airbnb, C or D?

Yeah, that's the backlash I've increasingly seen. On the other hand, Airbnb serves some specific needs that hotels really can't fill, namely hosting big family gatherings. Getting a couple of hotel rooms just for the four of us adds up, but throwing in another family or grandparents or however many total people and it makes more sense to get a whole house with a kitchen and a pool and lots of space, for significantly less than the hotel equivalent. Is there an alternative to Airbnb that can offer that? (Aside from VRBO, which is more or less the same thing.)

She cancelled us. I kind of regret not canceling myself now, our period is blocked out and she can't rebook it and I was curious to see if she actually got any bookings for that period. Though she doesnt have any bookings for any other period so I guess I can if anyone ever books it. It seems unlikely as only 4 reviews so far presumably at the price we paid, and if she's not getting bookings at that price getting them at 2.5x the price seems impossible.

None of this really makes any sense, I don't think it was a cash grab, and she can't rebook those dates now anyway so its a guaranteed loss

If there were more apartment hotels available everywhere I’d probably never book airbnbs. I like having a separate bedroom from the kids and a kitchen. I like the option of being able to eat a light meal at our place instead of greasy restaurant food every meal. But that combined with the predictability and professionalism of a hotel, maybe also a swimming pool, is always going to be better than the who knows what you get with a private house owner.

Never even think about one if traveling alone.

Really? The type of hotels you mention seem to be everywhere now: Residence Inns, Springhill suites, etc.

A lot of those places either don't have multiple bedrooms or have very limited availability ime. It's usually a studio apt type deal.

limited availability for the multi-bedroom suites I mean

Sometimes you can find a 1BR room with a fold-out sofa for the kids, which is not bad.

I'm gonna be up in Madison to see King Crimson this November, and even though it's only two hours away, we decided to stay overnight. My buddy requested his own room, because he says he snores like a train. Two rooms at a hotel would cost afaict over twice as much as one airbnb with two bedrooms.

C: Having a kitchen, not seeing 1000 other people when you walk through the lobby in your sweatpants to get something from the car, privacy, separate bedrooms.
D: Predatory, reduces already low housing availability, encourages non-residence property hoarding from bad actors, is both nefarious in intent and also used even more nefariously by parties who know they're acting outside the supposed intentions of "making your extra room available for a small fee" model.

I thought we didn't have AirBnB in Madison, but I guess it's just heavily regulated (you need to apply for a license, they inspect the property, the owner needs to remain on site when renting it out so no investment properties that are only AirBnBs).

Maybe it's technically outside the city? dunno.

there are definitely a lot of "SuperHosts" who have like 20+ properties in a city around here.