A New Column by Seth Kugel from the NYT

Good article.

My biggest concern with Airbnb rentals is the "one off" nature of them - if something with the process or the rental goes sideways, you are out in the cold. At least with a hotel, if there is a problem with the room, you have management onsite who can address the problem, or even move you to a better room.

Worst case in renting these properties, not just from Airbnb but from any of the sites that advertise vacation rentals, is that fraud and misrepresentation are rampant - often times the property doesn't even exist, fake listings with photos lifted from some other site. I closely follow the news in France, and I read many articles or see video news reports of how people are defrauded constantly by these sites. Hotels only for me, now...too many bad actors out there. Caveat emptor...

When we are traveling in Europe on our own, I research for B&Bs, small hotels or AirB&B.

Every time that I compare the options, the Air B&B lodgings are never close to the city center (especially in small to medium sized cities). I always find a great B&B or small hotel centrally located for a cheaper price.

Of course, this is always for my wife and self. I understand those with large family groups probably do better with an apartment instead of having to rent 2-3 rooms at a hotel or B&B.

I read this earlier today, a cautionary tale for AirBnB users. So much for the "sharing economy"!

More and more, AirBnB is a scam and a cheat of the local area. The owners can make as much in 5 nights of short-term rent as in a whole month of normal renting. This inevitably pulls more and more housing into AirBnB. More and more cities are regulating and restricting this predatory model.

Don't use AirBnB.

We've had good luck with AirBnb over the years (about a dozen separate stays in Europe and several more in North America) and are planning to use it again in Paris and Nice in March, but some of the management company stuff in the article certainly rings true. We've had some very good experiences with the individual AirBnb owners we've met in these cases (e.g., talking with a local who owned the canal boat we stayed on in Amsterdam, meeting the lovely woman who owned the London flat we rented earlier this year). Better than a lot of staff interactions at hotels not surprisingly. But at other times you have a sort of an absent feeling with the AirBnb - even if everything goes smoothly, it's just check in and check out with nobody in sight...probably a management company who is too busy to help you unless there's an emergency/problem, if at all.

We never use Airbnb, only stay at hotels. You just need one bad experience to ruin a trip and I’ve read many a sad tale.

The only time I used an AirBnB, it was about an hour and a half from my house, and I arranged to meet the owner at the house in advance so I could check it out before booking. Also, I would be renting it for a dog show weekend, and I wanted the owner to check me out - the person who wanted to bring 3 friends with our 10 or so dogs into their house. The house was perfect - 3 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms, 2 huge living areas, and a fenced yard to accommodate X-pens. We were good guests; they were good hosts; and we stayed there two more times.

My biggest concern with Airbnb rentals is the "one off" nature of them
- if something with the process or the rental goes sideways, you are out in the cold

Excellent point. The article does not mention the reviews the apartment got. It its that bad you would expect it to be reflected in the reviews. But yes fraud is possible. How many units did that woman list? That could be a clue. A picture of a girl on the beach could be a clue (not professional). Bad people out there.. The article didn’t report a trend, so I suspect its anecdotal to push a narrative. I suspect one could find something similar about one experience at a B&B, then we avoid all B&B’s??? Granted, the Marriott is a sure bet to be as advertised.

By the way, I use a management company. In essence they are the host not me. It would be false advertising to pretend I am who they are working with. The management company stays in business by getting good reviews and they get good reviews by giving good service. They have the resource to do that because the resources service more than one apartment. It works to the customer’s advantage when done right. “We” still meet and greet each guest.

Every time that I compare the options, the Air B&B lodgings are never
close to the city center (especially in small to medium sized cities).

Possibly true in some locations. Maybe a lot of locations. I only can speak to what I have actually seen and experienced. The few I have stayed in, mostly in Croatia and Greece, have been very well situated and the two I own in a medium size European city are very well located. Every location is going to be unique and I do concede that there are a lot in not so desirable areas (for tourism), but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t many that do work. In the city where I list there are over 10,000 short term rentals. Maybe 1,000 are where I would want to be in the city. If you are interested in the AirBnb idea, then check where you are going. Worst case, you don’t find what you want.

More and more, AirBnB is a scam and a cheat of the local area. The
owners can make as much in 5 nights of short-term rent as in a whole
month of normal renting.

Not sure why making money is a scam if the buyer gets what he thinks he is going to get and approves of the price. For me and everyone in the city I operate in to make the equivalent of a long-term rental I would have to rent right at 400 nights a year (ive done the math). But if I did, then where would I stay when I am in town? And that’s the reason a lot of people own AirBnb’s.

Mostly the rentals are benign. 90% of the ones I have used are not
affecting the local rental scene for these reasons

Your list may be correct, don’t know. But looking just at the perception of pulling units out of the rental stream. I don’t know enough about individual cities; I do know enough to know it isn’t a rational to lump everything under one heading. My AirBnb was in a deteriorated old building. Deteriorated because the apartment owners were pensioners who inherited the apartments when the communism was replaced with democracy. When they sold, they went from poverty in the inner city to country cottages. Then the dilapidated old building was renovated thanks to the new money, and then the college students and young professionals moved in. I can find good and bad with that. Its pretty subjective.

I do want to put in a plug for AirBnb: https://www.airbnb.org/help-ukraine I know of several owners that just decided they would make no money this year to do the right thing.

BUT don’t get to hung up on the AirBnb name. Most rentals are available on multiple platforms. Same apartment, usually the same price. Choose based upon the rules of the platform for things like payment and refunds and cancelations. They are each a tad different.