Remember the early days of Airbnb?
It was a solid option to see the world on a budget and live like a local.
But—
Over time, unpredictable guest experiences, prices rivaling hotels, and its role in intensifying the housing crisis have left some feeling disenchanted.
So, we decided to reach out to 1,000 Americans to learn their thoughts on Airbnb and uncover their biggest gripes and frustrations.
Let’s make a start:
Key Takeaways
- Most Americans had a positive experience with Airbnb, with 80% rating their experience as satisfactory (45%) or very satisfactory (34%).
- Nearly 83% reported choosing Airbnb over hotels at least some of the time in the past 24 months.
- A significant 92% of respondents are likely (54%) or very likely (38%) to use Airbnb in the future.
- The top three Airbnb pet peeves are issues with refunds or cancellations (74%), noisy surroundings (73%), and misleading photos/descriptions (72%).
Most Had a Positive Experience with Airbnb
Airbnb’s story began in 2007.
It was when Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia decided to rent an air mattress in their San Francisco apartment.
Since then, Airbnb has evolved into a tech unicorn, revolutionizing the travel industry.
Yet—
With the growth came criticism that blemished Airbnb’s image.
Some horror stories include hosts throwing guests’ suitcases out of windows, concealed cameras, gas leaks, pest-infested rooms, and even incidents of sexual assaults.
In light of this, we wanted to gauge the general public’s sentiment toward Airbnb at the end of 2023.
Let’s look at the results:
The data suggests that most Americans (80%) had a positive experience with Airbnb, while less than 5% expressed dissatisfaction. The remaining 16% found their experience to be average.
How come?
The incidents mentioned earlier, while harrowing, aren’t the norm.
That’s probably why the company’s revenue continues to grow, and Airbnb.com is still the 3rd most visited travel site, with 89.2M monthly visitors.
Now—
Admittedly, the platform’s prices can now rival hotel rates, partly due to brutal cleaning fees. In fact, A NerdWallet study revealed Airbnb’s median one-night cleaning fee was $75.
With this in mind, we were curious to know how often people choose Airbnb over hotels.
| How Often Have You Chosen Airbnb over Traditional Hotels in the Past 24 Months? | Share |
|---|---|
| Sometimes (about 25–50% of the time) | 37.33% |
| Always (100% of the time) | 23.76% |
| Often (more than 50% of the time) | 21.82% |
| Seldom (less than 25% of the time) | 12.73% |
| Never | 0.97% |
Interestingly, a large majority (83%) reported preferring Airbnb to hotels at least some of the time.
Perhaps the allure of unique accommodations, pet-friendly spaces, and local experiences outweigh the potential risks.
But—
Will Americans continue to choose Airbnb in 2024 and beyond?
Let’s hear from them:
A little over 92% of our respondents said, “Yes.”
So—
In short, the outlook for Airbnb appears positive despite gruesome stories popping up now and then. Still, it doesn’t mean guests don’t have a bone to pick with the platform.
We’ll discuss it next.
Money, Noise, and False Advertising: The Biggest Issues of Airbnb Users
Let’s be frank:
There’s no shortage of Reddit or X (formerly Twitter) threads where people roast Airbnb.
Just skim this page for a few laugh-out-loud examples.
So—
To uncover the biggest gripes with Airbnb, we analyzed hundreds of complaints, distilled them into a list of 15 items, and asked respondents to make their picks.
Let’s look at the top 10 that made the cut:
The most significant pain point for Airbnb users is issues with refunds/cancellations, pulling in 74% of the vote.
Makes sense.
When money is involved, tensions are bound to run high.
Close behind are noisy surroundings at 73% and misleading photos or descriptions (72%).
Now—
One of our survey takers also shared their views on the issue of excessive cleaning expectations:
My biggest pet peeve? Hosts expecting surgical suite cleanliness upon check-out. Sure, I won’t leave half-eaten pizzas under the bed, but if you’re hunting for stray hairs or critiquing my pillow fluffing technique, maybe you should consider renting to robots. No hair. No mess. Just pure, robotic indifference.
With this, it’s time to wrap.
Stacking It All Up
There you have it.
A comprehensive look at Airbnb’s pet peeves.
Now—
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Methodology
We conducted an online survey of 1,000 US respondents who had used Airbnb as guests at least once via a bespoke online polling tool in October 2023.
The respondents were 63% male, 36.6% female, and 0.4% identified as other. 33.2% of respondents were 26 or younger, 49.8% were aged 27–42, 13.1% were aged 43–58, and 3.9% were 59 or older.
This survey has a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 3%. Given the gender and age makeup of our sample size, the study’s findings are statistically significant for the population at large.
This study was created through multiple research steps, crowdsourcing, and surveying. Data scientists reviewed all survey participants’ responses for quality control. The survey also had an attention-check question.
Sources
- Bloomberg, “Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away”
- Bored Panda, “People Are Roasting Airbnb for Getting Completely out of Hand, Here Are 30 of the Most Savage Tweets”
- NerdWallet, “Unpopular Opinion: Airbnb Has Become Terribl
- NerdWallet, “Airbnb Pricing Statistics: 2023”
- Passport Photo Online, “Airbnb Statistics, Trends, and Facts”
- Statista, “Airbnb – Statistics & Facts”
- Surface Mag, “Airbnb Is Losing Its Appeal”
As a Digital PR specialist and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), I have 5+ years of writing experience.
Over the course of my career, my work has garnered significant attention, with features in numerous prominent publications such as The New York Times, Forbes, Inc., Business Insider, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, BBC, TechRepublic, Glassdoor, and G2.