This was my first airbnb experience, but I stay at hotels/motels a lot, and they're usually ether elegant or sterile or some combination of both. The big difference here, is you're living like a local.

Marcello supports this well by showing you the neighborhood: showing you where the locals go. I've lived in Vegas and Key West, where the difference between local and tourist is stark and knowing which off-the-main-drag hole-in-the-wall is the jewel is really important. The corporate chain establishments of Times Square can easily drown out places like the Westway Diner, where they serve an amazing breakfast. But Marcello started by walking me down 9th Ave pointing out the good and the bad.

I was in New York for a tech conference that I wasn't budgeted for and attended at the last minute. Hotel prices, for some reason, were unusually high those days, and that's why I tried airbnb. I was able to attend the conference, including lodging and airfare, for less than I would have spent for one night at an average Manhattan hotel. While not elegant, the accommodations here were homey, comfortable and clean. The conference days were long and overwhelming, so I did little more than study, eat, and sleep. The wifi is fast and stable.

But the epiphany of the whole experience came one morning when, exhausted, I was taking my morning shower getting ready for another day. I opened the window. There I was, four stories in the air, amid the skyscrapers and breezes of the big apple. No corporate hostelry would allow me such unfettered access; a phalanx of attorneys would present the parade of horribles; everything from dropping a razor on a passerby below, to me jumping to my death leaving the hotel liable.

And that's the magic of living like a local; it took a little while to get used to it. But it was totally delightful when I did.