A few people have recommended it, and I'm researching it/creating a profile/checking places etc...but I'm just wondering if anyone here has ever actually used it and would care to share their experiences/hints/tips?

There seem to be a few horror stories out there, people who have taken to lenghty blogs detailing how shit their experience was and that they wouldn't use it again blah blah blah...but the ones I've read seem to be from people who have A) left it to last minute and B) didn't have access to spare funds (dumb!) to get other places when things fell through and they had to wait 2 days to get a refund.

Checking it out as an option as fuck me backwards with a blunt garden vegetable, accommodation in New York City is insanely expensive! Even the hostels would be charging $180 a night (often plus taxes!) for a private double bed room which still has a shared bathroom...totally scummy looking hotels in the area we'd prefer to stay in are easily $250+

Whereas on Air BNB it seems we should be able to score a private one bedroom/studio apartment in the region of $150 a night, right in the heart of the village kinda area, and some of them look downright lovely!

Seems to be a lot about contacting the host and actually striking up a rapport with them, getting mates/family to write you references before you're going to be accepted though...and there's always that niggle in the back of my mind that you're going to get scammed, there will be no place to stay, or the photos are a total fabrication and the place is a shithole etc

Cheers all

My husband and I are just about to go OS for 4 months. We are on a reasonable budget (AUD 100$ a night) so AirBnb looked pretty sweet for our needs. Also every single hotel in LA and NY in our budget we feral with bad reviews.

I think when they first started Airb Bnb has some teething problems but now it seems like they have ironed it all out. If you notice *most* of the bad reviews are from a few years ago (I googled and I think i've read the ones you have read too)

My tips for getting accepted, fill in your profile, choose photos which are nice (No clubbing pics) DON'T say you are into clubbing at all, just say you like travelling and art or something Also try and choose people which run their (or a few places) as a business as they seem more pro and less likely to cancel your reservation

I rented an apartment in Paris (not on AirBnb) for a month in 09 and I loved it. Having a kitchen was ace and it really felt like living like a local

We have whole apartments for:
West Hollywood Beverly Hills border- 100 night
San Fran - 100 night
NY Upper East Side - 120 a night
Amsterdam Central - 70 a night
Ibiza, 2 bedroom apartment with pool, 270 (sharing with friends)
Barcelona - 100
Amsterdam north - 95
Prague - 85

Of course private bedrooms will be a lot cheaper but I don't wish to share. Let me know if you want any links to the above. Have done HEAPS of research and took ages trying to choose good people/ read reviews. That said I haven't actually travelled yet, so hopefully they work out ok!!

Sorry for long reply!!

Awesome, thanks! Takes so much time/research eh? Have been quite taken aback with how expensive NYC is...wanted to stay at The Empire Hotel, just coz of watching Gossip Girl (sad, I know, haha) but then that was going to cost $280 a night, plus 14.75% taxes and it's a decidedly average according to most reviews...trip advisor only gives it 3.5 and Ranked #273 of 429 of hotels in NYC

Would LOVE to stay here: http://www.jameshotels.com/Page.aspx...James-New-York Looks all kinds of awesome! Rooftop pool + bar FTW, but at at close to $350 a night for their crappest room, ain't happening!

That looks amazing!! Haha, but yes blowing the budget much?

It can take time, I read the reviews, googled map the address to get an idea of location, and then you have to wait for them to accept your booking request, it *should* be pretty quick but some people don't get back to you at all!! Also depends what facilities you want - we went for the biggest bed and hubby had to have air con if possible

This is our NY place

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/263523

here's some more of her listings

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/267365
http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/267464
http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/267332

Oh also the whole picking up/ dropping off the keys thing seems to be a little bit more difficult than going and checking in at a hotel, but I guess you just have to be good with the communication and be on time!!

When's your trip Kiwi?

We've locked down a villa for Barcelona and a house in Berlin for June. My friend has managed the booking process, and I love the site, but will be able to report back on the actual experience after June.

Quote:

Originally Posted by o0IceQueen0o

This is our NY place

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/263523

Cool, looks lovely! Nicer/bigger than the places we've been looking at, but that's Lower East/Soho/Village area, which seems to be more the "trendy" place to stay so you pay a bit more

Cheers Mashy, off at end of July, 29th - 6th August in NYC...then Hawaii which is a lot easier, just pick a nice resort, done!

Quote:

Originally Posted by o0IceQueen0o

That looks amazing!! Haha, but yes blowing the budget much?

It can take time, I read the reviews, googled map the address to get an idea of location, and then you have to wait for them to accept your booking request, it *should* be pretty quick but some people don't get back to you at all!! Also depends what facilities you want - we went for the biggest bed and hubby had to have air con if possible

This is our NY place

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/263523

here's some more of her listings

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/267365
http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/267464
http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/267332

Oh also the whole picking up/ dropping off the keys thing seems to be a little bit more difficult than going and checking in at a hotel, but I guess you just have to be good with the communication and be on time!!

*yoink*

I haven't but friends have and reported good things.

At the end of the day you can just as easily stay in a shitty hotel, even with a good Tripadvisor review.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Royal

At the end of the day you can just as easily stay in a shitty hotel, even with a good Tripadvisor review.

Yes, but have you seen NYC prices? $200+ per night for a double bed private room IN A HOSTEL...$250+ for a 2 star shitbox hotel which looks like a fucking hovel and is in an average location

Whereas for $160-ish a night you can get a private apartment like this right in the happening areas:

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/92163

Or this guys place which has decks, mixer and PA speakers!

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/265626

I know we're not going to be spending a large amount of time in our accom, but what time you do spend, it's nice to be spending it in a place which doesn't disgust you

Quote:

Originally Posted by Random_Kiwi

Yes, but have you seen NYC prices? $200+ per night for a double bed private room IN A HOSTEL...$250+ for a 2 star shitbox hotel which looks like a fucking hovel and is in an average location

Whereas for $160-ish a night you can get a private apartment like this right in the happening areas:

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/92163

Or this guys place which has decks, mixer and PA speakers!

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/265626

I know we're not going to be spending a large amount of time in our accom, but what time you do spend, it's nice to be spending it in a place which doesn't disgust you

I know all too well how much hotels cost. I was just saying that you can have a bad hotel just as much as a bad BnB, so you've got to trust your gut and just go with it. I'm all for AirBnB - in fact we've got a place booked in East Village for a week later this year. And when I was working in Germany for 3 months last year I rented a 1 bed apartment through another similar service. Was definitely the way to go.

That guy sure is game letting people play on his decks. Both of them look like cool places though

Arrr, ok, cool, misread what you were saying!

Deft going to give it a crack, prices are just so much better...potential for a little more hassle, and no hotel staff to annoy for information, but shit happens, it's english speaking country so can't be that hard to figure shit out!

FYI you have to pay taxes on top of the advertised price once you get there. Also some travel insurers won't cover you for Air BNB bookings either apparently.

sources?

San Fran anyway, sorry should have been more specific: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobile...n_1404479.html

A travel agent I've been dealing with has also said that airbnb places will charge you taxes when you leave. I don't know accurate that is though.

Re: travel insurance, check with whoever you've got TI with, some might cover it. My mates cover doesn't so I'll find out who he's got it with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by o0IceQueen0o

This is our NY place

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/263523

http://www.nysenate.gov/press-releas...partment-avail

Rentals of whole apartments through AirBNB/holiday rental sites are actually now illegal in New York, and has been for a while! Very hard for all them to be policed though..."hosted accommodation" where you're just renting a spare room and the resident(s) are still living there is fine, but whole apartments technically isn't legal

Interesting! I think we are renting a room with a tiny kitchen so it looks like the owner has used a loophole? Either way we stay there in a couple of weeks, so I'll let you all know!

Update on LA, it was great! Was very easy to get keys and the apartment was exactly as pictured. Awesome location too!

I ended up using AirBnB last week for 5 nights in New York. Had a great studio in Chelsea. Couldn't have been happier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bergs

A travel agent I've been dealing with has also said that airbnb places will charge you taxes when you leave. I don't know accurate that is though.

All costs will be on your invoice. This includes an AirBnB fee and there will also potentially be a cleaning billl.

Quote:

Originally Posted by o0IceQueen0o

Interesting! I think we are renting a room with a tiny kitchen so it looks like the owner has used a loophole? Either way we stay there in a couple of weeks, so I'll let you all know!

Yeah, it seems there's ways around it, plus it's just so hard to police...AirBNB have said the law's not really targeting them and they're discussing options with the Mayor, but as it stands, it's currently made them technically illegal, but still operating as normal

Quote:

Originally Posted by Royal

I ended up using AirBnB last week for 5 nights in New York. Had a great studio in Chelsea. Couldn't have been happier.

Cool...got the link to the place you stayed at?

i managed to book this place in NYC at $200 US a night... but seems it's gone up now to almost $300 a night :O

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Hotel_..._New_York.html



For Europe i found this site to be better than airbnb... but i didn't actually book a place in the end, but my parents have used it.

http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/

Quote:

Originally Posted by muli_

i managed to book this place in NYC at $200 US a night... but seems it's gone up now to almost $300 a night :O

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Hotel_..._New_York.html

What time of year did you book it? It's high season now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Random_Kiwi

Cool...got the link to the place you stayed at?

The profile is currently inactive. Sorry!

i'm there 1st week of July, high season.

the same dates i booked for have gone up $100US a night

Well peeps, here's my experiences of AirBnb, some good some bad. As expected key pick up and comunication is a little harder than an Hotel

LA- good, no probs checking in, apartment was an older style.

San Fran -
Good: king size bed, no taxes or extra $$, nice location.
Bad: Lots of personal stuff, pictures, knick knacks, political stuff (i felt weird about this lol) We specifically used her apartment due to it having a parking space and then she forgot to give us the key and couldnt get it to us until 1 day before we left, my poor husband also pulled out a golf ball sized hair ball out of her bathtub drain Also she had a brain fart and thought we lost the keys - we didn't, left them under the mat as instructed. Required many emails to clean up

NY - Well this one was the kicker
DO NOT USE Rahmia or Upscale Rentals NYC. We got mega scammed
Checked into our "apartment" (basically it was a two bed apartment that she was selling as two whole apartments) on Thursday and was met by her associate, he told us that our front door could not lock due to "Fire Department Regulations" - this was not listed on her description anywhere, then he issued us a key for a simple lock to our bathroom to lock our stuff in and assured us that the front door to our shared apartment would be locked. Went out sightseeing and when we returned a few times we found our front door to be unlocked and all the other doors in the building unlocked - so pretty much anyone could come into our room . My husband also left me alone a few times and I felt very uncomfortable. So in short, we called the owner and left, she assured us she would refund us for the last 2 days of our stay. She then changed her mind and would only refund 1 day. AND we had to waste half a day in New York sorting this shit out. Avoid. At. All. Costs.
We also didnt have any probs with the law re the story up there, i guess they turn a blind eye?

Still have 4+ places in Europe so I surely hope they turn out better than the last one

I used Crashpadder last year which has since been swallowed up by AirBNB and am using that this year - I thoroughly recommend it.


In London we stayed in a house in a proper mews at Lancaster Gate right near Hyde Park (all of the houses were multi million pound stable conversions) for what i'm pretty sure was well under $100 - some older eccentric lady who I guess gets bored and likes having guests (apparently she does celebrity acid peels for a living). Oh, and Wimbledon was on so almost all of the hotels were way overpriced (as in more than usual in London) or full.

In Nice for around the same we stayed with a youngish (30 and 40) gay couple in a new apartment right next to the old town. They made us breakfast, took us on tours and every night we drank lots of rose and went out to dinner/bars. One even left work after lunch to take us to the airport. It was like staying with old friends. They were on the site because one was a Hawaiian expat and wanted to keep up his English.

This July we have a whole apartment in Paphos, Cyprus for $50 a night right on the sea.

My tips are to check the reviews from previous people who have stayed, and send them an email or two before booking to make sure you are on the same page.

Quote:

Originally Posted by o0IceQueen0o

NY - Well this one was the kicker
DO NOT USE Rahmia or Upscale Rentals NYC. We got mega scammed
Checked into our "apartment" (basically it was a two bed apartment that she was selling as two whole apartments) on Thursday and was met by her associate, he told us that our front door could not lock due to "Fire Department Regulations" - this was not listed on her description anywhere, then he issued us a key for a simple lock to our bathroom to lock our stuff in and assured us that the front door to our shared apartment would be locked. Went out sightseeing and when we returned a few times we found our front door to be unlocked and all the other doors in the building unlocked - so pretty much anyone could come into our room . My husband also left me alone a few times and I felt very uncomfortable. So in short, we called the owner and left, she assured us she would refund us for the last 2 days of our stay. She then changed her mind and would only refund 1 day. AND we had to waste half a day in New York sorting this shit out. Avoid. At. All. Costs.
We also didnt have any probs with the law re the story up there, i guess they turn a blind eye?

DUDE...that's ass! Sorry to hear you had such a shitty experience, make sure you contact AirBNB direct and explain all this, make sure you post about this on ALL of that persons listings! It's all about reviews afterall!

Yeah, there's so many rental apartments it's really hard for them to police it, but we erred on the side of caution and just booked a place which is hosted just in case...less hassle, bit cheaper, plus host seems lovely, bakes cookies daily, supplies you a gift basket of goodies in your room + New Yorker mags, supplies breakfast, and works as a bartender Fri-Mon so will be good for sounding out drinking/eating/partying ideas.

And she has a cat, I love cats!

re: OP.

Me.

Heaps.

Immensly helpful there crabman, thanks

Experiences/hints/tips

Easy/use it/please.

Concise at least!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Random_Kiwi

DUDE...that's ass! Sorry to hear you had such a shitty experience, make sure you contact AirBNB direct and explain all this, make sure you post about this on ALL of that persons listings! It's all about reviews afterall!

Yeah, there's so many rental apartments it's really hard for them to police it, but we erred on the side of caution and just booked a place which is hosted just in case...less hassle, bit cheaper, plus host seems lovely, bakes cookies daily, supplies you a gift basket of goodies in your room + New Yorker mags, supplies breakfast, and works as a bartender Fri-Mon so will be good for sounding out drinking/eating/partying ideas.

And she has a cat, I love cats!

Yeah man it was total ass!!! We spent 6 hours on the phone/ email to AirBnb. Basically we couldn't get a refund as we didn't check out within 24 hours, and since we were promised a refund on the phone - NOT on Airbnb email system, Airbnb couldn't do anything to get our money back, AND to make matters worse, I couldn't leave a review since we have upcoming reservations for two weeks in Amsterdam and Ibiza and i didn't want to risk a bad review - and subsequently have my reservations cancelled. Also what is suss, there was another bad review on this same apartment that I rented and it's just disappeared now

Basically it was lame, but in future, always trust your gut and if you find 1 thing wrong leave ASAP & do all communication on their system.

thanks for the tips icey. Will definitely be keeping an eye out.

I have a place sorted for Amsterdam in October. It will be interesting to see how it all goes the owner and I have been conversing via the website and she's pretty easy going. All reviews seem positive. I'm going to try and find a place in Paris via this site, but if all else fails i had a really great apartment website that is utter quality, but is really best if you are staying for approx a month.

I'm using AirBnB when I go to Japan in September/October, I've chatted to some really awesome people on there already and know a few people who are hosts. Agree with what others are saying, but don't just check out the reviews, check out the people who are writing the reviews - do THEY seem to be on your wavelength? If so, should work out alright!

http://www.airbnb.com/tell-a-friend?...12v9eze34d6zz5

Fuck off ****.

ahahha

Will report back on how I go with an apartment in London I just booked in a months time, but all positive signs so far. Great reviews, well priced and communication has been great, she sent me an email before with a 4 page word doc with places to go, how to get from the airports to her place etc etc. Awesome!

Just thought I'd bump this up and say we had an awesome time staying here:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/353079

through Air BNB...if anyone is heading to NYC, highly reccomend, host is just lovely, location could not be better with several subway stations within a couple of blocks, walk to Noho, Soho, Nolita, LES easily...and East Village itself is awesome!

im currently in brooklyn staying at an airbnb listed place.
they've got it running like a small hostel type deal which im cool with, and i ended up working out to stay here for free for the next 4 weeks by helping out around the place and basically working for the dude a few times a week.

also stayed at an apartment in san fran. was great. havent used hotels since.

The couple of Airbnb places I stayed at in Japan were both great. Really helpful hosts, well located and clean places, good set ups that were far preferable to a bland old hotel room. Highly recommend giving Airbnb a go, I will always check on there first if I am travelling somewhere in future.

place we stayed at in Amsterdam was fkn next level

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/654855

Pstaz can attest to that.

couldnt be happier.

we're off to paris next month in another one as well. dont know if i'd ever go a hotel again either

Yep, that place was so boss. That place I stayed at in London was great, just a private room with a wicked host.
Booked a whole place with friends in Milan, the actual apartment was great and the host was really nice, I didn't do enough research on the location though. Place was nowhere near any stations/amenities.

Last place was a private room in Brussels. Apartment was really good, host was a bit strange though.

Overall though can't complain at all, all these places were very comparable to hostel prices and was nice to get that homely feeling while travelling Europe for an extended time.

going to montmartre in dec

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/528546

I've used airbnb in Amsterdam, Brussells, Ghent and Paris.

I'll post the linkzors up when I've got more time.

I hired apartments and also co-habited with the owner and none of the situations were bad at all!!!
You really need to research and read the profiles properly. Only thing iwas caught out on was one of the apartments didn't have towels so I ended up buying 2.

Definitely make the time to speak and get to know the owners. I found them very helpful once I got to know them as opposed to the ones where there was minimal contact.

Plus I got some nice contacts for when I return, and the two apartments where I co-habited, they gave me positive reviews!!

Paris:
If you want a room and shared with the owner: https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/195451
If you want your own place: Be mindful of the steep steps and there is a humidifier that needs to be on most of the time: https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/178292

Ghent:
Really close to the centre and has two bedrooms: https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/187930

Brussels:
I think spent 2 of my days sick in bed. But it was a great place to potter around in. Shared with owner: https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/184201

Amsterdam:
One bedroom, but the lounge folds out into a rather large bed. Definite value for money and the owner was really helpful: https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/301220