We rent a lot of Airbnbs in the winter in ski towns here in the west since we do multiple road trips to ski every year. I always make sure we have a coffee maker and toaster since we get breakfast food so we can eat each day before hitting the slopes. We like places close to where we are going to ski (doesn’t need to be ski in ski out) with restaurants nearby to eat dinner or get takeout. I don’t do a lot of cooking when we ski, but when the girls join us I will sometimes make lasagna at home and bring it for the first night then leftovers. We also normally like a place we can walk to restaurants and breweries for after skiing. We also like a garage or room we can put skis and snowboards in to dry for the next day.
1 Like
I would typically stay in an AirBNB because I need to be in a specific neighborhood for some reason, and there is no hotel (or no affordable hotel) in the neighborhood. Some reasons I might stay in an AirBNB rather than a hotel:
- A friend is sick or dying, need a place nearby in the neighborhood so that I can help them (this is something coming up for me very soon)
- Visiting a college, or looking at properties to rent or buy, and want to get a feeling for the residential neighborhood
- Traveling with a lot of family members and need a bigger space than a hotel room
We are talking about MINIMUM requirements in this thread, right? It really just needs to be clean, safe, affordable, and have a place to charge my devices. I can’t imagine being bothered by the way the place is decorated, if I just need an affordable crash pad so that I can be near a dying friend.
If we are traveling on a vacation and have more needs or feel more picky for whatever reason, I would look at the listing to make sure it fits my needs in that case.
2 Likes
We used to, but lost quite a few to overzealous TSA officers confiscating them (even an electric one!). Unless we check a bag in, we are not taking a wine opener with us. 
The majority of AirBNBs I’ve rented have been times that I’ve flown to the destination. I really don’t want to have to buy basics for my stay. To me, basics are salt/pepper, olive oil, sugar, flour, paper towels, toilet paper, dish detergent and sponges, laundry detergent, bleach, garbage bags, ziplock bags, and cleaning supplies. If the coffee machine needs filters, I’d include that too. If Kcups, I’d appreciate knowing that in advance. A surplus of sheets/towels/beach towels so if something gets dirty, I can just use a spare while the other is being cleaned.
I also appreciate having washable waterproof mattress pads on the beds; it feels much cleaner to me because I know if a little kid throws up or wets the bed, only the pad gets dirty and is washed.
1 Like
$500!!?! That is some expensive linen rental. It’s like $50 in NC. Did you accidentally add an extra 0? I just looked up our fave beach house rental company and they charge $10 a week for a double/full sheet set and $13 for a king. $500 is crazy! We usually bring our own, but I did rent one set of Kings this summer when the sheets my oldest brought were the wrong size.
1 Like
I admit to being a snob about where I stay (kudos to those who don’t have a care about where they lay their head - I’m truly envious!) I swipe through so many AirBnB/VRBO pics that are dark and spooky looking, or if I don’t like the decor (I KNOW, I am a vacation SNOB!) Sometimes I’ll chuckle to myself about a property that claims to be “newly renovated” and think, “Maybe, in 1980…” Again, I envy those who don’t care about these things!
3 Likes
I have two friends that rent out AirBnBs. One is a traveling musician and he rents out his home when he’s on the road or sometimes when he gets a great offer and he can go stay elsewhere. He’s got a very cool funky mid-century modern vibe. It’s his house, though, so it has his stuff in it.
My other friend who has an AirBnB is an empty nester and divorced and she rents out the daylight basement of her home with two bedrooms, bath, living area, kitchenette, separate entrance. She is still upstairs.
They are both superheats.
I don’t have a problem with either of those scenarios. I mean that is what AirBnB is supposed to be, sharing your home — not buying up properties in neighborhoods and turning them into vacation rentals. I do not think that is very cool.
I have stayed in AirBnBs like my friend’s basement one. One was in Laurel Canyon in LA and had a fab view from the street. The AirBnB was the bottom two floors of a 4 story house perched on the edge of the canyon. Really cool place.
5 Likes
Marriott now offers Airbnb type of rental. You can use your marriott points to book. They don’t have that many properties yet.
1 Like
It was a 6 bedroom with some room having multiple beds, plus I think the cleaning service charges extra to make up the beds. The cost of rentals are so much more expensive in NJ than NC (lots of folks here drive to NC for vacation to save $).
1 Like
I don’t think “clean” should be mentioned as a personal basic requirement - the place must be clean, period!
3 Likes
To the cheapskates who don’t stock the kitchen properly:
I HATE any home rental that doesn’t have basic, essential cooking supplies. We always cook if we are renting a home/apartment/villa, etc… If you can’t stock a decent couple of knives, a basic pot and pan set, a serving bowl or two, a spatula, and something to stir my food with, I am giving you a bad review. Don’t put cra__y knives in rentals, please! They don’t have to be Miyabi, but please at least get something I can cut with. People injure themselves with cheap, dull knives all the time.
I would love it if homeowners would leave some basics for guests: tea, coffee, sugar, salt, pepper, cooking oil. The best places I’ve stayed have provided those basics, plus a carton of milk and even a loaf of bread, butter, and wine (thank you to the lady in Budapest, you were amazing.)
I also can’t stand terrible, cheap, puffy, inflexible pillows, and please, absolutely no polyester sheets. If you wouldn’t sleep on it yourself, don’t expect your guests to be happy. I think it goes without saying that mattresses should be in good condition.
A bedside lamp is a must.
All the other stuff about cleanliness, bugs, etc… is a basic expectation.
Ha! That’s another item I travel with - most places these days are using the microfiber kitchen towels, and I hate(!!) them! They don’t actually dry dishes, nor soak up water on counters, etc. I have 3 bright turquoise cotton kitchen towels…I chose turquoise because they’re easy to see when I’m packing up so I don’t accidentally leave them behind.
2 Likes
Unless I know for sure what the condo has, I travel with a 10” Scanpan and a couple of kitchen towels, too!
ETA: adding to my requirements… no nickeling and diming for stuff like bedding and starter packs of supplies. Either provide them or don’t, but state that clearly in the description.
3 Likes
I need a good view. Everything else is negotiable. The view is not.
We also gravitate toward flush toilets, working outlets, and WiFi, but honestly, only the view is a need. We work around things with cooking and more.
I presume the place is pretty much as it’s listed and so far, we’ve been quite pleased with our rentals.
2 Likes
We have definitely had more good experiences than poor with Airbnb/VRBO rentals. I have a box that we take when we travel (drive) that I keep a good knife, wine opener, foil, ziplocks, pepper mill and good salt and a few other things. Some renters likely put everything in the dishwasher and ruin knives, good pans etc. When we fly, we hope for the best and read every review.
I can remember the place in Asheville where the bedding was so nice I actually checked to see what it was. (IKEA, which surprised me). We stayed at a place in La Jolla that they asked what time we expected to arrive (late night) and arrived to home baked cookies and wine. In Europe, many places left enough to get through b’fast with yogurt, coffee, sometimes even fruit. Our bad experiences generally had to do with cleanliness so hiring a good cleaner and checking their work often would probably be a good idea. We rented a place at the beach in FL that was on the surface okay so the owner may not have known but things were GROSS. Mold in the old coffee grounds in the drip coffee pot, baked on filth on the pots and pans.
I like when the owner is available by text. I wish that STR industry wasn’t creating so many problems for local people as I much prefer it over hotels.
2 Likes
Reading all this has made me think of a couple of other things important to us. We like more than 1 towel per person, if staying for multiple days. We are pretty active people, and sometimes get dirty and don’t want to use the same towel if we need multiple showers in a day for example.
Space to put our stuff! If the owners have locked the closets and have stuff all over the furniture, it’s hard to live there. We had a rental in one place where we pretty much had to put our suitcases on the floor and live out of them.
If we are paying for a 2 br/2 ba unit, we expect a little closet space and some drawers to put our stuff.
Clean, Safe, and Reasonably priced. That’s about it. Reviews are important to verify. We typically do not stay very long (3 days max), and never cook our own meals except for a quick breakfast or lunch. Many of the AirBnB’s we’ve rented actually had the owner sharing a room, or living adjacent – which was the original purpose of AirBnB’s (to share your home). These have also been some of my favorite experiences.
Now they’ve become much more expensive for short stays, and we only stay at larger units when we need more space for extended family stays.
1 Like
I look at photos then reviews. I generally go for 5 stars but price is also a priority, as well as location.
Clean, no mold or other allergens.
I
have lung issues with AC so my main priority is being able to open windows or a balcony.
My experiences have ranged from sublime to so awful I had to leave and book a hotel so I need to get better at this?
Side note: Airbnb’s have destroyed the rental market in the coastal town where I have lived for 32 years and raised kids. I had to sell my house and have done “winter rentals” for 5 years. I finally accepted reality and moved out of the area yesterday. Airbnb’s need to be more regulated. (I am homesick!)
My neighbor has booked Airbnbs in northern Michigan’s vacation areas & has had spotty luck even with good reviews. We book them when visiting my MIL & have had only wonderful luck. She lived in an area that has a lot of medical & pharmacist rotations, as well as an annual golf tournament. She moved to an area that is in a lake/ foothills area, and we’ve found it more difficult to book an Airbnb. The reviews are spotty, and locations aren’t very convenient. We’ve stayed in hotels so far since she moved. We’ll be staying in an Airbnb in her new area for the first time next week. My fingers are crossed that it will turn out to be a good choice. It’s a super host, many reviews, all good.
It’s interesting. We have never had a bad AIRBNB experience. Myself, I’ve probably booked about 10. Two of my kids have booked many and I don’t think there have been any duds.
I’ve always thought we should have a CC thread for recommended AIRBNB’s in cities.
Also, not related to the thread necessarily but browsing AIRBNB is a delightful time suck. :). I love to pick areas we love and just see what’s out there. Or even look at our own city/area and see what is available.
We don’t live in a highly traveled, desirable city so there are spotty AIRBNB’s in neighborhoods (at least mine) but honestly when I see them online, I’m like “Oh! That house. Never knew it was an AIRBNB!”