The Share Economy, Online Bookings, and Airport Review For My Short Weekend Trip
As a mother who had been skeptical of the social media and share economy, I have warned my daughters against websites such as Uber or Lyft, because I believed that these businesses are shady and one may not know who is one offering their services and what entity is storing their credit card information.
However, after riding on Uber for a few times with my college aged daughter without any untoward problems, I decided to give the share economy a try on my last minute vacation to San Francisco last weekend with my husband. I used Uber for transportation, Priceline to get a rental car, AirBnb to book a room in Oakland. I also used my Ultimate Rewards points from Chase to book my flights on American Airlines.
First, I signed up for Uber to take us from home to the airport. After downloading the Uber App to my cell phone, I twiddled around with it for a while before figuring out how to hail an Uber driver to take me to my destination. The driver, Mina, tells me that as this is my first ride on Uber, it is free. He also showed me how to use Uber's review features, that he drives the basic Uber X, but that at this time, he can take us to the airport, but only the Uber Black cars can be hailed from LAX. Okay. There was also an Uber Inspire option which I don't know what it's about. The driver didn't know either, but I later found out that it might have something to do with the Special Olympics taking place in Los Angeles.
Once we landed in San Francisco and we stayed at the airport Westin for the first night since it was late when we got into San Francisco. We didn't rent a car for the first night because it would have costed us $23 just for parking at the hotel and we didn't think it's worth it. That night, we took Uber again to and from dinner in the Milbrae area at a Cantonese restaurant called The Kitchen. It was surprisingly good and hopping with Chinese diners from the area at close to midnight. The food was authentic Chinese for sure.
Next morning, we took the hotel shuttle and airport tram back to the Hertz Rental Car at the airport. I booked a Toyota Yaris through Priceline by naming my own price. While car rental in San Francisco is really expensive, I thought I got a good deal by bidding through Priceline for the prices of $18 a day for two days. Total cost came out to be $70. However, when we got to the Hertz rental, realized that this is where good deals fall apart. Everyone got the same good deal, so the line waiting to get our car took over an hour to get through. We didn't get on our way until two hours later.
At the same time, I tried to confirm my AirBnb stay at a house in the Rockridge area of Oakland since I paid for the stay but had not received instruction on how to obtain the keys to get in the house. After I texted the host, I received an "OMG" text back. The AirBnb host had an emergency last night and had to drive to the Tahoe area emergency room to take care of some family member. She didn't get the house ready for us, and didn't remember to leave the key to the house to a neighbor to let us in. As a result, she had to cancel the reservation. What can I say. I told her to take care of her family and that I will find another place to stay.
On a Saturday, it was impossible to find a place to stay via AirBnb for the same day in the Bay Area. Many places required a two night reservation and we only needed one. I also didn't have the time to deal with the self introductions, inquiries, etc.before losing more of my precious vacation time. My stand by hotels in the East Bay were all booked solid by then. We finally went to Hotels.com and found the Berkeley Shattuck Hotel for a price of $249 per night. No parking charges because street parking was free after 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, and all day Sunday.
After a wonderful rest of the stay in the Bay Area, we returned our Hertz rental car at the airport on Sunday without any undue delays. At the airport, I contacted AirBnb for a refund and Olivia from AirBnB was extremely apologetic about my failed first time with them. She later emailed me to let me know that the cancellation and refund had been processed and that AirBnb would give me a coupon for $100 for my next stay. Yay.
When we got back to LAX, it was a third world country zoo. The plane landed but we could debark for another hour and an half apparently because the weren't enough gates and the plane docked at our assigned gate had a mechanical failure that required attention at that location. Bad logistics planning, American Airlines!
We took a conventional taxi back home and noticed that it costed more than $5.00 over what an Uber would have charged. But we got home safely.
Verdict?
Uber: A for fast, efficient and helpful service. Friendly drivers and free first ride.
Airbnb: F for failed experience with host's last minute cancellation of reservation after payment, but A for the subsequent customer service.
Priceline.compriceline.com: B+ for the price of the car rental, C for the long wait in line caused by the special deal.
British Airways Avios program: A for the little number of points required to transfer points to American Airlines for a reward flight.
American Airline: C for parking at LAX runway for an hour and a half not letting passengers debark.
LAX: A big fat F for the mess and logjam everywhere. Compared to airports in San Francisco, Hong Kong, Europe, and even Mexico, LAX is a domestic embarrassing excuse for a world class airport.
However, after riding on Uber for a few times with my college aged daughter without any untoward problems, I decided to give the share economy a try on my last minute vacation to San Francisco last weekend with my husband. I used Uber for transportation, Priceline to get a rental car, AirBnb to book a room in Oakland. I also used my Ultimate Rewards points from Chase to book my flights on American Airlines.
First, I signed up for Uber to take us from home to the airport. After downloading the Uber App to my cell phone, I twiddled around with it for a while before figuring out how to hail an Uber driver to take me to my destination. The driver, Mina, tells me that as this is my first ride on Uber, it is free. He also showed me how to use Uber's review features, that he drives the basic Uber X, but that at this time, he can take us to the airport, but only the Uber Black cars can be hailed from LAX. Okay. There was also an Uber Inspire option which I don't know what it's about. The driver didn't know either, but I later found out that it might have something to do with the Special Olympics taking place in Los Angeles.
Once we landed in San Francisco and we stayed at the airport Westin for the first night since it was late when we got into San Francisco. We didn't rent a car for the first night because it would have costed us $23 just for parking at the hotel and we didn't think it's worth it. That night, we took Uber again to and from dinner in the Milbrae area at a Cantonese restaurant called The Kitchen. It was surprisingly good and hopping with Chinese diners from the area at close to midnight. The food was authentic Chinese for sure.
Next morning, we took the hotel shuttle and airport tram back to the Hertz Rental Car at the airport. I booked a Toyota Yaris through Priceline by naming my own price. While car rental in San Francisco is really expensive, I thought I got a good deal by bidding through Priceline for the prices of $18 a day for two days. Total cost came out to be $70. However, when we got to the Hertz rental, realized that this is where good deals fall apart. Everyone got the same good deal, so the line waiting to get our car took over an hour to get through. We didn't get on our way until two hours later.
 |
| Waiting for the rental car at Hertz. |
At the same time, I tried to confirm my AirBnb stay at a house in the Rockridge area of Oakland since I paid for the stay but had not received instruction on how to obtain the keys to get in the house. After I texted the host, I received an "OMG" text back. The AirBnb host had an emergency last night and had to drive to the Tahoe area emergency room to take care of some family member. She didn't get the house ready for us, and didn't remember to leave the key to the house to a neighbor to let us in. As a result, she had to cancel the reservation. What can I say. I told her to take care of her family and that I will find another place to stay.
On a Saturday, it was impossible to find a place to stay via AirBnb for the same day in the Bay Area. Many places required a two night reservation and we only needed one. I also didn't have the time to deal with the self introductions, inquiries, etc.before losing more of my precious vacation time. My stand by hotels in the East Bay were all booked solid by then. We finally went to Hotels.com and found the Berkeley Shattuck Hotel for a price of $249 per night. No parking charges because street parking was free after 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, and all day Sunday.
After a wonderful rest of the stay in the Bay Area, we returned our Hertz rental car at the airport on Sunday without any undue delays. At the airport, I contacted AirBnb for a refund and Olivia from AirBnB was extremely apologetic about my failed first time with them. She later emailed me to let me know that the cancellation and refund had been processed and that AirBnb would give me a coupon for $100 for my next stay. Yay.
When we got back to LAX, it was a third world country zoo. The plane landed but we could debark for another hour and an half apparently because the weren't enough gates and the plane docked at our assigned gate had a mechanical failure that required attention at that location. Bad logistics planning, American Airlines!
We took a conventional taxi back home and noticed that it costed more than $5.00 over what an Uber would have charged. But we got home safely.
Verdict?
Uber: A for fast, efficient and helpful service. Friendly drivers and free first ride.
Airbnb: F for failed experience with host's last minute cancellation of reservation after payment, but A for the subsequent customer service.
Priceline.compriceline.com: B+ for the price of the car rental, C for the long wait in line caused by the special deal.
British Airways Avios program: A for the little number of points required to transfer points to American Airlines for a reward flight.
American Airline: C for parking at LAX runway for an hour and a half not letting passengers debark.
LAX: A big fat F for the mess and logjam everywhere. Compared to airports in San Francisco, Hong Kong, Europe, and even Mexico, LAX is a domestic embarrassing excuse for a world class airport.
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