Dennet clearly thinks a lot about why other people think that qualia are real things that must be explained.

Indeed -- the debate runs and runs, nearly two decades on from the original book. I do not think the conflict will be resolved soon (and if it is, it won't be in the pages of philosophical journals).

He also makes it a point of engaging these intuitions

Yes, and that is good.

and showing that they often fall apart under scrutiny rather than assuming that somehow they all must be correct.

What falls apart is the explanations people try to give of the experience.