As a guest, I have thought about the question you had raised in recent times. Can not comment about owners of AirB&B's in other countries, but a few years back and for many years I use to stay at AirB&B here in Australia and New Zealand as it was cheaper than hotels and wanted to support families who need the extra cash as I thought it was a fantastic concept, but over time found this no longer the case and notice changes.
The changes I found it's unafffordable to stay at an AirB&B when compared to hotels. The extra fees just add up really quickly, etc.
Many times I will have a search on AirB&B and one thing that has stood out is how many properties are now being managed by what looks like a commerical property manager. I have had friends end up selling their apartments due to the number of AirB&B's in the apartment block as they found on weekends particular way too noisy and no consideration for owners who live in them as overtime they found there were way too many AirB&B's in the block.
The last AirB&B stayed at two years ago had yellow threatening signs posted on walls all over the house and felt very unwelcoming. Examples; 'would be prosecuted for taking the firewood for personal use from the fireplace'. Don't know how I am going to luggage back firewood on a plane. Another sign state on the wall 'If you don't remove the sheets at the end of your stay you will be charged additional fee'. After this experience of staying a week and the cost with no amenties (not even tea & coffee nor soap, etc - it was obviously being managed by a property manager), I have never stayed at an AirB&B again. I travel a lot for work and now stay at hotels as I don't get threats like the last place and don't have additional fees for not removing the sheets, etc.
So, I agree with Christopher hence not book a property through this website as found most properties these days have outpriced themselves out when compared to what hotels offer (Australia and NZ), but do note owners of Air B&B comments on the post is the name of the website is just a name. As a Guest, I think of the name as the traditional B&B and the Air is like cloud computing....listing on one centralised data platform.
Sidenote to owners of properties - I know from souces who are data scientist and work in the accommodation industry, Hotels are well aware of Guests experiences and are marketing themselves to be way more competitive with properties listed on AirB&B.
