Random Thoughts Thread

[Robert Hall]

15 hours ago, G. David Felt said:

Sadly, I think both are bad and good, really depends on where you are going and the people as I have had both ends of the experience spectrum with these two services.

Yeah, my sister has done Airbnb several times w/ condos in Miami Beach and Myrtle Beach...mixed results. She's had places with bad lighting, very uncomfortable beds, leaking ceilings, failed furnaces...others have been spotless and very clean and tidy, with comfortable beds. 

Edited 16 hours ago by Robert Hall

[Drew Dowdell]

19 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

I have not had such great experiences with Airbnb.  I never quite settle in.  One experience in Italy was rotten and I had to report it.  So did another person.  This person lost "guest favorite" status.

That said, Turo also makes me apprehensive.  I've heard it can also be awkward for the renter/guest.  Reviews are more bad than good.

I have used both. I have a couple of favorites on AirBnB that I return to.  Turo needs to be the right situation. There's a guy who rents out his Model-3 near me who I've used because renting his car is cheaper than fueling my truck. 

[A Horse With No Name]

3 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Yeah, my sister has done Airbnb several times w/ condos in Miami Beach and Myrtle Beach...mixed results. She's had places with bad lighting, very uncomfortable beds, leaking ceilings, failed furnaces...others have been spotless and very clean and tidy, with comfortable beds. 

In general I have had excellent luck. 

 

Olds content for Drew...

[trinacriabob]

I had a good and a mixed Airbnb experience in Sicily and East Central Italy, respectively, lately.  In Sicily, they were just cool people.  In East Central, they were nice but a little stiffer.  The condo was sort of a loft where a curved standard staircase went up to the sleeping area.  Grand total about 600 s.f., but the floor to ceiling windows kept me in an upbeat mood.  The mom of the owner would bring stuff weekly and, when I extended, she quipped that I was getting it for a steal of a price.  Considering that it was spring and not summer, it did not command the summer price.  All she needed to do is take my nightly price and multiply by 30 to see they didn't do so bad and how that looks vis-a-vis the debt service, if any.  I also did okay, so win-win.  She didn't understand the common sense concept of market equilibrium, which is intuitive but studied in school.  I think the unit would have gone for 125 to 150 K Euro if for sale.  Italy may not have white trash as we know it in the States (sorry), but when you explain our social systems, educational systems, etc. to give nuances as to how they differ, reasonably educated people there can be just as obtuse as our basket of deplorables.

Also, when I read reviews, many hosts give foreign guests a ride to the train station.  It was 2 to 3 miles away.  They saw I had beaucoup luggage and did not offer.  The bus line serving the train station was luckily there in 5 minutes and I had a pass.  Different region from Sicily and a little more insular, too.

I have friend who has an Airbnb in San Diego and he says hosts love it when guests don't cook in the Airbnbs.  Well, I don't cook.  Beyond breakfast, I eat out.  She shouldn't have looked a gift horse in the mouth.

Bleh.

[Paolino]

Ok, a few things to address, but I agree with most if not all you've said.

My only Air B&B experience in Italy was in July 2023, in Bari (southeastern on the boot; top of the heel). The only caveat of the whole thing was an elevator issue, which was rectified (it was on the top floor, and one day it wasn't working so we had to walk down all the stairs, and it was 115F outside, and you know the interior of the building doesn't have a/c). Since I broke my leg falling down a flight of stairs during lockdown, I still get anxiety on them today.

Everything else about the experience was perfect.

My only experiences not in the south are limited to 25 years ago... I've spent a few trips on the bottom of the heel at my in-laws homes, and the south in general, is opposite of the south of the US in terms of being progressive. When it comes to more liberal topics such as homosexuality, the south is surprisingly friendly. Even the town priest walked up to me and was very welcoming. The places you may come across more right-leaning ideologies are in central Italy and the north. Of course it's not everyone, but in general, you'll see more bigoted people in central/northern Italy. 

It's tricky for me to give an accurate, unbiased reaction to the country though because when I go there, I am fluent enough to be confused as a native, and they always peg my accent as southern (which has to be from my late fiance's and my grandmother's/father's influence). You will still get the reaction from northerners that are against the south... just like southerners who are against the north, but I'll save that history lesson for class.

Small towns in the south are incredible.. I stayed in this tiny hotel... 40€ a night, air-conditioned, breakfast included (granted in Italy that's just a cornetto and a cappuccino, but that's all I eat anyway), WiFi, so clean you could eat off the bidè, and the hotel owner's wife treated me like her child. I came home one night and she washed and folded my dirty laundry (seriously). I approached her about it, which, I understand most might find this a huge invasion of their privacy, but when a man is traveling alone (and she knew I was a widower), the "mother" in them comes out. In fact, she didn't think I was taking good-enough care of myself, so she'd tell me to go into the kitchen and help myself to peach juice, taralli (for those who don't know, they're the Italian versions of pretzels but have a texture of like a cracker), cookies, etc.

Southern Italy has become more like home to me (aside from my fiance being buried there, it reminds me of my own family). My only hatred is for the blistering sun and summer heat.

[A Horse With No Name]

 

[A Horse With No Name]

Interesting how badly the Ford Expedition does in this test. You would think for a flagship model they would get it right. 

 

Mustang did not faire well either.