Is the cost to stay at an Airbnb too much compared to hotel?

[Ben4894]

Are Airbnb hosts charging too much?  I’m finding the cost to stay at an Airbnb is much more expensive than at a hotel.

Airbnb hosts typically offer less amenities, are requiring guests to clean kitchen and bath, strip beds and start the laundry in addition to paying a cleaning fee.

[Gillian166]

@Mike-And-Jane0 I agree that in general, the market sorts out what's the fair price, in normal places. the abbs in SF were too expensive for me. that's the distinction, i'm sure there are people who are willing to burn more money, and esp in a place like SF and NYC, tourist meccas with an unlimited supply of tourists, demand exceeds supply I imagine, so the market there is doing what it does. 

[Sudsrung0]

@Ben4894 

Maybe you are looking at the wrong listings,

I dont ask my guest to do anything apart from turn off the A/C,

I only have one condo on airbnb at the moment and it is far better value than any 5 star hotel in my area plus you have the freedom to buy your own food and drink and we have far more in our unit than an hotel would give you, I know where my unit is part of the project is run as a hotel they dont include things like a rice cooker coffee machine blender.

[Emiel1]

@Ben4894 

You have a choice.

Staying at my accommodations is cheaper then any hotel in my city.

But you have to respect my (strict) house rules and no breakfast is offered.

[Ben4894]

Do you require guest to clean before leaving AND charge them a cleaning fee?

[Ben4894]

Looks like none of you are in the US or have recently stayed in a hotel or Airbnb in the US lately.  The cleaning of the kitchen, bath and stripping the beds and starting a load of wash issue while also having to pay a cleaning fee AND sometimes a service charge are on the message boards in the US.  Guest are only notified of this additional work at checkout. So while this may not be occurring your countries, it's IS happening in the US.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ben4894 you really shouldn't believe everything you read on message boards. And while I am here the service charge is the Airbnb fee for running their business. Of course its only the total that should matter to a guest and Airbnb has recently adopted a toggle that allows guests to see the total they pay (before tax) for a stay in the USA.

[Ben4894]

Last Airbnb we started at WE were required to spend well over an hour cleaning, starting the laundry etc.  You know if people like you would not post false information on message boards people could trust what people are saying.  Try doing a bit or research or even asking the posters before misleading people with false and inaccurate information. 

[Ruth413]

I think it all depends on what you are looking for @Ben4894.  I am not in the US but have recently stayed in a hotel in London.  It cost me £10 more a night than I charge for my Airbnb.

For that I had a bedroom, bathroom and breakfast.  It was a high end hotel so the service was great and it was very nice but... for £10 less per night I offer a one bedroom cottage with full kitchen, lounge, bedroom, bathroom, large private garden with private hot tub and a welcome basket with goodies and you can bring your dog along free of charge too.   Many more amenities than the hotel offered.

Yes I do charge a cleaning fee but all I ask guests to do when they leave is to put any rubbish in bins, turn heating and lights off and please load any dirty dishes into the dishwasher and turn it on.  It doesn't need to be emptied, just turned on.  Some guests decide not to do any of these things though, but most do and don't find it unreasonable.  

Re the stripping of beds, when Covid arrived that was something I did ask guests to do and put dirty linen in black bin bags.  I have recently stopped asking guests to do that as for me it is easy to do it myself.  The booking fees are out of the hosts hands.

At the end of the day it is the guests choice, some like to feel a bit pampered in a hotel and others prefer to be independent and opt for self-catering, or a home share.  So it is your choice, if you are finding that in the US hotels are cheaper than an Airbnb, book a hotel instead.  But classing all Airbnb's as over priced and hosts asking too much of guests and not having amenities is simply not true.

[Ben4894]

Did you and do you tell guests upfront before booking they will need to do same cleaning?  And with COVID have to do/start the laundry?  Host’s here in the US are not doing that.  It’s comes as a complete surprise at the tim e of check out. AND if the guest doesn’t do it, then the host is posting negative reviews screwing over the guest.  Seems a bit unfair to charge a cleaning fee AND make the guest do part of the cleaning. 

This just seems to be a new trend here in the US.  I know the last place I stayed we spent well over an hour cleaning the property for the host AND had to pay several hundred in cleaning fees. 

[Gillian166]

@Ben4894 

just lol. 

does a hotel offer you 100acres of farmland?

does a hotel have a full kitchen?

does a hotel have multiple living spaces?

does a hotel have NO ONE around you? 

does a hotel offer you an extra large swimming pool that you share with very few? 

does a hotel offer you a free calf feeding experience?

does a hotel let you bring your pet? 

plus super friendly hosts who know all the local wineries, bars and restaurants that are the best? 

And, if you're travelling with a group how does a hotel accommodate your needs? sep rooms all charged at a full rate? and where do you all hang out for your catch up? in a post-covid world we've hosted quite a lot of family groups who were simply getting together for the sake of spending time together, and our peaceful farm was just the place they needed, for a fraction of the price that a hotel would charge a group of people.

It sounds like you are thinking about Bachelor Ben travelling for himself or with one person, and perhaps in a big city a hotel might be better, but outside of that (eg, family groups, people with kids, or pets) this model can't be beat. You get a unique stay wherever you go and truly get to live like a local. Sometimes I love to stay in a swanky big city hotel, esp if they have one of those "clubs" where you can enjoy a 5pm drink and snack and chat with a somm about wine, but actually you could do that with us as well, should you show interest. And we often fire up our pizza oven and large firepit and share that with our guests. 

As much as I might have my issues with some of the practices of Airbnb, this model is simply the best thing that happened to consumers. 

Of course I agree with you that #checkoutchores are not cool, and there's been some progress in that: guests will now have access to the checkout procedures. Personally, I write in my listing "no checkout chores". I charge a tiny cleaning fee for 3 day+ stays, and nothing for short stays. And if public sentiment pushed it, of course i'd be happy to do away with the cleaning fee and absorb it, which is what i'm trialing now anyway. 

And I've stayed in Airbnbs in the USA (and Japan), they don't all have checkout chores. I did stay in one here in Australia that had some extra things to do and I fully agree that I hate checkout chores too. As a savvy traveller I now ask about this before booking, and hopefully this will train hosts that excessive house rules are off-putting. 
 

[Ben4894]

**[Inappropriate content removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

While I have not stayed in a hotel which offers 100s of acres of farm lad with a kitchen and no one around….  I have rented a camper and sail boats which offers many of the amenities you’ve listed; AND includes free transportation.,.  I’ve sailed to my own private island, with sparkling clear blue waters, where sandy beaches and fresh crab and lobster without the danger getting bit or stung by all of the crazy unique animals you folks seem to have,   Here in American we only have to worry about getting lead poisoning.  I think over the past several years there have been close to 600 people shot and killed at Airbnbs.  No I bet that’s something your not offering.  Not sure if host charge extra for the cleanup.  But my point is, and you’ve confirmed what others are saying host are charging guest a cleaning fee and then requiring the guest to clean the property, take the trash out, strip the beds, start the laundry, clean the kitchen and bath.  I’ve never stayed in a hotel, on a boat or in a camper where I’ve been instructed to clean it before I leave. 

[Gillian166]

@Ben4894 "But my point is, and you’ve confirmed what others are saying host are charging guest a cleaning fee and then requiring the guest to clean the property, take the trash out, strip the beds, start the laundry, clean the kitchen and bath. "

I haven't confirmed  any such thing. I don't require guests do any of those things, and i don't charge a cleaning fee. 

For some reason you don't want to hear it.  

[Huma0]

@Ben4894 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-updates/Improving-price-transparency-for-guests/m-p/17099...

Airbnbs are certainly NOT more expensive than hotels here in London. I think the problem you speak of is more of an issue in the US, and that is very much of Airbnb's making. In the EU, Airbnb was forced to make its pricing more transparent, but refused to do so in the US, thereby forcing hosts to lower nightly rates, and up cleaning fees, in order to 'appear' competitive. Once everyone (or the majority) is doing it, then the others have no choice.

But, as you can see from the above link, there are changes being made to this system.

[Jennifer2682]

Sounds like @Ben4894 is better suited to a hotel.  And that's ok, Ben.  Just stay in hotels then. 

[Sheila646]

It really depends on what you want and where you are staying and the experience you want.

I work in the hospitality industry. I stay at five star hotels with evening turn down service, etc. I still gather my towels, dishes, and trash at the end of my stay because that's polite. I ask my Airbnb guests to do the same, because it's helplful, and about half of them do.

When I stay in a residence hotel with a kitchenette I clean the counters and anything else that I use like the sink, the stove, the refrigerator. I don't ask my Airbnb guest to do that, but a lot of them do. 

My Airbnb is very personal to me, so I like when guests show respect for the property. If I come in and find the towels strewn everywhere, candy wrappers on the floor, and dishes in every room, I don't ding the guests in the review. I figure they are not attuned to being helpful guests. They have to do more than that for me to think they aren't showing respect for the property. 

Though I've never experienced it as a vacation rental guest, I suppose there are some hosts who have long lists of rules and chores. More often I find I get a micro-stressed about keeping the different rules at different properties straight. Maybe some hosts are overly zealous about having their checkout instructions followed to the T. I'm certainly not that host. 

How all this applies to the cleaning fee is significant. I have a large Airbnb, and charge a cleaning fee that is less than the cost of having my cleaning crew come in. I personally spend about eight hours cleaning and doing laundry before the cleaning crew even gets there. The fee is just an offset to my expenses. When I have longer term guests, I give them free periodic cleaning out of my pocket. If I had a lot of Airbnbs, I might be able to control costs by making my cleaners employees, but I'd never achieve the economies of scale that large hotels can. Most of us aren't Airbnb moguls.

Whether an Airbnb is expensive or a bargain compared to hotels is a decision each guest makes. When I shop for a hotel, I usually want a place to sleep and daily maid service (which is hard to come by nowadays even in resort hotels). When I shop for an Airbnb I am usually looking for something more unique and specific. That's me personally.

There are lots of reasons why people choose a hotel or an Airbnb and there are lots to choose from. For instance, my Airbnb is in a rural area 30 miles from the nearest hotel. Our guests are usually in our area for work, weddings, or visiting family. Our rental is convenient, but it has three bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, a living room and a yard with a private hot tub. It's not the same as a motel and it shouldn't be priced the same (though in the off season it is).

We are too expensive for most groups of four or less. We are great for groups of five or more. We pay a lot of attention to amenities and small details that wouldn't be available at even the nicest hotel in town. It's very disconcerting when I get guests who treat it like a motel.

This is a long way of saying that Airbnbs aren't all overpriced and hosts aren't all overly stringent. There are reasons why things are the way they are. If guests read the full listing (with house rules) and shop around they will ultimately end up with the experience they want.