Oct. 14, 2024 "Why some travellers are falling out of love with Airbnb": Today I found this article by Jonathan Ore on CBC:
Maureen McCartney has been using Airbnb for her travel accommodations for about eight years. But she's started using hotels instead, after her last few stays didn't go so well.
For a recent visit to Seattle, she booked a basement suite that looked pretty good in the online listing
— but in person, felt like something from the set of a Saw movie.
"It was damp down there. And they still had, like, the tools sitting there, like the circular saw, with the jagged edges on the wall, like a couple of them and other tools," McCartney, who is from Victoria, B.C., told Cost of Living.
She's not the only one. A Google search for Airbnb on Reddit surfaces complaints above anything else, including
"Is Airbnb even worth it anymore?";
"Is this the downfall of Airbnb?"
or "Staying in a terrible Airbnb right now [Canada]."
Then there's one of the most recurring insults to injury:
requiring guests to clean up after themselves
— even if they pay a separate cleaning fee.
"Take out the garbage. Put everything in the recycle [bin].
Like, it's as if you're at home and the whole purpose of the vacation is not to have to do these things.
And you don't have to do them at a hotel,"
said McCartney.
For McCartney, however, the bottom line was the price.
She says a stay at an Airbnb used to cost her about a third of the cost for a similar hotel room.
But now, she's finding they just aren't as good a deal as they used to be.
In recent years, the price difference between traditional hotels and short-term rental (STR) services have shrunk
— and hotels have begun offering some amenities people expect from Airbnbs.
With the two options becoming more similar,
travellers have begun to rethink their options.
Pandemic bounceback
According to AirDNA, a company that analyzes prices in the short-term rental industry,
the average daily rate for hotels in Canada was about 20 per cent higher than one-bedroom STRs in 2024;
that difference was closer to 25 per cent in 2019.
The figures don't count
taxes,
or resort,
cleaning
and service fees.
Hotels saw the biggest drop in prices in 2021 and 2022 as COVID restrictions loosened,
said AirDNA chief economist Jamie Lane, as they offered deep discounts to lure back travellers.
Short-term rental prices didn't change as much, partly because many people were working remotely while travelling.
"COVID, I think, really helped them out," said Makarand Mody, an associate professor who teaches hospitality marketing at Boston University.
"People wanted the safety and the security of a private space,
which Airbnb was able to provide with entire homes in particular."
Fast forward a couple years, and things would change again. "We saw this ridiculous bounceback from COVID, where people started traveling almost with vengeance," said Mody.
Much of that bounceback came from business travellers using hotels, who he said typically don't use Airbnbs or other STRs.
Airbnbs — like everything else — have become more expensive to operate with jumps in
utilities,
insurance costs
and interest rates.
For the year ending in August 2024,
the average daily rate before fees for all short-term rental listings in Canada was
$261.47
— almost 47 per cent higher than in 2019.
Still, Airbnb and other short-term rental services did change the value conversation for many travellers.
Instead of just giving you a bed and a room,
some hosts offer an entire apartment or home
— multiple bedrooms,
a kitchen and other amenities
— making it a better choice for large groups.
Others offered a unique stay, like in a yurt or a treehouse.
In a statement to CBC, Airbnb says it "allows travellers to explore
many more places,
and often more affordably, than hotels"
by offering
"over 8 million listings worldwide
and more than 100,000 cities and towns with listings."
It continued by saying that nearly half of Airbnb's Canadian listings
are in populated areas that don't have hotels.
The statement also took a swipe at new government regulations on short-term rentals, saying they
"are leading to unfortunate
but predictable consequences
including hotel prices at an all-time high,
and a limited supply of overall accommodations."
From mom-and-pop to big business
Mody says we shouldn't be surprised that Airbnb isn't a market disruptor anymore — it's big business.
"A lot of Airbnbs went from being mom-and-pop operations to largely professionally run operations, right?" he said.
"So these are either property managers that are running these properties or,
you know, multi-unit owners that actually know how to make money off Airbnbs."
More recently, hosts are using dynamic pricing just like
hotels
or ride-hailing apps.
According to AirDNA, over the six nights Taylor Swift is performing in Toronto next month,
the average daily rate for short-term rentals is $320,
up 57 per cent from the same period last year.
All of these changes mean people are giving hotels a second look.
"When Airbnb used to be significantly cheaper, it made sense
— I'll go through the inconvenience
for the money that I'm saving.
But now for the same price … I'm getting a human being that I can actually talk to when I'm at the hotel,"
Mody said.
"If you think about the psychology of our customer,
that value proposition has flipped now."
A new hotel experience
Some hotels are taking a page from Airbnb's playbook,
offering more space and amenities for larger groups.
Hilton and Marriott have been expanding their "extended stay" brands
(Homewood Suites
and Residence Inn, respectively)
which offer one- or two-bedroom suites with kitchens and separate living areas.
Other hotels have leaned into giving guests anything but a cookie-cutter experience.
If you go to one of Hotel Zed's three locations in B.C., you might see
a bike path running through a lobby,
a space to visit local psychics,
or a mini disco.
"It's got at least 12 disco balls.
And it is a John Travolta lit dance floor,"
said Mandy Farmer, owner of Hotel Zed.
Farmer says she got the idea for Zed when travelling for work and seeing hotels she described as "beige, bland boxes thinking, 'God, this is so boring.'" She was also inspired by her own experiences with Airbnbs.
"I loved getting away for girls' weekends where we'd rent, you know, a house.
So we started building family rooms that didn't just cater to the family of four," she said.
"They've got these huge living rooms and big kitchens.
And so suddenly now this is more of that experience where it's homey
and you can bring more people in together to enjoy it."
While price was the biggest factor in nudging Maureen McCartney to using hotels again, she says she's conscious that
scaling back on Airbnb's rapid expansion
could help put more homes on the market
as Canada faces an ongoing housing crisis.
She adds that a condo building filled with permanent residents is probably healthier for the community, including nearby local and family-owned businesses.
"I think Airbnb just sucks the life out of a community.
And we need to look after the local community before tourism," she said.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/airbnb-1.7349019
My opinion: I saw the pictures and videos of Hotel Zed and it looks cool and fun.
https://www.hotelzed.com/about-zed/
Oct. 21, 2026 "Airbnb limiting the checkout chores hosts can ask guests to do": Today I found this article by Rihanna Schmunk on CBC:
As of late next month, guests staying in an Airbnb will have fewer chores to do before they check out after their stay.
The short-term rental company has updated its policies to restrict how much cleaning hosts can ask guests to undertake before they leave.
Here's what to know about the new rules, which apply to bookings made on or after Nov. 20.
What does the new policy say about cleaning?
The new guidelines, in short, asks hosts to "be reasonable" on a number of fronts.
When it comes to tidying up, hosts will no longer be allowed to ask guests to do any tasks that would take "significant effort or time, or would typically be performed by a cleaner."
These jobs include
stripping the bed,
taking the garbage to an offsite location
or washing and putting away used dishes.
With the change, Airbnb's cleaning fee should only cover a basic tidy-up between guests
— and hosts are no longer allowed to charge guests if they don't finish a cleaning job on the checkout list.
Why now?
Airbnb cleaning duties have long been a topic of debate.
Hosts have shared stories about the messes guests left behind,
while some post TikTok videos where they "reveal" the state of a property after checkout.
On the other hand, guests have complained for years about paying a cleaning fee when they end up with a list of chores to do themselves.
"The biggest gripe that guests tend to have is around the cleaning aspects," said Makarand Mody, an associate professor who teaches at Boston University's School of Hospitality Administration.
"There was this discord between the fact that hosts were charging you cleaning fees
and then you still have to follow house rules where you have to clean up,
which is not how we as travellers experience the hotel."
CBC News has contacted Airbnb about the timing of its change.
What else does the policy say?
On top of the information around cleaning,
the guidelines says hosts will not be allowed to restrict use of amenities advertised in their listing.
They won't be able to charge guests fines or penalties, either,
because AirCover already protects hosts "in the rare event that their place or belongings are damaged by a guest."
House rules and requests will have to be visible on the listing for guests at the time of booking,
and no new rules or requests can be added after the fact.
These rules include information around
check-in and check-out times,
smoking,
pets,
quiet hours,
the number of approved guests
and commercial photography or video.
But hosts will be able to add "reasonable" requests, which can be updated at any time. The policy said Airbnb will assess whether a request fits within that definition based on a number of factors, like the type of listing and local context.
"We understand every home is unique," it reads.
"For example, it may be reasonable to ask guests to limit shower time due to local drought-related water restrictions,
or to dispose of trash in an animal-proof container in bear country."
Mody said he's interested to see how hosts respond to the change and how Airbnb enforces the new rules. He believes the company deliberately left the definition of "reasonable" open-ended to give hosts some wiggle room.
"Hosts are also their customers.
They want hosts to have a good experience,
to want to keep listing on Airbnb
and to feel like they still have control over the property,"
the professor said.
"And that Airbnb is not going completely, you know, guest-centric in that sense."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/airbnb-cleaning-fee-new-checkout-rules-2026-9.7390572
My opinion: I have never stayed at an Airbnb. I would be open to staying at one.
I prefer a hotel. You save money by not getting a room with a:
-view
-balcony
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