Airbnb is an online marketplace that allows travelers to find accommodations around the world. With over 800,000 listings in 190 countries, travelers can use Airbnb to find alternative accommodations to the traditional hotel. Travelers can rent rooms, apartments, castles, tree houses, trailers and even stranger options through Airbnb and often pay rates that are less expensive than traditional lodging.
Here are three useful tips for booking for the first time:
1. Narrow in on a neighborhood.
To browse listings on Airbnb, you’ll first start by entering the city and dates of your stay. From there, you can filter results to indicate if you’re looking for an entire place or a private room. To avoid getting overwhelmed by the choices, I suggest narrowing in on a couple of neighborhoods that are interesting or near any planned events or activities. Airbnb incorporates a map into the user interface to help you determine the location of the listing.
2. Read the reviews.
Just like you’d read reviews on hotel locations, read the reviews of Airbnb listings. I honestly have never seen a negative listing on Airbnb. You may notice that a listing has a lot of cancellations though. When a host cancels a stay, an automatic posting appears on the listing page that shares how far in advance the listing was cancelled. If you notice a listing has a lot of cancellations and they are within a few days of the reservation then you should probably pass on that listing. Check out an example here. A well-reviewed beach house in San Diego is very popular with guests. However, you will notice that in July 2014, a reservation was cancelled 89 days before arrival. Personally, I’d still consider this location if I was staying in San Diego because there is only one recent cancellation that was made in a reasonable time frame.
3. Don’t be afraid to get chatty.
At every step of the process, Airbnb allows you to contact the host, which is the person who is listing the property. Don’t be afraid to contact the host before you request a stay to ask questions.
If you decide to request a stay at a location, you’ll be asked to tell the host more about the party who will be staying and the reason for your visit. This gives you an opportunity to pitch yourself to a host. While you won’t necessarily see the host beyond getting keys to the location, many hosts are very friendly and will provide tips for exploring the city you are visiting.
After your request has been accepted, Airbnb has a great chat feature that lets you and the host coordinate through Airbnb. I’ve been using the Airbnb app on my phone to coordinate arrival times with a host whose apartment I’ll be renting for four days. It’s been a really smooth process.
These are just three tips for booking a stay with Airbnb for your first time. Have you rented lodging for a trip through Airbnb before? Leave your tips below!
If you’re interested in booking a stay through Airbnb, feel free to use my referral link to get $25 off your first booking! Just sign up here to get your $25 credit.
Happy travels,
@laurylkitson