I'm firmly in the pro-air bnb camp. I use them all the time as a renter and, as a company they are fantastic.
They earned my loyalty the very first time I used them. Rented a place in Amsterdam and had spotty communication with the host. Then, 48 hours before I got to Amsterdam she sent an email canceling my rental. I was already in Europe and not regularly checking my mail so I didn't see the message until 24 hours before I was to arrive.
In my inbox there were also like 6 other messages from air bnb. The first was an apology, sent minutes after the cancellation. The second was a full refund plus a 100 euro credit. The next four were airbnb hosts who had rooms available and were offering me discounts on their regular rates.
Airbnb had solved my problem before I even knew it existed and I ended up in a much nicer place in a more central part of Amsterdam for less. Since that experience I am pretty unswervingly loyal to the company and have had nothing but great experiences since then staying in about 50 different airbnb places all over the world.
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