[ben1040]

A coworker and I have had this same problem while trying to book a place for a trip in May. Places show up as available, but the owners then reply with "well, that's too far to tell, I might not even have this apartment then."

It you're not sure if it's available, why are you listing it as such? I guess the disconnect is that every person who does this is acting in their own interest and doesn't care about the interests of AirBnB or their customer experience.

It's really soured me on trying to use this, because I don't need to mail 10 hotels that say they're available on my dates, and go back and forth only to be told no. I hit a button and book it.

It's also bad that people like to write in the house rules section things like "I have a $75 cleaning fee" or "I require a $400 security deposit via paypal prior to checking in." I shouldn't have to pay a surcharge for the unit to be clean and in the advertised condition. A security deposit I can understand, but AirBnB should be brokering that via credit card holds rather than allowing cash exchanges between renter and owner.

If you're trying to compete with the hotel experience, simply having a lower price isn't the only factor involved.

I'd still like to give AirBnB my money and try this service, but after a week or two of trying to book something, they're making it really hard to do.