Airbnb world rentals official. Airbnb - Reviews of the service, personal experience, helpful suggestions for finding accommodation on airbnb, and a $ 20 discount coupon. What happens if a booking is canceled

On the Internet, now every travel site tells how to rent out their accommodation on airbnb for the winter or vacation, but few people actually rent their own and know how everything really is. After reading such sites with tips: "How to rent an apartment through airbnb" I decided to write this article based on my own experience with this system. Highlights and pitfalls, whether or not it is necessary to draw up a contract, how to withdraw money, and so on.

It's simple, there is nothing complicated in the process. If you are already registered in this system as a guest, then you do not need to register separately as a landlord. You need to log into your account and add your ad. If you are not registered, then by this link you will have access not only to register for renting an apartment on airbnb, but also a bonus on housing if you yourself go on vacation in 2100 rubles, or 25 euros.

Creating an advertisement for renting an apartment: what you should pay attention to.

The most important thing to consider when creating your rental ad will be your photographs. It doesn't matter if you make them yourself or invite a photographer from airbnb, which, by the way, is free. Here are just a few tips:

• If you rent out your apartment, in which you live yourself, like me, then try to remove all unnecessary personal belongings. This spoils the picture and subsequently the guest can indicate the discrepancy with the things declared in the ad. So, in one photo I had a MacBook on the table - and everyone asked if it would be on arrival.
• Take pictures of the details of the comfort, the place where people will sleep, the bathroom and toilet rooms. This is what they pay attention to in the first place. All sorts of cute things have a positive effect and attract neat tourists who appreciate comfort.
• Make a map of the area, describing all the delights of what you can find nearby: shops, transport stops and where you can take a walk before bed. If your apartment is in a residential area, this will be very useful and, perhaps, will be a decisive factor for the guest to choose your particular accommodation. You can just save the map picture from google and sign where it is.
• Choose the best and coziest photo for your headline. In the search, it is she who will "work" for you. Think of it as a keyword that will be clicked on for your ad.

Apartment management: meeting and seeing off the guest.

Airbnb has made it easy for host and guest to find things and financial matters. But nevertheless, you still have to meet your guests. And here there are two options: either you yourself (your friends or relatives) or a hired manager. Are you tempted to use the second option? However, there are some nuances here. Are you ready to issue a power of attorney for the management of an apartment by an outside organization? Aren't you afraid after some time to find your apartment in a murdered state?

Airbnb has an internal forum for landlords. In the branch in St. Petersburg, the issue with the management company is being discussed and there are negative reviews. When the management company, roughly speaking, squeezes out all the juices from the object without carrying out repairs and other necessary things (change of worn-out linen, for example). When you take a clean, renovated apartment into the office, you can get killed in itong. Take a closer look at the question.

"Underwater rocks"

Despite the simplicity that airbnb came up with, making it as simple and convenient as possible to rent a home via the Internet, it also has its own underwater ones. Therefore, I want to voice what I have already encountered myself.

Property insurance and collateral.

For residents of Russia, there is no insurance for the lessor of 1 million, declared in the airbnb system.

To insure yourself against possible problems with the tenant, airbnb is advised to establish a deposit. The minimum recommended amount is 75 euros and it is frozen on your guest's card. But I advise you to conclude a lease agreement, the usual paper one, in which it is advisable to register the passport details of your tenant, so that in case of anything you have something to go to court with. There is no need to be afraid to invite guests to sign such an agreement, it is advisable to even mention it in the correspondence in advance. In Spain, when renting a house in Sitges, the owner offered us to sign such an agreement, and there is no crime in this.

Bank commission for withdrawing funds.

With each transaction to your card, when you want to withdraw the earned dollars or euros, the bank will deduct its commission from you.

At the moment, EUR 12 is withdrawn for payments, even if you have a direct EUR account. The commission is "bite off" by the partner bank. So far, only Alfa-Bank does not take such a commission. To avoid unnecessary spending, you can set a withdrawal limit, and then airbnb will send you not after every guest check-in, but upon reaching a certain threshold (any).

Payment currency.

You can receive money only in the currency in which you set the price for your apartment. Nowadays, when the euro and the dollar exchange rate is growing and falling, there is a reason to fix it in rubles, if you still rely not only on foreign tenants. And in this case, the money will be credited in the same way in rubles without any extra commission. Having indicated the cost of renting an apartment or room in euros or dollars, they can be withdrawn only to a euro or dollar account.

Why get rent in rubles nowadays if you can get euros? It's simple. It all depends solely on your rental object. If it is located in a very touristy place, in the center, for example, then you can count on success with foreigners. If the apartment is a little to the side, in a residential area, even a 20-minute metro ride away, then the flow of foreigners dries up, but our compatriots are still attracted by such apartments. Due to the rise in the exchange rate, as has happened in recent years, at a rate of 50 euros per night, for a Russian tourist, the price jumped from 2 thousand to 5! Of course, you can recalculate the rate every day, taking into account the exchange rate. It is also worth understanding that the tourist flow in each city is different. In St. Petersburg, the influx of tourists begins in May and ends in September. Well, the holidays. The rest of the time, demand falls.

Cancel Reservation.

If for some reason you canceled your reservation, changed your plans, for example, or simply changed your mind, the system will block these dates anyway and you will not be able to re-rent the accommodation. You will also have an automatic negative review that will be linked to your account even if you delete this ad and add a new one.

You can set a cancellation policy for your guests and thereby insure yourself against such a situation when a guest refuses at the last moment, choosing another accommodation, for example. I know a case when a reservation was canceled right on the eve of a holiday and the tenant could no longer rent the apartment in a short time and lost money.

A couple of tips on how to make your life easier as a rentier

Good, interesting and tidy guests !!

How to be always online when traveling?

How do I save on hotels?

1. Daniel Yozhik
2. Daniel Yozhik
3. Daniel Yozhik
4. Evgeniya Melchenko
5. Mary
6. Ruslan
7. Daniel Yozhik
8. Evgeny Pritula
   • sestrik
     • Evgeny Pritula
     • Daniel Yozhik
9. Anton
10. Andryusiks
11. Nadezhda
12. Nadezhda
13. Tatyana
14. Tatyana

I'm afraid the Airbnb.ru review can only be good. I will tell you everything about booking apartments and apartments, getting discounts and about my personal experience.

This travel rental service is a damn good thing! I respect, appreciate and use it on my trips. What I will tell you about in this review about the service:

• I will list all the stages of booking apartments, apartments and houses;
• I will reveal some of the nuances of booking through Airbnb.ru;
• I will list the pros and cons;
• and also tell you how to get discounts and coupons on their website.

Read also our detailed master class on collecting things and documents for a trip:.

What is Airbnb?

It is the world's largest private travel rental service. Service statistics: 800,000 of the most diverse housing options, 190 countries of the world, 34,000 cities, over 17,000,000 guests who have booked accommodation in this service. The numbers are amazing!

The service works in many countries and has local versions for each language. It is most convenient for Russians to use a fully Russified website.

What kind of accommodation can you find and book through Airbnb? Truly any: these are apartments and rooms, houses and cottages, residential boats and bungalows, castles and even cave apartments!

For 6 years of its existence, it has become wildly popular and truly fashionable (one design is worth it!). This is good news, because the more people know and use Airbnb, the more accommodations they have in their database. There are fewer and fewer settlements on the world map where it is impossible to find housing using this service. For example, I lived in Crimea, booking accommodation only through Airbnb - in every city I was able to find a suitable accommodation option. The only exception was the small village of Olenevka on Cape Tarkhankut - none of the owners have mastered this service there yet ( addition: after the annexation of Crimea to Russia, Airbnb no longer works on the peninsula). What can we say about large cities - the number of interesting offers there is simply off scale! Sometimes you can spend more than one hour at the computer, looking through option after option, where one is better than the other.

In general, the homeland of Airbnb is the USA, California, San Francisco (who would doubt it?). But, as I already mentioned, the service works in many languages ​​(an impeccable Russian-language version of the site) and has several large representative offices in different cities (including Moscow). So problems with using the service due to language barriers will not arise for sure, and in difficult situations the support service in the Russian Federation will help out.

My review about Airbnb.ru

I would certainly criticize this service, but that's just not for that ... I use it regularly and I'm happy with everything. Indeed, nothing comes to mind that one could really find fault with.

Perhaps the only slippery moment associated with the operation of this service is the risk of stumbling upon a bad owner who will try to do something bad. But this is a human factor - it cannot be completely eliminated, and the problem in this case lies not in the booking service itself, but in human nature. At the same time, the management and technical support of the site does everything to minimize the risks of both residents and owners (read more about this below).

Unsurprisingly, most of the reviews are positive and even enthusiastic responses. I've even come across a few examples of travel bloggers (who also wrote their own reviews on Airbnb) that after they first used the site, they completely stopped using hotels on their travels. Yes, in general, I myself now, with rare exceptions, live only in apartments found on this particular accommodation booking service.

Booking apartments and apartments on Airbnb.ru

The procedure is as follows - you go to the site, find the right accommodation in the right city for the right dates, write off the owner, book, pay, come, live and enjoy. This is briefly. But you can do it in more detail:

Stage 1.

To get started, it's best to register right away - you can view housing options without registering, but of course you will need it for booking. Take advantage of the current promotion and receive a $ 32 bonus upon registration - a discount on your first booking!

Get your account in order: add a photo, link to your Facebook page and phone number, write a few lines about yourself - all this is necessary to confirm that you are a real person and to enable future landlords to get to know you.

Stage 2.

Now you can start looking for housing. To do this, enter the required information into the search box: destination, dates and number of guests. This will open a page with available options. On the left there will be a map with a mark of their territorial location, on the right - photographs of housing with its price, as well as search filters. You can limit the price range by setting the minimum and maximum amount, select the area, type of accommodation and more.

By clicking on the offer that interests you, you will see a full description of this property, information about the owner, reviews of previous guests (if any). Read, compare and choose the best option.

In general, the device of the Airbnb.ru service is very convenient and intuitive (the developers are diligently working on this) - so you can easily navigate the site from the first minutes.

Once you've decided on your accommodation option, it's time to contact the host. Don't press the booking button right away, but for a start, it's better to just write a message to the owner with a couple of lines about yourself, travel dates and ask all the necessary questions. I do not recommend booking right away, because it is possible that the owner, for some reason, will not be ready to receive you on the dates you need, and then you will have to wait for a refund of the money frozen by the service for payment (the money will, of course, be returned in this case, but better to avoid such nonsense, right?). Therefore, do not make sudden movements, but start with a friendly conversation with the landlord :)

Stage 3.

When the owner answered and gave you the go-ahead, you can proceed to the paid booking. Payment can be made by card or via PayPal. Enter the required data and check the dates again.

As for calculating the cost of apartments and apartments booked through, then you need to take into account several points:

• The price may change slightly from day to day due to currency fluctuations.
• The cost of housing can be different for different seasons: at the peak of the tourist season, it is often higher (although it all depends on the owner, because he can set one tariff for the whole year).
• The site charges its own service fee, the amount of which depends on the amount of the reservation - usually about 10-15% of it.
• Cleaning fees may sometimes be charged by the host as well.
• Sometimes the owner can take a deposit for the safety of the property - this is typical for solid apartments and apartments where there is something to spoil, destroy and break.

When you make a request to book an apartment on Airbnb, the host has 24 hours to approve your request, if they don't, your account will not be charged.

And the service also has such a thing as instant booking (marked with a lightning bolt icon). Its essence is that the reservation is made automatically, the confirmation of the owner of the property is not required (that is, he agrees to accept any guest on any dates). But nevertheless, I recommend to start by writing to the owner - anything can happen, it may turn out that for these dates someone else has already reserved housing using another apartment rental service (in my airbnb practice, this happened: everything ended well, but nerves frayed).

Stage 4.

When payment is made, and the owner of the accommodation has approved the reservation, the service will give you access to all information about the accommodation: address, location on the map, contact details of the owner. Now you can go on a journey! By the way, a printout with information about the fact of booking an apartment through is accepted by many consulates as a document for issuing a visa (my friends and I used the booking of this service to obtain a visa for the Netherlands).

The landlord will receive his rent money one day after you check-in, provided that no complaints are received from you.

Looking for discount coupons? No problem! I once wrote an article with a list of them: "" - use it for health (only not all of them will be relevant - time flies, coupons age and die). I will find out about new ones - I will write about it on the site.

The undoubted advantages of Airbnb

1. Convenient usability - the site is pleasant to be on and extremely easy to use. Finding and booking accommodation on Airbnb takes minutes.
2. The opportunity to save on housing. Often, renting apartments and houses from individuals is a more profitable option in comparison with living in hotels and even hostels! No guys, I'm not kidding! First of all, this applies to those cases when a company (3+ people) travels on a trip. When I went with my team to (remember, there were three of us), Airbnb gave the most profitable options in comparison with both hotels and hostels: in The Hague, we lived in an apartment in Chinatown for only 2,700 rubles per day and should have also been found through this service, but since we missed this option, we stayed at the hotel for three nights.
3. Interesting and original accommodation. The huge advantage of the service is that it offers a wide variety of accommodation options. You can even find fantastic options: from bungalows in Africa and tents in the Israeli desert to medieval castles and real palaces! In general, why live in boring and monotonous hotels, if there is such a thing?
4. A chance to feel like a local. Living in a real apartment, and not in a hotel room, means putting on the skin of a local resident, the surrounding space begins to feel differently, and you join the rhythm of life of the inhabitants of this city. The perspective of perception changes - from a tourist you turn into an observer who sees the life of the city from the inside. And this feeling is worth a lot.
5. Cashless payments. You do not need to carry money with you to pay for rented housing, all financial issues are resolved with reliable intermediation.

Cons of Airbnb and Minimizing Risks

This, of course, is the risk of stumbling upon a fraudulent owner. For example, when checking in, it may turn out that the owner will demand an additional payment for accommodation, even though everything has already been paid on your part through the system. The service does everything to avoid this. An important element of the service is a system of reviews, ratings and recommendations, which both tenants and owners can put down to each other after cooperation.

Almost all people are attentive to the reviews left about the owner and his apartment by previous tenants - therefore, if some owner behaved badly in something, the disgruntled tenant will simply make him a good "ay-ay-ay" in the form of an abusive response, and no one else will go to such a master. And vice versa, if a lot of positive reviews have been written for an apartment, then there is nothing to worry about and you can confidently book this accommodation on Airbnb.ru. So always pay attention to reviews and recommendations.

You can also complain about bad hosts to the service support service: fortunately, I did not have to use it, but I read that it works fine and solves problems, and, it seems, in case of any troubles, Airbnb also gives the victims 50 discount coupons -100 $ for the next booking of new apartments and apartments.

Another way to reduce your risk is to choose hosts with a verified profile. The confirmation goes through Facebook, binding to a mobile phone number and documents. It goes without saying that the owners with the most confirmed profile are more reliable companions than others.

And it will not be superfluous to pay attention to the remoteness of the owner's registration on the service (this is displayed in his profile): if he registered on the site very recently, then this is not the most reliable option. You can also check the rental calendar of this housing - if there are days reserved by someone else, then the trust in this owner and his housing becomes a little more. Of course, these verification options are very arbitrary and do not guarantee anything, but there is definitely a point to take them into account.

Airbnb Accommodation Selections

Here, on the site, we do everything, including compiling a selection of the best places to stay on the trip. In the overwhelming majority of cases, we use variants with. So if you decide to become an avid air-bi-n-bi-schnik, then you are welcome to familiarize yourself with our "" section and the already compiled selections for Barcelona, ​​Berlin, Amsterdam, Rome, Istanbul, London.

Here is such a voluminous and meaningful review about - I think I told in it about all aspects of booking apartments, apartments and houses from private individuals. Travel and use Airbnb - much better than hotels!

AirBnb is the premier rental service that makes it easy and safe to rent apartments and houses in many countries around the world. On the site, homeowners post advertisements for the delivery of housing, and those people who need it, rent it. It's simple. All ads are posted with a description, photos, a list of what is and what is not in the apartment. Moreover, Airbnb is not limited to renting apartments; on the service you can find excellent houses on the ocean, rooms, yachts and even medieval castles.

Renting a home on Airbnb goes through several stages:

1. Direct search for housing
2. Correspondence with the owner, in which you can find out everything to the smallest details
3. Payment
4. Arrival and check-in
5. After living, you can leave a review about the accommodation (this is optional)

Renting an apartment on Airbnb is no different than renting a house, a private room, or a yacht. The process is the same. The service itself has established itself on the positive side, it has been working all over the world for many years and its popularity is growing every year, of which there are only numerous, moreover, it is fully translated into Russian, so knowledge of a foreign language is not necessary. Compared to hotels, booking airbnb apartments is on average 2-3 times cheaper than a room in a three-star hotel. And if you are eating with your family or with friends, then Airbnb is what you need, because hotel rooms are usually designed for 2 people, and you have to book several rooms at once to fit everything (especially for groups of friends of 4-8 people ), and by renting an apartment on Airbnb, you can all stay together.

Why you need to rent a house on AirBnb:

• You will see the real condition of housing from numerous photographs
• You are guaranteed the security of your lease, i.e. You will not be thrown, all homeowners are checked by the service.
• You can find out reliable information about housing from reviews that are written by people who have already lived there.
• Each ad contains a list of available devices (Wi-Fi, washing machine, TV, air conditioning, etc.).
• You can set your filters by price, type of accommodation, facilities, etc., which will allow you to find exactly the property you want.
• The site is very easy to use, it is translated into Russian.
• The site has received thousands of positive reviews from travelers around the world.

Finding the right place to live on Airbnb

Knowing some of the features of the service, you can find airbnb apartments at the lowest prices and with a high level of comfort. Often newcomers do not know these "rules for a good search" and find not the most comfortable housing. For those newbies, here are some tips for booking an airbnb apartment.

• Read accommodation reviews carefully... Reviews were written by those who have already lived in this apartment / house / room, so they reflect the real situation. Choose a property for which more than 5 positive reviews have been left.
• Prefer housing with verified photos... Photos of some apartments are tagged with the "Confirmed Photos" tag. This means that the landlord provided comprehensive information, professional Airbnb photographers came to him and personally photographed the rooms.
• Ask the landlord for all the details... Do not hesitate, if you want to know what is the speed of Wi-Fi, how long to walk to the city center, whether the windows overlook the sunny side, what pattern is the rug in front of the entrance - feel free to write to the owner, he will be happy to answer all your questions.
• Better to book with a host with a verified profile... Each host has their own Airbnb profile, check it before booking, if the profile is not verified, then it is better to find another accommodation option.

Airbnb vs Hotel Comparison

Is Airbnb Safe

Don't worry, it is absolutely safe to rent an apartment abroad on airbnb. The service is the guarantor of the lease. When you have found a suitable accommodation option, transfer the money to the airbnb service as payment, and not to the owner, which excludes the possibility of the owner “disappearing” after the money is transferred (and this is what happens on some foreign services). Only after checking in, Airbnb transfers the money to the owner of the accommodation, and you calmly rest and enjoy life.

But not without a fly in the ointment in a barrel of honey. The service is safe and in case of problems it is a guarantee that you will not be left in trouble without help, but some owners can be cunning and provide inaccurate information about their housing. But such hosts can be simply identified and not booked with them. Be sure to read the article about that, and then you will be protected to the maximum.

Airbnb and visa confirmation

Booking on Airbnb is suitable for proof of accommodation, which is required upon obtaining a visa. You just need to print a receipt for payment from the site. There is no difference between confirmation with and with Airbnb, all embassies accept both.

If you do not eat alone, then when booking accommodation on Airbnb.ru, write in the names of all people who are going to live with you in these apartments and they will also be indicated on the receipt. If suddenly you did not do this at the time of booking, then contact the support service, write the names and surnames (as in passports) of all guests, and then the service staff will correct the receipt and send the corrected version to your mail.

Some embassies also require a copy of the owner's passport: a page with his photograph and a page with his signature. You can find out exactly whether these additional documents are required or not for your visa, you can only at your embassy (call them or write to the mail). If copies are still needed, then just send a letter to the owner with a request (if you do not speak English, you can translate the letter in an online translator) to send copies of the pages and within a few hours or days (when how) you will receive them. For almost never need to receive a copy of the passport of the landlord.

Instructions

It's easy enough to figure out how to use the AirBnb website, but, knowing a few tricks, you can find very good and cheap housing.

AirBnb is the best travel rental site. Travel and enjoy life! All the best!

Collected in one place links to all sites for booking accommodation in travel, which I know. Here you will find out how easy it is to spend the night in almost any city in the world at an adequate price or even free of charge! Or find a truly unusual place to stay in for a long time.

The post contains the largest hostel database in the world, the largest rental service from owners, websites for booking unusual designer hotels, overnight stays in exchange for help with the house or looking after a pet - in general, options for every taste. Take your pick!

Classic: hotel aggregator sites

Personally, I open these sites first when I am going somewhere on a trip. As the name implies, they combine information from various booking systems, such as: booking, hotels, ostrovok (some of the best prices in Russia), agoda (good for traveling in Asia), trivago, expedia and many others.

Aggregators compare prices, look for discounts and special offers, there you can find not only hotels, but also hostels, guest houses - it is very convenient when everything is in one place.

Read also:

Free overnight stay

The best way to understand the country and its people is to get to know the locals, or even better to live with them for a while. Such opportunities are provided by international hospitality sites when people invite guests to their homes. Just don't see them only as a free overnight stay, but rather a cultural exchange, interesting communication, an opportunity to improve languages ​​and find new friends around the world.

Source: instagram: @myinterior

Accommodation in exchange for housework

These sites should not be seen only as a way of free accommodation, but as a new unusual experience and an opportunity to help people and the ecology of the planet for a week, a month, or maybe more. The bottom line is that you work several hours a day, and in return you get room and board.

Source: GettyImages

Services for renting cool and unusual hotels

If you want to live in a lighthouse, in a tree house, visit eco-friendly hotels or hotels only for vegetarians, try glamping (glamorous camping) or just chick, then there are special sites for this.

✔ and - here you can buy someone else's booking at a discount. Someone could not go and sell their reservation on the site. You get a good discount and the person gets money for a non-refundable room.

Hello! In this post, we are going to show you how to use the website for renting accommodation abroad. And also about some interesting nuances that we recently encountered.

Surely many of you know about this resource, and perhaps have already discovered it for a long time and travel in this way. Nikita and I first used airbnb services in the summer of 2014, after which we were absolutely delighted and since then we prefer to look for accommodation for travel only there.

So let's start in order. What is airbnb?

Airbnb stands for Air Bed and Breakfast. This name came about after two guys from San Francisco received guests at their home, because they themselves needed money to pay for housing. They had three air mattresses at home, which they offered to temporary residents. Every morning the guys prepared breakfast for the guests. After a while, these guys saw a great business idea in their actions and founded the Airbnb website.

The portal itself says the following about itself:

Airbnb began operating in August 2008 in San Francisco, California. Airbnb is a safe and secure place to list, find and book unique accommodations anywhere in the world, directly on your website or using your mobile device.

Whether it's a one-night stand, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb gives people a unique travel experience, at any price, in over 34,000 cities and 190 countries. Combine that with a global support team and a rapidly growing travel community. Airbnb is the easiest way for people to make money by renting out space and offering it to millions of people.

In other words, on Airbnb you can find exactly the kind of accommodation that suits you in terms of comfort level and cost. The cheapest option is common room... You rent a bed or sofa in someone else's room. In this case, you naturally use the shower, kitchen, Internet and all the benefits of civilization that are present in the apartment.

The next option is separate room... An apartment may have several rooms, you rent one of them, but other travelers or apartment owners may live in adjacent rooms. This option is very good for those who have a little money, but want to be isolated. The advantages of the first and second options are also that you can always talk with the landlord, and he, as a local person, will tell you how best to get somewhere, where to go, etc.

And the last option for renting apartments on Airbnb is whole housing... It can be a separate apartment or even a house - it depends on your goals and financial capabilities.

Today, more than 25 million people worldwide use Airbnb and more than one million apartments are rented out. The choice is very large for any budget and for any expectation.

Is it safe to travel with Airbnb?

The answer is yes. The service pays great attention to security. If you are afraid to go to unknown people in an unknown apartment, then think about the fact that the owner lets in his apartment, full of his things, people unknown to him. In theory, both are at risk, but in practice we have never heard or read about security problems.

The Airbnb community is built on trust. A verified profile is one of the essential elements that allows guests and hosts to decide who they want to host and who to stay with.

Airbnb has provided multiple levels of verification and identity verification. When registering, the owner of the apartment encloses a scan of his documents, links accounts on social networks, and guests do the same.

There are two main rules to help you stay safe:

1. Review carefully landlord profile... If your profile is missing some information or photos, write to the owner to update his profile. We always pay attention to the comments left by previous tenants... If there are a lot of comments and they are positive, then the landlord is an active Airbnb member and can be trusted.
2. Pay for your reservation only through site payment system... Do not agree to transfer money to the owner's personal account, because in this case, Airbnb cannot help you if you run into problems.

Why is Airbnb good?

Let's take a look at the undeniable advantages of renting a home through this site:

1. Cost. For those who travel alone, the cheapest accommodation option is either a hostel where you can rent a bed, or even free Couchsurfing. Both options are not very comfortable, noisy and not always pleasant. Especially if you are on a long journey and need to work.

For those who travel together, like us, the hostel is not suitable at all. Because renting the two cheapest beds in a room with 16 beds is more expensive than renting one separate room in an apartment. This is true. Tested in all countries and cities where we have visited. Especially noticeable in Scandinavia. But there is an exception - Riga, there are really very cheap hostels!

Moreover, if you are traveling with a group of 15 people, I don't even know what can save you besides some camping and Airbnb.

2. Feeling at home. The idea behind the Aibnb community is the slogan "Welcome home". This is indeed the case. A hotel room is, of course, convenient and comfortable, but real housing, a blanket like at home, mugs with funny inscriptions, a guitar in the corner and morning coffee in the kitchen are completely different. Walking around the city, you do not feel like a tourist, but a local, because after a walk you will not go to the maid's tidied room, but home.

3. Immersion in culture. Neither the longest excursion, nor the most ancient monument, nor even the most important national museum, will help you so keenly and deeply understand the mentality of the country in which you find yourself, as unexpected everyday trifles that you find at home. You will see the city and country as the locals see it. Because you will have the opportunity to become this local.

With Airbnb, you can stay in the unique homes of real people - these can be ordinary houses and apartments, or even tree houses and igloos.

4. Comfort and coziness. The good thing about Airbnb is that it makes you feel free. You paid the money for housing, they gave you the keys - that's it. You don’t have to hang out with the landlord, as it is pleasant at Couchsurfing, you don’t have to endure the snoring of your roommates in the hostel, your things are safe, you don’t need to leave them in the safe every time. You have full rights to the apartment for the period of the lease - do what you want. Accommodation is usually very cozy, comfortable and pleasant. Everyone, of course, has different concepts about the comfortable and the pleasant, more on that later. But when traveling in Europe, you can be sure of the cleanliness and beauty of the rented apartment.

But a medal always has two sides, and a stick has two ends. During all our travels, we have repeatedly encountered various situations during the rental process through Airbnb, which it is better to know about in advance.

What to look for when renting a home on Airbnb?

1. The service takes a commission in the amount of six to 12% of the booking amount. The larger the booking amount, the less Airbnb service fee... Calling it a minus does not turn your tongue, because it is clear that the company's employees should receive a salary and have the means to develop this wonderful resource.

At the end of the booking, you will immediately see the full amount, which includes all fees and commissions of the portal itself. See example below.

2. Some owners, in addition to the rental price, set additional charges... Cleaning fees and damage deposits are common. The deposit for damage to property will be removed from your card when you pay for the rent and will be returned to it 48 hours after the check-out. In the event that you damage the property, the deposit will not be returned.

As a rule, a deposit is set for those apartments that are quite expensive and have expensive furniture. If you are renting cheap housing, most likely there will be no such collateral.

3. By default for people from Russia prices on the site are in rubles... If desired, you can select a different currency in the settings. Taking into account the unstable exchange rate of the ruble in recent years, the rental process sometimes turns into an attraction. Because the price for your chosen apartment can change in a few hours. Don't be surprised at this. It’s not the landlord who’s playing pranks.

4. The cost of the same apartment may vary depending on the lease term. Often rent for a month - cheaper than to shoot for two weeks, and then another two weeks. Because hosts are offering discounts on long bookings. Therefore, if you want to spend 25 days in some city, think, it might be worth staying for 30 days and thus save several thousand rubles.

5. The owner of the apartment is not always a virtuoso Internet user, so his profile may contain very serious mistakes... One of the situations that we encountered recently would have been completely unfunny if the owner hadn't come to meet us in the end.

The situation is as follows: the landlord indicated the price per day for one person. At the same time, he did not enter information into the system that the same amount must be paid for each additional guest. Airbnb is a very well thought out system that automatically calculates the total amount paid based on the number of people, the number of days, etc. But, of course, if the owner did not specify any data, then this system does not work. For our part, we indicated that there would be two guests and paid the full rental amount from the card.

When we checked into the apartment, the owner asked us to pay in cash for the “second part of the rent,” which we did not know about. He explained this by the fact that we paid from the card only for one tenant, and there were two of us. After a long investigation, we explained to him his mistake, but it turned out that all the tenants had previously agreed to his conditions and paid for the accommodation of the second tenant in cash on the spot. Wow! Either he really wanted to break us, or really, not very smart.

The moral is: Airbnb charges you full payment! You don’t have to pay anything to anyone! To avoid misunderstandings, before paying, talk to the owner of the apartment in the correspondence on the site, discuss the total amount and say again how many people there will be. Discuss all the terms with him and make sure you understand each other.

6. Although the name Airbnb suggests that you are entitled to not only a bed, but also breakfast, you can only count on breakfast if it is indicated in the description of the accommodation. Read the description very carefully! Not everyone has the Internet and a washing machine. To avoid disappointment with an apartment, just consider your options carefully and do not be afraid to enter into correspondence with the owner.

7. Correspondence with the owner it's better to post only on Airbnb. Because in case of any claims from one of the parties, it can be used as evidence.

8. When you move into an apartment, together with the owner, look at everything carefully and point to broken things, if any. Perhaps one of the previous tenants messed up something, but the landlord did not notice and will blame you in the future. We also had such a situation. It is almost impossible to prove that you did not break anything.

9. All apartments and all owners are completely different. It is almost impossible to add a complete picture of housing based on the profile on the site. For example, two times we unexpectedly found ourselves in the slums, although, of course, the profile did not write about this.

Sometimes housing is very expensive, but on the spot you find a lot of dirt, dust, lack of towels and necessary utensils. The owner gives you the keys, and you don't see him again until you leave, although according to Airbnb rules, he must help you in every possible way if something breaks, etc.

And sometimes, you find the cheapest accommodation in the whole city, and the owner goes to meet you at the airport, prepared toiletries for you, fresh bathrobes, filled the refrigerator with food and comes to cook dinners! All in all, price is not always an indicator of the quality of housing.

We have received a pleasant surprise three times already. We usually book a separate room because this option suits us best for the price. But three times in a row, having paid the cost of only a room, we received whole apartments at our disposal, because either the owner of the apartment was away, or constantly spent the night with his girlfriend, or decided to stay with his parents. Airbnb always has a little bit of obscurity.

10. Airbnb is a large and busy resource. Not surprisingly, glitches and errors sometimes happen. Once my card was charged twice for a month. After contacting the support service, the money was returned to me and, as a gift, I was given a coupon for further bookings in the amount of four thousand rubles, valid for a year. For active travelers, this is a very useful and pleasant bonus.

So if something goes wrong during the booking process, don't worry! The support service will definitely solve your problem.

11. It is better to register your Airbnb account at mail you are actively using... You will not receive unnecessary mailings, but you will not miss an important letter from the service. For example, if you contact the support service, all answers will be sent to the mail, you will not see them in your personal account on the site.

Another nice functionality of the site is SMS sending... Your phone will receive replies from hosts, even if you do not have access to the Internet. This is very convenient, so we recommend that you also indicate your real phone number.

12. Please note that some hosts set minimum booking period for example three days. Also, keep in mind that Airbnb has an opt-out option, but it's flexible, moderate, or strict with each renter. cancellation conditions.

13.This has not happened to us, but nevertheless, sometimes it happens - the owner himself can cancel booking... The site provides for penalties for the hosts, but force majeure happens not only to guests, so it is worth treating such situations with understanding. As a rule, in the host's profile there will be a note stating that he once canceled a paid reservation for someone.

14. Lastly, remember that Airbnb rentals are it is not the same as booking a room in a hotel or hostel... Some landlords do not answer right away, the free dates may be incorrectly indicated in the profile, and in addition, you may be refused a lease if the owner did not like your profile, and this is his full right.

Therefore, it is better to look for housing on Airbnb in advance, to have your profile correctly filled out, and also to expect that in the “hot” seasons it can be very difficult to find an apartment. For example, during the carnival in Rio, inexpensive housing on Airbnb was dismantled in two months.

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If you have experience using Airbnb or prefer a different way of finding accommodation while traveling, write in the comments, we are interested to know how our friends and acquaintances travel. Also, if you have any questions about renting a home, we will be happy to answer them, write!

The booking procedure, meeting with the owner, check-in and check-out are described in detail in Countries for life, travel and remote work | Nomadlist How to book a hotel on your own and cheap: booking hotels on Booking.com

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