00:00.10
archpodnet
Um.

00:02.16
Bill White
Okay, we're back with segment 2 we're talking about staying at vacation rentals as part of your field work experience and the first part you know we were kind of talking about some of the complexities involved with choosing that as your lodging for your crew or for yourself when you're out in the field. Um. You know there's there's a lot of benefits to staying at a vacation rental and as Doug was saying it should really be the choice of the crew I mean it's interesting to hear now that agencies don't want to see these vacation rental receipts I have a million questions on that and I have a feeling that there's. Only um, you know there's a lot of answers and there was probably 1 or two problems and now agencies just made this edict that you can't do it like I I have a feeling I work for a government agency. So I know how the shit goes but in this next part. I just want to set the stage so that everybody doesn't just think that I'm trying to destroy the entire business model. My my son's going to turn 13 um this summer and since he was born. My wife and I almost always defaulted and chose airbnb vrbo.

01:06.36
Heather
I.

01:07.87
Bill White
Or other vacation rental platforms wherever we were going and even when we went to go see the grandparents or my sister and brother a lot of times we would choose an airbnb and because when your kids are little I mean it's just so much more functional. You have more space a lot of times we'd have room for the kid's play pin. There was. A different room a separate full-on room with a door that you could black out and have kids take naps and stuff you could have a refrigerator in a stove in a kitchen so that you can cook food for picky kids who only eat you know mcnuggets or grapes for you know an entire year. So all those things are options that are much more. You know you can really do those if you stay at a vacation rental but over the last few years I have seen the quality just collapse and the biggest problem that all of these vacation rental places have is quality control it. It begins and ends with that. Because now the prices are equal if not more than hotels in most towns in the United States and what you're getting back is just a way inferior product if you have problems at a hotel 9 times out of 10 you can be moved from that room with hotels because the chains. Our standard or you see the stars or you can look at pictures you kind of know given your market that if you pay one hundred and sixty seven dollars a night in Tucson Arizona and most other places are 200 your place is going to be you know substandard.

02:35.61
Bill White
If you go online and you see a place that's normally $300 a night that's down to $200 a night then you know this is you know coming in above your normal you know price range and that you're getting a higher quality. Ah hotel. But when it comes to the vacation rentals. You never can tell and they don't have. Quality photographs so that you can actually see the thing that you're getting I mean there's pictures that were taken by us or pictures just taken by other people with a lot of the hotels. It's a you know overall marketing company that is making the picture look good when they say something like air conditioning at a at. Any chain major chain hotel in the united states you're going to get central air conditioning or a high quality air conditioner. It's not going to be. You know some tiny window unit thrown in a corner that you know maybe sputters on and off when they say wi-fi you can actually now now. At least no in the lobby. There's going to be decent wi-fi sometimes there's problems with the routers I'm not saying every single you know hotel has the same quality level. But if you get used to a certain chain then you kind of know what to expect from the bed you kind of know what to expect from the ah toiletries and all the other stuff but with airbnb it seriously is. 44000 individuals most of whom aren't even actually in that town or area or whatever that are just kind of kicking the football towards the goal line and a lot of folks are going out of bounds man they're they're not making it very far some of these places are ah horror stories right.

04:04.30
Bill White
So I have fortunately been able to avoid most of the horror stories. But in the past you know I'm trying to think I stayed out at 1 in a certain town in Oregon where it had a hot tub that was just filthy man it was just this swamp hole that stunk in the backyard. And we you know we weren't even going to use it because we had kids but it was just totally disgusting and stunk the whole place up places where you turn on the wi-fi and they like charge you an extra bill because you went over like a small amount of data or that they said they have wi-fi and they don't which is the case of the place that I'm staying in right now they say they have wi-fi but I am sitting. Right next to the router and it struggles to upload this stuff. You know every single time things with a power going on and off things with I stayed in one in um, San Diego where they didn't change any of the sheets the the whole place was still dirty and they said that it was ready to go and there was a religious revival right on the backside of ah a fs. Where all day and all night long they celebrated the life story of Jesus Christ at maximum volume for seventy two full hours other ones that are they because they also don't tell you where it's at other ones in California that have been next to you know um. Unhoused encampments with all kinds of cars parked in front of them and stuff like that and you have no idea what's going on out front and then the issue of even just getting into the place too staying at a place in ah Spain where we had troubles trying to even find the place or have anyone meet us at ah, any form of place where a motorized vehicle could.

05:38.47
Bill White
Make it and then carrying our things you know half a mile down a road because they didn't tell us that the parking was pretty much in the next town compared to where the apartment was at and so just all this kind of stuff. It just starts building up and over the years I remember viascos with hotels too. But I also remember those resolved by just giving the person another room or giving them a refund your money is trapped on these vacation platforms. There's no way to get your money back unless there's like some kind of major illegal problem or the place is structurally compromised I mean basically um.

06:14.55
Bill White
It's like mom and pop trying to provide hotel services in a world where a hotel is actually the same price and so I just I mean I'm at a crossroads right? because when you're stand there for this long you you kind of need to have amenities and if you've got a huge crew and several people having them all stay.

06:23.59
Heather
A.

06:33.12
Bill White
And 1 place is really convenient having you know, being able to share supplies and everything with kitchens that's also convenient and everything but I'm you know moving into a space where I'm starting to think that hotel is the only way to go and I might be just done with those when it comes to archeology field work.

06:49.46
Doug
Yeah, well bill's list was pretty extensive. Um I would just add to that is um, one thing I do find knowying about those sort of I mean we're we're saying airbnb. But it's airbnb and similar platforms I mean there.

06:55.45
Heather
Ah.

07:06.75
Doug
Fairly interchangeable unless you get 1 of like a community based 1 Um and ah 1 thing that annoys me is like always is the cleaning charges because you'll look at it and you'll be like okay this is comparable to a um ah ah hotel and then when you go for like the final bill or it can be.

07:18.38
Bill White
Oh yeah, oh yeah.

07:18.53
Heather
And it's add. Yep.

07:26.41
Doug
Super like you know it just it takes a lot to compare because then you'll you'll have to go in there and they'll say oh you know we charge you know X amount per day of for cleaning or there's a final cleaning fee and basically it's actually much harder to compare um prices because not, there's not. Ah, standard extra fees that they toss in on on different ones and that especially on Airbnb. There's not you get that that one price and then you get that final price. Once you've said you're going to do that. But it's actually a lot of extra work pulling up all the different airbnbs and then comparing all their additional.

07:45.39
Bill White
Um, yeah.

08:02.66
Bill White
Yeah.

08:03.35
Doug
Fees or you know charges or potential charges you might have where like if if you didn't leave that place like military grade Clean um like you're in boot camp and have used a toothbrush to to ah clean, the floor they're going to charge you.

08:15.00
Bill White
Yeah, yeah.

08:19.32
Doug
Um X amount for cleaning and stuff we're still going to charge you anyways like um, ah, ah, been through so many of those things where they're um, it doesn't matter. Theyre they're planning they they've already scheduled someone to come in and clean. They're just trying to book you for that cleaning fee. Um.

08:24.61
Bill White
Yep.

08:36.90
Doug
Instead of like paying it out of their pocket. Um, so like that's that's the extra thing I'd add. Um I guess another morality one is so like this isn't going to be every community but like ah it's it's particularly bad in Edinburgh and a lot of places. Um in Scotland where airbnb has just.

08:40.37
Bill White
Yep.

08:56.74
Doug
Hollowed out communities where people have just figured out that you can make a lot more money air being being out of place than actually renting it to people so like city center of Edinburgh has 5000 airbnbs um in like ah I think. 1 or two square miles. It's it's a ridiculous amount but there's actually like no one that lives in old Town Edinburgh and like Newtown you have to have serious money or it's all airbnbs and they've just decimated the highlands like there's this.

09:29.78
Bill White
Yeah.

09:34.40
Doug
There's a huge problem with like basically communities being hollowed out because you either own a home or you have to move out and go to ah a city where you can be able to actually rent because there's no place to rent because everyone has come in with more money bought wherever the housing is there and turned it into. And airbnb because it's it's convenient for them. They can go up and spend a month there for a holiday and then the eleven months out of the year they they go to an agency. The agency rents it out. They make money. Um, but basically they've it's a huge problem in rural areas in Scotland where it's it's basically decimating.

09:53.52
Bill White
Yeah, so.

10:05.60
Bill White
Earth.

10:11.60
Doug
Already like I mean these areas have been losing populations for a long time. They're much older because young people just cannot stay there so it's ah it's a pretty rough thing I mean morally, it's it's a bit dubious on Airbnb and.

10:17.31
Bill White
Yeah.

10:25.88
Heather
And yeah I would say um my 1 experience was in. We went to cabo last year and the 1 thing I noticed in Mexico there are you know there's a lot of there are some hotels but but a lot of them are time shares and people are airbn being. Time shares and so in that case and and that's when we did the airbnb and actually I think that's kind of if the price is right? That's the best of both worlds because you do have exactly what bill is saying a lot of airbnbs don't have that you have this guarantee. It's in a resort. It's like a hotel. It's everything. It's taken care of.

10:43.96
Bill White
The app.

11:03.48
Heather
At that level and it's you know there's a little bit more control there and comfort level in knowing that it's going to be of a better quality and so our experience in Cabo was great and the price was right? It was a lot cheaper than the hotels. Um. And so it was a good option for us. But you know even though I don't use airbnb as a lot I do see a lot They're just too much work I like actually I think about I've done it one one other time one other time when we had such a bad fire in this area I wanted to get the kids out of the smoke.

11:32.53
Bill White
Ah.

11:38.81
Heather
So we went up to the mountains and we stayed in the airbnb there and it was actually a good experience for the most part but you have people that even if with the best of intentions. They don't know how to make their own bed. They probably don't even watch their own sheets as much as they should.

11:53.11
Bill White
Yeah, yeah, just.

11:55.76
Heather
Now they're in charge of a hotel kind of and they're you know you're putting your health in their hands I just it's kind of I've had I actually also rented an rv ones and that was. Like 1 of the grossest things I've ever experienced that I'm actually not been going to go into the details of it because it was so bad and that you know was that.

12:16.57
Bill White
Ah, was the was the owner someone by the name of Chris Webster was that the person who owned the rv that you that the airbnb do you? He actually stays in another his other.

12:28.70
Heather
Ah, no it.

12:31.76
Bill White
Second rvy and he just airbnb is the other one. That's why he's always because his wife's got to drive 1 of their air being now I'm joking I don't think he does I don't think he does. Ah.

12:34.38
Heather
Oh does he I didn't know that okay I was like really um, it was oh my gosh. This guys was such a shyster. But anyway it was um, it was an experience but I I think that like all these.

12:48.24
Bill White
Yeah.

12:52.24
Heather
Points are are very valid and I do think that now you know this is what happens where you know it was a good deal people start taking they start. Oh you know I'll kind of bump it up a little bit more and you know it's the market's free market right? So now Airbnb is going to unless they start putting some.

12:56.73
Bill White
Yeah.

13:02.35
Bill White
Yeah.

13:11.57
Heather
Putting together some kind of algorithm or some kind of control there. They are going to lose out because it's exactly what you say when I go on there I'm like you know what? I'm finding hotels that are the same or less and so what I think is happening is that these airbnb people are looking. Oh.

13:24.16
Bill White
Yeah.

13:29.78
Heather
But the hotel says and I have a better quality like you can actually have a house I'm like yeah, but honestly, how many people want to go and stay in somebody's house. Ah when it's not like you go to a hotel and I understand the kitchen and everything but there's a lot of extended stays right.

13:39.62
Bill White
Well.

13:45.19
Bill White
Yeah, yeah.

13:48.61
Heather
That you can get all those amenities in a hotel now the air and B and love I You can go to neat places and stay in something for me like you get to stay in a historical house. There's options for that. That's super cool. But when it goes when it comes to some of these areas where you're going into the field. And you're just trying to find the airbnb and that's not your purpose. Your purpose isn't to stay in a neat little house. Your purpose is to try to save money and so unfortunately maybe this is starting to shift out of a benefit for cruise and yeah, it's.

14:14.15
Bill White
Yeah, yeah.

14:25.73
Heather
It's too bad.

14:25.75
Bill White
Yeah, and the other thing about it being a benefit of being together like I'm trying to think of previous companies I worked for where I ever wanted to stay with my coworkers like ever and so I can see how the whole workplace dynamic is.

14:39.83
Heather
Ah, here.

14:45.25
Bill White
You know could possibly be bad if the company is first of all saving money by jamming everybody in an apartment together and then it all being like you know Mtv Road rules basically where everybody's just fighting and snarking and annoying. Yeah I hope that companies aren't doing that right.

14:57.00
Heather
I've never done that no I've never I've never done that and I've actually never worked for a company that did that um I do know we have some project managers here. Sorry for my dog um project managers that. There have been some projects where they have done a whole you know house. But they haven't forced anybody to do it I don't think anybody should it should be a group group agreement where everybody's like yeah we like each other this sounds like fun. Let's try it out but companies shouldn't say I don't think. Say you are forced to stay here because ah to me that's an intrusion on personal space and my personal life like you now you're you're controlling, not only the 8 hours or 10 hours I'm working but also my time away from work. You know where I'm now having to stay with my you know my fellow coworkers which you know in some cases is not going to be you know so it's something I'm going to want to do I want my space you know.

15:56.86
Bill White
Yeah.

16:06.62
Bill White
Ah, hey Doug you've got something to add.

16:09.64
Doug
Yeah, yeah, I was just say yeah I think there's always that danger that um, it's seen as a cost-cutting measure where they they look at and they're like okay, 4 rooms. That's 4 people you do the quick calculations per um, you know. Versus a hotel and then it ends up being a way for you know to cram a bunch of people into ah a space that sometimes maybe advertises for like 4 people. But then you get there and one of those is like a pullout couch. Um, and that's not a great thing.

16:26.53
Bill White
Ah.

16:37.42
Bill White
Ah, yeah, ah.

16:44.73
Doug
I mean and we've discussed this I mean oh there's probably like a hundred episodes ago but like issues with like double booking. You know like 2 to a room in hotels and how like yeah and yeah, it's it's ah that's ah I mean it happens quite a bit. Um, and that's you know, but.

16:49.86
Bill White
Oh yeah I hated that God I hated it.

16:53.15
Heather
No, that's not okay.

16:59.94
Bill White
Yeah, yeah, and there was a there was 2 There was so I a lot of times would get lucked out at 1 of my most recent companies because I was the only man a lot of times on the field. So I got my own room.

17:00.48
Heather
Still Wow I would never do that.

17:03.68
Doug
Yeah, yeah, um, and it's.

17:15.31
Heather
Flow.

17:17.48
Bill White
Ah, but there was a couple of guys that we just kind of were you know I'm not getting there with any of the new hires managed just me and this other guy or me and the other guy like both of us together. We're the only ones we're We're the only ones who will double bunk with each other because we can't stand anyone else at this company.

17:30.61
Heather
I Can't believe people are still doing that I worked before for my previous work. Yeah for my previous job and not in archeology that was but that was back in the like the early two thousand s and even then they stopped it like a few years they started realizing. Okay, we got to get a separate hotel for everyone.

17:35.93
Bill White
It's gross.

17:49.89
Doug
Well, it's I mean that's the problem is we don't actually have good stats on on these sort of things and in pretty much any country in terms of archeology. So you you just have to kind of go by what's there and yeah people are still I mean is it.

17:50.61
Heather
But no.

18:06.57
Doug
Majority is it a minority. We don't know but it definitely still does occur. Um I think yeah, um Airbnbs again if it's if it's the choice of the people and maybe you're on the the crew you know your crew is like also happens to be your best friends and.

18:08.39
Bill White
Yeah.

18:25.90
Doug
You guys are also okay, like being close to each other and living together also working together. Um I think that goes back to if it's a choice and people are okay with it that should be ah allowed but I I suspect a lot of times airbnb being pushed out. Um. Is more a budget concern. Um, and it it goes back to that whole like some people some people are fine. You know 24 hours together with everyone other people need their space. Um and they should be able to get to space.

19:00.18
Bill White
Um. I I think other people just need a rest from my smell. That's the number one you know the field smell So there's others who don't really appreciate that and so I do actually need my own space because I will stink the whole place up and with that I think that's a good time. Good place for us to break and move on into section. 3.

19:00.84
Heather
I'm one of those.

19:02.44
Doug
Ah.

19:19.95
Bill White
Segment 3