[Beyond Borders]

I've never booked through them before.

Seeing some rooms that look fantastic but have zero reviews. Obviously you're better off going with something that has history, but any red flags to watch out for on places that might be new?

Any scams I should know about?

[Vicious]

It's near impossible getting scammed on the visiting side as AirBnB will cover late cancellations and misrepresented places. The risk is mostly for the person renting out his place.

With that said you should as a visitor still check out reviews to get a feel for the host. In my close to a dozen AirBnB stays in various parts of the world I've never had any issues. It feels like the people getting in trouble are the ones you only hear about and have failed on their due diligence.

With that said there are some points to risking it on place that is lacking reviews. These tend to have not found their market value just yet and tend to be far cheaper than comparable places that are well reviewed. I chanced on a penthouse with a single review for my latest stay in London and ended up paying about 50GBP less/night than what similar sized and located apartments came out at. Looking at the property now a couple of months later and a few reviews in the host has jacked up the prices.

[Rocha]

Am I just the only guy in the world who thinks airbnb is a scamm?
I never booked trough them, prices are completely inflated, and customer service is a joke. Even in booking.com there are much better deals for someone looking for an apartment. Better option is always local agencies.

[Satoshi]

One reason why some apartments might not have any reviews is because many people go around and make the booking and payment outside of airbnb to save on the fees. Some owners wont allow this but many do. What you lose is the securities which Vicious pointed out and also you wont get the chance to write and review. The last thing an owner wants is a bad review.

And yeah many airbnb apartments have great value and there is usually quite easy to bargain a little bit with the owners.

[CleanSlate]

One tip:

Don't rely on it's pin on the map for it's location. Look up its actual address and punch it in google maps. The map's pin in the airbnb could be a mile away from the actual location.

Other than that, I've had a great experience with it.

[Brodiaga]

Yes, always ask about the actual address or building name if it's not mentioned.

I'd like to know more about price negotiations though. How do you guys go about it?

[Felix 5000]

samurai power

[Felix 5000]

samurai power

[Irish]

(07-14-2015 07:09 AM)CleanSlate Wrote:  

One tip:

Don't rely on it's pin on the map for it's location. Look up its actual address and punch it in google maps. The map's pin in the airbnb could be a mile away from the actual location.

Other than that, I've had a great experience with it.

Yeah this is a pretty common one. Other than that, I've had no issues with using airbnb and I've booked with airbnb at least 20 times now.

Always make sure to read through the reviews however. In eastern europe I heard of a couple of friends ending up in a different (inferior) apartment to the one they booked. I browsed through some apartment reviews there and sure enough you can see it happened to a few other guests in the reviews. Haven't heard that scam happen in Asia to date however

[iknowexactly]

Read between the lines of the reviews. People are hesitant to include bad info.
"It was a little noisy can mean it was next to a jackhammer factory "

This is not the voice of experience I never used it but read reviews.

[Nemausus]

I recently had a good experience dealing with the customer service side of airbnb.

A few months ago I took a trip to Paris and booked an "instabook" apartment a day or two before I was due to arrive. I took an early morning red eye flight to Paris. When I got to the city centre, I headed to a coffee shop to use the wifi and set up a meeting time with my host to pick up my keys and check in.

When I made contact with my host, it turned out that she was managing the booking from Kazakhstan. She had planned to have her friend meet with me to give me the keys and help me check into the apartment. The problem was that her friend had left for work and wouldn't be finished until 6pm.

I was annoyed by this, seeing as I had made sure to book an "instabook" so that I could get settled in quickly, to be able to drop my bags off and hit the ground running. Seeing as it was going to be several hours before I would be able to get into the apartment, despite having sent the host a message a day before my arrival with itinerary, I asked her to cancel my booking and she obliged.

Airbnb then proceeded to give me a call to confirm that they were canceling my booking and giving me a full refund, including fees. Then, to apologize for the inconvenience, they gave me an $80 credit to be used on a future booking.

***

One thing to keep an eye out for when considering a booking is the "bed type" listing. Some listings feature a photo of a nicely made bed. Oftentimes, it is actually a pull-out sofa that has some nice linens spread out on top to give it a better appearance. Nothing wrong with a pull-out sofa, but if you want or expect a real bed, pay attention to this detail. I can sleep on just about anything but prefer to bang on a real bed so this is something I pay attention to.

***

@Beyond Borders - Given your line of work and lifestyle, when contacting a host, consider stressing the importance of a good internet connection. This is something I have always done. I usually write something like " Does this apartment come with WiFi? I work online, so a good internet connection is essential for me."

***

I've been living the location independent life for over a year now and airbnb has been my go-to source for long and short term accommodation. I haven't had any issues in over a year of use. In Budapest I was able to find owners who were willing to take me on as a long-term tenant and let me pay them in cash to avoid airbnb's fees, which can be substantial if you're staying for a whole month.

If I can think of anything else, I will write it out.

[Felix 5000]

samurai power

[donnie514]

Been using Airbnb for few years now. Prices are higher true, but its just so easy to find a place to your liking. If you want to get around the Airbnb fees try leaving your number like ###......type a word..###.....another word...##...you get point ##. If the host doesn't mind going around the site they will contact you and you can go from there.

Poor pictures, and 0 reviews would be a red flag in my book.

[TheBulldozer]

I was actually talking to a friend of mine today about how most people are such shitty writers and it creates a frustrating experience when trying to determine whether something is worth using. In this case an airbnb apartment.

Look, I really don't give a shit about your feelings and how you or your family felt while on vacation. 90% of airbnb reviews are useless and I was recently burned by this. Are we so politically correct these days that we're worried about offending a person with a negative review, that you in fact paid for, and other people will use to make a financial decision with?

Rant over.

[Windom Earle]

Never had a problem and have used it exclusively in the Phils, Thailand and Vietnam.

I even went with a place in Cebu City that had no reviews. Glad I took a gamble, absolutely incredible pad for the price.

[Bad Hussar]

Just don't expect a hotel type experience. There will be no reception downstairs to complain to. The owner will likely have left personal items remaining in the flat etc.

It depends what you like. Personally I like flats, but fir short periods at short notice I've got good prices on booking.com.

[Vicious]

(07-14-2015 07:57 AM)JamesRodri Wrote:  

"AirBnB will cover late cancellations and misrepresented places."

Not true. Nor will they refund you the deposit you've paid if the host scams you. I quit using them because of this.

I've been covered by this. It's in their T&A. Exactly what was your expereience?

[Rikardo]

(07-14-2015 06:49 AM)Rocha Wrote:  

Am I just the only guy in the world who thinks airbnb is a scamm?
I never booked trough them, prices are completely inflated, and customer service is a joke. Even in booking.com there are much better deals for someone looking for an apartment. Better option is always local agencies.

not a scam but yes prices mostly are nothing special and yes in booking com most likely can find better deals

[scotian]

I've used Airbnb extensively over the past three years and overall it has been a positive experience but I had a negative one recently that made me reconsider using the site again. RVF member Atlantic and I were looking for a rental and were both on our laptops in my kitchen, he on his new Airbnb account (never rented with the site) and I was one mine (several rentals), we both looked at the exact same rental units and my costs were $30 higher than his. I don't know why this happened but we said fuck that and rented a hotel instead, I was not too happy about it. We should do an RVF Airbnb experiment on this to see if it wasn't just a glitch in the system.

[Chaos]

(07-14-2015 07:09 AM)CleanSlate Wrote:  

One tip:

Don't rely on it's pin on the map for it's location. Look up its actual address and punch it in google maps. The map's pin in the airbnb could be a mile away from the actual location.

Exactly. I fell in this trap in Manila.
Always double check the adress.

[Vicious]

Scotian, the answer is browser cookies.

[tallandblonde]

(07-14-2015 01:07 PM)scotian Wrote:  

I've used Airbnb extensively over the past three years and overall it has been a positive experience but I had a negative one recently that made me reconsider using the site again. RVF member Atlantic and I were looking for a rental and were both on our laptops in my kitchen, he on his new Airbnb account (never rented with the site) and I was one mine (several rentals), we both looked at the exact same rental units and my costs were $30 higher than his. I don't know why this happened but we said fuck that and rented a hotel instead, I was not too happy about it. We should do an RVF Airbnb experiment on this to see if it wasn't just a glitch in the system.

I'm guessing you weren't searching for the same dates or one person didn't filter by date at all. Often times I see a price and then it refreshes to another one once I put my dates in. The people renting their places out can charge different amounts of money for any day they choose.

[Sourcecode]

I have had all but one bad experience where the host got drunk and passed out on the couch of the house.

I was refunded pretty quickly by airbnb.

But besides that..I have never had any trouble.
I ever rented a place for three months in Budapest.
Paid under the table instead of through the website.

[zoom]

(07-14-2015 06:12 AM)Vicious Wrote:  

It's near impossible getting scammed on the visiting side as AirBnB will cover late cancellations and misrepresented places.

I also disagree with this.

I recently had a bad experience where the listing was misrepresented. The listing said the apartment was 'only minutes away' from the city center. I took their word for it and booked. But when it was time to arrive, the place seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. The host's definition of minutes away was 15 minutes by car. My definition is about a 3-10 minute walk.

I took it up with Airbnb and they sided with the host, saying that minutes away has a different meaning for different people. They wouldn't give me a refund or help me in any way. The conversation started over phone and then transferred to email. I asked to speak to a manager and they ignored the email. The service was terrible.

I filed a charge back through my credit card (visa) and they gave me the money back temporarily while the case is pending. If Airbnb doesn't respond to the case in 90 days then the case is closed and I keep the money.

The entire ordeal was just a hassle and I put the blame on Airbnb and their terrible customer service. The lesson in this is to really investigate the location before you book. Also you can get better deals when you are on the ground. It might be best to book a hotel for a night and then look around for places to rent.

[Felix 5000]

samurai power