Airbnb's web interface is pathetic, but the two times I've used them were pretty successful. The first time it was a room on a giant farm turned into a house in rural Yorkshire, where the lovely hostess made us generous Full English and her husband even drove us back to the train station. The second time it was a house in Spain (where almost everyone live in flats), and we didn't even see the owner, she just sent us an email telling where to find the keys.