Little disclaimer, that I am not rich and travel on cheap, so it's from cheapskates point of view.
Airbnbs are neither cheaper, nor more convenient than a hotel/hostel/ etc. When you go to a ho(s)tel - they are licensed, they are cleaned everyday, they give [0] you towels, clean sheets, etc. And many hostels are cheap, have personal rooms, have full kitchen, wifi, etc.
With airbnb, I had experience of cleaning a dirty kitchen, fridge full of mold, from some leftovers, buy cleaning utensils for kitchen and bathroom, slept in a bed full of cat hair, etc. It's like couchsurfing, just without all the couch surfing benefits for a price of extremely expensive rent. Airbnbs are not regulated, they do not account for nothing, etc., personally it's horrible.
So I better travel to hotels/hostels, through booking.com (or similar). I do not pay more than on Airbnb and I get much better service on average (e.g. 24h reception, cleaning, consistency [1], easier to deal with etc.).
All in all, personally for me Airbnb is extremely expensive and unregulated rent with poor service, which does only economical harm for local economy for both - hotels/hostels and long-term rents.
[0] probably more correct way to say that it's included in the price.
[1] 'consistency' - I mean that I know (or at least easily imagine) what a hotel/hostel for XX dollars in YY country should feel like. Whereas with airbnb it's a cat in a box, with some extra surprises/rules on arrival.
Little disclaimer, that I am not rich and travel on cheap, so it's from cheapskates point of view.
Airbnbs are neither cheaper, nor more convenient than a hotel/hostel/ etc. When you go to a ho(s)tel - they are licensed, they are cleaned everyday, they give [0] you towels, clean sheets, etc. And many hostels are cheap, have personal rooms, have full kitchen, wifi, etc.
With airbnb, I had experience of cleaning a dirty kitchen, fridge full of mold, from some leftovers, buy cleaning utensils for kitchen and bathroom, slept in a bed full of cat hair, etc. It's like couchsurfing, just without all the couch surfing benefits for a price of extremely expensive rent. Airbnbs are not regulated, they do not account for nothing, etc., personally it's horrible.
So I better travel to hotels/hostels, through booking.com (or similar). I do not pay more than on Airbnb and I get much better service on average (e.g. 24h reception, cleaning, consistency [1], easier to deal with etc.).
All in all, personally for me Airbnb is extremely expensive and unregulated rent with poor service, which does only economical harm for local economy for both - hotels/hostels and long-term rents.
[0] probably more correct way to say that it's included in the price.
[1] 'consistency' - I mean that I know (or at least easily imagine) what a hotel/hostel for XX dollars in YY country should feel like. Whereas with airbnb it's a cat in a box, with some extra surprises/rules on arrival.