rnb service. Using the Airbnb service: renting and renting out housing around the world! Pros of living in an apartment

Hi all! In this post we will talk about how to use a website for renting housing abroad. And also about some interesting nuances that we recently encountered.

Surely many of you know about this resource, and perhaps you have already discovered it for yourself a long time ago and are traveling 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 travel accommodation only there.

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

Airbnb stands for Air Bed and Breakfast". The name came about after two guys from San Francisco hosted guests at their home because they themselves needed money to pay for their rent. They had three air mattresses at home, which they offered to temporary residents. Every morning the guys prepared breakfast for the guests. After some time, 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 rent, find, and book unique accommodations anywhere in the world, right on the website or via your mobile device.

Whether it's an apartment for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb brings unique travel experiences to people at every price point in more than 34,000 cities and 190 countries. Add to that global customer support and a rapidly growing travel community. Airbnb is the most easy way for people to make money by renting out their free space and offering it to millions of people.

In other words, on Airbnb you can find exactly the kind of accommodation that suits your level of comfort and price. Most cheap option- This common room. You rent a bed or sofa in a room where someone else lives. At the same time, 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 little money, but want some privacy. The advantages of the first and second options are that you can always communicate with the owner of the property, 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 entire housing. This could be a separate apartment or even a house - it depends on your goals and financial capabilities.

Today, more than 25 million people around the world use Airbnb and more than one million apartments are available for rent. The choice is very large for any budget and for any expectations.

Is it safe to travel with Airbnb?

The answer is yes. The service pays great attention to security. If you are afraid of going to unknown people in an unknown apartment, then think about the fact that the owner allows people unknown to him into his apartment, full of his things. 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 necessary elements that allows guests and hosts to decide who they want to host and stay with.

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

There are two main rules that will help you ensure safety:

  1. Please review carefully landlord profile. If your profile is missing any information or photos, write to the owner to update your profile. We always pay attention to the comments left previous occupants. If there are a lot of comments and they are positive, then the landlord is an active participant in Airbnb 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 will not be able to help you if problems arise.

What's good about Airbnb?

Let's look at the undeniable advantages of renting housing through this site:

1. Cost. For those traveling 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 traveling as a couple, like us, the hostel is not suitable at all. Because renting the two cheapest beds in a room with 16 beds costs more than renting one separate room in an apartment. This is true. Tested in all countries and cities we visited. Particularly noticeable in Scandinavia. But there is an exception - Riga, there are really very cheap hostels there!

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

2. Feeling of home. The idea behind the Aibnb community is the slogan “Welcome Home.” This is true. 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 is completely different. Walking around the city, you feel not like a tourist, but a local, because after the walk you will not go to a room cleaned by the maid, but home.

3. Immersion in culture. Neither the longest excursion nor the most ancient monument and not even the most important one National Museum, will not help you understand as keenly and deeply the mentality of the country in which you find yourself as the unexpected everyday little things that you find at home. You will see the city and the country as the locals see it. Because you will have the opportunity to become that local.

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

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

But a coin always has two sides, and a stick has two ends. During all our travels, we have more than once encountered various situations in the process of renting through Airbnb, which are better to know about in advance.

What to look for when renting on Airbnb?

1. The service takes a commission ranging from six to 12% of the booking amount. The larger the booking amount, the less Airbnb service fee. It would be hard to call this a minus, because... It is clear that the company's employees must 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 the commission of the portal itself. Example below.

2. Some owners, in addition to the rental price, set additional charges. Cleaning fees and damage deposits are common. The deposit for property damage will be taken from your card when you pay the rent and will be returned to your card 48 hours after check-out. If 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 rent cheap housing, most likely there will be no such deposit.

3. Default for people from Russia prices on the website are indicated in rubles. If desired, you can select a different currency in the settings. Given the unstable ruble exchange rate recently, the rental process sometimes turns into an attraction. Because the price of the apartment you choose may change within a few hours. Don't be surprised by this. It's not the owner of the apartment who's being naughty.

4. The cost of the same apartment may be different depending on the rental period. Often renting for a month is cheaper than to rent for two weeks, and then for another two weeks. Because the hosts offer discounts for long bookings. Therefore, if you want to spend 25 days in a certain city, consider whether it might be worth staying for 30 days and thus saving 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 recently encountered would have been completely unfunny if the owner had not eventually agreed to meet us.

The situation is as follows: the landlord indicated the price per day per person. However, he did not enter into the system the information that for each additional guest the same amount must be paid. Airbnb is a very well thought out system that automatically calculates the total payment amount based on the number of people, number of days, etc. But, of course, if the owner did not indicate some 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 saying that we paid with the card for only one tenant, and there were two of us. After much 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 deceive us, or he really wasn’t very smart.

The moral is: Airbnb charges you in full! You don't have to pay anyone anything extra! To avoid misunderstandings, before paying, talk to the owner of the apartment via correspondence on the website, discuss the final amount and talk again about how many people there will be. Discuss all the conditions with him and make sure that you understand each other.

6. Although the Airbnb name 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 your apartment, simply consider your options carefully and don't be afraid to engage in correspondence with the owner.

7. Correspondence with the owner It’s better to only conduct 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 out broken things, if there are any. Perhaps one of the previous tenants spoiled something, but the landlord did not notice and will blame you in the future. We also had a similar situation. It is almost impossible to prove that you didn’t break anything.

9. All apartments and all owners are completely different. It’s almost impossible to get a complete picture of the property from the profile on the website. For example, twice we unexpectedly found ourselves in the slums, although, of course, this was not written about in the profile.

Sometimes housing is very expensive, but on site 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, fresh bathrobes for you, stocked the refrigerator with food and comes to cook dinners! All in all, price is not always an indicator of the quality of housing.

Three times already we have received a pleasant surprise. We usually book a private room because... This option suits us best in terms of price. But three times in a row, having paid only the cost of the room, we received the entire apartment at our disposal, because... either the owner of the apartment was away, or constantly spent the night with his girlfriend, or decided to live with his parents. There's always a little bit of uncertainty with Airbnb. 🙂

10. Airbnb is a large and busy resource. It's no surprise that glitches and errors sometimes happen. One day my card was charged twice for a month's rent. After contacting the support service, my money was returned 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. Register your account on Airbnb is better on email you actively use. You won’t receive any unnecessary mailings, but you won’t miss any important emails from the service. For example, if you contact support, all responses will be sent by email, personal account you won't see them on the website.

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

12. Please note that some owners install minimum booking period, for example, three days. And also keep in mind that Airbnb provides an option to cancel a reservation, but each landlord chooses flexible, moderate or strict cancellation conditions.

13. This has not happened to us, but nevertheless, sometimes this happens - the owner himself can cancel reservation. The site provides for fines for hosts, but force majeure happens not only to guests, so you should treat such situations with understanding. As a rule, in the host’s profile there will be a note that he once canceled a paid reservation for someone.

14. Lastly, remember that renting on Airbnb is this is not the same as booking a room in a hotel or hostel. Some landlords do not respond immediately, the available dates may be incorrectly indicated in your profile, and in addition, you may be refused to rent if the owner does not like your profile, and this is his full right.

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

25$

Friends, we hope this post was useful to you! We talked about all the nuances that we considered important and worthy of your attention. If you don't yet have an Airbnb account, we suggest you follow this link: www.airbnb.ru/c/ndatsko1?s=8 and register (copy and paste the link into the address bar). You'll immediately receive $25 that you can use on any booking. Well, we will also get $25. :)

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

I'll tell you how to find it nice apartment and remove it without any problems. Here are five tips to help you avoid screwing up your rent.

Sergey Korol

traveler

Usually, newcomers to Air BBC choose a city and date, and then admire the beautiful photos of apartments from the search. They imagine how they will lie on a luxurious bed and how they will have breakfast on the balcony overlooking the park. As a result, they choose housing with the cutest photos. Is it dangerous.

Perhaps, instead of a pleasant sleep in bed, you will have to get up early in the morning to catch the train to the center. And to have breakfast on the balcony, you will need to walk for an hour to buy groceries at the nearest supermarket.

We went to Helsinki for the festival and were impressed by the cute apartment with a sauna and grill on the balcony. It turned out that she was formally in another city, in Espoo. It's an hour's drive to Helsinki

To make your vacation enjoyable, look not only at the photographs, but also at the location of the apartments. Find out where the nearest stops are public transport and how often does he go? See what shops and cafes are nearby. If you're driving, find out where to park overnight.

For example, I want to rent an apartment in the city center, in the Punavuori area:

I find this place in Google Maps, and then “walk” along the neighboring streets in street view mode.

I’m looking for parking, looking at the signs, as if I’m driving a virtual car and thinking about where to park it.

Oh, you can park your car here from 9 am to 7 pm - this is written on the yellow sign on the wall of the building, above the Canon. But you won’t be able to park overnight - in the morning there will be a fine waiting under the windshield wiper

Sometimes they deliberately rent an apartment not in the center in order to save on rent. Before you do this, calculate how much an hour of your vacation costs. This way you will see that an expensive apartment in the center will be more profitable.

Cost of renting an apartment in Paris

Rent an apartment for 3200 RUR per day

More expensive and closer

Rent an apartment in the center for 4800 RUR per day

Spend 2 hours every day getting to the center and back - 800 RUR of your time and another 20 € for two for bus tickets (≈1400 RUR)

More expensive and closer

You walk around the city on foot and rarely spend money on transport. The apartment costs as much as you pay for rent

Total - 5400 R

More expensive and closer

Both the renter and the owner can cancel a reservation at Air BBC.

If you rent an apartment and then change your mind, the service may fine you. This is determined by the types of cancellations. There are six of them: from soft to hard.

With soft cancellation, you can cancel your rental even five minutes before check-in - you will receive a full refund. With hard cancellation, you will get a 50% refund of your stay if you cancel your reservation a month in advance.

Cancellation rules are listed in the "Prices" section

Sometimes it happens that the owner of the apartment cancels the reservation. Often, owners rent out their apartments while traveling, and plans may change. This is a fairly rare case; it happened to me once.

If the host cancels your reservation, you will receive an email letting you know. I advise you to look through your mailbox the night before your trip. By the way, if the owner cancels the reservation, Air BBC will give you a small consolation amount to your internal account.

Make lists directly on the site

Usually there are dozens and hundreds of apartment options at Air BBC. In order not to get confused in them and not to lose interesting ones, I advise you to keep a list.

The list is created directly on the website. Name it after the city you're going to.

Then add apartments to the list directly from the search - click on ❤:

So in half an hour you will have a dozen options to choose from. You can discuss them with family or friends. These apartments will no longer be lost in the search.

Check details in advance

Usually apartment owners send guests detailed instructions: how to get from the airport, how to find an apartment. Guests close the Air BBC tab, thinking that everything is ok.

What to pay attention to

The owner writes that the easiest way to get from Berlin Tegel Airport is by taxi for 20 € (1534 RUR). But you do not fly to Tegel, but to Schönefeld. Find out how to get there by public transport from Schönefeld and how much it will cost.

The owner asks to pick up the keys from the neighbor. She lives opposite, in apartment 20B. Ask your neighbor for her phone number and ask her to give her your number. Warn that you will be there between 12 and 14 o'clock - let him be at home at this time.

The owner offers to meet you from the train and take you home by car. He asks for only 15 € (1150 RUR). Google transport: it turns out that you can get from the station to your house by tram for 4 € (306 RUR). Politely decline.

The owner complains that there is now an excavator in his parking space and it will not be possible to leave the car at the house. Find out where the nearest free parking is. If there isn’t one, ask him to negotiate with your neighbors so that you park in someone else’s place.

Usually before a trip I look at the route from the stop to the house on Street View. This way I find housing quickly and without errors.

This is our temporary home in Berlin. If you walk around Street View, you can see a huge park full of weed dealers

I also make sure to write down the owner’s phone number and take screenshots of Google Maps. I can use the screenshots to get to the place; if I get lost, in extreme cases, I’ll call you by phone.

You might think I'm paranoid. However, during all this time I have had almost no unpleasant moments with checking into Air BBC.

Include the skeptic

Usually people think the apartment is nice in advance. Beautiful pictures, view outside the window. By default, I consider any housing suspicious.

When I look at an apartment, I always try to find a flaw in it. Why didn't you take a picture of the bathroom? Where will all the things go from the table and closet? Why does the baby's crib get wet in the rain on the balcony?

So I found a nice apartment in Riga:

But if you scroll down to the photo of the house itself, it becomes a little scary. Hut on chicken legs for 2600 RUR per day!

If you have any doubts about the apartment, it is better to clarify them with the owner in advance. If you can’t clarify, don’t shoot.

I avoid apartments that have too many household items. Typically, such apartments are found among those who are leaving for several weeks. You will be greeted by cabinets filled with things and a bathroom shelf where there is nowhere to even put toothpaste. It’s a strange feeling: you seem to have paid a lot of money, but it’s like you’re living as a guest.

This apartment in Rome is obviously residential. Everywhere there are paintings, books and things of the owners

Don't forget about cleaning. Typically, Air BBC shows the cost of a night's stay in the search. However, in addition to this amount, an additional cleaning fee will be charged. The money for cleaning goes to the owner of the apartment, so sometimes he cheats: he reduces the cost of rent, but charges a lot for cleaning. Look at this amount when choosing an apartment. The cost of cleaning should not exceed one night in the apartment.

For three nights in a Tokyo apartment, you expect to pay 9,600 RUR, but you will pay more than 12 thousand. They will additionally charge 2200 RUR for cleaning and another 1500 RUR for the Air BBC commission.

How to contact outside of Air BBC. The service stops all attempts to exchange contacts with the owners of apartments that you have not rented. It will not be possible to leave a phone number or a link to a social network account - Air BBC will hide this for the recipient of the message.

To contact the owner, some distort the words: Fαсၔbo0к or Inƽαrαm. Or they write numbers in letters: plus seven nine two five...

Please do not try to bypass Air BBC to rent an apartment. The owner will complain, you will be blocked, or something else will happen:

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This is a site that allows you to rent housing from local residents city ​​you plan to visit. You can rent a shared or separate room, an apartment, a house or an entire cottage - in general, any place where you can come, leave your things and spend the night. To do this, you just need to enter your destination, arrival and departure dates into the search.

How is Airbnb different from a hotel and hostel?

A hotel is an expensive pleasure. However, price does not always guarantee quality. And even if you decide not to save on vacation, it’s hardly worth giving most your money for a room where you will appear only to sleep.

Hostels are the other extreme: they are affordable, but you can forget about privacy. For every decent hostel, there are a dozen with terrible conditions in which you definitely won’t feel at home.

Let's look at the main advantages of booking through Airbnb:

  • The service allows you to rent housing at a price that suits you.
  • From the photographs you can study the situation in the apartment and understand whether you will be comfortable there.
  • Hospitable hosts (they are also called hosts) will not only show you the apartment, but can also give you advice interesting places in the city, meet you at the airport, explain how to use local public transport.
  • You can rent an apartment for any period of time: for a weekend in a neighboring city, for a week on vacation, and even for a month or more to live in another country.
  • Payments go through Airbnb, which acts as an intermediary. This means that in controversial situations you will be able to get your money back.
  • You can rent housing immediately for a group of friends or a whole family. It won't be that expensive.

All this is great, but it also has its downsides. You can rent a house located in an inconvenient area. Or encounter scammers who post apartments on the website with fake reviews and photographs that do not correspond to reality.

So that you can avoid such troubles, we have prepared a list of recommendations, following which you will find a suitable option for yourself.

1. Fill out your profile completely

To book a place through Airbnb, you must first submit an application. Confirmation from the owner is required: until this point, funds will not be debited from your card.

Some hosts provide an instant booking service so that an apartment can be booked without waiting for confirmation. Such advertisements are marked with a special lightning bolt symbol.

Sometimes hosts refuse to confirm a reservation. No, not because they don't need money. Imagine yourself in the shoes of landlords: they entrust their apartment to a complete stranger. A half-empty Airbnb profile without a photo or personal information will not help you establish contact with the host.

So add a photo of yourself (preferably a friendly one) and write short story about yourself, indicate your age and occupation. If you have already rented apartments through Airbnb and have positive reviews from previous hosts, then this will be a big plus.

If you often receive rejections rather than positive responses, it's most likely your profile. Give the host a little more information about yourself and try to come across as someone who isn't going to tear their house down. :)

2. Explore the area

If you are traveling to an unfamiliar city in a country where you have never been before, look online for information about the areas. And be sure to check the location of the apartment on the map.

Usually people look at beautiful pictures of an apartment and completely forget to check surrounding area. This is fraught with consequences: you can rent an apartment with a delightful renovation in a dilapidated house, which is located in an area where garbage is never collected and suspicious characters roam.

So check it out: go to Google Maps and turn on the Google Street View function: look at photos of the building and “walk” around the area. It’s good if there is a public transport stop nearby, a cafe where you can have a snack and coffee, and supermarkets.

If you are traveling to a new place as a holiday, do not rent an apartment two hours away from the center: all the most interesting attractions are usually located there. Is it worth spending precious time traveling there and back every day?

3. Take advantage of discounts and promotional codes

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

Many Airbnb hosts are willing to offer weekly or monthly discounts. Usually they range from 3 to 50% (depending on the location of the apartment, season, popularity of the host). The discount offered is usually indicated immediately after the price.

But this discount does not in any way affect the service fee, which is not negotiable.

Some owners simply don't know that discounts can be set, or don't do it for no reason. Therefore, do not hesitate to ask the owner a question directly, even if on the site itself there is a zero in this field.

4. Compare your needs and what the host offers

I understand all the fascination with beautiful apartment photos. But you need to ask yourself not only how cool this place is, but also whether it's right for you.

To answer this question, you must have a clear idea of ​​what you are looking for. So take a piece of paper and a pen and write down your most important needs. If you need an apartment not just for one night, but to live there for a while, decide what amenities you need.

Do you mind living with a neighbor or don’t want to encounter strangers in the kitchen every day? Do you smoke? Do you want to invite guests? Do you need internet? Are you going to cook yourself or will you have breakfast in a cafe?

An apartment differs from a hotel in that it gives you the opportunity to feel a little like a local. Therefore, I want to see in it the same thing as at home: good internet, a kitchen with a stove, or at least a refrigerator and coffee maker. Having a washing machine is not a prerequisite, but all other things being equal, I would prefer an apartment with one.

Elena Khrupina, Airbnb user

Compare your needs with the list of amenities the owner offers. Read the list carefully and do not rush to ask questions. Hosts don’t really like to answer questions whose answers are already in the text of the ad.

Please note that Airbnb fees are non-refundable for any cancellations.

9. Leave feedback

After each trip, do not forget to rate and write an honest review. Describe your impressions of the apartment and the owner, cleanliness, renovation, location. Write about both the pros and cons. This will not only help the next travelers, but also you.

The more reviews a host has, the more trust potential guests have in him. The more positive reviews you have, the less likely you are to be denied a booking.

Today I’ll tell you about the service, which was created in 2008 and is increasingly gaining popularity among travelers. Read also about ours in Bangkok.

You will learn how to register and book accommodation on Airbnb, how to get a $25 discount coupon, and also tell you why the service is interesting and profitable.

What is Airbnb and how does it work?

Many travelers are already accustomed to accommodation booking systems, such as Booking or, where you can choose a hotel to suit your taste and budget in almost any country in the world. But hotels are not always the best option for accommodation - sometimes apartments and apartments are more convenient to rent. This is what Airbnb helps with. We must admit, we just recently started booking accommodation through Airbnb, and now we will help you figure it out too.

Airbnb is rental housing around the world from apartment owners. Housing can be either individual rooms, houses, apartments, or interesting options such as trailers, castles and islands. Now the system already includes more than 34,000 cities in 190 countries.

It turns out that Airbnb acts as an intermediary between those who want to rent out their apartment, house or room and those who want to rent this home. Naturally, the service takes a commission for such a bridge. For this fee, Airbnb provides a financial guarantee against all sorts of troubles, when you can contact a 24-hour support center and get a refund or resolve other issues if something goes wrong.

Why is Airbnb interesting and beneficial?

  • The service is especially relevant for expensive cities such as Singapore, Paris, other capitals and major cities, where hotel prices are steep. But you can rent an apartment in Airbnb for 20-40 dollars, and at a decent level. For that kind of money, in some cities hotels only offer small rooms.
  • The possibility of live communication over a cup of tea with the owner, a conversation with whom will help you get to know the country even more deeply and get interesting information.
  • It is especially beneficial to rent an apartment for a large group or a family with a child, when the presence of a kitchen and separate space is very desirable. Per person, it is often cheaper than a hotel, even very decent apartments, the equivalents of which in hotels are very expensive.
  • An Airbnb reservation is visa-compliant, meaning a printout of the reservation can be provided to the consulate
  • Interesting accommodation options, not the same type of chain hotels. For example, here.

How to register with Airbnb and get a $25 coupon

Upon transition you will receive from us personal Airbnb coupon for $25 for your first booking (works if its value exceeds $75). For example, if you rent an apartment for 3 days for $27 per day, then you will pay not $81, but only $56! This coupon is stored for a whole year, and even if you didn’t use it the first time, you can do so later.

$25 Airbnb coupon from us!

2. Click on the “get discount” button

3. Now you need to register. You can do this using your Facebook or Google+ accounts, or as usual via e-mail.

4. After registration, you need to confirm your profile - it’s simple and won’t take more than 3 minutes, follow the service prompts in your personal account.

Account verification methods

Account verification methods:

  • Email
  • Phone number
  • Your profile photo
  • Linking social networks to your account
  • Sending a scan of your passport/driver's license.

Why do you need a verified Airbnb profile?

By confirming your profile, both you and the owner prove that you really exist, thus increasing trust. After all, Airbnb is not only a booking service, but also a community of travelers.

Often people choose to live with a confirmed owner of the apartment (the corresponding icon appears opposite him) and I advise you to do so. Also, confirmed guests are more highly valued))

How to rent a home on Airbnb

Now is the time to book your accommodation on Airbnb. We go to the official website and enter the city and dates we need into the search bar.

Search for apartments around the world on Airbnb

All available options appear, and to the right of them is a map, which is very convenient to look at by area, moving and moving.

Booking on Airbnb - search results with filters and map

Pay attention to the filters - there are several of them. You can select the type of accommodation, price range and others. More filters are available by clicking the “More filters” button - you can clearly define your housing requirements.

How to rent an apartment on Airbnb - choosing options

We choose the options we like and read about them carefully. There is a section “House Rules”, there are various conditions: is it possible to smoke, is it possible to have pets, what kind of beds, internet, bathroom, etc.

Read the description and house rules

Pay attention to reviews and whether the owner's account is verified. If not, then there is some risk, and perhaps this is just a new participant, and they did not have time to write reviews. When viewing photos, it is very good if the photo has a “Verified” icon in the upper right corner - this means that an Airbnb photographer visited this place and the photos correspond to reality.

Reviews of the apartment on Airbnb

Reviews of the property owner and his verified profile

Also pay attention to the cancellation conditions, there are several types: in some cases you can return the entire amount minus the service commission, in some cases the money is partially returned or not returned at all. You can read more at.

Cleaning fee. In some cases, a cleaning fee is included and is quite large. Be careful.

In some variants it is taken deposit for the safety of property. Nothing is debited from you; in case of property damage, the host must send you a request for payment through Airbnb after you check out.

The description says how many people the housing is designed for. In some cases, additional people are paid (the amount is indicated in the description), in some cases it is free.

We contact the owner of the apartment, find out the details that interest us and determine its adequacy, if required :-). If you don’t know English, then enter the Russian text into Google Translator and copy it.

Button to contact the property owner and booking button

Airbnb accommodation reservation and payment

1. Next, send a reservation request. Here you will need to enter data bank card or PayPal wallet. The billing address is your address, more precisely the one that you indicated when you issued the bank card with which you pay for this accommodation. The host has 24 hours to confirm your request.

2. Instant Booking is available for some options. In this case, the reservation occurs immediately, just like in Booking or other similar services.

3. After the owner has confirmed the request and the payment has gone through, you will receive a receipt and detailed instructions with the owner’s contacts and the address of the property by e-mail. An SMS is also sent to your phone. Your money remains in the system and is transferred to the owner only after the first day of your stay.

A confirmation receipt appears in your personal account

If you registered using , and your booking is more than $75, then you will receive an Airbnb coupon worth $25. This amount is reflected after clicking the “Book instantly” or “Request booking” button in the “coupon” column, as in the screenshot.

Airbnb $25 discount on first booking!

We will be very grateful if you register using our link - you will feel good, and we will receive a small bonus from Airbnb. :-) Thank you!

That's all we wanted to tell you about how to rent a home on Airbnb. We will soon publish an article with answers to frequently asked questions. See you and happy travels!