of reasons that happened in the past and nobody remembers, because they don't happen anymore, but they're all being recapitulated with AirBnB supposedly "disrupting" the industry.
Every time I've stayed in a hotel, even long before I was aware that regulation was a thing or what it regulated, I was grateful for the rigorous structures that were set in place and the guidelines that needed to be followed by our hosts so that we could have a pleasant and predictable stay.
There’s no way they can compete with hotel chains in terms of scale and having sorted out best practices.
> "We had already played recordings of me crying with customer service (embarrassing) and in order to "prove" that I was impacted by this I had to submit anxiety medications my doctor had prescribed me that I was then cross-examined on (double embarrassing)."
> They claimed they had no record of a meeting I know occurred because my friend was there but I wasn't willing to sell out my friend to "prove" it (the judge wanted to see the email I had - wasn't going to do that.)
> the hearing itself got super bogged down into the weeds of whether I had PROOF that there was a camera (reminder, I didn't because the first customer service rep told me that the hosts' acknowledgment that there was one wasn't enough).
Let's just all agree to shut down AirBnB shall we?
Their innovations so far seem to be mostly around liability reduction and zoning law evasion. They're like a tobacco company at this stage, let's admit it.
Similarly one host could ruin it for everybody.
The lesson from Airbnb over and over again is that they choose profits over a consistent guest experience.
Airbnb support is like Google, they really do leave you in the cold if you don’t know an insider.
Uber/lyft have a faaaaar faaaar more consistent experience. It’s not perfect but much better than taxis.
AirBnb has NOT been better than hotels. Pictures and actual place could be off, many fees tacked on, easily lose thousands if you don’t like the place. Customer support will acknowledge the problem but don’t do much to fix it.
Note that the real issue is not lack of refund but deep implications of having cameras like that. Victims of blackmail would not be asking for refund...
> Now, am I trying to say that just by sleeping in a room with a camera I would be pulled into some sort of underground human trafficking ring? No.
I believe by this time people should be aware AirBnb is a deeply unethical company whose business is built around something that has massive social costs.
One the one hand I am glad to see it receiving negative attention.
On the other hand, I feel the people complaining are also getting what they deserve.
Currently spending the weekend packing for my first move in 5-6 years and, no exaggeration, every single new contract (lease, utilities, garbage, etc) had a forced arbitration clause.
When did these things become universally forced? I distinctly recall arbitration clauses being Big Corp Only things not too long ago - and in many cases, they allowed you to opt-out. Now it’s just a standard part of every boilerplate contract that you have to sign away your rights.
- Southland Corp. v. Keating, 465 U.S. 1 (1984) arb applies in state courts in addition to federal
- Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. 500 U.S. 20 (1991)
- Doctor’s Associates, Inc. v. Casarotto, 517 U.S. 681 (1996)
- Green TreeFinancial Corp.-Ala. .v Randolph, 531 US 79 (2000)
- Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood & Conklin Mfg. Co., 388 US 395 (1967)
- Buckeye Check Cashing, Inc. v. Cardegna, 546 US 440 (2006)
- Rent-A-Center West v. Jackson, 561 US 63 (2010) arbitrator will determine the enforceability of the agreement
- Hall Street Associates, L.L.C. v. Mattel, Inc., 552 US 576 (2008) arb award can't be modified
- Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 US 20 (1991) arb in discrimination claim
- AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011)A class action waivers
- American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, 570 US 228 (2013)
There have been some proposals to fix this - a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, none have passed yet.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1374
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/259...
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/537
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1423
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/610
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/963
Some other useful sources if you care about the details:
1. Glover, J. M. (2022). Mass Arbitration. Stanford Law Review, 74. https://review.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2...
2. Katherine V.W. Stone & Alexander J.S. Colvin. (2015). The arbitration epidemic: Mandatory arbitration deprives workers and consumers of their rights (Briefing Paper 414). Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/publication/the-arbitration-epidemic/
But I also want Airbnb to be regulated and return to what it was originally - a place that people can rent out their own home for a few weeks while they are on vacation, and not illegal hotels.