I am currently in an Airbnb in Upper East Side, NYC, nice 2 bedroom for $320 a night. Great kitchen and better than 2 hotel rooms for 4 people.
Couldn’t get a taxi back from shopping, but an Uber driver stopped and offered a fair price.
No complaints!
I got curious so I went back and read some of the reviews before and after mine on airbnb. Here is what I found:
I never actually met XXXX, but his friends XXXX and XXXX were nice, warm and inviting. The room and bathroom were clean and the stay was quite relaxing.
Great location and nice house. I would recommend.
Then I saw this:
This host has 13 reviews for other properties.
So I am not sure if the reviews are all on the same property or not.
I also went back and looked at the pics and description again and there was no way on earth to know it was an air mattress. The pics “stage” it to look like a bed. I could’ve been mad or whatever but didn’t want to go there. It was one night. It was $73. No big deal. There was noise but no one came into my room, so I got as much sleep as I could and couldn’t wait to get home.
I don’t blame airbnb.
For the record, airbnb does allow me to send private comments to the host/owner that are not public and would not cause harm to him. I should’ve taken advantage of that to alert him that some parts of my stay were a little subpar.
I think this might kill airbnb. I don’t use airbnb but my kid has.
<<<
I booked a room on airbnb for $73 everything included so I cut my lodging costs in half.
[/QUOTE]
This may have been your first clue.
I own rentals on AirBnb and VRBO.
Are you saying that you rented an entire half of a duplex (kitchen, living room, bedroom and bath) for that price? Including travelers’ fee? if so, that would have been a clue that there’s a problem.
Or did you literally rent a bedroom that was within someone’s home (yes, some do that on AirBnB …not VRBO).
The reason that your situation and rate should have been a clue that a bad experience may be at hand is the “one night stay” and the rate. Unless it was a bedroom within someone’s home, you’re not going to likely find a decent experience renting a home for ONE night at that rate. The cost to have a housekeeper clean would eat up most of the cost. And if the people that you rented from do their own cleaning, then how much effort are they going to put in for that low of a rate for one night?
Typically, there is a 2 night or more minimum for short-term rentals simply do to the amount of work they take preparing for each set of guests.
I’ve not used airbnb, but have had fine experiences with VRBO for years. Am about to try a Japanese Ryokan and it shows community baths! 
@GoNoles85 -For airbnb, he reviews for that particular property will show up on that property’s page. The 13 reviews for other properties are just that - reviews for this owner’s other listings. Just want to clarify how airbnb reviews work.
And how would an adult find a way to couch surf? Isn't that what airbnb is basically?
[/QUOTE]
Not all.
With Airbnb, as an Owner, you have the option of renting out an entire property, or just a room. I only rent out entire properties. On VRBO, you rent out an entire property.
Personally, I find AirBnb to be a pain in the tush as an Owner. I find it much easier to work with HomeAway/VRBO. I’m lucky because HA/VRBO dominates in my market. If I had to deal a lot with AirBnB, I’d probably quit this business.
@mom2collegekids, I’m curious why you find airbnb to be a pain as an owner. Care to elaborate?
There is a great line in the 80’s Tom Cruise movie RISKY BUSINESS when Guido, the killer pimp, tells Joel Goodson to “never ever mess with another man’s livelihood” except he doesn’t use the word mess.
I’m sorry, excuse me, for those of you who just can’t fantom how I could have a lapse in honesty when placing my review, I don’t know, for whatever duty I have to future travelers, I certainly don’t want to hurt someone’s income.
I also just saw a commercial for Home Advisor, which is a website for people who need home repair and renovation services. Good idea. You go online. You indicate what you need. They match you up with experts who can do the job within your budget level and they are vetted and all that. Vetted, in part, by customer reviews. Customer reviews that rely, quite obviously, on honesty. Perhaps it is just me but I find it hard to be completely honest in situations like that. I guess I’ll work on that.
mom2collegekids, I am pretty sure I rented just a room on airbnb. When I looked back at the reviews, 13 of them, some of them were for the owners other properties mixed in with the 6 that related to the property I rented. Most of the ones on the place I rented were short and sweet trying to mince their words. I could’ve been more honest, or I could have abstained and said nothing, but the owner is rating me too, and I don’t want to deal with hard feelings, as I said, so I fudged it.
I think airbnb will carve out a healthy niche in the sharing economy. It already has. VRBO will probably take the higher end of that market segment. Hotels will dominate their share of the lodging industry. They still have value when you don’t want to take chances and need full service but if you are just hanging out for an extra night airbnb makes great sense. So does Uber. Why anyone would hire a taxi over Uber is hard to figure out. Didn’t someone post an article here about Uber a few weeks ago saying teens no longer even own cars they get around on Uber.
That isn’t dumb at all.
I also think, like I said, that airbnb will cause more people to travel so it might not destroy the hotels but it will hurt them and I think to compete they might have to lower prices to be more competitive. However, most hotels seem to be doing just fine.
I had a wonderful AirBnB experience last fall, traveling abroad.
I looked for a place with MANY positive review. Not just 5 or 6, or 15 — but dozens or more. I was staying in Budapest, which has many rentals with 150+ reviews.
I apply the same criteria to choosing a local service off of YELP. 10 good reviews? meh. 25? maybe. 100? count me in.
And whenever I use a site and I see dozens or hundreds of good reviews… I take time to find and read the bad ones. What was the problem? is it an outlier? something that would bother me? Or does it just sound like some traveler with unreasonable expectations? Or something that is a one-time problem.
For example, I found complaints of lack of air conditioning in places making summer heat uncomfortable – but I was booking for mid-October-- so I knew that that wouldn’t be an issue for me. The place I selected was on the 5th floor of a building – and when we arrived the elevator was broken, but being worked on. We dragged our luggage up all 5 flights… but we should have just waited downstairs in a cafe, because the elevator was running again within an hour. I didn’t mention it in a review: things break. In our case, it was fixed promptly - we just happened to arrive at a bad time.
OP- couchsurfing is like airbnb. A no tell motel is not a place you want to stay. It is where you can stay and no one will tell what went on or at least you hope so. Rooms can be rented by the hour if you get my drift.
Agree with others, leave an honest review next time. You are being polite and trying not to hurt anyone’s feelings. This is a business arrangement. You can say that it has a great location but the neighbors like to party. Or you can say: note- this place has an air matress not a bed. Your review doesn’t have to be a slam against the guy but it does have to be honest.
I think there needs to be a little respect for the ethically hard place the OP is in, and he is trying to get feedback regarding degrees of honesty. Unlike most on line reviews, on airbnb your are a known person, and have developed a relationship with the host, to varying degrees. So it feels different to leave a negative review, very different than anonymously spilling the beans online regarding a horrible hotel stay or restaurant meal. Depending on the rental market there may have only been a few previous reviews. Rural Nebraska, very few reviews, Hong Kong, San Francisco, there are hundreds for each property. And in any market there are those hosts just starting out.
I don’t see how an honest review, which is supposed to be of benefit to the other members, puts the OP in a hard place ethically. Hard in other ways, perhaps. But there is nothing unethical about being honest about the accommodations. In fact, not doing so seems to be the more unethical position to take imo as people are reading these reviews to get an honest accounting of the experiences of others. If anyone was unethical, it was the host for staging the bedroom as having a bed rather than an air mattress!
And “honest” doesn’t have to be cruel or hyperbolic. It can mention the positives as well and the tone can be calm and rational.
It seems reasonable to mention surprise that the “bed” was an air mattress and that it was noisier than you expected. Those kinds of comments would be objective and helpful without being personal. If I were considering staying there, I would definitely appreciate the heads up and would look elsewhere if I wanted a quiet place with a “real bed.”
When I read tripadvisor, I always read the negative reviews, just to gauge whether the comments are sour grapes or something that would affect my pleasure in staying at a place. I also look at the other reviews to get a sense of the general feeling for the place. I guess I’d be reluctant to stay somewhere that doesn’t have several dozen POSITIVE reviews, just to avoid the situation OP mentioned, especially with some folks giving less than candid reviews.
This is typical in regions with onsens (hot springs). You wash your body BEFORE you get into the communal bath. Soaking in an onsen is a great communal experience w friends (especially after skiing)
FYI
Onsen etiquette
http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/7-things-you-need-to-know-before-going-to-a-Japanese-onsen-bath
Well Ok then, completely nude bathing with strangers while sporting a washcloth on your head- Jym, are you game?
I do it every winter
Quite common in Korea as well as in certain places in Europe, nudity in baths or saunas. A good part of the world doesn’t have the puritanical hang ups about nudity, especially in a single sex setting, that many Americans do. 
I’m game but I need to go to Black beach near LA Jolla to practice first.
<<<
@mom2collegekids, I’m curious why you find airbnb to be a pain as an owner. Care to elaborate?
<<<
They charge the travelers a fee, and it’s a big enough fee that it can make the comparison with hotels even more unfavorable.
They don’t let you put the Lodging Tax on a separate line item, so that also makes comparison with hotels unfavorable. When you see a hotel nightly rate, the lodging tax isn’t typically included. You’ll maybe see a rate that says $125 per night. With AirBnB, your rate might be $135 per night, but that is actually cheaper than the hotel, but Travelers often don’t realize that because the AirBnB rate includes the Lodging Tax which can be 15%.
They don’t let you set up some boilerplate responses and have them easily accessible like VRBO does.
Often the Owner’s responses go to a Traveler’s junk mail or just get lost in cyberspace, so the Traveler thinks you’ve ignored their request.
If you have to engage in any “back and forth” questions, which can only be done by email (not phone or text), and you don’t come to a conclusion within 24 hours, the Owner gets “dinged” by AirBnb. Often there are some back and forth questions and Travelers often take their sweet time answering, so the 24 hour mark can easily get passed.
You can’t get the Traveler’s phone number or real email address until after booking.
Their website is a pain to use on the Owner’s side. Far less sophisticated than VRBO’s Owner’s Side (its Reservation Manager is sooo much easier to use and has all sorts of tools)
I would dump AirBnB completely except that it does provide some reservations that fill up some holes in my calendars.