Macross

I love them for family and group vacations. Washing machine, living room, eat breakfast in, wine and drinks on the terrace. I just rented a beautiful Victorian for a long weekend in St Augustine with Airbnb for a pre-wedding get-together. We use flip key and VRBO often also. If we don't get Hurricane Maria next week we are headed to Spain and have a list of apartments close to the beach to rent at last minute. I will do hotel first 2 nights but have a backup because ten days in a hotel with my husband is just not fun. I need a little space and we want a terrace. I love him but if I want to stay up and read or go to bed early it is nice to have a bedroom.

PegS

I'm annoyed that AirBnB made it so easy for people to rent out apartments that big cities have needed to regulate them. Back in the older days, when it was just VRBO and the like there were fewer properties and less scrutiny.

As a tourist, I prefer apartments for rentals of 4/5 or more days for the same reasons others have cites. 1) Privacy - no need to work around the housekeeper 2) A kitchen so I can take advantage of the local markets 3) More space 4) Availability of a washer and preferably a dryer.

Local charm is also often a plus.

5alive

I have booked apartment rentals on both Booking.com and Homeaway. I liked both. I had issues with one rental and booking.com helped me out.

I tried Homeaway at the suggestion of a friend who owns two vacation rentals. He said that it gets the job done as well as the others and it takes less of a cut from the owners than does airb&b, although he likes both.

When it comes to saving money--wanted to bring up something past Fodorites shared about hotels. I was very gunshy about trying Priceline or Hotwire. The betterbidding.com site made those sacred mysteries clear. There were times when a hotel made the best sense for the trip we were taking. Those two budget sites saved us money.

nanabee

kja, >>And if I were to consider an apartment, I would avoid AirBnB: I don't like contributing to the conversion of local neighborhoods to those through which tourists traipse.>>

While I have stayed in vacation rentals as well and they are convenient I have to agree. In our large city (we are the fourth largest consumer city for AirBnB in the US) the whole house home share (not the situation where a homeowner lives in the place and rents out a room) has destroyed our long term market for homebuyers and renters. Investors buying up homes for basically short term vacation rentals owned by out of state investors for the most in, in residential neighborhoods has created havoc. It is also illegal but our city council continues to be in no hurry to regulate or restrict this practice.

We have 14 mini hotels in our residentially zoned neighborhood (a three block area) that I know of (and there are probably more).

CounterClifton

We've found that apartments mean more space, less cost. And for us, less intrusion. But we don't typically ask hotels for much advice. We locate the tourist info centre if books, the internet or following our nose doesn't cut it. Don't need daily maid service as long as there are extra towels and a contact number for problems.

We don't usually cook but it's still nice to have the kitchen/ette for chilling drinks, having real glasses and cutlery if you bring stuff "home" and storing little snacks from the local deli or shop for a late evening nosh. It's sometimes useful to have a lounge room apart from the bedroom when we're not on the same sleep schedule. (jet lag and exhaustion choose their victims at random)

I've used AirBnB in Sydney very successfully. It seems it will work well again for a planned Japan trip (recommended by Japanese friends), but haven't used it for booking the apartments we've had in Europe. Regardless of agency, a one month stay in Moscow was so much cheaper than the hotels, which were astronomically priced even for below average places. I find that "what I can afford" is no more than I feel called to spend for what I actually need. In that case, we eventually started cooking too. Just easier than looking for a restaurant every night.

kja

@ nanabee: I’m sorry to learn that you and your neighbors are struggling with this issue. And I thank Pegontheroad for raising the question – while I suspect that many people are simply posting their thoughts without reading through all the answers, maybe a few people will read them and take our concerns into consideration.

Guenmai

I'm sure that people are taking your concerns into consideration or any type of noise concerns that might be caused from people coming and going. I've been around such rentals long before Airbnb came along. Plus, I lived in a neighborhood for 19 years, that was BIG on movie making, TV making, and TV commercial making and regularly for years. Many neighbors rented out their houses for movie/TV making. My neighborhood was quite busy as it was also on the historical registry and there were also lots of walking tours and interior-of-houses tours. Plus, it was a few blocks from a big stadium and out-of-towners would tromp through the neighborhood regularly and I even caught some entering the yard and pulling fruit off the fruit trees. One commented, while leaning over the fence and pulling fruit off of the tree, "Wow, there is all of this fruit and it's winter." The person's parents just stood by and watched.

With the movie crews, I would go out to leave for work and there would be movie crews, trailers, and even clothing racks of clothes blocking my car. Then, there were the neighbors who had large parties and hired valet parking services and my street would be blocked off so when I came home from work, I'd have a hard time getting down the street to get to my residence. There's always something.

Happy Travels!

kja

@ Guenmai: Sounds unpleasant! But it also sounds like you lived in an area where you KNEW there would be tourists traipsing through every day. And to me, that seems to me to be a very different situation than that faced by people who have been living in strictly residential areas and who now face, without their input or control, an influx of tourists and a shift in local business in response. But perhaps I’ve misunderstood….

marvelousmouse

"There's always something." Yeah. I agree with that. I think certainly some people do take note. But like anything else, they probably take the complaints with a grain of salt, rightly or not. I've seen both sides of the issue in my neighborhood. I met the neighbor's airbnb guest one year- she'd been lied to about parking by another neighbor. She asked me if it was because she was an airbnb guest. I could have let her think so. Some of the guests hadn't been very considerate. But I told her the truth. My neighbor pulled the same thing with all new tenants too. One of those people that isn't malicious, exactly, just not all there but well aware she was doing something wrong. Someone renting out their apartment on airbnb probably doesn't make the good neighbor list, but it usually isn't enough on its own to get them blacklisted either. Neighbors who pull crap like lying for their own gain, they do go to the top of the naughty list.


So if there is city wide crack down, like in Paris, then I think people will take note. But otherwise- people know other humans lie, or exaggerate, or more likely they just think they won't be like the rude guests. And posters reading a thread like this probably do wonder if the problem is actually airbnb, or if it was an exceptionally bad guest, or if it was the neighbor who dislikes the host's garden gnomes, so does everything in his or her power to make that person's life misery, and airbnb is just the newest scapegoat.

massimop

Long before the invention of AirBnb I rented rooms in Italy that were part of a very large family apartment. Often these rooms were at the end of a long hallway with their own entrance & bathroom. The family sometimes offered breakfast, but more often gave me a voucher for a coffee & cornetto at the local bar. All of the experiences were charming, with sometimes a host insisting on cooking me dinner when I expressed interest in local specialties, to another time when the mother in the house was suddenly called away on an emergency, the eldest son in the house (about 13) handled all the business of checking me out, with payment & taxes, etc, with grave formality.

Once traveling in Italy with my elderly mother, I rented an apartment with an elevator in a popular seaside town. I particularly wanted a kitchen as well, since I knew my mother would weary of restaurant meals twice a day, and also liked a nutritious breakfast. The owner of that apartment told me that we were going to be her last short-term guests, because over the summer, a series of young Italians had rented the flat for their beach holidays, and the neighbors in the building , permanent residents, complained about the noise & lack of security the guests brought.

As I mentioned before, a great many Italians own extra living space, mainly through inheritance. Most Italians are sympathetic to the idea of hosting tourists, are mainly very happy that Italy is such a popular tourist destination -- and to the extent they complain about visitors creating disruptions, it's not always foreigners they are complaining about. I've heard Italians complain about cheapskate Italian tourists, or ones who park illegally or dirty up beaches with their dogs, or just are generally boorish (urban Italians who overrun rural holiday destinations & act like overlords are unpopular).

AirBnb isn't causing some of the problems it is accused of causing -- but plainly it needs regulation by the public at large.

Guenmai

kja: I didn't know that tourists would be tramping though the neighborhood as situations can and do change in neighborhoods/area and they weren't doing it every day. Years prior, the stadium wasn't used as much as it started being used in later years, to bring in more revenue, like for everything from sporting events to lots of concerts, even Michael Jackson played there back in the day. So more people and more traffic and although the neighborhood was blocked off to regular traffic during events, it wasn't blocked off to folks on foot who wanted to walk through the neighborhood and be looky-lews.

Plus, there was a time when folks just acted with more manners and didn't go tramping through one's neighborhood and helping themselves to the fruit off the trees, etc., but folks just got more brazen over the years. Although I was just renting a small structure, on a large property and from a family that my parents had known for over a decade at that point, I had known some of the the neighbors prior to moving into the neighborhood. My family has been in the same city since the sixties.

As for the movie/TV crews, there had not been such crews around years prior, but then they discovered the neighborhood and started flooding into it. For folks to enjoy various movies and TV programs, there are neighborhoods out there that have been dealing with film crews, for decades, in order to produce such entertainment for the public to enjoy. So, that's why I say that there's always something and I mentioned before some people rent out their properties for filming to be done and others rent out their non-Airbnb properties for short-term renters.

Some of the discomfort that I hear about vacation renters sort of reminds me of when I hear people talk about how much they loved visiting a certain place because of the great, public transportation that was available and that they don't have back home, but wished they had. But, then when their city starts talking about putting in public transportation like trains, trams, light rail, etc, they all get upset and demand that it not come through "their" neighborhoods. I have witnessed this a lot here at home although plenty of neighborhoods have been changed with freeways coming through them as there wasn't a freeway, when I was a kid, coming through the area walking distance from the area where I was renting. I remember the houses that were in that area, but were lost to the freeway being built and our beautiful church was also lost to a freeway being built. A light rail system also exists now that didn't always exist and I hear folks complain about it bringing in the homeless from downtown L.A. into our city. That's why I say that there's always something.

I stayed in my then neighborhood, for nineteen years, as I felt that things could have been a lot worse like with residents living in neighborhoods, in the same large county, and dealing with constant gun violence issues and other issues of violence. I didn't have to deal with those issues except once when there was a gun-toting, home invasion robbery at one of the neighbors' houses and the neighbor got shot, but survived. I found out when I was walking to my car and noticed news crews and reporters all over the place. But, that was only one such incident, that I heard of, in the nineteen years.

Happy Travels!

bvlenci

<i> MmePerdu: Curious, bvlenci, if your home has sprinklers, fire doors, fire escapes. </i>

Getting out of one's own home in an emergency is very different from getting out of a rented apartment. When there's an emergency, you tend to panic and forget where the exits are. Smoke obscuring the hallways makes matters worse. This is why there are much stricter fire safety rules, in every country, for rental properties or workplaces.

My husband is an engineer, and one of his specialties is fire safety for workplaces and residences. He says that panic and confusion cause most fire fatalities. I once saw him explaining to a factory owner why he needed emergency lights leading to the exits in case of a fire. The factory owner said, "Everyone who works here knows where the exits are!" The problem is that in an emergency, that's the kind of thing you tend to get confused about.

We're not on a high floor at home, and we also have a very large outdoor terrace, with two exits to it from the house. There's no chance we'd forget how to get out.

As I said above, I rent apartments or cottages when we travel as a family group of from six to eight people. I would probably also rent an apartment if we were staying more than five or so days in one place, although a hotel room with a fridge and a booking angle is often just as convenient for us. If I rent an apartment, I prefer it to be connected with and managed by a hotel. These will adhere to the safety requirements much more than a private rental will. I have stayed in apartments that had terrible safety issues, and since our family groups often include grandchildren, I worry much more than if my husband and I were traveling alone.

I often rent apartments through www.booking.com . You can indicate what type of lodging you're looking for, and between apartments, suites, and the like, a family with children will usually find something suitable. In fact, if you indicate on booking.com that you are, e.g., six people and want one room, you will almost always be shown suites or apartments. (With four people, it's about 50% quad hotel rooms, depending on the city.) The apartments are usually those associated with a hotel.

Guenmai

As far as fire is concerned, the owner of one overseas, non-Airbnb vacation rental that I use, from time to time, includes detailed instructions on what to do in the event of a fire and the owner includes an escape ladder that extends from the second floor of the unit down to the courtyard of the building in case one needs to get out and fast.

Happy Travels!

MmePerdu

"Getting out of one's own home in an emergency is very different from getting out of a rented apartment."

Most often, it seems to me, not very different. I suspect I'd panic more if it was my own house on fire.

massimop

I only started worrying about safety issues when traveling when I stayed in a 10 story Sheraton Hotel as part of a family reunion in the US & ended up having to escort a 90 year old down many flights of stairs when the fire alarm went off on our floor (he 9th). The alarm went off because other guests were smoking in their non-smoking rooms but arriving firemen with axes insisted on an evacuation.

I don't think rentals are inherently more unsafe than professionally run hotels.

Dukey1

I keep waiting for someone to tell us the REAL reason they even think about using these people is ultimately to save money.

An "escape ladder?" Is it fireproof?

MmePerdu

"I keep waiting for someone to tell us the REAL reason they even think about using these people is ultimately to save money."

May I direct your attention to Post #1.

kja

@ Guenmai: Ah, now I understand – thanks. And I agree that there has been a shift in the overall level of manners, and that has created some difficulties… but that's a whole other matter!

Guenmai

Oops, an earthquake just struck, but it's stopped shaking now....Anyhow, kja, the bottom line, as far as I'm concerned, is that one doesn't know how one's neighborhood will turn out or change or how the neighbors in it will turn out as neighbors also come and go. I could not predict, when I moved into my 19-year neighborhood, what would happen within those 19 years. I did not know of everything that had gone on in that neighborhood, prior to my arrival, or know everything that might go on in that neighborhood after my arrival.

Now, as for an apartment that I rented for 11 years and just left 2 years ago when I bought a condo, well, let's just say that I had about every kind of scenario to deal with in that building with regular, long-term, non-vacation tenants and in a four-unit building.

I dealt with squeaking exotic bird noises, barking dogs, out-of-control teenagers, chain smokers on a non-smoking property, folks sitting out on the small strip of pavement smoking hookahs, with hookah smoke seeping into the units, a tenant who used to vacuum her dog's poop up in her Oreck vacuum cleaner and then set the vacuum cleaner bag outside, between our two back doors until it nearly disintegrated, the tenant who used to work out, at around 2AM, and then drop his weights on the floor, and a lot more drama. But, then there was a quiet period where all 4 units were occupied with us folks who actually had manners and common courtesy. I wish the heck there had been some Airbnb renters in those apartment units as they most likely would have acted with more common courtesy than what I was dealing with regular tenants as Airbnb guests are evaluated at the end of their stays and if they want to continue to be in the Airbnb system then who wants a bad evaluation? Hosts are also evaluated by guests.

Happy Travels!

massimop

It's easy to imagine this entire thread would have taken an entirely different turn and tone if the OP has asked: "Just curious == why a B&B instead of a hotel?" or "Just curious -- why a pensione instead of a hotel?"

Or how do you think Fodorites would have answered this: "Just curious -- why a gite?"

If the discussion were about ways to stay in Europe that didn't involve staying in a hotel but without mention of AirBnb, the likely responses would have been to defend these European ways until the last dog died, and derided anybody who just didn't have the savvy to appreciate these alternative-type lodgings.

AirBnb has the letters "B" "N" and another "B" in its company brand name for a reason. B&Bs were a well known and popular concept for decades before the invention of the internet. Inserting the trendy "Air" in front of it to signal that now you could make the bookings via internet is the only real difference. (I guess "Air" sounded better than "Ether".)

In a capitalist society you can't keep it a secret if there is a way to make money off your assets. If you have the asset of a home with extra space, AirBnb simply made more people aware of the fact it could be turned into a cash cow. But there is absolutely nothing new about tourists renting rooms in people's homes when traveling & enjoying the experience.