I’m going to start off by acknowledging that Airbnb has changed the way we travel, opened new doors, and pushed the travel industry to new heights. I have no gripe with the Airbnb brand itself. In fact, I use it pretty often.
I remember first using the app to stay in cool little pod units in the middle of some guy’s property in North Wales. Each pod had a theme: one was a mushroom, another a leaf, and the last, a pond-facing isolated romantic retreat. The furniture was handmade by his wife, the sheets were organic mulberry cotton, and the landscaping around the pond was all done by himself.
Fast forward six years later, on the other side of the world, in Australia’s Gold Coast, where I found the biggest rip-off in history. To be fair, there was an international surf competition in the area, but by no means did it justify what I saw. The offending listing was a tiny, cluttered apartment that was very lived in, with the owner’s belongings all over the photos, and in desperate need of some TLC. In the main photograph, the host couldn’t even be bothered to straighten a wonky cabinet handle, or remove her finger from the corner of the shot.
Long gone are the days when you can crash on a friendly local’s couch for cheap. Here’s why Airbnb sucks these days:
Price-Gouging
Sure, AirBnb is supposed to be an easy way for the everyday person to rent out their home or just a room, even if they’re not good photographers. But the space mentioned above was listed for a whopping $2561.48 AUD for two nights. That’s $1716.45 USD, or €1572.80 for the Europeans. That’s a whole other level of price gouging to stay in someone’s tiny, cluttered granny flat.
Less For More
And let’s not forget that AirBnb hosts are increasingly requiring more chores to be done by paying guests, like taking out the rubbish, ensuring the lights are all off, stripping the bed, putting the linen in the wash, cleaning all the dishes and putting them away. Okay, the dishes are fair, but still, you pay a cleaning fee and then have to do a whole list of chores?
Exacerbating the Housing Shortage
With a global housing shortage and rent crises happening in countless major cities, hosts like the one in the Gold Coast who want to make a quick buck are all over the app and ready to take advantage. Maybe these hosts are victims of the housing market, too, but I’d never be able to sleep at night if I was upping prices without putting any extra effor in. It’s shameless.
Where’s the value?
There are so many lovely Airbnb hosts who have a lot to offer, but it seems like they’re few and far between. When you open that app, you’re at the mercy of how much the hosts in a given region would like to rip you off. At least that’s what it feels like these days.
If you know of an Airbnb host who is doing the most, get in touch and we’ll be happy to eat our words, and feature them here.
