Air BnBs in Mexico (And Why You May Want to Stick with Hotels)
AirBnB’s can definitely come in handy. When you’re traveling with a group or plan on staying more than a day or two, most of us want to be able to make a cup of coffee. Hotel refrigerators, if you have have one, aren’t cold enough to store fruit and left-overs. AirBnBs offer creative spaces that reflect the personality of the host and offer more of an experience in themselves.
AirBnB generally has good customer-service and guest guarantees. They go out of their way to resolve issues in situations that can get pretty emotional. When you travel to Mexico, it’s worth using AirBnB for peace of mind knowing that you aren’t going to be scammed or make a deposit on a place that doesn’t exist. You have that big layer of protection. For a month stay in Mexico, you likely have few options other than AirBnB’s.
I recently traveled around Central Mexico for a few months, staying in a variety of AirBnBs. The most important thing to be prepared for if considering AirBnB in Mexico is that unless you are paying top dollar, AirBnBs in Mexico are likely to aggravate you.
Unpredictable provisions
Several friends of mine in the US host or have hosted AirBnb places ranging from inexpensive basement apartments to pricey beachfront guesthouses. It’s common sense to all of them to provide essentials like dish soap and sponges, paper towels, coffee, salt and pepper - in all about 20 items a guest needs the first 24 hours off the plane.
Mexico hosts, however, often lack this awareness (unless they’re expats). Mexican AirBnB’s usually provide the minimum of furniture, lack adequate lighting, and are completely random about what essentials they provide.
At a hotel, you can anticipate what will be there. At an AirBnB in Mexico you won’t know whether it will be missing sponges or whether it will be missing bottled water. You won’t know what to pick up on your way there. If you only knew!
If you break a glass on the tile floor the first night, you might not have a broom, or even paper towels. You might get out of the shower and find there’s no bathmat and you’ve been given one towel. Water isn’t potable in Mexico. They might have filtered water, or they might give you one 8 ounce bottle to make it through the night. You never know.
No kitchenware
One of the biggest reasons to rent an AirBnb is to have a basic kitchen, one that can at least produce a breakfast. AirBnB requires hosts advertising a kitchen to provide basic cookware.
As a solo female traveler staying weeks at a time per city, it’s neither safe, comfortable nor practical for me to try to live on restaurant fare. I’m a travel cook because I like to know what I’m eating. I stay at AirBnBs for the kitchens.
Many AirBnBs in Mexico seemed to have moved to digital electric or convection stovetops. They can be impossible to figure out. (You’ll be cruising along with pasta cooking, the burner suddenly turns off, and you can’t figure out how to turn it back on or lower the heat.) I’ve never seen instructions provided.
The biggest rubbing point between me and Mexico AirBnB however is the lack of kitchenware In a majority of them you’ll find the cupboards completely bare, nary skillet nor knife. Drawers are empty, as if you’re viewing a model home. If you’re fortunate, you might find a bit of cutlery to use with for take-out food.
For a month-long stay or longer, I don’t mind spending $100 or so on basic cookware when I rent. However, for a two-week stay, it’s annoying. Especially when you’re traveling for several months and hopping from one AirBnB to another, each time having to buy the same cookware.
The reason hosts give for not having cookware is that most of their guests are very short-term and don’t need to cook. My friends who are hosts confess that they prefer their guests not cook. I also suspect theft to be an issue. These excuses, however, don’t excuse hosts of their obligation to provide the cookware as required by AirBnB. Otherwise, you as a guest are put in the position to ask for it, which has its own pitfalls.
Of the four AirBnBs I stayed at, only one provided any basic cookware upon arrival (as the author of a cookbook for expats and travelers, I know how to cook with the bare minimum).
It was a large house with eight rooms and a big kitchen. The cookware was shared by a larger number of guests than most AirBnBs and run more like a hotel, with a maid on-site to help you. I still had to buy a few things, but less than $20 worth.
A second AirBnB host in Guadalajara graciously lent me her own cookware, leaving me both with a workable assortment and the fear I taking her family’s only soup pot. Utensils provided by hosts often seem designed to be used by dwarves; little four-inch plastic spatulas, whisks, and ladles. My friend would visit me and we’d joke about mi casa de muñecas (doll house).
Brooms and cleaning items are often miniature as well. My friend, who’s an accomplished artist, was so amused seeing me bent over a two foot broom cleaning the kitchen that she drew a really good sketch of it. We put the sketch inside an empty frame that had been hanging in a montage of sketches very similar to the one of me. It’s hilarious - and likely won’t be noticed for years.
The third host went out and bought a big batch of entirely new cookware, which I unwrapped from the boxes. AirBnB tells hosts what to provide, but the hosts didn’t read the guidelines, bought unnecessary items, and I felt guilty about the extra expense.
Given that the fourth AirBnB was quite expensive, and tired of the succession of empty cabinets, I was more insistent. One of the two co-hosts reluctantly bought a few items after several requests, ignoring my suggestion of a simple skillet and knife and opting instead for a meat cleaver, larger glasses and the world’s smallest cutting board.
In short, this clip from Seth Myers on Comedy Central reflects how I’ve come to feel about AirBnBs.
Holding grudges
In this last example, the hosts tried to re-coup for the costs of providing these few items by falsely claiming damages after I’d checked out. Neither me nor AirBnB went for it and the hosts retaliated by giving me a bad guest review.
I had asked AirBnB to move me when I first encountered resistance to my request for precisely this concern. However, because the hosts had “made an effort” with the meat cleaver and cutting board, AirBnB wouldn’t give me a refund if I moved. I was stuck.
Mixed messages from multiple hosts
These days, AirBnbs are often managed by two people. Two hosts mean ample opportunity for conflicting information. At one stay, a host invited me enthusiastically to use the laundry facilities even as his partner sent me terse emails about being in a “prohibited” area.
Two of the 4 AirBnb had this good-cop, bad-cop vibe. In the last example one cheerfully offered assistance when the toilet clogged (no plunger in the unit), even as his wife/girlfriend worked up the false charges.
I’ve had good experiences in AirBnB’s too. The Queretaro apartment had a spectacular view. The Guadalajara townhouse AirBnB was cozy and cleverly laid-out for such a small space. At the AirBnB house in San Miguel De Allende, I made an unlikely friend, talking for hours every time we ran into each other in its big open kitchen. We still talk and text frequently. This never would have happened had we been just been staying in the same hotel.
Overall though, the greatest thing about AirBnBs in Mexico is how they make you appreciate a nice hotel room again.
If you are renting an AirBnB for the kitchen, do the following:
Ask the host about the cookware before you book by asking them specifically what they will provide instead of the yes/no whether they provide it.
Budget for buying cookware. Assume you will spend $75 - $150 on essential items on top of what you’re paying when you book a place. If you don’t have to buy it, consider it a bonus.
If you’re driving, pack your own cookware.
Other precautions
Take pictures when you arrive (to show what’s been given, and when you leave. Pictures can counter false damage claims that you may not learn about until after you’ve left. Even though it’s hard to anticipate what they might fabricate. I was accused of breaking a bathroom lock, unconvincing since I had stayed there alone - who would I have been locking out? I would never have dreamed of taking a picture of a bathroom lock.
My cookbook, The Lazy Expat Healhty Recipes That Translate in Mexico, offers a list of cookware and lots of easy, healthy recipes that can be made from the simplest of kitchens (even those with just a meat cleaver, skillet and a six-inch cutting board.)
About the author
Kerry Baker is the author of a four books, including If I Only Had a Place, a guide to renting in Mexico, The Mexico Solution: Saving your money, sanity and quality of life by living in Mexico part-time, and The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico, a cookbook for travelers, snowbirds and expats who want to maintain a healthy diet in Mexico.