DON'T BOOK THAT AIRBNB WITHOUT CHECKING THESE THINGS FIRST
I hands down believe that AirBnB alongside Uber has drastically shaken up the travel industry in a way we haven't seen before. It wouldn't have been possible to live abroad comfortably in Canada for $40 a night in our own unit if AirBnB hadn't come along.
We are big advocates of AirBnB, if you want to not only save money but also travel as a local by staying in a locals house - then this is for you.
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Of course before you go ahead and swipe that digital credit card on that incredible mansion in Italy, did you check these few things before confirming?
Has it got everything you need?
For us we always need WiFi, a kitchen and of course the obvious - a nice big bed. We automatically punch those into the filters as nobody got time for no internet!
Location, Location, Location!
We tend to use the "easier than it really should be" map feature on AirBnB alongside Google maps. Upon adjusting the price range we then zoom into key areas that we want to explore. Once we have a rough idea of where we want to go, or as we like to call it "compromising and paying less but being far away from everything" we check for local buses, trains and do a quick Uber estimate to see how far we are away from the hot spots.
Blonde female laughing in front of the Eiffel Tower
Check those reviews, check the reviewers reviews.
As always you need to check reviews before booking a place. On paper, it can look incredible - the photos look nice and it has everything you need. In comparison to other review sites, AirBnB at least lets you know if the review is from a previous guest or not. This can be seen by the date below the review.
A review sounding a little bit off? A little too positive for your liking? Make sure you head on over to the reviewers profile to see if they have had any past reviews from hosts.
Rule of thumb: If the place is new with no reviews we tend to not book it.
Quick signs of a place you may want to reconsider:
Comments like "photos didn't match the description"
Was hard to get in contact with the owner
Also if there are past reviews where issues were brought up and not fixed which can be seen with newer reviews complaining about the same issue.
What happens when things go wrong with AirBnB?
It can and will happen to the best of us. Read about our experience with the AirBnB support team when we couldn't get into our Hollywood apartment at 11 o'clock at night!
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