I've been running an airbnb apartment for about 4 years. But last year, I felt my profits margins were shrinking - either because of my not perfect reviews, or the fact that everyone and their mom got an airbnb. I'm glad i have called it quits last September and gave back the apartment! I mean, i would have been fine either way - long term rental units in my neighbourhood fly out like hot cakes. But being a host is basically being a glorified cleaning lady. The money started out good, but at some point I started questioning how much I wanted to do someone else's laundry every 3 days. And having dealt with airBNB over the year, they really suck and fight tooth and nail to not give you back any money ever for damage caused by guests. Quality has really gone down as a user too.
My wife is a big fan of bed and breakfasts. They have their charms - you show up, you meet the innkeeper, they tell you a little about the town, they ask if their idea for breakfast will work for you. You've probably already chatted with them over email; they've maybe arranged a keydrop for you, maybe they've told you that Suki will be letting you in because they're at a dog show or something. IN the morning you eat someone else's food, they're happy to provide you with the recipe, and they chat about what the hell you're doing with your day. They are full of recommendations and generally a shit-ton of local pride and they will happily give you all the gossip that Fodor's will not. A concierge will say "yes let me set that up for you" when you say you want to go hiking. A B&B host will say "lone cone is lovely this time of year and the weather's perfect for it - I'll need to arrange a water taxi and get tribal permission give me a sec" and then they'll come top up your coffee. The principal drawback of B&Bs is that they're geared towards old people. AirBnB saw this and said "what if we did this without any of the personal touch, let everyone skip all the regulation and licensing and skimmed off the top?" It's had the effect of raising a generation that has no fucking idea what's available. More importantly, it's raised a generation of hosts that know there's no fucking point in hosting and that operating an illegal inn basically has to be done defensively. My first experience with AirBnB was a host demanding some sort of fucking essay about how I wouldn't trash the place and I was like "you have my credit card, you have my driver's license, the app has every goddamn thing about me, fuckin' Mariott isn't going to require an essay" and that was fucking that. I mean, I can't really blame the guy - AirBnB might have all that info but fuckin' hell they aren't going to give it to him. So really, they're the middleman that does no decent middle-manning. And they should perish in flames.