Airbnb Shoes

[Bryan]

For irregular flyers (as irregular as possible in my case, I hate long haul flying!!) Airbnb provides a wonderfully cheap alternative and has the advantage that you get to stay with local folk. Used it 3 times to date; all OK, and two excellent.

 

On the other hand I came back from a low cost but seemingly OK hotel in southern Europe with bedbugs, a nightmare to eradicate.

[dustydingo]

For irregular flyers (as irregular as possible in my case, I hate long haul flying!!) Airbnb provides a wonderfully cheap alternative and has the advantage that you get to stay with local folk. Used it 3 times to date; all OK, and two excellent.

 

On the other hand I came back from a low cost but seemingly OK hotel in southern Europe with bedbugs, a nightmare to eradicate.

 

Spot on Bryan. It's funny how many see the BNB bit and stop there . . . through Airbnb we've just booked a FULL villa on an Indonesian island for a tad later in the year at a considerably lower price than even a cheap hotel. We're also looking at another FULL house for the latter part of our holiday, again at less than what we'd expect to pay at a cheap hotel. 

 

It's a shame Ed can't join the Airbnb providers, there is certainly money to be made if approached sensibly.

 

dd

[Allan Bell]

One miserable little letter I left out! But you, sir, left the period out of Dr. ( Should I put a second one in there? Like Dr..? Hmm.) 

 

I have a somewhat different point of view regarding germs. Living with germs helps tune up the immune system. I never have a cold or a headache or an upset stomach. Or foot rot. 

 

Whoops! Well spotted Ed.......

 

Allan

[John Mitchell]

For irregular flyers (as irregular as possible in my case, I hate long haul flying!!) Airbnb provides a wonderfully cheap alternative and has the advantage that you get to stay with local folk. Used it 3 times to date; all OK, and two excellent.

 

On the other hand I came back from a low cost but seemingly OK hotel in southern Europe with bedbugs, a nightmare to eradicate.

 

I'm an irregular flier myself these days. The shorter the haul, the better.

 

Did you rent entire flats, houses, etc. or stay in people's spare rooms? I don't have any problems with meeting the local folk, but I do like privacy.

[Bryan]

 

 

I'm an irregular flier myself these days. The shorter the haul, the better.

 

Did you rent entire flats, houses, etc. or stay in people's spare rooms? I don't have any problems with meeting the local folk, but I do like privacy.

 

 

So far we've rented one floor of a brownstone and a bedroom in someone's apartment/house. Got to use the cooking facilities in all of them - so didn't have the expense of always eating out. 

[Bryan]

 

low cost but seemingly OK hotel in southern Europe with bedbugs...

 

Did you check online reviews before committing???

A "MUST" IMO.     

 

If willing give it, would be very interested in seeing google search

NameOfHotel + tripadvisor + reviews

 

 

Didn't look at reviews or leave a review as it was some years ago, and it would be unfair to name the hotel now (if I could remember it!) - things move on. In fairness bedbugs can be caught from the person next to you on the Metro/bus etc and they are incredibly hard to get rid of.

 

Airbnb have their own detailed review system, and the owners have the right to reject your application if they don't like the cut of your jib!

[John Mitchell]

 

 

For irregular flyers (as irregular as possible in my case, I hate long haul flying!!)

 

I'm an irregular flier myself these days. The shorter the haul, the better.

 

 

 

I'd say it is still worth joining a points system at airlines/hotels. Through the years I could have had a couple of free flights if only I had joined sooner rather than later. The only cost is that you get junk mail... which you'd probably get anyway because you made a booking. If you use the points, great, if you dont, just shrug your shoulders.

 

There is the pitfall that you start giving the one airline or airline group priority, (which is of course the whole point from their pov), which can be a false economy. 

 

As others have mentioned AirBNB has moved on from having someone sleeping on the couch. A couple of friends have just returned from South Africa, where I beleive all of their accomodation was Air BNB. Looking at the photos, they weren't sleeping on the couch or in a spare room. If you are looking into offering it then look at your local situation as there could be some adders in the grass. Here there are all sorts of rules, especially when it comes to subletting (and especially subletting social housing.) Even if you own your home, you may find that the details of the mortgage dont allow exploiting it for commercial usage. There are lots of well publicised cases where the people letting out the flats have fallen foul of the law.

 

 

Here in Canada, condominium owners (like us) are becoming increasingly concerned about people renting out their units through AirBNB and similar websites. Hence they are including bylaws in their strata agreements that prevent short-term rentals. Most guests are probably fine, but you never know who might show up...

[John Mitchell]

 

 

 

I'm an irregular flier myself these days. The shorter the haul, the better.

 

Did you rent entire flats, houses, etc. or stay in people's spare rooms? I don't have any problems with meeting the local folk, but I do like privacy.

 

 

So far we've rented one floor of a brownstone and a bedroom in someone's apartment/house. Got to use the cooking facilities in all of them - so didn't have the expense of always eating out. 

 

 

Glad to hear things worked out well. Being able to prepare your own food can be a real plus. Perhaps I'll give AirBnB a try sometime. I do wonder about it's future, though, for a number of reasons.

[John Mitchell]

Bed bugs in your hotel? Take photos of bed bugs. Sell photos of bed bugs.

 

Yup, Alamy's got 'em too.