Now, with these shorter term rentals arranged exclusively through web sites I wonder about the incentive to maintain a standard level in a rental. Yes, there are reviews but they are notoriously variable and how many folks who stay for only a night or two are going to bother writing a review unless they have something to complain about?
I just find myself less and less inclined to rent places that I know are rented for very short periods because I have these assumptions about how they've been treated by users.
Hi Ellen - thought I'd comment on those parts of your post :
If people would not feel inclined to rent places that were rented before them for very short times, the hotel industry would hardly be the booming business it is. It really doesn't matter what type of accommodation we're talking about, be it a hotel or an AirBnB rental : the owner wants you, or others, to be their guests, because they want to profit from your need for an accommodation of some type. They both have very serious incentives to maintain their property well-kept and clean, and to provide a hosting service which is deemed acceptable by users. In other words, if the guest before has left a mess, the hosts have to clean it up if they want to stay in business.
Reviews might be notoriously variable, but that doesn't mean that they aren't serious. On AirBnB, for example, both the host and the guest are reviewed - so both are motivated to leave a good impression and to behave accordingly. Because AirBnB, for example, is a completely contained site, you know that fake reviews are a lot more difficult to pull off - something that is not always certain on all accommodation sites. You are even requested after every stay (and perhaps obligated) to write a review, and if you take a look at any property on their site, you will see both the positive and negative feedback of real hosts and real guests. "Good" hosts are rewarded with various rankings, like "superhosts", which give them an edge over other hosts. Likewise, guests who have left a mess will find it very difficult to book their next accommodation.
The whole development of consumer reviews on the Internet, manipulations aside, has done quite a bit to benefit the consumer vis-a-vis the sometimes more powerful supplier. But it's not only people who want to complain that post reviews - people who have enjoyed their stay and the host's hospitality would many times like to thank their hosts and give a boost to their accommodation business, by complimenting them with a positive review. Why not help any type of business to continue to exist, if it gives you your money's worth and is supplying you with something that you need and are satisfied with? Especially if you get to know the owners or staff, and they have impressed you with their service?
We both agree on the issue of working directly with the owner and not through a mediator - but sometimes you can only find these owners for the first time through these mediating sites. Not all customers have the know-how to search for these family-owned businesses or small accommodations, and they are also fed by what they hear from the masses : for example, that site "X" is the most popular travel site. This puts small accommodation owners - to their frustration - in the hands of these "X" sites : if you're not there, you don't exist.
Just out of curiosity - have you ever used AirBnB, and if so, what was your impression of it?