I don’t think I endorsed Airbnb as much as just tried to relate my experiences. In both cases I was traveling alone or sans kids and didn’t give either situation much thought. That said we’ve had many delightful experiences and have come to get to know real people who are sharing their homes. At the same time I don’t buy the story that Airbnb is going to upend the industry. Hotel chains have gotten pretty good about adding properties with suites / extra room at reasonable prices. So I tend to see Airbnb as filling a property category rather than a industry disruptor. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them start to book traditional hotel properties as more and more communities and hoa’s regulate the home sharing business. I can also see where they might branch into fractional ownership for customers that need to live in multiple cities and don’t want to have to lease/own a property they aren’t going to use full time. Right now both cases can be achieved with some workarounds but I can see maybe a class/designation within the system emerging over time. But as I read through the comments the real issue is trust and I would agree that there’s probably more work to be done there - I’ve seen recently a new category for homes that have been verified... so all in all I’m not ready to dismiss the platform but I would agree there are some issues.
