Living in Airbnbs Full Time isn’t Easy

On the surface, our life of full-time travel and hopping from one Airbnb to another might seem a little glamorous. Behind the scenes, it’s a very different story. When you go with an Airbnb, you’re typically renting from another individual, not a professional business. So you’re surrounded by their furnishings and their taste and their idea of cleanliness. And often that’s very different from your own. 

Of course, in our videos we only include the beauty shots of our Airbnbs. We love showing off all places we stay in. And some of them are really quite spectacular. But there’s another side to living in Airbnbs. We’re talking mouldy bathrooms, stained bedding, old food in the cupboards — these are just a few of the treasures we’ve discovered in our Airbnbs.

Consider this post to be a reality check of what it’s really like to live full time in Airbnbs. We know that so many of you would like to travel, whether it’s short trips or full time the way we do it. Not that long ago, we were just like you. We were regular people who lived in our own home with our own furnishings. And when we traveled, we liked to stay in charming little boutique hotels. 

When we decided to travel full time, we knew that our old way of travel wouldn’t work. It just wasn’t affordable to stay in boutique hotels for months at a time. But we also knew that hostels weren’t going to be good for our marriage. House sitting is an option for some long term travelers. However, we’re traveling with two dogs of our own so we couldn’t really look after someone else’s pets as well. That left Airbnbs as the obvious choice. 

Now it’s one thing to stay at an Airbnb for a night or two as part of a holiday. We’d be there to see the city and try some local food. At the most we’d cook breakfast in our rental apartment. This is very different from living in an Airbnb for a whole month. Especially if the space is less than ideal or even worse.

When we were planning our big adventure, we did sometimes wonder whether this was really going to be a lifestyle that we’d enjoy. We’d always have someone else’s stuff around us and it might not be to our taste. What if it’s not as clean as we’d like? What if we get one of those nightmare hosts you hear about? And sure enough…we’ve had all those problems and more. 

The first issue that we ran into was the most common. And that’s lots and lots of clutter. Usually this is something you can’t really see when you’re looking at the listings. Most hosts do tidy up for the photos. But then you arrive and there’s stuff everywhere. 

The 5 Worst Airbnbs We’ve Ever Stayed in 

The Toronto apartment that we stayed in last spring is a perfect example. From the photos, it looked like a really nice space. And it was nice — except for being jam-packed full of stuff. Every cupboard, every drawer, every surface, even under the bed was just full. Books, magazines, art, bric a brac of all kinds.

Some of it was useful, like a cupboard bursting full of linens and enough cleaning supplies for the next decade. But mostly it was just stuff that was taking up the space we wanted to use. That Airbnb was being used as both a rental unit and a storage space. 

But at least that place was all clean and cared for. The next big issue that we’ve run into is when the apartment is much shabbier than the photos. Our recent apartment in Istanbul got top marks for this one. We picked it because it was modern and stylish. It was actually an Airbnb Plus property that is supposed to be of a higher standard — and we definitely paid a premium for it. 

We were shocked when we arrived. Here’s what we discovered: the Murphy bed was broken; the sheets had marks on them; the sofa and mattress were stained; the shower was mildewy; half the light bulbs were out; and there weren’t enough plates and bowls to go around. It was a disappointment to say the least. Fortunately the host was very responsive and almost all the issues were addressed within a week. But still, that’s a whole week out of our month-long stay. 

We find that an apartment being run down this way is a common issue when the host doesn’t live in the same city. Instead, they rely on cleaners who don’t necessarily have the same sense of ownership and don’t take responsibility for the space. 

Of course, that’s the apartment as a whole. For us, there’s one room that’s really important: the kitchen. If this is in bad shape, it really affects our whole experience. We love cooking for ourselves and we like to do it in a really nice, clean kitchen, just like when we were living at home. Everytime we go into a new Airbnb, we dread going into the kitchen. We never know what we’re going to find once we start opening those cupboards. 

The place we’re staying at here in Toronto is a very good example of this. When we got here, we discovered the fridge and cupboards were full of open food. Of course we appreciate it when our hosts leave us little food gifts or cooking essentials but this wasn’t a fine cheese or bottle or olive oil. There were freezer burned chicken wings, sticky bottles of sauce and all kinds of other food that the previous guests had left behind. 

Also all the cookware and dishware were mismatched and in poor condition. All this makes it really hard to settle into a kitchen and do all the cooking we want to do. In the end we spent at least an hour clearing out the old food and reorganizing the cupboards. Not what you want to be doing when you arrive in a new place.  

Of course, we’ve definitely learned a lot from our mistakes over the past couple years. As soon as we started traveling full time, we realized that our budget of $1,200 USD a month was way too low. At that amount we were getting some really rundown apartments. So we’re now at a budget of $1,800 and are willing to pay even more as needed. We also learned to really deep dive into the guest reviews. We always used to read the reviews but now we study them in detail. 

Of course, we’ve also encountered some issues that make us question whether we should be continuing with this lifestyle at all. Is it really worth the trouble? When you’ve booked a month-long stay and you do have problems, you’re really at the mercy of the host. I mean, you can raise complaints with Airbnb but at the end of the day, it’s the host who’s going to address your concerns. Or not. 

The apartment that we had last spring was generally a nice space. However there was an important issue that really needed some attention from the host: the kitchen was almost empty. There was hardly any cutlery or dishware or pots and pans. We reached out to the host many times — and nothing was done. So we had to just run to the nearest dollar store to fill in the gaps. 

But our worst problem with an unresponsive host was at an Airbnb we never even stayed in. We booked a full month at an apartment in Malta. A few days ahead we let the host know what time we’d be arriving and asked for the check-in details. And then we waited. And waited. By 11:30pm the night before our 6:00am flight, we had no address, no check in details and no response from the host. Fortunately we were able to quickly find a last minute replacement, although no one got much sleep that night. 

With all these bad experiences, you might be wondering if we are ready to give up our nomadic, Airbnb lifestyle. Not quite yet. 

For each one of these unfortunate experiences, we’ve had twice as many great ones. After our fiasco with the first apartment in Malta, we ended up with a very atmospheric loft that was just steps from the beach. In Athens, we stayed in a gorgeous penthouse apartment with a view across the city. In Dubrovnik, we had a charming little studio with equally charming hosts who provided free weekly cleaning. Even here in Toronto where we’ve had some bad experiences, we had a beautiful studio apartment in the west end. We loved it so much we stayed there twice. 

Despite any issues, there’s really no better way to feel like you’re living as a local. And honestly, very few places will ever be perfect. We’ve learned to be a little more open minded and try to look for the positive in each situation. We’re in Florence, we’re in Istanbul – isn’t that amazing!

We still make every effort to get the best place we can in each city. As you can tell, we’ve had a lot of trial and error over the past couple years. By now, we’re pretty clear on what makes the best apartment for us.