Any opinions/tips on Airbnb?

[sunshinecruise]

My dh and I are planning a trip to Europe next year. We have a friend who has used airbnb and loves it. (Airbnb is a website where you rent a room in someone's house or a whole house or apartment.)
I am just a little apprehensive because we have never done it before, but there are some good deals and it would be nice to stay in an apartment where we would have a small kitchen and a washing machine.
Any advice from the budget board?
Thanks!

 

[worm761]

My dh and I are planning a trip to Europe next year. We have a friend who has used airbnb and loves it. (Airbnb is a website where you rent a room in someone's house or a whole house or apartment.)
I am just a little apprehensive because we have never done it before, but there are some good deals and it would be nice to stay in an apartment where we would have a small kitchen and a washing machine.
Any advice from the budget board?
Thanks!

I am renting a home in St Augustine in 3 weeks through AirBNB. My reason for using them is that I pay my money to AirBNB. They hold the money until 24 hours AFTER I check in. If I am unhappy then they will refund me my money.
I feel this is safer than renting through a site like VRBO where you are dealing with an individual. I like having the middle man to protect us both.

 

[sunshinecruise]

Thanks Worm761. I think we are going to try it.

 

[mgsquared]

I have been using airbnb exclusively for all my travels the past two years (mostly Europe). I highly recommend it! Has always been an awesome experience and better than a hotel. You are more immersed in the culture this way.

I can recommend awesome airbnb's in quite a few cities. Do you mind listing where you are going?

 

[sunshinecruise]

I have been using airbnb exclusively for all my travels the past two years (mostly Europe). I highly recommend it! Has always been an awesome experience and better than a hotel. You are more immersed in the culture this way.

I can recommend awesome airbnb's in quite a few cities. Do you mind listing where you are going?

Thanks Mgsquared. We are thinking about using airbnb in Paris.

 

[JandJ]

We used Airbnb in Miami earlier this year and we're using them in Europe later this year. We've used VRBO a few times in the past, in the US and Mexico. We liked VRBO, but what we like about Airbnb is that they hold our money until after check-in. With VRBO you pay a deposit to the property owner and pay the balance (usually in cash or check) at check-in. For our Miami trip we had an issue with our first property and Airbnb offered to refund our money or give us a discount toward another listing. (I think it was 20%; could have been 15%?). We booked another property and were able to get a larger place with the discount. I was very impressed with the way Airbnb handled the issue.

 

[lindsey]

My son has used them several times in New York with no problems. He is using one in Paris next month.

 

[scrapbooksellman]

We used them in 2012 in Paris, Rome and Malta. Worked great each time.
Be sure you ask about washer/dryer. Our Paris place did not have a dryer, it is not a common thing in the smaller apartments.

 

[kaseyC]

We used them this summer for our apartment rental for a week in Venice. We had a great experience. We got a gorgeous 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment in a great area(no crowds of tourists)... we could walk or take a quick water bus trip wherever we wanted. The price was about 50% less than we would have paid for a hotel for that same amount of time.

We will be using them for London and Athens next summer.

 

[sunshinecruise]

Thanks everyone, we are going to try it. I know one thing, you can sure spend/waste a lot of time looking at all of the listings!