We took our lock-off apartment off of Airbnb. We’re not putting it back. I’m sick of being part of the slave and surveillance economy. After 2 years, we think Airbnb sucks. Here’s why.
Here’s a few pics of our apartment and our ‘hood.
As you can see, it’s sweet. Like, Ritz Carlton sweet. In fact it’s better than the Ritz. Its got everything needed to cook 5 course meals. Its got a kick ass Audio/Video system. It’s so nice here, I’m still convincing myself I live here.
We put the apartment on Airbnb because we thought it’d be cool to share with others while making some rent money. Turn people onto a super cool place.
Most, at least 9 out of 10 we rented to on Airbnb were robots and worse. All they were looking for was a cheap place to stay. For sure, it wasn’t all bad. There were a couple months we made about $3k a month. A few were genuinely cool who left us with fond memories.
But the rest? Let’s just say the experiences we had all but wiped out the good vibes we got from the cool people.
Before I go on, I never cared for Airbnb.
I didn’t believe that if something went wrong — damages or theft — that Airbnb would cover us. I got extra insurance just in case. I still don’t believe they would have. We know someone who rented their place on Airbnb and the guests trashed it — cost them $5k in property and damages. Airbnb didn’t pay. There’s stories on Airbnb forums of Hosts who lost property and worse, Airbnb didn’t pay. We had one guest who trashed our place. Airbnb didn’t do anything.
I hated that we had to suck up to the guests to get good ratings, and, that the ratings could be personal. BTW. The key to getting a good rating on Airbnb is either to bribe the guest — give them a bottle of wine or some weed @ check-in, or, make your place super cheap. Works every time.
Here’s just a few nightmares we went through with Airbnb people.
- The guests who posted fake profile pictures, who were teenagers. Yep, we had two teenagers rent the place for a weekend. The kid who rented used a fake picture. Then, they didn’t have a car. They called me and said “We’re at the bus stop in Edwards. We didn’t realize your place was so far. Can you come pick us up”? Because I was worried about getting a good rating, and we were great Hosts — we were Superhosts — I picked them up. They trashed the place. It took Renee all day to clean up after them. I sent pictures to Airbnb, Airbnb did nothing about it. I would have kicked them out when I met them, but I was afraid of the shitty review we’d have got from them.
- The two lawyers from Los Angeles who left us a half smoked roach and a half empty bottle of wine as a “tip”. We don’t smoke or drink.
- The numerous guests who’d book the place, then cancel a day or two before their scheduled arrival, then ask for their money back — even though in our listing it was clear we didn’t offer refunds with 7 days of booking.
- The guy from Utah who’d meet his girlfriend here, live it up all weekend, then go back to Utah. His girlfriend lived here in town. She was much younger. He looked married.
- The dork from Los Angeles who moved all the furniture around and didn’t do his dishes. When I asked him why he said, “I pay you to clean up after me”. Everyone who stayed was expected to clean up after themselves and leave the place as they found it – it was in our listing. The cleaning fee is to cover the costs to vacuum, change the sheets and what not. He expected us to be his slaves. What a fuck head.
- All the people who left their dirty dishes — didn’t even bother to rinse their food off their plates.
- The couple from Crested Butte who complained that “the blinds needed a good dusting”. They complained about the scented candles Renee used. The blinds were clean. We live in the mountains, dust happens.
- All the guests who bitched about our dogs. Even though in our listing I went out of my way to tell people that if you don’t like big dogs who bark, don’t rent our place.
- Just about no one would recycle properly. They’d put half eaten pizza boxes in recycling. No wonder our planet is breaking at the seams – people can’t even recycle.
- All the guests who bitched our doggie fees — even though we listed that we charge extra if guests have dogs. So they wanted a cheap place to stay, and, they wanted us to clean up after their dogs.
- The robot like personalities of most guests. At first, I’d go out of my way to knock on the apartment door and say hello. Most greeted me with a blank stare. They had the personality of a laboratory rat. The last few months I gave up saying hello. Our ratings went up.
- The guest who wiped out the Sonos system. I spent 3 hours getting the system back online. They knew they wiped it out, they didn’t care.
- The guest who unplugged the Nest Protect, didn’t bother to plug it back in when they left.
After renting our place on Airbnb, living the experience, I agree with the critics of Airbnb who say that Airbnb is responsible for rents going up. I see it first hand up here. We live in a resort community — skiing. People who work for ski areas need a place to rent. But if everyone is renting their place on Airbnb, there’s fewer rentals for lift operators, ski instructors, and workers. If there’s fewer places to rent, rent goes up. It’s happened here. Rents are really high up here and Airbnb is a big reason why.
Airbnb wants hosts to believe that people who rent on Airbnb are looking for a “locals experience”. They imply that Airbnb guests are discerning and a cut above. Most everyone who rented from us was looking for one thing and only one thing — a place to crash that’s cheaper than a hotel room. The last few months we couldn’t rent the apartment for what it’s worth. When I set the price to just $95 bucks a night, we got no bookings. When I lowered the price to $75 a night, renting for a loss, we got bookings.
The last year or so, we felt like we were slaves to Airbnb. Strangers staying here who valued quality, who were nice, was worth the effort. Strangers who only cared about price, wasn’t. I worried about damages and theft. I hated Airbnb’s rating system, which boils down to surveillance.
What’s not written here is we were an Airbnb Superhost. We had outstanding ratings and reviews on Airbnb. We were what Airbnb should be.
We’re glad to be done with Airbnb. In the long run, it wasn’t worth it. The nice people are great, but they’re the exception. Most guests were robots, more than some were shit heads who left a really bad taste in your mouth – when they were gone we felt like we’d been had. Most of all, I’m glad to not be supporting the slave/surveillance economy. Fuck that.
Good on ya! For what it’s worth: never rented via AirBNB (directly – we actually stayed with some relatives in one last week) & never ridden Uber (or Lyft) –> because I’m not crazy about the business models. And I work in tech!
These are beautifully designed software products that are wildly successful… but that doesn’t mean they’ll stay that way.
Of course you guys were supercalifragilisticexpialidocious hosts. Would expect nothing less from people who care about the world and all the people in it, rather than just the bottom line.
People like us do (and buy, and support) things like this. Critically important that we vote with our wallets and our attention, now more than ever. The market will only move if we move it – and that means moving our feet, as well as writing about these issues.
There’s no doubt about it, Airbnb was good for us until it wasn’t. A couple months we made some nice coin.
But on the flip side, we were one problem away from all the profits vanishing. Because, I don’t believe Airbnb would have covered us for damages or theft.
Airbnb has other problems. Like guests can easily setup fake profiles and fake reviews to make them look as if they’re solid.
But like I say. The big problem is we were part of a system that was taking away housing for workers. I can’t count the number of times we were contacted by someone wanting to move here for a job, wanting to rent the place for a couple months. We turned them down every time. Why? Because we could make more on Airbnb. And, having long term guests hurts an Airbnb Host, because you don’t pile up as many reviews.
I would do it again, but not on Airbnb. Here’s a model that needs to happen:
FairBnB – A smart and fair solution for community powered tourism
This is also ties into my belief that model going forward is the Cooperative Platform Economy, not, the slave and surveillance economy.
Paul and Renee,
Joanie and I stayed with you a couple of years ago using your downstairs apt as our AirBnB Hilton. It was one of the nicest AirBnB experiences that we have had, and we have stayed in over 100 of them now. You provided some gluten-free cookies and the recipe, we swapped t-shirts (remember “Pot Head”) and a couple of stories, and we even went skiing together in some awesome powder. Best hosts ever! We are sorry to hear of so many negative experiences that you have had with your guests.
We have been travelling continually since then, but this weekend we move into a new, small home in Sedona, AZ. We are planning on renting it some when we travel a couple of months a year, but I see now that there are some real risks. We will not use AirBnB.
I but that you have been enjoying some great skiing at the Beav. Wish we could join you.
Scott & Joanie
Hey there!
You two were the few that we’re going to miss. It was people like you, why we did it. That and of course it helped with the payin’ the rent!
I wouldn’t tell you not to rent on Airbnb. But what I would say, is be aware of the risks — which are considerable.
My views and thoughts are qualified – we were an Airbnb Superhost for a couple years.
As I wrote, I had zero confidence that Airbnb would have covered us in case of damage or theft.
When the two teenagers trashed our place Airbnb wasn’t sympathetic. We got nothing out of them, even though Renee spent the whole day cleaning the place.
My friend R2 rented his place to some hunters who stole 1 years worth of Elk meat from him. They also did other damage. The hunters cost R2 $5k. Airbnb didn’t back him up.
There’s other stories in forums of Airbnb hosts with similar experiences — guests trashed their place or did damage, Airbnb didn’t cover them.
If you’re going to rent your place on Airbnb you also have to be comfortable with the fact that you’re renting to strangers who haven’t been checked out. Airbnb’s verification system can easily be gamed by any hack.
Then like I wrote. Up here, Airbnb isn’t about guests wanting a locals experience. No. Airbnb is all about, guests wanting the cheapest place available. It’s a race to the bottom – the lower your rate, the more bookings you get. Our experience was that people who’s only concern is cost are persona non-grata.
There’s also the fact that up here, rents have gone up and there’s not near the inventory of work force housing. Higher rents and lack of affordable housing isn’t good. Those stats are pinned squarely on Airbnb’s back.
Peace and love,
I agree with you on this. I was one of the first hosts in my area (very touristy) with a small house in 2015-2017. It was overall a good experience. I ended up renting that small place out to someone more permanently/traditional rental. Then I opened up a new airbnb this year, and I cannot wait until the year is up and I am done with it. People have changed or something…they DO just want a place cheaper than a hotel. They DO complain about the stupidest, crazy things (while getting a really good deal on a beautiful place), they DO tear up things and make the oddest messes, they DO lie about who they are and what they are doing….SO, I may go back to doing an airbnb in a smaller capacity with another house I have, but this whole house/really nice/live like a local thing is BS!!!
Howdy,
We want to rent our place, but we’re not using airbnb. Never again, would we use them.
I’ll have the post up later today. If you know anyone, send them our way.
Peace and love,
Paul
Paul, try Vrbff.com – that’s where we list our property. It is OWNER-centric, not guest-centric and NOT money-grubbing like the big monster platforms. We get to control who sees our listing, what we charge, and they NEVER take a percentage or hold our money as their “float”. Vrbff.com.
Ditto. My wife and I are very grateful for people like you who take the time to write what we’ve also been through. Your account validates our experience.
Yeah, I don’t understand why the first company people think of when renting private places in Airbnb these people are on a power trip and want to govern and regulate and charge for everything.
The US empire corporation was just another US hustle. A bunch of hucksters trying to get money and more and more. Really, an empty “life” based on nothing. Dolts really. It’s great you left that US corporation and it’s thiefery and destroying neighborhoods and jacking up apartment rents for locals. Stay at hotels. It’s very better and much safer than “saving” 20 bucks
You’re not the only person who’s noticed that a lot of people’s personalities have become robot-like in the last ten years? Glad I’m not the only one.