Using Airbnb for business travel

As a brand activation agency in the world of sports marketing, our team travels frequently on behalf of our clients with stays that can be as short as a weekend or as long as a month. For our extended stays, we will often times rent an Airbnb that gives us the ability to have access to a kitchen & fridge, as well as a bit more space to store our supplies and build gift bags.

Unfortunately, the quality of our Airbnb experiences has dropped significantly over the past year – and Airbnb’s search options as well as their review process has made it more and more difficult to identify the best locations for our team’s housing.

It is with increased frequency that our extended stay Airbnb’s will offer no dresser drawers whatsoever, nor will they provide us with hangers to even hang our clothes. They also don’t provide a suitcase rack; thus, leaving us with the only option of living out of a suitcase on the floor.

It also appears that Airbnb has absolutely no standard of basic supply expectations. 1-ply toilet paper, extra cheap toiletries, toiletries that are empty, a minimal supply of dishwasher and/or laundry detergent, cheap coffee, no creamer/sweetener, no wine key; the list can go on and on.

Considering the nightly rate and the service fee that Airbnb charges, there really should be a better system for issues that arise. We rented a house in Fort Lauderdale for 2 weeks – had no option to cancel it once we moved in and realized, mid-rental, that the ‘landlords’ were subpar at best. We had a myriad of issues with the house – which I won’t go into here, but one of the more concerning issues for us was the fact that their pool maintenance staff strolled into the backyard, unannounced on at least 3 different days. We did attempt to contact Airbnb, but it is very difficult to reach an actual human.

Just this past month, we rented an Airbnb in an apartment complex with directions to find the key that was ridiculously complicated and confusing. The beds were terrible as well as the towels, which were the size of a postage stamp, so flimsy they were see-through, and smelled of chemicals.

Unlike other travel platforms where there is a number associated with each rating, Airbnb has taken to aggregating each review into a summary number. I’d prefer to see what each reviewer rated the accommodation.

It feels increasingly like the platform favors the landlord over the renter. Hotels have 24-hour staff available to attend to issues that their guests have. As renters on Airbnb, it feels more and more like we are an inconvenience to not just the owner of the property but also to Airbnb as a whole.