How to rent an apartment in any city in the world through Airbnb

Airbnb - is a site that allows you to rent housing from local residents that you plan to visit. You can remove a general or a private room, apartment, house or a cottage - in short, any place where you can come, leave things and spend the night. To do this, simply enter in the search for a destination, arrival and departure dates.

The Airbnb is different from the Hotel & Hostel?

Hotel - very expensive. The price does not always guarantee quality. And even if you decide not to save money on vacation, we can hardly give away most of their money for the room where you will only appear to sleep.

Hostels - the other extreme: they are affordable, but you can forget about privacy. On the one decent hostel have to a dozen with appalling conditions in which you will not feel at home.

Let us consider the main advantages of booking through Airbnb:

• Service allows you to rent a house for a price that suits you.
• From the photographs you will be able to examine the situation in the apartment, and to understand whether you there comfortably.
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• Hospitable hosts (they are called hosts) will not only show you the apartment, but also can advise interesting places in the city, meet at the airport, to explain how the use of local public transport.
• Rent an apartment can be for any period: Weekend in a nearby town for a week on vacation or even a month or more, to live in another country.
• Payments go through Airbnb, which acts as an intermediary. This means, in controversial situations, you can get your money back.
• Rent a house, you can immediately to friends or the whole family. It does not sound so expensive.

Everything is great, but there are also cons. You can rent a house located in an inconvenient area. Or be faced with fraudsters who spread on a flat site with fake reviews and photos, untrue.

So you can avoid these troubles, we have prepared a list of recommendations, following which you can find a suitable option.

1. Completely fill profile

To book your accommodation through Airbnb, you must first submit an application. Necessary confirmation from the owner: up to this point means your credit card will not be charged.

Some hosts provide instant booking service to book an apartment can be, without waiting for confirmation. These ads are marked with a special symbol of lightning.

Sometimes the owners refuse to confirm the booking. No, not because they do not need the money. Imagine yourself in the place of landlords: they trust their apartment to a complete stranger. Airbnb thin profile without a photo and personal information will not help to establish contact with the owner.

So add your picture (it is desirable that you look kindly on it) and write a short story about yourself, note the age and occupation. If you have already rented the apartment through Airbnb, you have positive feedback from previous hosts, it will be a big plus.

If you often get failures, rather than positive responses, most likely, put in your profile. Give the host a little bit more information about yourself and try to make an impression of a person who is not going to destroy his house. :)

2. Study area

If you are traveling to an unfamiliar city in a country where you have never visited, search the internet for information about the area. And be sure to check the map location of the apartment.

Usually people look at the beautiful pictures of the apartment and completely forget to check the surrounding area. It is fraught with consequences: you can rent an apartment with a delightful renovation in the dilapidated house, which is located in an area where there has never scavenge and roam suspicious persons.

Therefore check: go to Google Maps and turn on Google Street View: see buildings photos and to "walk" around the neighborhood. Well, if there is a public transport stop, a cafe where you can eat and drink coffee and supermarkets.

If you are traveling to a new location as touristDo not remove an apartment in a two-hour drive from the center: all the most interesting sights are usually located there. Whether it is necessary each day to spend precious time to travel back and forth?

3. Use discounts and promotional codes

If you are not registered on the site, ask a friend who has rented an apartment through Airbnb, to send you an invitation. So you will have a discount of 1,500 rubles on his first trip, and your friend will receive a fee from the service.

Many hosts on Airbnb ready to provide weekly or monthly discounts. Generally they range from 3 to 50% (depending on the location of the apartment, the season, the popularity of the host). Offered discount is usually indicated once the price.

But this discount does not affect the fee for service service that is non-negotiable.

Some owners simply do not know that it is possible to set prices, or do not do it without any reason. So do not hesitate to ask a question of the owner discount directly, even if the site in this field is worth zero.

4. Compare your needs and offers a host

I understand all this charm of the beautiful photos of the apartment. But we need to ask ourselves not only how cool this place is, but whether it is right for you.

To answer this question, you must be clear about what your looking for. Therefore, take a sheet of paper and a pen and write down their most important needs. If the apartment you need not just for one night, and to live there for a while, decide what amenities you need.

You do not mind living with a neighbor or do not want to face every day in the kitchen with strangers? Do you smoke? Whether you want to invite guests? Whether you need the Internet? You are going to cook for yourself or you will have breakfast in a cafe?

The apartment of the hotel is characterized in that makes it possible to feel a little local. Therefore I'd like to see it as the same as at home: good internet connection, a kitchen with a stove, or even a refrigerator and coffee maker. The presence of the washing machine is not a prerequisite, but all things being equal, I will give preference to her apartment.

Elena Hrupina user Airbnb

Match your needs with a list of the amenities offered by the owner. Read the list carefully and do not rush to ask questions. The owners do not really like to answer the questions, the answers to which are already in the ad text.

For example, in any trip I never connect roaming and communicate with friends and relatives only through the Internet. So my main requirement - the presence in the apartment Wi-Fi. If the apartment I need a week or more, it is important that there were utensils, kettle, refrigerator and washing machine. You can have your suggestions, so use the filters on the site to find the perfect apartment for themselves.

If you plan to visit several places, make a selection of apartments in different cities and compare them. Be vish-sheets can be directly on the site: click on the heart icon or button "Add to Wish List».

5. Check that there are no proposals from the superhit

Superhit - are experienced owners who take at least 10 visitors a year, rarely cancel the reservation and quickly respond to guests. In addition, they must not be less than 80% feedback with five stars. The site owners are marked with a special icon.

Airbnb frequently evaluates the hosts again, so booking superhit apartment, you choose accommodation that is very much from previous guests. This means that the probability to remove a good and clean apartment rises significantly. In this case, the owner will always be in touch and help you deal with all the issues.

In superhit constantly have customers. Therefore, they are unlikely to be willing to provide accommodation on too long, and with a big discount.

6. Before booking write host

Description of the apartment, equipped with a beautiful picture and name like "Sweet apartment in a beautiful location" looks nice. But there are always things that you would like to learn more.

Learn profile landlord. If he has several apartments, most likely, is a realtor. And it's not so bad: for such lessor Airbnb - it's a business, and he is unlikely to want to risk it and get you to a review at least four stars (it will damage rating and visibility in the search). But to negotiate a discount with the owner is unlikely to succeed.

Apartment in Prague surrendered Agency. They provided all the papers for the visa, a city map, a booklet with a list of good restaurants and cafes within walking distance from the apartment. The apartment is fully consistent with the photo and description, but it was smaller than it looked in the photo. There were problems with the internet, it was very slow and often it was not simple.

Pauline Ignatov, the user Airbnb

Among the hosts a lot of ordinary people who just want to to rent an apartment at the time and are not particularly versed in the intricacies of the lease. Usually they are open to negotiations.

Do not hesitate to ask questions. For example, if you need to know exactly how spacious apartment and how many people can comfortably accommodate in it, ask the owner of the footage.

Be prepared for the fact that not all the rooms are like a hotel. Sometimes a person rents an apartment, where he lives, or often myself, so in the refrigerator will be food, clothes in the closet and in the bathroom a bunch of cosmetic accessories. Usually, it is noticeable from the photos, and you have the opportunity to decide how much is right for you. To avoid any unpleasant surprises, I thoroughly study the reviews and do not see the apartment, which no one has not tweeted yet.

Elena Hrupina user Airbnb

When you have decided on the region, a specific place, the landlord and make sure that the apartment has everything you need, go to communicate with the landlord and write him a letter. Can adhere to the following plan:

1. Who you are? Introduce yourself and write down where you work. If you are not traveling alone, write a sentence or two about their satellites. Mention the purpose of his trip: you're a tourist or traveling on business affairs, or want to visit a music festival that takes place in the city.
2. When? host sees the arrival date through the site, so please, if you are a long time coming.
3. Why do you write? You liked the apartment and you would like to stay in it.

Letter helps to establish a relationship of trust with the owner proves that you are a real person and not a bot.

7. Do not perform the transaction, bypassing Airbnb and Avoid Scams

You can see the tips hold the owner of property transaction, bypassing Airbnb. Then neither he nor you will not have to pay a commission service. Many go on this risk for the sake of a few hundred rubles. But do not forget that in a problem situation is Airbnb acts as a mediator and help to return the money.

For example, once I got into trouble: accommodation booked through Airbnb, and when arrived, the owner advised to cancel the reservation, because in the apartment repairs, and she is not ready etc. He offered to see other options without the participation of Airbnb.

If the owner refuses to book through Airbnb, offers to pay for the other link, make an advance payment or a security deposit - with a probability of 99%, you ran into a rogue.

What to do in such a situation? Of course, to call in support. Can be written in the official community. And in any case, do not cancel the reservation yourself.

First, I phoned in international support, which explained the essence of the problem. Five minutes later, he called back an employee of the Russian office: he canceled the booking, sent a proposal with a very good The apartment that you can instantly book and promo code for a discount (stay in the new apartment turned free). Money for the reserved apartment the previous host also returned to the card within a couple of days.

Most problems can be avoided by carefully studied profiles.

1. Check the photos. Some hosts rent a room from different angles, moving the furniture: as a result, you can remove the small room meter square per meter. Or, instead of pictures of the apartment add photos of nearby restaurants and sights to attract your attention. Most likely, the housing itself will be not very attractive.
2. Read reviews. If your host rents several apartments, read the reviews and to them. Especially pay attention to the negative reviews and complaints, which are repeated from time to time. Very suspicious looking messages with a rating of five stars, to which there are no comments. Or revocation of the apartment itself does not say anything really. Most likely, these fake reviews and ratings.

8. Check the cancellation rules

Cancel your reservation and can host you are. There are several types of cancellation: flexible, moderate, severe. In the most severe case, you will not return 50% of paid funds.

If you are not sure that stop at a particular host or even go on a trip, it is best or nothing booked, or only select apartments with flexible cancellation terms. Learn more about all the rules, you can cancel read here.

Keep in mind that Airbnb fee is not refundable for any cancellations.

9. leave feedback

After each trip do not forget to put the assessment and write an honest review. The title is about the apartment and the host, clean, repair, location. And write about the pros and cons. This will not only help the next travelers, but also to you.

The owner will not be able to read a review about the apartment until you write a review about you and how you turned out to be a tenant. You also will not be able to find out that he had written the landlord until you leave the back review.

The more feedback from the host, the more trust him to potential guests. The more positive feedback you have, the less likely that you will be denied the booking.