I used AirBnB for the first time this year to rent a cottage. The experience is stellar. For many years I used outdated sites like cottagesincanada.com or cottagesquebec.com, it was a nightmarish experience of looking for available cottage during the pandemic. I just gave up and used AirBnB. Sure I paid hundreds of dollars in fees and whatnot but it's just so much better experience (searching,reviews...). (And yeah, no hotels for travel so no Expedia in pandemic)
It works when it works, it doesn’t when it doesn’t.
Meaning that the company has very little insight or control into the quality of any of their listings. So it’s always a dice roll. If the listing ends up looking nothing like the pictures, or is dirty, or you’re locked out you’re on your own, and the best you can hope for is not getting the run around from customer service and they refund you fully and/or put you somewhere else.
Yes, but there is no reputation system attached. Having a strict reputation/review system for both hosts and guests creates strong incentives on both sides for quality rentals and well-behaved guests. No one wants a bad review.
