downinit

Just watch out for 'extra person charges' as they can easily add $20+ a night to the total bill if you have a partner. Also, if the owner tries to get you to pay outside of Airbnb to 'save' on the fees, run away as fast as you can. They often have a fake contract, like from 'ReMax', that they will send you, asking for a money order. Anytime anyone wants you to send a money order for anything, tell them to F off and have them blocked from whatever site they are using. Western Union is the biggest money laundering service in the world and should be shut down, as they refuse to offer any consumer protections at all. Best to stick with ads that have reviews, the more the better. You can also crosscheck the properties with other websites, such as sitekey, since many people on AirBnb have ads on other websites as well. AirBnB is only concerned about protecting their reputation, so they will never alert you if an ad you were interested in or contacted is fake, they will just delete it and pretend it never existed.

lili

My one experience with AAirBnB was last March Milan 1br was super. I would do that again anytime. Previously I'd used VRBO quite successfully for a 2 br on Ile St Louis in Paris. You just have to read carefully and communicate with the people.

Am now looking for something in Tokyo for the fall, but don't see anything appealing. Hotel prices being what they are, some of those mini-rooms may become more appealing.

Airlib

I have used Airbnb a few times and have always been satisfied.

There was an inconvenience related to the substantial discount they offered at one point if one added its apartment to their database when booking. This resulted in a lot of apartments that were listed but never rented. It's quite easy to spot them, as the calendar indicates "available" at all dates. It was quite frustrating because you often had to make multiple booking requests before receiving one positive answer.

Recently this inconvenience has occurred much less to me though.

squeakr

Now they REALLY want you to have Airbnb take the pictures of your apartment if you are offering it in return for booking your own stay somewhere.

cranford

have used airbnb twice in hong kong and with great satisfaction. infinitely superior to staying in a hotel. we stayed near temple street in kowloon, firstly in a small studio apartment and then the next time in a larger 1 bedroom apartment. In both instances we felt welcomed by the locals living in the building and enjoyed ourselves much more than we have stayed in hotels.

EmailKid

OOOOOH, Hong Kong Mind if I ask how much you paid?

Those NYC-HKG fares seem to pop up once in a while, and I'd love to go back (yes, would have to position for the flight, but if the price is right that's a small price to pay for the wonder that Hong Kong is).

EmailKid

BuildingMyBento

This is by no means similar to airbnb, but when I've been in Tokyo lately, I use Weekly Mansions http://www.wmt.co.jp/en/. You can get daily/weekly/monthly rates with them, and they've got a bunch of properties throughout Tokyo (naturally, the more tourist-friendly the location, the more expensive.) Rooms are Tokyo-sized (small; if you're not used to it, very small, and oh those bathtubs...) I think if you stay for under a week there isn't any housekeeping (never bothered me), but their less convenient properties have certainly come in handy. You can reserve online, and you pay once you arrive. They also generally have laundry facilities and a few vending machines, and a LAN cable in the rooms.

alexteacher

You know I just saw this post now.

But yes, I really do like them.

I just used them again for a stay in Korea and I'd say it was another good experience.

Alex

sfx

used AirBnb many times for myself and other. Plenty of great places and met nice people.

Stayed in places set up for short rentals, and also people's homes when they are away from weekends. Watch out for which are looking at, so you know what to expect. People's homes can be very nice to stay in, but often full of their stuff - not really an issue for a few nights, often get left food etc.

Had some bad experiences in London around the Olympics with people cancelling last min or trying to extort extra money - duly reported to Airbnb

fernlyn

I have been an Airbnb host for some time renting out our room in Central London. I have had a great time, met loads of wonderful people gotten lots of great reviews and never a problem but it has all stopped since the new Neighborhoods thing started because where I live in Vauxhall which is opposite Westminster on the Thames is not listed in Neighborhoods so we dont show up in searched any more.
So if you want to find a good cheap place don't use a Neighborhoods search for London or Paris for that matter use the other search feature at the top of the page ... or Gumtree or Spareroom for that matter which is probably how I will go back to renting the room since I get zero interest from Airbnb any more. I know a lot of other hosts are affected by this.

caday357

I used AirBnb for our recent trip to Maui, and could not have been happier with our stays. Our first night cost $65 at Lance's on Kiheiu (sp?), then to Halermo near Hana to stay at the oceans edge in a yurt, and finally to upcountry at Sidney's coffee plantation, a very special place.

We have an upcoming trip to Oz, and plan to use AirBnb for our six nights is Tas (if it hasn't burned up).

Frizzy

We booked a place in Florence through Airbnb just last week, only out of desperation, because everything on Booking.com was unacceptable (too shabby or too expensive). We prefer Booking.com because of the flexibility and usually pay those few Euro's extra to have a flexible booking that can be changed. This is only semi-possible with airbnb which takes your fee even if you have to cancel your whole booking, and the entire amount comes off your Credit Card immediately. There are places to visit (particularly in Europe we've found) where there are simply no affordable hotels that do not have dozens of complaints, and where it is good to try out the airbnb option instead. Having read other posts about using referral coupons, I'm sorry that I just registered "cold" on airbnb.

I also think "cleaning fees" are outright gouging. While a distinction can be made between the economics of renting out a property for a day versus a week or a month, charging a flat cleaning fee regardless is just a rip-off. It should be included in the daily rate otherwise one property will look superficially cheaper if they then charge separately.

sfx

The cancellation period and cleaning fees are decided by the individual's listing their homes. Airbnb has a selection that listers pick from. If you don't like the terms you can look for alternative people.

Airbnb is just a clearing site, they don't own or manage any of the properties.

AnitaBryant63

I hate that they got rid of the feature to sort property listings by Price Low-High. I don't know why they did that. When I asked them, they couldn't give me a logical answer.

GatoAndaluz

I've used AirBnB in New York (Brooklyn), Washington DC, and now in Richmond. Here, I'm on a long-term contract job. Booked the first three nights in a room near the office, and came to an arrangement with the guy to rent by the month.

Never had any problems, although do know that the FBI recently investigated frauds via the site in San Francisco.