Tips for using Airbnb

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Airbnb

I know some people are experts at using Airbnb (and/or vrbo.com), but many people have never used Airbnb, or seldom use it. For those not familiar with Airbnb, it is a website where people can find private homes, apartments, condos and rooms for rent.  I found out the first time I used it extensively there were quite a few things I learned as I was going through it that I wished I’d known before I started. Isn’t that the way it always is? Anyways, here’s a quick primer on making reservations through Airbnb that will hopefully make it a more user-friendly experience.

Sign up for an  Airbnb account

Go to www.airbnb.com.  Make sure you save your ID and password and have it handy place in case you forget.

Play with the Airbnb toolbar.

Get familiar with the toolbar by clicking on items and seeing what they have to offer:

• Dashboard
• Inbox
• Your listings
• Your trips
• Profile
• Account
• Travel credit

Set up your profile and your account

Enter account information you wish to share. Some of it is mandatory, but much of it is elective.

Your bookings

When you book on Airbnb your bookings will be shown under Your Trips.  It will show you a list of the dates and the places of your upcoming trips, which comes in very handy if you get forgetful, misplace paper copies, or need a handy place to keep things organized. You can even rent out your own home or apartment through Airbnb if you wish.

Planning a trip – Inputting your information

Go to the top toolbar where you have the Airbnb symbol with the words where to? Enter any city or area that you’re interested in visiting. When you hit enter, you will see many lodging choices in the city you chose with prices. You will also see pictures on the left hand side of the screen where individual apartments and houses are shown. If you have definite dates you probably want to put in your dates because all of those places may not be available on your selected date, or the prices could be different on different dates. After you put in your dates that you will be visiting, click on how many guests there will be.

Remember, many Airbnbs only have one or two rooms and limited sleeping space, so even if it is nice, if it cannot accommodate all the people in your party you don’t want to book it. For example, when I was booking a room in San Gimignano, many of the bnbs only slept two people, and we had a party of three. So include the number of guests and pick the room type – you can choose entire home, a private room in a home, or you can even share a room with somebody else. Obviously, prices differ with your choices. Next, you have the price range slider where you can move the marker on the left for your minimum price, and the marker on the right for your maximum price. This could be helpful, for example, if know you don’t want to spend more than $150 in a certain place, then you can put the right marker at 150 and then you don’t have to waste your time looking at a bunch of really nice places that you can’t afford 🙂

Use the Map Feature

Unless you don’t care where in the city you stay, the map is very helpful. For example, I usually know I want to stay in a certain area or near a certain landmark and will focus all of my searches in that one area. When we rented a room in Florence, for example, I knew we wanted to be within walking distance of the train station and the Duomo, so I focused my search on that area.  If I don’t really care about being close to a certain location, and I may look outside to different areas.

Check out available lodging information

When you click on the red rectangle with the price in the white window, it shows you a picture and a short description of the place.  Y ou can just click on the picture and you will see some information for that place, including the price and a description of the listing.  You also can see the cleaning fee, service fee, taxes and your total amount that you will be paying. The service fee goes to Airbnb – if you book that particular room you will not be reimbursed that fee if you cancel.

The cancellation policies vary among properties, so be sure to read the cancellation policy for that particular place. Sometimes you will get a full refund minus the service fee, and sometimes you’ll get a lesser amount. One area that my wife and I found we really need to pay attention to is the cleaning fee. Sometimes they don’t charge anything at all but usually the rate ranges from around $10 to $15 to upwards of $50 or $75 for the cleaning fee, so be sure that you look at the cleaning fee and the total amount you will paying, not just the original listing amount.

Note under the short description of the lodging, they will tell you whether it’s an entire home or apartment, a private room or a shared  room.  It’ll tell you how many guests it will accommodate, how many bedrooms, how many beds, and how many baths. For example, I’ve seen some places where it was one bedroom, but it would say they would sleep four or even six with extra beds or a pullout couch or other types of bedding.  If you’re traveling with more than just a couple of people it is important to know who needs their privacy, who needs a private bath, who needs quiet and alone time, etc.

Read the Reviews

It is also very important to read the reviews. Yes, it may take a few minutes, but you really need to read at least 10 to 20 reviews to get a good feel for what the place is like. Know that you will almost always see some positive and some negative reviews, so don’t base your decision on just one or two reviews. Check out at least 10 to 20 reviews and try to get a feel for what the place is actually like. Usually this leaves you a pretty accurate description of the place.

Parking

Parking can be a big issue, especially in a larger city. Find out if parking is available and if there is a fee. If parking is not available at the lodging, where is the closest parking and how much does it cost, if anything? We found a very nice apartment in Siena close to the center of the city in a great location for sightseeing. However, there was no parking at the apartment, so we had to pay $35 a day for parking in a garage that was about a 10 minute walk from the apartment.

Conclusion

I highly recommend checking out Airbnb for something a little different, and often more personal and hospitable than a larger hotel. It gives you a chance to meet locals who are familiar with the city that can often give you good tips and share stories about the surrounding area. You can usually save money using Airbnb, but you may also pay the same or even more than you would at a hotel. Overall, we saved money by staying at Airbnb’s lodgings and genuinely enjoyed meeting the owners and operators. Many of them were very friendly and very helpful and made our stay even better than it would have been otherwise.

Scott Kendall

scottkendalltravels.com