Airbnb
What really killed off the traditional B&B
To B&B or not to B&B? That is the question. Whether it’s nobler to offer breakfast to a guest is…
People who say it’s no good throwing money at a problem have never been poor
It started during the bus journey from Glasgow to Edinburgh airport on the way home to Provence. Saying goodbye is…
Has Airbnb just declared war against its hosts?
The Airbnb help centre chatbot kept telling me that she understood how frustrating it must be for me to have…
The day Peter Mandelson tried to get me sacked
Assuming it was full of junk, I tried to pull the trunk out of the way but I couldn’t move…
Has Ireland’s tourist board just killed my Airbnb?
The estate agent said that they would send someone round tomorrow and I had to calm them down. Come in…
Owning an Airbnb is hell
I know it can be difficult to have sympathy for anybody who owns a holiday let, but for me and…
The Airbnb guest from hell
‘Is there a secret passageway behind that door?’ said the weirdly difficult Kiwi as she eyed a door marked ‘private’…
I’m more convinced than ever that Ian Bailey was innocent
Over coffee in a seafood restaurant in the harbour, I talked with the most notorious accused man in Ireland and,…
Tenerife is a soap opera in the sun
A warm Sahara wind was blowing and by late afternoon the western sky where it met the sea was the…
How I found Love on Airbnb
‘My name is Love,’ typed the help assistant, ‘and I’m a member of the Airbnb community support team.’ I was…
Real life
As I sat down to dinner in a lovely old country pub my reservation was cancelled by my iPhone, which…
Low life
Finally rain. None for months, then a violent tropical storm lasting two days. It marked the end of high summer…
From Baroness Trumpington to bad sex: my Christmas party week
The Airbnb accommodation at Paddington, chez Mohammed, was a fourth-floor room measuring about nine feet by five. As well as…
I rented out my home. The tenants turned it into a brothel
I had been in Los Angeles for less than a month when I received the call from a concerned neighbour…
Was our Airbnb host a closet toreador?
We were standing in the tiny hall: me, Catriona, Annette and her toy Yorkshire terrier, Ahmed. It was our first…
Dear Mary
Q. My children are very lucky in that we have bought them all flats. However, they are now renting out…
Real life
After a tense two week stand-off, the Balham Airbnb Crisis has been resolved. My upstairs neighbour and I have drawn…
Real life
The gloves are off in my battle with the two brothers who live in the flat upstairs. They have just…
Real life
I am becoming the Basil Fawlty of Airbnb. Almost everything that tormented Basil has tormented me since I started taking…
When sharing isn’t fair
In Silicon Valley, renting out is the new selling —and renting out stuff that belongs to other people can be…
Real life
‘No, I do not do WhatsApp.’ That’s pretty much all I ever seem to say to people nowadays. They ask…
Unfair shares
The sinister, manipulative side of Uber and Airbnb
