[rakefire]

but booking with Airbnb was great at one point and it degraded greatly IMHO.

I couldn't agree more. I'm traveling pretty often but in the last year I have to say that I ended up hating Airbnb for their high fees, lack of customer support,and the plenty flaws in their system. Lately, I'm using booking.com just because are more professional and they even offer discounts after various bookings. A big minus with booking would be the small hotel rooms with no kitchen (not so cozy).

[kaybe]

booking.com has always worked very well for me in terms of service, but the user interface is extremely hostile to me with its nagging pop-ups and stressful text in general.

I know they're trying to get me to book by showing me an imagined or real shortage, but it stresses me out to the point I try to avoid them.

[pxtail]

After reading your description I took a moment to analyze my thoughts and feelings toward booking and I think that first and easily distinguishable emotion that came to my mind was mild anxiety.

I'm pretty sure that this hostile UI brings them money and that's why they are doing it but on the other hand I'm wondering if in the long run customers negative feelings/connotations toward service will eventually matter.