I've really enjoyed my experience with Airbnb. My most recent stay was in Northern California, the people were incredibly accommodating - I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Remember that you need to be good visitors as well because they can review your stay for future Airbnb hosts to reference.
I liked Airbnb so much, I put my place in there, so if any of you want to stay 7 miles on the west side of DFW, look at my place, http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/186705. Although, I must say, I have not hosted anyone yet. If you sign up, feel free to use me as a referrer if you don't already have one, I think there is a financial advantage to both of us.
If I didn't have relatives in DFW, your place would be cool; the house looks nice and personalized with your personalities.
Do you feel that the listings have to be cheaper than the hotels they might be competing against for this to work?
Last edited by Shangri-La; Feb 21, 12 at 12:59 pm..
I've had great success. Used AirBnB on my 9-day trip in November through Rome, Athens, Amsterdam, and Paris. All without any problems while traveling alone.
Programs: AA EXP, UA 1K. "Life is good! Really good.""
Posts: 4,700
Thanks for all the enthusiasm and responses.
Follow up: Rental for five days in Milan went perfectly. The 1 br apt was exactly like the photos, the owner very thoughtful and nice, the location superb. Would stay there again if in Milan. Very pleased with this rental and Airbnb.
Hi all.
I read with interest all your comments on Air BNB.
Very interesting.
I am an Air BNB host as well as a traveller.
What I am going to comment on does not apply to Air BNB alone, but applies to most other accommodation providers.
As a host, (and I have been an accommodation host for near on 20 years) I accommodate guests in self contained apartments worth half a million AU$ without counting the cost of the furniture etc.
And we have had guests sometimes (thankfully not very often) who have mistreated the apartments and furniture badly.
Try a hole burnt into a kitchen bench.
Try saucepans so badly burnt that we have to throw them out.
Try lovely white bathtowels stained with hairdye or henna. Or used to wash a car.
Try a hole punched into a bathroom door.
Try keys taken when a guest had to leave before we could check him out. We have to get the locks changed.
Try 20 bins of rubbish after a two week stay.
Try shower taps ripped from the wall.
And this is just the last 15 months.
So it is not without good reason that we ask for a security deposit.
And security deposits are ALWAYS paid back within 1 or 2 days, after the cleaners have been through the apartment.
Hotels do nor charge deposits, because staff are always around.
I am ALWAYS happy to offer a security deposit when I book.
Try looking at the other side of the coin sometimes.
Hi all, me again.
I now want to make a point about cleaning charges.
We have guests staying between 7 nights up to 90 nights.
It takes about 5 hours for 1 person to exit clean a two bedroom apartment ready for the next guest. That includes the laundry of bedlinen and towels etc.
I pay my cleaners AU$35 per hour.
So if I charge $150 for the exit clean I am not over charging.
Now we can include the AU$150 in the nightly charges.
That would put up the price by AU$22 per night.
But if a guests stays for 4 weeks I would be overcharging.
For 4 weeks it would only cost me AU$6 per night.
So it is only fair to charge the excit cleaning fee as an extra charge.
We also do a weekly clean, and that, of course, can be included in the nightly rate.
Yes, we do get guests who ask to not pay and do the cleaning themselves, but really, would any guest spend 5 hours cleaning after they need to leave?
And we could not be sure that it would be to our very exacting standards.
And, when I have used private accommodation for our own holidays, we have had both ends of the scale.
From places so pristine that they even put my standards to shame, right down to places with bedbugs, cobwebs, used bedlinen and green fluffy stuff in the fridge.
So, yes, you pay more for places that are professionally run and have a good reputation.
But if you want cheap then you can expect low standard accommodation.
Although you can be lucky and get the best.
But do think; you can not test the beds or look at a place to see how clean it is before you book.
And also realise that high standards cost money.
So the feedback from previous guests is soooo very important.
A bit tough on new listings.
Happy holidays.
Last edited by Inez Bowker; Mar 10, 12 at 12:41 am..
May work well for the bigger cities, New York, San Francisco etc. but i my experience I have not had much louck was looking to use airbnb for Hot Springs, Arkansas last year and besides the multiple review listings no response and this was just a quiet weekend last year.
We have an old beach house 300 ft from the water. I specify it is old but clean, and in a tropical rainforest.
I charge very low rates. Other rentals in the area start at $250/night.
I had great experiences for 3-4 rentals, but poor poor poor with Canadians who think for $65/night 2 bed/1bath - that their accomodations should rival the Ritz Carlton.
They complained, and Airbnb returned their entire amount. They also did not want to stay where it was so hot, and told my neighbor this before they even walked in the house. So the complaints were just to get their money back and pay for another place.
anyway, Airbnb seems to always side with the guest. I could have rented the place 2 weeks to someone who had seen it but no I didnt cancel the 4 day already booked with airbnb. Never again am I loyal to them. I pretty much have deleted all my other accounts.
Location: SAN/CLD or immersed in warm tropical water breathing compressed air.
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Posts: 1,768
Another positive Airbnb experience to report:
My wife and I did a "flatshare" for 3 nights in Hong Kong on our way to Turkey. We had a bedroom and small bathroom in a 3br/2ba 6th floor flat in Causeway Bay/Wan Chai. The owners are teachers we rarely saw. We had the run of the flat and benefited from their invaluable restaurant and entertainment recommendations.
Way cheaper than a hotel, and the location was really great. Wonderful to not be held hostage to tourist restaurants in a hotel zone.
I paid $100 to stay with a couple two nights just outside of Boston in May.
The couple were great and gave me a private room my first night as it was free (I actually booked their leather pull-out sofa!)
The pro's of staying here versus a hostel, as I planned were...
*same price
* airbnb location was 10 minutes walk from where I needed to write a test early in the morning (walked there and had a light breakfast/coffee on the way there).
*the personal touch, and
* I love to put my money in real people's pockets
I'll definitely use Airbnb again.
Alex
ps. I also liked the fact that * I could use Paypal to make payment. I was in between moves and had no credit card at the time!
We did our first airbnb in Fairhope, Alabama this spring, and it was just wonderful! We saved a ton of money, and the hosts were supernice. Will definitely use them again.
Airbnb security deposit
My Experience
Not happy with Airbnb
