Airbnb

triathlon

Thoughts or experiences?

I am going to do a little travelling around Europe late this year off the beaten track. Heading for Sweden and then down to Germany and across east to Greece and hoping to finish off in Portugal.
I am not the biggest fan of Hotels as I find them too sterile in many cases and expensive, so getting cheap and interesting places to stay and meeting interesting people appeals to me with this website.

I am sure there has been a few horror stories, which to me gets boxed as the odd fun mishap in later life, but on the whole it looks quite cool.

vikingaero

I've used Airbnb a few times and it has been fine.

My only real concern was that I made sure I had a power bank for my phone to ensure that I had data access to rebook if things went pear shaped.

esuhl

Only done it once in Amsterdam, but it was lovely -- more space and yet "cosier" than a hotel... slightly cheaper too.

I've heard a few horror stories, but I think they've all been from people who rent their property and have it trashed by guests.

N1ckS

As an Airbnb host and traveller my big tip would be to choose your location and dates first rather than focussing on specific properties. Once you have a shortlist of suitable properties send them all a message at the same time enquiring about availability.

There are two benefits to this. The first is that you can say you are considering a number of properties and request whether they might be able to offer a discount on the booking (although generally this sort of request is better received when you have trips under your belt and good reviews from hosts). Secondly, and more importantly from my experience, the best hosts/properties are the ones that reply immediately/within an hour. It's no point booking a great property to find that you can't gain access and the host can't be contacted!

For peace of mind you might initially only consider booking properties operated by 'Superhosts'.

triathlon

N1ckS wrote: »

As an Airbnb host and traveller my big tip would be to choose your location and dates first rather than focussing on specific properties. Once you have a shortlist of suitable properties send them all a message at the same time enquiring about availability.

There are two benefits to this. The first is that you can say you are considering a number of properties and request whether they might be able to offer a discount on the booking (although generally this sort of request is better received when you have trips under your belt and good reviews from hosts). Secondly, and more importantly from my experience, the best hosts/properties are the ones that reply immediately/within an hour. It's no point booking a great property to find that you can't gain access and the host can't be contacted!

For peace of mind you might initially only consider booking properties operated by 'Superhosts'.

Great stuff

Thanks for that

pogofish

Sweden, Germany, Greece and Portugal are not part of the UK.

Maybe the OP should stick to their established thread in the correct forum...?

triathlon

pogofish wrote: »

Sweden, Germany, Greece and Portugal are not part of the UK.

Maybe the OP should stick to their established thread in the correct forum...?

Airbnb are also in the the UK and I will be using them in the UK as have so many other people.
I just want to know what they are like, UK are EU, I was glad to hear about them only in the last few weeks, and I am sure someone might also be happy to learn about them on here as well.

What's it to you anyway, I swear some people just like to complain for the sake of complaining, is it effecting your life in anyway me asking a question on here.

gazapc

Used airbnb dozens of times in the UK, Ireland, Croatia and Italy. Generally been very good, excellent locations and much better than a hotel. Certainly haven't had a bad experience yet.

Just to note, we found on the continent many airbnb locations are just holiday apartments. So if you want to stay with your hoat then you will need to filter these out.

The key bit is to pick hosts with decent reviews, and as the above person says, respond quickly to requests.

I've never tried haggling so may have to do that next time.

pogofish

triathlon wrote: »

What's it to you anyway, I swear some people just like to complain for the sake of complaining, is it effecting your life in anyway me asking a question on here.

You are the one who agreed not to spam multiple similar threads across different forums - Yet it looks very like that' exactly what you are doing.

Now you might want to adress the matter of why you didn't ask about UK destinations, which kind of ruins your question, no?

michaels

Is it possible to filter for ensuite on airbnb? I am not quite ready to share a bathroom yet?

triathlon

pogofish wrote: »

You are the one who agreed not to spam multiple similar threads across different forums - Yet it looks very like that' exactly what you are doing.

Now you might want to adress the matter of why you didn't ask about UK destinations, which kind of ruins your question, no?

Oh go away
What is it with you people intent on an argument. You made it perfectly clear you are not interested in this thread so why go out of your way to post on it.

I am trying to find out about something that could be of use to me and save me money, and it seems like others are interested as well.