I'm sorry, but his claims seem to apply to a lot of hostels but not to any of the airbnb homes I've been to. Public health concerns, egregious conditions, credit card fraud ... If things like this happened in an airbnb home, they'd get a bad rating and a bad comment explaining what went on, effectively ruining the rest of their business. Also, payments happen through airbnb so that also gets rid of a lot of problems and ripoff issues. There is a world of difference between the hostels / illegal hotels mentioned and airbnb.
For hostels, there are sites like hostelbookers.com and hostelworld.com, and reviews matter a lot with those sites. If you choose only top reviewed places, you will get good service for sure.
