One of the things I really got value from when I was travelling was meeting people who lived there, sharing their houses, through Airbnb - and sometimes having the chance to have them show you their place. I suspect that the guests have more affinity towards their hosts though- a host has many more guests than vice versa. There's one young couple I met in Guatemala. They took myself and another guest for a magnificent day's outing- we all got along really well. The wife was very heavily pregnant. I kept in touch with them for the birth of their baby, and went back six months later to meet their baby. I saw them move their home to another city, and then saw their separation, as the husband evidently found life with a baby was too difficult. And today I learnt of his death. He was a big man, who ate badly and in quantity, and who, despite already having had heart problems, was still a smoker. I don't know the cause of his death, I can only guess.
Having recently returned from an extended trip through France we had good exposure to short term rental properties, Airbnb specifically. What we found was six of one half a dozen of the other. Whilst we had two of the most wonderful landlords we also had another two who treated us like unwelcome intruders and who clearly wanted us there only of a night to sleep, which is pretty close to what we did anyway. Wretched experience. What we came to learn was that a self contained flat was the only way to go. Apart from being removed from the bad hosts there was the sense of not imposing on people and this is very important. Whilst we had a great experience with a couple of other Airbnb rentals we remember the painful ones the most. To be avoided.