Hosts have ruined Airbnb with excessive fees, high demands, and bad customer service, travel experts say

27.08.2024 - 16:11 / insider.com

As the founder of a travel site, Michael Rozenblit and his partner Maggie have stayed in hundreds of Airbnbs over the past decade.

"We love the convenience of having our own space," Rozenblit told Business Insider. "Particularly when it comes to cooking our own meals and having a bit more comfort than is found in a typical hotel room."

But after recent trips, Rozenblit said they have both "fallen out of love" with the platform. They claim places to stay on Airbnb are more expensive now than hotels, and hosts are not even providing toilet paper, trash bags, and coffee anymore.

Rozenblit said cleaning fees are also extortionate, despite hosts demanding that guests do the chores. One host previously told BI he charges $400.

"There are almost always over-the-top cleaning requirements for check-out, often including the requirement to take out the trash and strip the beds at the minimum," Rozenblit said.

Travelers have become wise to this apparent shift. Airbnb was once hailed as a major disruptor of the vacation industry, allowing people to stay in cities all over the world in comfort and at a price tag much lower than costly hotels.

But the pendulum has swayed the other way, with some holiday-makers now tired of the endless fees, and difficult hosts who can make their stays miserable, say experts.

Locals in tourist hot spots, including Barcelona and Athens, have also protested overtourism this year, taking aim at the platform's hosts buying up properties and pricing them out.

Airbnb warned investors of dwindling customer demand in an earnings call earlier this month, BI reported, and lowered its projected earnings for Q3 from $3.8 billion to between $3.67 billion and $3.73 billion.

The company's revenue is also down 15% compared to this quarter last year, from a net income of $650 million to $555 million.

Airbnb's stock has since tanked, falling 14% in one day earlier this month.

Meanwhile, hotels have bounced back, with former Airbnb fanatics returning and some seeing pre-pandemic levels of occupancy, according to Statistica. The industry is expected to see an annual growth rate of 3.72% until 2029, when it is anticipated to be worth $511 billion, according to Statistica data.

Experts say hosts have a lot to answer for in Airbnb's downfall.

Grace Moser, the owner of the women's lifestyle blog Chasing Foxes, has been a full-time traveler since 2016 and believes hosts have played "a huge role in Airbnb's crash."

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"Airbnb essentially allows anyone to sign up to be a host, which will always prove to be problematic," she told BI. "Because when you have people flooding in year after year who are seeing it as a way for them to make quick cash, you're going to be met with bad customer service."