The Problem With Airbnb: Why Digital Nomads Should Rethink Short-Term Rentals
Airbnb feels like it’s reached a tipping point. Does it need to make some changes if it’s going to contribute to a future of more sustainable travel?
My first AirBnb experience was in Barcelona for Primavera Festival in 2016. I was tagging along with a group of friends (only one of which I actually knew). It was a cheap deal. A small two bedroom apartment in a trendy part of town. Grazia. A great location. The bedrooms housed four white bunk beds in each and I remember it being all off-white. From the walls to the bathrooms and bedsheets. There were cracks in the walls, the hot water didn’t work but the price was right for a big weekend away.
How Airbnb Changed the Way We Travel
Looking back, I was relatively late to the AirBnb party and the cracks were beginning to show even then, with someone renting out an apartment specifically for AirBnb. This was no one’s home, it wasn’t lived in and I wasn’t doing them a favour staying while they were out of town.
The Hidden Costs of Airbnb on Local Communities
I’ve have since stayed in over a dozen places ranging from small rooms to entire apartments. From Budapest to Berlin, it’ been my preferred way of travelling. I wouldn’t even bother looking for a hotel. I bought into the Airbnb experience. To experience life as locals do…. but this summer something changed.
After a summer in Italy which more closely resembled Disney Land, I’ve come to realise that the concept has turned into a monster for the locals who live there. Sending rent prices sky rocketing. Pricing locals out. Decimating communities. Leaving huge swathes of inner city apartments filled with transient tourists who give nothing back to the community they are staying in. These apartments lay empty in winter, leaving the area dull and businesses struggling.
Why Airbnb Is No Longer a “Good Deal”
My friend Vik, whom I met on the Via Delghi Dei hike from Bologna to Florence summed it up perfectly, “Rome is a great place to visit now but it’s not really a nice place to live”.
A conversation with Emilio in Florence revealed that “Nobody actually lives here [in Florence] anymore… I work at an electronics shop and there used to be around ten of them in the city but now they’ve all closed. We’re the last ones and we don’t even really stock living items anymore. During covid, the city was completely empty”.
This has stayed on my mind over the past few months. If I use Airbnb, I’ve started either booking a room in a local house where the owners actually live or reverted back to using hotels and guesthouses as the prices have levelled out and at this point you’re not even getting a good deal.
Towards More Sustainable Travel Stays
So what can we do instead?
- Book guesthouses and family-run hotels: These often provide a warmer, more personal experience than faceless rentals.
- Use Airbnb differently: Look for listings where the host actually lives in the property and rents a spare room.
- Stay longer: By slowing down and spending more time in one place, you contribute more meaningfully to the local economy (and avoid digital nomad burnout, something I’ve written about here).
As digital nomads, our choices matter. If we keep feeding the Airbnb machine, we’re part of the reason locals can’t afford to live in their own neighbourhoods. Who really wants to live in a hollowed-out city with no locals?
It ties back to the idea of slow travel for me…slowing down, spending longer in one place, and actually connecting with the people who live there. (I wrote more about that in Slow Travel: How to Live the Journey).
These days, if I use Airbnb, I’m more mindful about it. I’ll book a room in a real home with a local guest, or I’ll pick a guesthouse if it feels more sustainable.
What’s your experience with Airbnb, do you think it’s still worth it? Leave a comment below.
You Might Also Like
