Customers Are "Falling Out Of Love" With Airbnb

As the number of fees for booking Airbnb's rise, more and more consumers are questioning whether or not it just makes sense to book a hotel. After all, at a hotel, you're guaranteed customer service, housekeeping and amenities. With Airbnb, those add-ons can be exactly that...add-ons.

Travel site founder Michael Rozenblit is one of those dissatisfied customers, a new report from AOL/Insider says. 

Him and his partner, Maggie, have "fallen out of love" with Airbnb. They discovered that Airbnb rentals are now pricier than hotels, and many hosts no longer provide basics like toilet paper, trash bags, or coffee.

Rozenblit noted that cleaning fees are excessively high, even though guests are still expected to do chores. One host mentioned charging $400 for cleaning.

He commented: "There are almost always over-the-top cleaning requirements for checkout, often including the requirement to take out the trash and strip the beds at the minimum."

The Insider report says that travelers have noticed a shift with Airbnb becoming more expensive than hotels and offering less value, leading to frustration over high fees and uncooperative hosts, according to travel experts.

Locals in popular tourist destinations like Barcelona and Athens have protested against Airbnb hosts buying properties and driving up prices.

Airbnb recently warned investors of declining customer demand, lowering its Q3 earnings projection from $3.8 billion to between $3.67 billion and $3.73 billion, with profits down 15% from the same quarter last year. The company’s stock dropped 14% in one day.

Despite Airbnb's statement claiming these issues aren't widespread and bookings are up, hotels are seeing a resurgence with some achieving pre-pandemic occupancy levels. The hotel industry is projected to grow 3.72% annually, reaching $511 billion by 2029, according to Statista. Travel experts argue that hosts are largely to blame for Airbnb's struggles.

One full time traveler commented: "Airbnb essentially allows anyone to sign up to be a host, which will always prove to be problematic. Because when you have people flooding in year after year who are seeing it as a way for them to make quick cash, you're going to be met with bad customer service."

Bad Airbnb experiences often make headlines, partly because viral TikTok videos from dissatisfied guests amplify their stories. Examples include a freezing cold trailer, an "Airbnb from hell" with a toilet not attached to the wall and a bed in the garage, and a host trying to triple the price of a booking for Taylor Swift's tour. 

Airbnb responded by stating that the stories were "cherry-picked" and emphasized that most stays are positive. They also noted that bookings and listings are increasing and that over 200,000 low-quality listings have been removed to improve guest experiences.