I've rented about 20 whole places. 50% had issues. 50% were good. Prices were almost always is the $120-$150 a night range. Examples of bad: claiming to have reserved parking but not having parking. Claiming to be one place but being another. Claiming to have usable internet but not. Claiming to have a bed but just having a cot. etc...

At this point I'd mostly choose hotels over AirBnB because generally a hotel will try to fix an issue but AirBnb never will. Their position is effectively "sucks to be you, you shouldn't have chosen that listing".

They policy is basically "unless it's life threatening shutup!" and the worst part is either you suck it up or you're out a day of your vacation travel etc as you try to scramble to find another place. It's not fun.

Most of the time when I travel, it's the city etc. that's the experience I'm looking for, not the accommodation. I have no doubt there are, even many, AirBnBs out there that are quite nice. But I'll usually go for predictability, as well as other amenities, like being able to leave my luggage for the day after I check out.

I find I get a much more real sense of the city living in one of its (non-hotel zoned) neighborhoods in a real house.

The issue is that when you do this via AirBnB you're actively participating in driving out the people who actually need to live there and who make up the city and give it part of its character.

And driving up the price of rent for those living there too...

I've had many bad experiences with airbnb. Also some really great (esp in the beginning), but usually those were huge places.

AirBNB is often more expensive, is a hassle with getting a key some times (other side of the city wtf), NO support in case electricity fails, some had dirty laundry. etc etc.