Fake photos are possible, fake host names are possible and fake reviews are possible. Hosts with enough bad reviews can rebrand under another name.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One tip people Give me was to NEVER rent an AirBNB from a management company. Whether large nationwide or local. The company may have too many listings to care about one in particular. Individual owners care a lot more about their listing performance.

+1

It's not always easy to tell. There may be what looks like the name of an individual listed, but VRBO does nothing to police it. I read an article a while back about VRBO owners simply relisting properties under new (fake) names when they got delisted by VRBO. The ones that are clearly management companies are the worst, though, because the company will simply disappear and then the properties reappear under a new management company.

Stick to a hotel.

Also in light of the thread about hidden cameras in airbnbs might be a good reason staying in a hotel too!

Anonymous wrote:We've done probably a dozen Airbnb stays; all were good and a few were fabulous. IME, you have to start early to look for accommodations; rent only from Supherhosts; and read every word of every review. For us, it works because we like to spread out, be able to eat breakfast in our pj's, have some outside space to hang out in, and get to know a neighborhood. It's hard to do that at a hotel.

Same, and I've done more than a dozen. I MUCH prefer them to hotels when I'm traveling with my kids to a foreign country. I prefer hotels when it's a night or two, and sometimes in a big city where airbnbs are just as expensive and I'm not spending a ton of time in the airbnb anyway. But in the rural countryside? I have had some absolutely magical airbnbs.

With two young kids, I still prefer VRBO and Airbnb. The hotel rooms in the same price range just can't compare - I really prefer having a second bedroom (my little guy naps) and a kitchen so we don't have to eat out every meal.

But yeah, I have had a handful of issues, including a host canceling my winter break Mexico rental three months out because she sold the unit (I was upset and the substitute cost quite a bit more for less space). And once in France, a "no pets allowed" listing required us to feed the resident cats twice a day. We'd picked the spot because we have cat allergies, so that was fun.

BUT, by only picking homes with loads of positive reviews, we have a very, very high hit rate. We've not once ended up in a place that wasn't clean (sure, a few dirty dishes and a toy under the sofa, but that's about it).

We'll stay in hotels in big cities, where we know we're running around all day and then crashing. Or when we're on the road. With the fees, hotels are usually a better value if you're staying just one or two nights.

Anonymous wrote:To the posters commenting on fees -- you do know that hotels have all kinds of fees and taxes above the basic rate, right?

Sure, resort fees, parking, and tourist taxes and the like, but not so disproportionate compared to the listed rate. With all those fees, there is no advantage to using those sites versus a local rental agency. VRBO is killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.

I loved Airbnb and VRBO several years ago.

Since then, I tend to avoid it unless renting a big place with another family or two.

The cancellation policies have gone way down hill (this is my biggest factor), way more cameras on properties which weirds me out, cleaning fees have skyrocketed, plus there is a lot more cleaning expected before checkout, prices are often much higher than a nice hotel for a single family.