Either rent or rent out. What’s been your experience with Airbnb?
My retired parents have been renting out their upstairs space for the past few months. My mother loves it. She loves showing off her home and getting all the positive feedback. It has helped her to burn off all that restless energy that retirement left her with. After one set of guests leaves, she works herself into a frenzy getting the place ready for the next customer (which is why they haven’t turned a profit yet. She’s always buying new furnishings). I was skeptical they’d get guests, but nope. Every other week or so, they’re hosting someone.
I think my father is ambivalent. He’s glad that my mother has something to do, but he hates that he gets sucked into her “frenzy”. Also, I think the idea still creeps him out. So far, most of the guests have been couples or groups (they’re renting out two bedrooms and the bonus room). But one time they had this single guy from Germany. Two things that signaled “POTENTIAL SERIAL KILLER!!” to my xenophobic father.
My sister has been a renter for some years, many countries, and always been happy.
She’ll convert her upstairs in the Washington DC area this Fall to rent to people. She likes it that much.
I’ve rented from AirBNB, as well as vrbo.com (Vacation Rentals by Owner). All good experiences. I’ve never shared a house with an owner, just rented an entire house. My rather large family has found it convenient for family get togethers. Rented places in Quebec City, Santa Fe, the outer banks of North Carolina, and other places. The Quebec City house was huge and right in the old part of town. My entire family fit in there, which included mother, three couples, and four other adults.
It’s really a lot better than trying to fit that many people in a hotel. The kitchen is also helpful for keeping food costs down.
I’m reminded of this Onion article.
Do I airbnb? No! I can’t even pronounce it.
Yes, it’s pretty much what we exclusively use for personal vacations - we don’t stay in hotels any more. I just rented in Victoria last week with Airbnb, in fact. I love the fact that you can find amazing deals, and I especially love that you can easily rent entire houses affordably (which is what we did last week - a house for five people at $125/night).
I started using AirBnB last year with mixed results. The first was New York City. I was trying to keep costs down because some of the people I was travelling with were of limited means. I went a little too far down the cheap scale and ended up with a third floor walk up that came complete with mice and cockroaches and a shower floor that shifted under my feet. Furniture and fittings were cheap and cupboard doors were falling off. We had a great trip but I didn’t sleep well!
Next was Toronto and the top two floors of a house in the beaches. It was terrific. Nice space for a family of four. It wasn’t high end but wasn’t cheap looking either. The dog was welcome too so that was a plus.
Christmas was Halifax. Other than an incident with a frozen over lock box, again, nice place, nice people to deal with. In Toronto the condo was in a great building in Yorkville and was a good experience. That one I didn’t want to rent because there was no description and no reviews, but hubby insisted on the area and there was nothing else left. Thankfully it all worked out just fine but I don’t recommend renting from someone with no feedback at all.
Toronto again at Easter…good location, nice enough place, a little on the cheap side but the owner did not clean before we arrived. Dust bunnies in the bathroom and carpets clearly hadn’t been done in a while. I was a little annoyed with the people who left 5 star reviews for cleanliness.
I’ve only ever met the owners twice and it was their own place as opposed to some of the others who were operating as a business. Felt a little weird taking over their personal space but it’s still better than a hotel, especially as there are 4 of us and breakfast alone in a hotel for a week will break the bank.
The thing I kind of missed in the whole process is that the renter is really intended to take things as they come, be a little more relaxed about the quirks whereas I was thinking these people are my hosts and the place should be hotel-clean and the towels and linens should be nicer…not threadbare and mismatched. Once I lowered my own snob factor, it was easier to take things as they were. Except the fucking cockroaches. That was nasty!
Same with us. It’s great for families as you have kitchen, washing machine, etc.
Yes, and 100% good experiences. The people we rent from seem professional, in that it is well set up. We rented a place in New Orleans over Christmas, another in Lafayette, and a nice place in Copenhagen. For my college reunion we rented a place in Cambridge much cheaper than the close hotels (which were full) and in walking distance from MIT unlike the other hotels available.
We’ve always had four people, I’m not sure the places would be worth it for just two. The nice thing is that they come with living rooms which are much nicer to hang out in than your average hotel room.
Used it for the first time in Rome a few weeks ago and loved it. I loved that I was basically in a residential area, and a right funky one at that, think “Roman Williamsburgh”, and so I got a much more “local” experience of the place.
Rented a place in Auckland last October while visiting New Zealand. Very positive experience, would do it again.
Just finished 4 weeks in Spain, France, Ireland, Scotland and England. Except for one night at a hotel it was all Airbnb.
Every place was super! I enjoyed staying with locals. The have lots of information to share on the area. Many share their laundry facilities. Some supply breakfast. And I had some that invited me to join them for dinner.
Reviews and pictures of host places make selection easy. After your stay, Airbnb asks for a review of the place. Hosts also review the guests which is in your profile. With these reviews both host and guest have the information needed to determine if they want to rent to this person, or if you want to stay there.
Airbnb is very secure. Before I could rent I had to supply copy of passport, and had to send a ten second video of me talking.
Some hosts ask for a deposit. But nothing is charged unless there some damage, or theft. If the host makes a claim, Airbnb contacts the guest to verify the information.
Reported.
Did it once in Jacksonville. Had a decent experience, but the host girls were there at the time and I think if we do it again we’ll opt for the “no one else is there” option.
The girls were nice and all, but since they were there I felt obligated to talk with them and making small talk is just awkward
I’ve used vbro once or twice and Homeaway (owned by vbro) several times for business trips. If you are travelling as a group, even a small one, a $1000-2000 house for a week ends up being much cheaper than getting a hotel room or two, plus skips all the worst parts of staying in a hotel.
Never rented shared. Access varies: either the owner meets you to give you keys, or a property manager, or there is a combo lockbox on the door that contains the keys and there is no contact beyond checking in about everything.
no in both cases.
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I’ve been asked to look after people’s pets while they’re away, I just don’t feel comfortable in other people’s houses while they’re not there.
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there’s no fucking way in hell I’d want some rando staying in my place. Fuck that shit.
I’ve used it once to stay close to the consulate in Shanghai. Excellent experience, and I would use it again. I tried to use it on my recent home leave trip to Michigan, but it seems that it’s not popular enough there and I couldn’t really find places where I travelled, so I consumed my massive quantity of hotel and credit card points to pay for hotels instead.
I’ve used it a few times, most recently Paris and Budapest. I always rent the entire apartment or house; not interested in sharing a space or staying in a room.
I would recommend it for a number of reasons. First, it is almost always much more space than a hotel. If traveling with a group of friends or family it gives you space to hang out together in a way hotels don’t. Second, renting an apartment is much cheaper than a hotel. In Paris we had an apartment that was perfect for two on Ile-Saint-Louis for $90 a night per person. Did I mention it was on Ile-Saint-Louis? What hotel in Paris would give you that location for that price? I just stayed in Budapest with three friends in a huuuuuuuge apartment just off Andarssy Av. next to the Opera House. 16 foot ceilings. Very much a big old European apartment. Very cool space. It worked out to ~$40 per person per night. We each had our own bedroom with comfortable queen size beds. 2 1/2 baths, full kitchen. And balconies. 4 of them.
Plus, you can go shopping and eat some of your meals in the apartment if you want.
The thing to realize is this isn’t going to be as slick and new looking as a hotel generally is. The places I’ve stayed have been immaculately clean but maybe a bit more worn than the pictures indicate. Not something I care about but it could be an issue for some. And booking these places couldn’t have been easier.
Can those of you who have such good experience share your secrets about how to separate the wheat from the chaff? I’ve contemplated using it from time to time, but I never seem to find something that is much cheaper than a hotel room. Is this something you need economies of scale to make work well? What if you’re traveling on your own?