Here's a recipe for having AirBnB experiences that don't suck:
1. Don't make saving money a prerequisite.
Nobody is renting out their place in order to save you money. You get what you pay for.
2. Book early.
The good hosts in prime cities book up months out. You don't want to be in a situation where you have limited choices and have to lower your standards.
3. Only book with hosts who have many positive reviews.
See above, and never break this rule.
4. Try to stay at least a week.
It's business. When you represent a grand or more to your hosts, they treat you accordingly. But when the hassle inherent to renting to you is barely worth the $200 or so you're paying, service will suffer.
Any time I've broken any of these tenets I've wished I'd just booked a hotel.
> 3. Only book with hosts who have many positive reviews.
> 4. Try to stay at least a week.
I have had two separate hosts cancel > $2,000, month-long reservations. We booked months in advance and only with hosts that had several positive reviews. We were not choosing places primarily by price as we gave up our expensive SF apartment to live full-time on the road.
I agree that these suggestions are good guidelines, but even following them I have had a miserable experience with AirBnB. These days, I prefer to just stay in hotels - especially for work-related travel.
I'm doing the same thing, living out of AirBnB rentals. The best places are actual homes where the owner lives some part of the year. Bookshelves are filled with the books they love and art they appreciate hangs on the walls. Sitting on the couch is relaxing, working at the desk is productive and the kitchen is properly equipped. The owner has a regular housekeeper. Worry-free regular cleaning is easily arranged at a reasonable price.
The bad places are trying to compete with low end hotels. The owner - if they even actually own the place - has put the in bare minimum. Second hand furniture, none comfortable. Lightbulbs are out, wear and tear all over the place. There's hardly any plates, glasses, or cutlery. What is provided is mismatched and worn down.
It can be very difficult to tell the difference because of how places are staged for photos. Asking a lot of detailed questions before booking is very helpful, but even then it's impossible to win every time.
What has frustrated me most is the lack of repercussions to hosts who behave badly. For instance, as a guest, if I were to cancel my $2k trip 48 hours before arrival, I would still have to pay for it. I had a host do exactly that - cancel a $2k trip that had been booked for months, 48 hours before I got off the plane with a backpack and no place to go. The host saw minimal fallout - basically they were not allowed to rent those dates out to someone else.
We were literally unable to find another place in this small-ish town to stay so we had to change flights to a different city last minute. Not cheap. If hosts had similar financial commitments to guests, I suspect that would eliminate a whole swath of terrible hosts, mostly in your second (cheap hotel) category.
That sucks. I've been lucky not to have any last minute cancellations by host so far. A lot of hosts list on multiple sites, so in your case there might have simply taken a better offer via another site.
Better experience? I'm not saying that's actually something you get with AirBnB, but thinking something different than the typical hotel-style experience might be better is certainly one of the reasons that has driven users to alternative rental systems in roughly the same space, like VRBO.
Better experience than a hotel or serviced apartment? Good luck with that! Hotels and serviced apartments are literally designed from the ground up for a great customer experience. Some random person's house or apartment is just not going to be able to compete on customer experience.
Sometimes it is just a better experience staying a real apartment or home instead of a hotel. For example, you can pick up local ingredients and cook your own food. You can get a private space with multiple separate bedrooms.
You say "serviced apartment"--is that a European thing? I've never heard of it. If I was traveling I would look to AirBnB or VRBO to find places that are not hotels.
In Australia you get serviced apartments everywhere. They are basically apartments that get serviced (cleaned, new linen etc) regularly like hotel rooms. You get separate bedrooms, kitchen, etc. just like a normal residential apartment.
1. Don't make saving money a prerequisite.
Nobody is renting out their place in order to save you money. You get what you pay for.
2. Book early.
The good hosts in prime cities book up months out. You don't want to be in a situation where you have limited choices and have to lower your standards.
3. Only book with hosts who have many positive reviews.
See above, and never break this rule.
4. Try to stay at least a week.
It's business. When you represent a grand or more to your hosts, they treat you accordingly. But when the hassle inherent to renting to you is barely worth the $200 or so you're paying, service will suffer.
Any time I've broken any of these tenets I've wished I'd just booked a hotel.