Its perfect for a solo traveler.
If you want someone's guest room.
If you want your own place, you are looking at $200+ cleaning fee. Why would I do that,
pay MORE than a hotel room for a place, when the cleaning is included in the hotel cost? Oh hey, don't forget the service fee!
@FreeBaGeL has it right, if you are booking a large group, with several rooms needed, 3+ bedrooms, it can really save some money.
Friends went to the Poconos this summer, rented a big place, 6 bedrooms or so. The house was in a community, with a bunch of amenities that AirBnb users cannot use. Not a problem, especially if you know in advance. But they were treated like second class citizens antime they interacted with anyone working for the community. Guests were required to bring their trash down to the clubhouse, where there were dumpsters behind a locked gate (this is when massraider would have exited the chat). Well, this group checked out on a Tuesday, and as it happened, the trash area is not available on Tuesday, so my friends, after consulting their SUPERHOST, were instructed to bring their trash with them when they left, and dispose of it wherever they could.
My only bad experience was when my brother was on tour with his band, and they came through NYC, so I rented them a place in Brooklyn for them to sleep, that had a lockbox, so the owner told us they could check in whenever. They arrived at 11 pm, and no lockbox. We found out the next day, after they slept in the van, that the owner had the wrong address listed on AirBnb. When I reached the owner the next day, she asked me why they checked in so late.
I travel a ton. All done with AirBnb.