October 29, 2024
I've spent a lot of time in Airbnbs. Like collectively I've probably spent over 2 years in them. I work remotely without a permanent place to live (for now, though I may be stopping soon), so wherever I am, I'm probably staying in an Airbnb. Airbnb makes this relatively easy and cost-effective, since they provide discounts for monthly stays. This has made it possible for me to travel around Mexico, South America, The US and Canada, and Europe, too.
There are a lot of upsides to this kind of living, but unfortunately there are quite a few downsides, too. One of those is that, my God, most ("reasonably" priced) Airbnbs are just complete and total shit when it comes to actually living in them for a month or longer. I'm gonna go over a few reasons why in this post.
A surprising number of places I've stayed have just had no couch. This was especially prevalent in Mexico/South America. I'm not sure why, exactly, but a couch is generally not a priority for most stays. For me, however, a couch is critical for my enjoying a stay. Without a couch, you often have no place to relax except your bed. I personally prefer to keep phone and computer usage to a minimum on the bed (for sleep hygiene reasons). If there's no couch, it's just hard to relax. Also, if you ever want to have company over or a partner over, there's just no comfortable communal place to hang out or cuddle. This is annoying short-term. But to have no couch for a month really sucks.
Even if the Airbnb has a couch, it's probably going to be shit. In fact, I specifically remember the places that have nice couches and how nice their couch was really stood out in my mind. Otherwise, the status quo seems to be 'the cheapest object that fits the criteria of couch'. Most are not big enough to have multiple people watching a movie at once. Others still are rock hard or just horribly uncomfortable for longer than 10 minutes of sitting. Obviously, the person who bought the couch doesn't need to sit on it, so it's not important that it's really comfortable.
Desks are remarkably rare in Airbnbs. I mean, most people staying in them are probably on vacation and have no use for a desk, so I guess it's understandable. But desks are pretty critical for working remotely. If I need to take a meeting or be productive, I'm gonna want a desk. Again, this suffers from the same issues as the couch: even if there is a desk/chair, it's usually pretty bad or uncomfortable. This just makes working harder and more annoying. I feel like a desk + chair is cheap enough that any place could have one. You'd probably be able to charge more if you had one, so you'd make your money back! Ridiculous.
Cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen is pretty annoying. Now try cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen where the supplies either don't exist or are scattered about randomly as if organized by a madman (or, more likely the 50 madmen that came before you). Here's a hot tip: never try baking in an Airbnb. You'll find that essentially no Airbnbs are equipped with any kind of measuring utensils. Also, good luck with leftovers, cause there sure as shit ain't no tupperware. If an Airbnb has these things, be sure to mention it as a standout in the review, because it is truly rare.
Also, why is there only ever just one pot and one pan? I guess people usually only use one or two of these, but what if I want to cook a few things at once? This is surprisingly common, and is reminiscent of a college bachelor pad's typical kitchen stock. Dude, come on.
I'll admit this isn't usually a huge problem when staying for just a month. But, if you're staying any longer than a month, the place can get gross if you don't clean at all. You'd be surprised by how many places lack even toilet bowl cleaner. Like, yes, I do want the toilet to be clean, please. And I can't even count how many times I've had to buy detergent because so many places just don't give you any! If I'm staying somewhere longer than a week, I need to do laundry.
So, why are all these places junk? Why are they missing straight up normal things that pretty much everyone who's lived in a place for a little while has? Simply put, these places are not lived in. Instead, you get an ever-rotating supply of people just passing through, with no real upside to improving things.
The place you live is like a constantly shifting organism. When you first move in, it starts with a lot of basic stuff, and it's probably way less than you need. As you live there, you'll probably constantly find yourself going "ah, I need that". And then you just go out and get it! If you need something, you can just buy it. This is one of those things you take for granted when you no longer have the option. If I'm staying at an Airbnb and it has no coffee cups, I can't just go buy them. Or rather, if I did buy them, I'd lose them in a month and it'd essentially become a donation for the next people. I've sometimes done this (for something I was really lacking), but how many one-offs can I buy for myself before it becomes ridiculous? Basically, buying things for your place is like an investment. Buying things for an Airbnb is a temporary benefit.
Another issue with many Airbnbs is that they simply lack any sort of interesting personality that makes a place worth living in. In 2016, Kyle Chayka coined the term "Airspace" in this excellent The Verge article as a criticism of Airbnb. He argues, "The ideal Airbnb is both unfamiliar and completely recognizable: a sprinkling of specific cultural symbols of a place mixed with comprehensible devices, furniture, and decoration." This essentially allows you to "[look] into the foreign from a safe distance".
This article was written in 2016, probably around the time this issue was at its worst, and authenticity at its lowest. I feel that this article is getting at an important issue, but its diagnosis as this being Airbnbs fault is mostly ill-placed blame. It's almost as if this sort of sterile-feeling interior design is/was just an era of style, or perhaps an era of lack-of-style. To me, the 2010s are emblematic of a sort of anti-culture or a faux-culture. Everything is fake, from the rise of the acceptance of sellout culture, to curated social media feeds, and yes, to cute-but-superficial interior decor present in everything from Airbnbs to restaurants and everything in between. That is to say, Airbnb wasn't creating the sense of Airspace, but rather adapting to desired trends. Authenticity and uniqueness made way for a feeling of familiarity and safety, but also sterility.
This problem of blandness and sameness among Airbnbs certainly exists today, but I'd argue it's not necessarily due to intentional decisions these days, but rather due to an attempt at reducing costs and the time it takes to get an Airbnb up. The reality is, people seem to be craving more and more those authentic, curated, designed Airbnbs. Airbnb itself responded to the criticism of Airspace with the Plus category in 2018, which featured higher quality, curated and designed Airbnbs. Today, they have dozens of categories for unique and dynamic stays, ranging from treehouses to castles.
Despite all these unique stays, the majority of stays are generally still bland. And if you want some that aren't bland, you're gonna need to pay a premium. I sometimes opt for the more interesting looking stays, especially when the price is the same. Frankly, I don't want to shift from Airspace to Airspace and admire the place I'm visiting from a familiar place, I want something unfamiliar, or at least unique and engaging. I want personality!
Most Airbnbs lack so many things beyond just the absolute bare minimum required for survival. Many of these things mostly just don't matter for short-term guests, but if you find yourself staying in Airbnbs your whole life, the lack of shit you need and the minimal/no personality and decor might just begin to wear on you.