My level of hate to BnB model (and Uber and the likes) is so deep that, when in a travel, I even carry my suitcase avoiding to use the trolley, with those tiny wheels making that horrible-BnB-sound on the pavement 🤦😤😡
Me too! I generally have a backpack and/or a big handbag. Not only I am limited in weight, but also I am more mobile, and I avoid making that wheel sound. Suitcase with wheels is only for those times where I need a big haul of Italian products to bring somewhere else :)
My handy backpack is my second skin 😇 Inside is the camera, book, hat, tote bags (producers, growers, farms, markets always in my path...) and well... always a little knife. You never know when your lunch will be a good cheese, chorizo and bread 🐣😇😋
I love to hate Airbnb as much as the next person, but I would not be so keen on praising hotels either. I would also say, Airbnb has changed immensely since I first encountered it in 2012. When I lived in Ethiopia, I had a spare room and used airbnb to get guests to stay while I was away and would sometimes overlap with them. I made some friends and met some faboulous people that way. It has changed from that though, so I understand your have some beef with it.
I usually agree with much of what you say in your posts, but here I have some points of disagreement:
not all airbnb apartments are awful, impersonal and crappy- I've stayed in some places that had amazing charm (with hosts that were great and some that were awful)
not all airbnb apartments have terrible check in arrangements - again, I've had hosts that were rather flexible - I find hotels to be way less flexible
I do rarely chose to stay at an airbnb if it is for less than 3 nights- I will use booking.com because it is flexible and I can cancel (and yes, I have commitment phobia).
Hotel breakfasts can be seriously overpriced (like some of the fancier hotels charge 25 euros or more for breakfast and truly, I rarely eat enough to merit that price tag, even thought I am a voracious eater).
Many mid range hotels don't have a fridge or have a really tiny mini fridge, so if I want to opt out of breakfast and keep some fruit and a yoghurt in the fridge, it is barely an option). My stomach simply can't stand more than 2 days of only restaurant food.
But I agree that airbnb has done huge damage to cities around the world, in my home town of Ljubljana, all the (albeit tiny) center is a giant airbnb. And here in Lisbon, in my neighbourhood there are fewer of them, but enough to notice the uber eats and glovo boxes on the street from the people who can't be bothered to even stuff their trash in the actual trash bin.
I get your points and indeed, hotels should improve their facilities. However, no hotel below three stars rating has failed in providing a fridge, so far.
In my neighborhood in Lisbon, almost every building has an Airbnb, and almost all of them are managed by one of the three-four companies in this business. The mayor sold the ancient city centre to Airbnb and its a pity, because now I can see the disappointment in the face of most tourists that just bump into other tourists, especially when they’re told the old Camilla Watson story and they longingly look at pictures of the previous owners, all dead by now (or mostly).
I also often forego a hotel breakfast- and I can tell, having 42 breakfast all day restaurants in my neighborhood, most of these Airbnb tourists simply prefer to have breakfast out, and instead bring some cooked food from Pingo Doce in - not even Glovo or Uber, since last year they mostly eat restaurant food, even Uber is expensive.
Gotta say-- I'm not sure what's up with the amount of garbage produced by Airbnb visitors. In our apartment building in Rome, we've had to put signs in every nook and corner of the building telling people not to leave their trash there. As an American, I get that the European system of sorting and separating can be challenging, and in Rome it can be confusing to understand where one SHOULD leave their garbage. But is it too much to ask that a Airbnb owner leave instructions for their guests as to where to discard what seems to be an endless stream of trash?
They produce so much trash because they tend to eat takeout every night, and consume items only once (who touches the flimsy oil bottle “provided” by the “landlord”?)
Io adoro la colazione in vacanza e mi piace farla ancora un po’ assonnata senza dover uscire vestirmi prenotare fare code. Scelgo (sempre con più fatica) solo posti che possono garantirmela. Ora sto iniziando a fare fatica a trovare posti dove mangiare, se cerco sui social sono solo faccioni in primo piano con “LO SAPEVI CHE PUOI…ecc ecc” e spesso anche sui siti ci sono solo food tour e sponsorizzano brunch. Certo, vado a Porto o Parigi o chessó a mangiare pancake 🤦🏻♀️
Purtroppo è una tendenza talmente grande che sta facendo uno shift nel tipo di offerta gastronomica di dove il numero di turisti supera quello degli abitanti o lavoratori - il caso della Baixa-Alfama-Chiado a Lisbona e esemplare, ci sono 42 ristoranti all day breakfast in un’area poco più grande della superficie della stazione di Milano.
I love an apartment hotel. We stay at the same on year after year in Castelrotto. I can cook dinner if I want but I get clean sheets and towels, and they have a spa center and a front desk. And no cameras in the room spying on me.
Apartment hotels are a dream - all the comfort of a hotel, and all those of a small “home away from home”. Doorman security, safety from loud, intrusive “guest” neighbors, no parties on premises, and a clean room every day.
We love ours in Castelrotto. They send us Xmas cards. I go to the Dolomites for the Malga food, and having a kitchen means I can still cook for the dogs because I don't give them processed dog food. They also have weekly activities which is great for the families and the spa zone is adult only. Unfortunately the Germans are full blown nude but that's life.
Ah, for pets is even better! And Castelrotto is such a nice area to spend time at, just off the tourist path and yet immersed in a beautiful area, really living local 🤩
My level of hate to BnB model (and Uber and the likes) is so deep that, when in a travel, I even carry my suitcase avoiding to use the trolley, with those tiny wheels making that horrible-BnB-sound on the pavement 🤦😤😡
Me too! I generally have a backpack and/or a big handbag. Not only I am limited in weight, but also I am more mobile, and I avoid making that wheel sound. Suitcase with wheels is only for those times where I need a big haul of Italian products to bring somewhere else :)
My handy backpack is my second skin 😇 Inside is the camera, book, hat, tote bags (producers, growers, farms, markets always in my path...) and well... always a little knife. You never know when your lunch will be a good cheese, chorizo and bread 🐣😇😋
This is ultimate wisdom
😂😂😂
I love to hate Airbnb as much as the next person, but I would not be so keen on praising hotels either. I would also say, Airbnb has changed immensely since I first encountered it in 2012. When I lived in Ethiopia, I had a spare room and used airbnb to get guests to stay while I was away and would sometimes overlap with them. I made some friends and met some faboulous people that way. It has changed from that though, so I understand your have some beef with it.
I usually agree with much of what you say in your posts, but here I have some points of disagreement:
not all airbnb apartments are awful, impersonal and crappy- I've stayed in some places that had amazing charm (with hosts that were great and some that were awful)
not all airbnb apartments have terrible check in arrangements - again, I've had hosts that were rather flexible - I find hotels to be way less flexible
I do rarely chose to stay at an airbnb if it is for less than 3 nights- I will use booking.com because it is flexible and I can cancel (and yes, I have commitment phobia).
Hotel breakfasts can be seriously overpriced (like some of the fancier hotels charge 25 euros or more for breakfast and truly, I rarely eat enough to merit that price tag, even thought I am a voracious eater).
Many mid range hotels don't have a fridge or have a really tiny mini fridge, so if I want to opt out of breakfast and keep some fruit and a yoghurt in the fridge, it is barely an option). My stomach simply can't stand more than 2 days of only restaurant food.
But I agree that airbnb has done huge damage to cities around the world, in my home town of Ljubljana, all the (albeit tiny) center is a giant airbnb. And here in Lisbon, in my neighbourhood there are fewer of them, but enough to notice the uber eats and glovo boxes on the street from the people who can't be bothered to even stuff their trash in the actual trash bin.
I get your points and indeed, hotels should improve their facilities. However, no hotel below three stars rating has failed in providing a fridge, so far.
In my neighborhood in Lisbon, almost every building has an Airbnb, and almost all of them are managed by one of the three-four companies in this business. The mayor sold the ancient city centre to Airbnb and its a pity, because now I can see the disappointment in the face of most tourists that just bump into other tourists, especially when they’re told the old Camilla Watson story and they longingly look at pictures of the previous owners, all dead by now (or mostly).
I also often forego a hotel breakfast- and I can tell, having 42 breakfast all day restaurants in my neighborhood, most of these Airbnb tourists simply prefer to have breakfast out, and instead bring some cooked food from Pingo Doce in - not even Glovo or Uber, since last year they mostly eat restaurant food, even Uber is expensive.
Gotta say-- I'm not sure what's up with the amount of garbage produced by Airbnb visitors. In our apartment building in Rome, we've had to put signs in every nook and corner of the building telling people not to leave their trash there. As an American, I get that the European system of sorting and separating can be challenging, and in Rome it can be confusing to understand where one SHOULD leave their garbage. But is it too much to ask that a Airbnb owner leave instructions for their guests as to where to discard what seems to be an endless stream of trash?
They produce so much trash because they tend to eat takeout every night, and consume items only once (who touches the flimsy oil bottle “provided” by the “landlord”?)
Io adoro la colazione in vacanza e mi piace farla ancora un po’ assonnata senza dover uscire vestirmi prenotare fare code. Scelgo (sempre con più fatica) solo posti che possono garantirmela. Ora sto iniziando a fare fatica a trovare posti dove mangiare, se cerco sui social sono solo faccioni in primo piano con “LO SAPEVI CHE PUOI…ecc ecc” e spesso anche sui siti ci sono solo food tour e sponsorizzano brunch. Certo, vado a Porto o Parigi o chessó a mangiare pancake 🤦🏻♀️
Purtroppo è una tendenza talmente grande che sta facendo uno shift nel tipo di offerta gastronomica di dove il numero di turisti supera quello degli abitanti o lavoratori - il caso della Baixa-Alfama-Chiado a Lisbona e esemplare, ci sono 42 ristoranti all day breakfast in un’area poco più grande della superficie della stazione di Milano.
I love an apartment hotel. We stay at the same on year after year in Castelrotto. I can cook dinner if I want but I get clean sheets and towels, and they have a spa center and a front desk. And no cameras in the room spying on me.
Apartment hotels are a dream - all the comfort of a hotel, and all those of a small “home away from home”. Doorman security, safety from loud, intrusive “guest” neighbors, no parties on premises, and a clean room every day.
We love ours in Castelrotto. They send us Xmas cards. I go to the Dolomites for the Malga food, and having a kitchen means I can still cook for the dogs because I don't give them processed dog food. They also have weekly activities which is great for the families and the spa zone is adult only. Unfortunately the Germans are full blown nude but that's life.
Ah, for pets is even better! And Castelrotto is such a nice area to spend time at, just off the tourist path and yet immersed in a beautiful area, really living local 🤩