I would prefer the perfect hotel experience, but airbnb is a better product (at any price) than almost all hotels. If the hotel strategy to fight airbnb rests on pushing regulators to screw consumers, it's unlikely they'll improve their product.
(Maybe some new entrant can make something better than airbnb or legacy hotels, though.)
Could you expand on why? I normally use Airbnb for areas without many hotels or for longer stays. I generally find hotels more convenient for short stays because it's predictable.
I want a hotel with 100/100+ symmetric high-quality Internet, and ideally, set up with a desk, good chair, large monitor on the desk, and keyboard/mouse.
24h checkin, and ideally essentially automated checkin -- if I'm a frequent guest, I should be able to have a key sent to my phone (or have an NFC token I carry added to the door's ACL) for the duration of my stay, ideally without dealing with humans. SPG usually takes me about 2 minutes to check in within the US, or 3-5 internationally; I'd like that to be 0.
I'd like convenient-to-transport, including both transit and parking, and carts/flat floors/etc. so I can move stuff in/out of my room easily.
Some specific amenities would be really nice -- a standard coffee machine (I'd prefer nespresso, but really anything), fridge, microwave, etc. I'd also love it if all outlets are wonpro universal sockets, and if the layout of sockets in the room is standardized (at the very least, always one or two on each side of the bed, and 2-4 at a desk).
What I'd love, but which many people may hate, is an absurd level of standardization of the room itself -- the same mattress, layout, furnishings, etc. available at every property, and actual floorplans shown so I'm booking a specific room and not run of house.
(I'd be fine with this just being a subset, like the club floor, of a legacy hotel. Or, it handled as a standalone new build, conversion of legacy hotel, subset of a floor ("Towers" or club floor concept), or potentially, a decentralized hotel with a bunch of apartments in an area, centrally managed and serviced.
I've been in an airbnb for a few weeks. Monthly rental.
Host is a software engineer, even less social than me, and specifically advertised 100/100 Internet. Less convenient check-in than a hotel, yes, but for a 30 day stay, knowing "great Internet" and decent workspace (there's an LCD monitor, etc.) more than made up for it.
I want something which has the tech benefits of airbnb and the institutional backing of something like a starwood hotel. My least favorite thing is a shitty unaffiliated hotel; no idea what I'll be getting. The ideal would be this hypothetical corp-managed property. Right now I split between specific airbnbs and SPG hotels.
From my personal experience, Airbnb's tend to be a minimum of 15-20% cheaper than 3 star hotel prices. Often times those Airbnb's will offer a 5 star experience.
I enjoy hotels, and the convenience, but I prefer nice Airbnb's for the following reasons:
1) full kitchen
2) more privacy
3) much cheaper
4) often times helped by host
5) get a taste of actually living in a neighborhood at your destination
(Maybe some new entrant can make something better than airbnb or legacy hotels, though.)