Did a search but don’t seen much/recent…
Any experiences to share? I do quite a bit of solo road tripping but rarely know exactly where I am going to end up at night. It’s not like I would roll in too late though…early to bed/early to rise etc.
I love AirBnB. The only thing is that these days, you find a lot of people basically using it as a way to advertise professional B&Bs or apartments, rather than a room in a private house. The deal is generally still good, but it’s not always the case that you stay with locals in their house which I think it is what the expectation is. At least that’s what it’s like where I live. I’ve never had a bad experience, though, and the times I did get a room in people’s private homes I’ve really enjoyed the experience of seeing the less touristy side of a place.
I’ve had a go at Couch Surfing, but found it really hard to secure a place in a popular places or at popular times, so I think it’s difficult to do it right unless you spent a lot of time sending mails and organise it way in advance. I did find some Couchsurfers who were happy to show me around the town when I was travelling alone, even when they weren’t able to offer a bed, so I still got some nice company out of it.
Couchsurfing.com…probably such a personal thing that there is little point in trying to learn from others. It’s probably a no-brainer to achieve 100% “verification” even if you need to throw $20 at them in order to do so. One couch instead of a hotel an you have saved that and more.
There is a Public Trip area that I wonder about… I can’t imagine hosts that ancious for company that they look for travelers.
AirBnB… seems to be a more effective way to find a room cheaper than any half-way decent hotel. Among other things I wonder about the turnaround. I suppose I’ll learn much more the first time I try to book something.
The two times I’ve used AirBnB successfully, it was great. The first was for a public (but alternative) accommodation that I’d never have found otherwise. The second, I had some woman’s apartment for a few days while she was out of town. It was a great price, in a good location for me, and a very comfortable place to stay.
On the bad side of AirBnB - I’ve had hosts that wouldn’t respond at all after I’d tried to rent, I’ve been cancelled on last minute. You’re dealing with non-professionals so there’s definitely a higher chance that you’ll run into problems that don’t tend to happen with hotels.
I’ve never used couchsurfing as a place to stay. I have used it to meet people in the area where I was travelling and got to meet some nice people and see parts of the locations I wouldn’t have seen on my own as a tourist.
I used Air BnB when I went to California in March. Me and four friends rented a house from there. It was great. The house was exactly as advertised. No problems at all and I would do it again definitely.
I don’t couch surf, but we’ve used AirBnB a lot for whole apartments, especially when there are lots of us which reduces the per-person rate. We’ve gotten places in New Orleans, Lafayette LA, Copenhagen, Cambridge MA, Mendocino and recently Seattle. Never a bad experience, and the places are far cheaper than hotels and better located than lots of hotels.
Big plusses are kitchens, which allow you to have breakfast without going out, and nice shared living space which hotels don’t have.