[geddes]

This is also a cultural barrier, when I lived in germany very few people had electric clothes dryers - most people had electric washers and racks for air drying. For a german it's reasonable to assume dryer meant hair dryer.

Ultimately, because AirBNB and VRBO are p2p you are accepting a certain level of risk in exchange for a rate much cheaper than a name brand hotel. The name brand hotel buys you a level of certainty in the experience you will have.

My example airbnb in Prague - a room advertised as a king size bed, but when we got there it was two twin mattresses pushed together, with a king size sheet laid over both of them.

In my experience hosts have been honest when you ask them direct questions when researching their listing. It just takes time to do this for every listing you are interested in, and there will always be things you don't think of. "Is your bed a single mattress or two mattresses pushed together?" wasn't on my list!