The place was fine, was in a great location and had all your basic needs. For a Airbnb plus I was a little underwhelmed. The furniture seemed cheap and basic. The biggest issue was a snowstorm rolled through during our stay and knocked out the power. It was unprecedented for Austin and happened the day we checked out, so I don’t put this on the host at all.
However, in times like these I wished the host was a little more understanding and supportive. After we left, we had to leave our rental car in their parking spot as we got stuck in the snow with the roads being so bad. We scheduled to have the car picked up when weather permits. But this was the least of our problems.
We were stranded and there was no power in that part of town for almost a week. We spent the week hopping from hotel to the next searching for any food we could find. It was dire. I found it extremely insensitive for the host nag me about the car in the parking spot, saying they had guests staying there, which would have been impossible. The whole neighborhood had no power for almost 5 days. No one was coming in or out. How about checking with how someone is doing? The car eventually got picked up before a someone else ever checked in.
I think this speaks to a larger issue with Airbnb. Hosts are often very disconnected with what’s happening on the ground. They’re often not in town and they can’t help you when something really goes wrong. As for Airbnb itself, they don’t own any assets so they are limited in what they can do to help. That’s why there’s such a huge variance on their platform. This experience has made me appreciate the consistency and hospitality of hotels.