Service to rent an apartment abroad. Renting accommodation around the world with Airbnb. Airbnb Pitfalls and Cons

Accommodation on airbnb.ru

What is a siteairbnb

Airbnb.ru (airbnb.com) is a website for housing rentals around the world. The essence of the Airbnb project is to connect owners of apartments (rooms, apartments, houses, villas and even yachts) in different countries those wishing to rent out their housing, and potential tenants of this housing on travel, business trips, studies, vacations and under other circumstances.

The advantages of renting accommodation around the world from hosts over standard hotel bookings are obvious. For the same money (and often cheaper) you get a full-fledged apartment instead of a small hotel room. Renting a house or apartment from the owner is very convenient for family trips, especially with children, or for large groups. For solo travelers, it is convenient to rent a room. Let's compare the cheapest double room in a hotel and accommodation on airbnb at the same price in Stockholm. What will you choose: stop in a hotel with a tiny room and a shared (!) toilet or in a bright, spacious two-room apartment for the same money?

On the left is a large two-room apartment, on the right is hotel room no bathroom

How to rent an apartment without intermediaries from the owner on Airbnb

To rent a home around the world for the first time through the airbnb website, you need to go through several simple steps. Subsequently, you will be able to rent an apartment without intermediaries from the owner on Airbnb in just a few minutes.

Filling out your profile

Start with yourself. The owner needs to be sure that he is receiving a decent guest. Be conscientious when filling out your profile, because this determines whether the owner will approve your reservation.

• Register. Of course, first you need to register. Have you noticed a gift from us? Next I will tell you what this means.
• Fill in the description. Tell us a little about yourself.
• Upload a photo. It is advisable that the photo is yours, close-up and with a smile.
• Confirm your profile. There are several options: linking your account with social networks, phone, email, verification through a scan of a document. This is a very important point that confirms that you are a real person with serious intentions.
• Collect positive reviews. When you start using the site to its fullest, from the very first booking, agree with the owner to exchange reviews. They can be left at the end of your stay for a certain period of time. Unfortunately, many guests and hosts are then too lazy to do this.

⚠ Since airbnb is a site for rental housing around the world, try to give your description and reviews not only in Russian, but also in English.

Important nuances when booking an apartment onairbnb

When you start choosing housing in the city or country you are interested in, pay attention to the following parameters.

Master:

• Description of yourself.
• Profile confirmations. The more there are, the better
• Availability of positive reviews (the owner may not have reviews about this property, but he does have reviews about another).
• Response rate. A good owner strives for 100%.
• Availability of “Superhost” status. Awarded for special merit, as can be seen in the diagram below.

The best hosts are awarded the Order of Superhost

We were satisfied with the owner with superhost status.

Apartment (house, room):

• Reviews of the apartment on airbnb.
• Availability of photos. Sometimes pictures are taken by airbnb representatives, then they are marked with a “Verified” sign.
• Address (area of ​​location).

Conditions of accommodation and booking:

• Cancellation conditions. We will consider this point in more detail later.
• Availability of options: household appliances, internet, parking, etc.
• Availability of collateral. Sometimes the owner may indicate the amount of the deposit for the safety of the property.
• Minimum number of days of stay.

⚠ The lack of reviews about the property, verified photos and “superhost” status from the owner does not mean that this property should not be considered. Most likely, the owner does not rent out the apartment often, has only recently joined the Airbnb website, or is located in a rarely visited place.

What do we pay for

The payment includes basic payments and additional ones.

Basic:

• Housing rental amount.
• airbnb service fee (≈6-12%).

Additional (at the owner's request):

• Cleaning.
• Other host services.

The total amount is indicated in a special window - everything is extremely transparent.

On the right you can always see what is included in the price and the final cost of the booking

General rules for paying for housing

Contact the owner by clicking the button

Once you have decided on housing, contact the owner via messages. Tell us a little about yourself and the purpose of your trip, ask the owner additional questions, and find out if the accommodation is available for the dates you are interested in. If both parties are happy with everything, request a reservation. You can communicate with multiple owners at the same time, but only request bookings for the same dates from one. Otherwise, several owners may confirm your reservation at once, and your card will be debited for all confirmed requests.

⚠ If you do not speak the host's language, use online translators. Avoid making complex or ambiguous sentences to minimize distortions during automatic translation.

You can bypass correspondence with the host via messages and immediately send a booking request. But I don’t recommend doing this if you have found several options that you like, and there is little time left. You may not have time to submit a new application for another accommodation if your reservation is not rejected immediately.

Submit a booking request and wait for confirmation from the host

Some airbnb apartments have instant booking options. This means that confirmation from the owner is not required. But I still try to first enter into correspondence with the owner in order to clarify the details of interest.

Book accommodation worldwide instantly

Payment on the Airbnb website takes place online using bank card, as soon as the owner confirms the reservation, or at the time of booking if the property has an “instant confirmation” status. For residents of some countries, other payment methods may be used (for example, PayPal). The airbnb service acts as a guarantor of safety Money. The owner will receive payment only 24 hours after your arrival. Therefore, if something goes wrong, it is very important to report the claim to Airbnb support before this period expires.

Travel coupons and bonuses

The Airbnb site has created an incentive system for attracting new users. For successfully inviting friends, both you and your friends will be awarded so-called coupons. In fact, these are not standard coupons with a promo code, but a travel bonus that is assigned to your account.

If you just register on the airbnb.ru website, there will be no bonus. And if you use a special invitation link, the system will give you a $15-35 discount on your accommodation reservation (promotions change periodically and may soon be canceled altogether, so it’s better to register now). After registering on the site, you can also invite friends and acquaintances and give them gift coupons. For what? And then, after they rent an apartment through airbnb, you will be credited with a new discount coupon. It is better to register now, as the promotion may be canceled at any time. So, recently the value of bonuses has changed several times.

Kostya and I once went to Moscow and decided to use airbnb (you can read our review with photos at the link). By that time, we had already accumulated 2 discount coupons totaling $50. For a luxurious new three-ruble note, we paid $60 instead of $110 for two days by redeeming coupons. We loved saving so much! 🙂

This is what our receipt for paying three rubles for two days in Lyubertsy looks like

⚠ Coupons are valid for 1 year.

Cancellation of a reservation on the websiteairbnb

Of course, there are situations when travel plans or routes change. Therefore, when choosing accommodation, be sure to pay attention to the cancellation conditions. They come in several types:

• Flexible.
• Moderate.
• Strict.
• Super strict 30 days.
• Super strict 60 days.
• Long-term.

The first three conditions are most common. For all of the above options, general rules apply:

But if the owner cancels the reservation, this will affect his rating. The Airbnb system automatically publishes information about this fact in the form of a review from a guest. The owner cannot delete it, so it is not in his interests to spoil his reputation. In addition, the host will pay serious fines and will not be able to obtain Superhost status for the next year. But if this does happen, the guest will receive a refund and assistance in finding new housing.

Compliance with Airbnb rules is the key to safety

Please carefully read the rules for renting accommodation around the world on airbnb. They are designed to create maximum safety and comfort. The system is designed in such a way that it protects both guests and hosts. It happens that, under the pretext of saving on service fees, the owners may offer you to pay them directly. Booking bypassing the Airbnb website entails the risk of running into scammers. And in this case, you will not be able to take advantage of the system’s guarantees.

Explored the possibilities of Airbnb

Marina and Konstantin Samorosenko

Hello! We, Marina and Konstantin Samorosenko, are the authors of this travel blog. All information provided on the site free. But if you want thank the authors, take part in raising funds for an expensive hearing restoration surgery to our son Elisha. Details and our history can be found.

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In this article, you will learn about the Airbnb website, which allows you to rent accommodation in other countries! As a bonus we'll give you 2100 rubles to live in any country in the world. The coupon is valid for a year.

What is Airbnb

Let's start with the basics. Airbnb is a special site where you can negotiate with the owner of a home to rent it. This is ideal both for tourists traveling in a crowd (it’s cheaper to rent an apartment and fit everyone in than to pay for a bed in a hotel), and for those who are tired of classic sleekness. Do you want to feel the flavor of everyday life in a new city? Then you definitely have a direct route to this site.

Get 2100 rubles on AirBnb

How Airbnb works

You enter the city of residence and the number of people into the search. After which you are given a list of suitable places indicating the cost. Then you can filter the results in various ways.

After you have chosen several suitable options for yourself, it is time to write a request to the owner of the apartment. In this letter you should introduce yourself, indicate your desired dates of placement and ask questions that haunt you. It is also reasonable to provide links to your profiles on social networks so that the owner of the apartment forms an adequate opinion about you as a person.

The situation is almost the same as with . Based on one letter, a person should decide to let you into the apartment and leave you unattended for several days. You must relieve his possible anxiety.

Once you have received answers to all your questions, click the “Book” button. In the next 24 hours, the owner of the premises will have to decide whether to let you in or not. If his answer is positive, the required amount will be debited from your card. After payment, the contact details of the apartment owner and the exact address.

Safety

First, let's talk about safety. Discuss all important booking details and all financial issues only through the website. This way there will be an opportunity to appeal to this in case of conflict situations. Do not go to third-party negotiation sites.

If you are not sure about your plans, then choose those offers that provide flexible conditions for canceling your reservation. Discuss all financial issues before payment. You should have an idea of ​​how much money will be spent on the deposit and how much on payment.

In case of trouble, try to notify the company about it. To do this, you can use the help center on the website. There is support in Russian.

Good to know

The site contains verified photographs of places that can be rented. These photos were taken by a representative of the service and have the Airbnb logo in the top corner. This sign indicates that this illustration can be trusted.

If there are not many of you, and apartment prices are steep, try renting a room. Of course, living with the owners of the apartment may not be so fun. On the other hand, they will tell you what to see, what transport to use and where to buy food.

Pay attention to the “Response Frequency” indicator in the potential host’s profile. This figure indicates how often this person responds to requests. You should not write to those who have this indicator low. They may not have visited the site for a long time.

If for some reason you want to rent an apartment right now, then look for options with the “Instant booking” option. They can be booked without the owner's consent.

Read reviews and take them objectively. The very fact of a positive/negative review does not mean anything. What matters is what is written in the comment. Is the problem really objective and will it bother you?

If you check the box next to “ Social media", you can see where your friends stayed.

Pros of Airbnb

• A large number of proposals (from panel high-rise buildings to old lighthouses);
• Convenient to travel with a group or family. It's also cheaper;
• Colorful. You can feel like a real resident of this city;
• Cashless payments. All financial transactions pass through the website and are recorded there. As a bonus, you don’t have to carry extra cash with you.
• Printing out your Airbnb reservation works for most consulates. So this will make the visa process easier for you.

Cons of Airbnb

• The owner of the apartment is better protected by the rules of the system than the traveler. He can easily cancel your reservation a few days before arrival and you will immediately have to look for a backup option;
• A day before arrival, a deposit amount is blocked on your card, which will be returned to you after leaving the apartment. But only if the owner does not report any violations on your part. At the same time, how you can build your justificatory rhetoric and protect yourself from unfounded claims is not very clear;
• The entire amount is blocked on the card at the time of booking. If you are planning your trip much in advance, then be prepared to freeze some of your funds;
• Cancellation conditions for the traveler. Here everything is stricter than for the owner and depends on the type of transaction. There are also those in which cancellation of a reservation less than a week in advance entails a complete loss of the paid funds. Read the booking conditions carefully;

An alternative to hotels - renting apartments, apartments and houses - is becoming increasingly popular in the world.
When you come to a foreign city, you want to feel the comfort of home. Most hotel rooms, and you will agree with me, cannot replace the comfort of home with a kitchenette, hanging shelves filled with pots, drawers with spoons and forks, a sink and a stove.

For example, it’s more pleasant for me to sit in the kitchen than in the living room - everything is at hand: a refrigerator with a supply of drinks and food, a table where you can have intimate conversations or watch TV... They probably understood me.

Pros of living in an apartment

Especially apartment prices for those who come to relax on long term— I won’t hide the fact that it’s also cheaper, since the products in European supermarkets are much different in freshness and variety from those in Russia, and I think anyone can cook a steak from non-frozen meat or bake fresh fish.

Accordingly, we save on going to restaurants, absolutely freely pour ourselves wine and something stronger, and we are also not shy about smoking at the table.

In the world of travel, there is a need for apartments from owners, just as there is a need for owners to rent out these apartments.

How Airbnb works

What Airbnb has: a database of owners who offer their properties for short-term rental, has reviews from those who have already used their services, has an owner profile where he writes about himself, and has photographs of what the owner offers.

There is also a processing center that accepts money as a deposit, brings us together with the owner and, within the framework of the agreement between him and us, protects the rights of both, transferring financial relations into a contractual framework: when you book housing, you pay money, but the owner of the property will only receive it the day after your check-in.

That is: if you don’t like something and the offer published on the Airbnb website by the owner is not true, you have the right to get your money back.

If the owner of the property violates the agreement and cancels your reservation, you get back the entire amount paid + bonus (Airbnb fines the owner and this fine is your bonus).

The process of searching and booking accommodation

You enter the place (This is a country, city or region) where you are looking for housing.
You enter the dates you are interested in.
Number of residents.
And you get search results - a photo of the proposed housing and the price.

There are filters: by housing cost limits; by type of housing: “house, apartment, bed”; for services: internet, washing machine, parking, etc., etc.

Did you choose your favorite based on the photo? Read the reviews of those who have already stayed there.
Read about the owner - there is his photo, what he writes about himself and what clients who have already stayed here write about him.

Well, if everything suits you: book! To do this, you naturally need a visa or mastercard credit or debit bank card.
The money will be debited from your card, but the owner of the property will receive it only on the second day of your stay in his apartment or house.

If you don’t like something, namely: if something differs from the offer that was on the Airbnb website, you can write to Airbnb support and they will return your money and select an alternative housing option for you.

Airbnb Pitfalls and Cons

The ease with which any homeowner can become an Airbnb partner and get into their database is the reason for the large number of outright scammers and scoundrels in this database.
If Booking.com checks hotels and apartments included in the database since both of them must be legal entities (firms, LLCs, etc.), Airbnb does not do this check.

Difficulty contacting support.
I have many positive results of solving situations with Booking.com support service in Russian: .

It's no secret that anything can happen and no one is safe from mistakes. Booking.com handled all situations with honor: I received an alternative or a refund in situations that seemed hopeless at first glance.

Airbnb acted according to the scenario: we’ll wait, maybe everything will resolve itself.
I did not receive any help from Airbnb, for example, in a situation when, upon arriving at the host, I discovered that the previous residents had extended their stay.

That is, in essence, I found myself homeless in the evening in a foreign city. I had to, and naturally no one compensated me for the Airbnb mess.

It often happens that people who have booked a beautiful apartment (pictured) in fact receive an uncleaned shithole with hair on the bed linen with holes, an unwashed toilet and a sink that was clogged a year ago and smells like a morgue.

In addition, it is more convenient for me to book 1-2 days and change location often - I actively travel across countries. With the Airbnb system, this (being mobile) is impossible.

I have collected in one place links to all sites for booking travel accommodation that I know of. Here you will find out how easy it is to spend the night in almost any city in the world at an affordable price or even for free! Or really find unusual place, a stay in which will be remembered for a long time.

The post contains the largest database of hostels in the world, the largest service for renting accommodation from hosts, sites for booking unusual designer hotels, overnight accommodation in exchange for help around the house or looking after a pet - in general, options for every taste. Choose!

Classic: hotel aggregator sites

Personally, I open these sites first when I'm going on a trip somewhere. As the name implies, they combine information from various booking systems, such as: booking, hotels, ostrovok (one of best prices in Russia), agoda (good for traveling in Asia), trivago, expedia and many others.

Aggregators compare prices, look for discounts and special offers, where you can find not only hotels, but also hostels, guest houses- it’s very convenient to have everything in one place.

Read also:

Free overnight stay

The best way to understand a country and its people is to get to know local residents, and even better, live with them for a while. International hospitality sites provide such opportunities when people invite guests to their home. Just don’t see them as just a free overnight stay, rather it’s a cultural exchange, interesting communication, an opportunity to improve your languages ​​and find new friends around the world.

Source: instagram: @myinterior

Accommodation in exchange for housework

These sites should not be considered only as a way to stay overnight for free, but as a new unusual experience and an opportunity to help people and the ecology of the planet for a week, a month, or maybe more. The idea is that you work several hours a day, and in return you receive room and board.

Source: GettyImages

Rental services for cool and unusual hotels

If you want to live in a lighthouse, in a tree house, stay in eco-friendly hotels or hotels only for vegetarians, try glamping (glamorous camping) or just have fun, then there are special sites for this.

✔ and - here you can buy someone else’s reservation at a discount. Someone couldn’t go and is selling their reservation on the website. You get a good discount, and the person gets money for a non-refundable room.

People from all over the world select accommodation for their trips. Despite ongoing battles with local laws prohibiting short-term rentals, the service today offers more than 2 million accommodation options in more than 65,000 cities around the world. The convenience and comprehensiveness of your search, coupled with unique locations and affordable prices, have made renting a property easier than ever, whether you're planning on hosting someone in a spare room or renting an entire home.

However, the market for travel services is growing every year, which allows travel companies to develop even faster, occupying new niches and improving their services.

From a designer search service to online platforms for renting inclusive apartments, we offer you a look at 9 worthy alternatives to the service Airbnb from the largest players in the short-term rental housing industry.

HomeAway

American service HomeAway was created 3 years before the appearance Airbnb and is today one of the main competitors of the Californian project. The company provides its users with more than 2 million housing options in 190 countries, which is comparable to the coverage Airbnb. To achieve such a scale, the service year after year absorbed a number of small local companies in various countries, thanks to which today the project HomeAway works on the basis of 50 different sites in 23 languages.

The company offers the widest selection of short-term rental properties, including, in addition to standard housing, also ship cabins, villas, castles and farmhouses.

It is curious that since December 2015 the service HomeAway acquired by a global travel company Expedia Inc, under the wing of which other online projects from the travel industry are collected, such as Expedia.com , Hotels.com , CarRentals.com, and others.

Vacasa

Another American company Vacasa is not as large as Airbnb or HomeAway, and offers a total of 7,200+ vacation homes in the US, Europe, South and Central America. However, the main difference from the market leaders is that the company itself supervises the real estate that it leases, and itself maintains a staff of about 1,000 employees involved in supporting the operation of real estate. This approach allows Vacasa maintain competitive prices for renting your home, while providing even more quality services to your clients.

6-Bed Apartment in Escondido, California | Vacasa.com

Inclusive

Founded in the summer of 2016 in response to incidents of racism when trying to rent housing on Airbnb company Inclusive is an online rental platform with a great motto: “We are building a place where you can travel with respect, dignity and love regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender identity.”

The project is relatively new, so it does not provide many rental housing options. However, the company says it already covers more than 130 countries and will continue to work to expand its service.

6-bed private apartment in Marrakech | Inclusive.com

Kid and Coe

Traveling with children always comes with a number of special features. One of them is that hotel rooms often do not offer enough facilities and amenities for children's recreation. Service launched in 2013 Kid and Coe specializes in finding housing options that take into account the important details associated with a comfortable children's holiday. The offers on the site help parents figure out exactly how many people and what ages can be accommodated in certain apartments, and also provide detailed description toys available, and other important little things for children.

The site is accompanied by a considerable amount of additional information that reveals the advantages of renting the chosen housing for both parents and their children.

Service Kid and Coe has 1000+ hand-picked options in 50 different locations around the world, but is not one of the cheapest rental options.

Boutique Homes

4 bedroom apartment in Dubrovnik, Croatia | wimdu.com

Homestay

If the deciding factor in renting a home is price, we recommend that you take the time to search for options using Homestay. The service does not offer any private houses or apartments, and all options available on the site include accommodation exclusively with the hosts. Despite some of the specifics of such accommodation, you will be able to get an interesting experience of spending time together with local residents of the new city, who will always be able to help you navigate various issues, and will also be happy to share with you the local culture and peculiarities.

Room with balcony in Paris | homestay.com

We wish you successful travels!

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