Airbnb Tips, Tricks, and Tricks

You may ask yourself: why should I read this if I already use the Airbnb service? You may ask yourself: who are they and why should I read about them? We will not be able to answer the second question - in this article there is not a word about what is Airbnb, why and who needs it. And there will be no FAQ on the use of the service. But we can share interesting tips with those who have already used our services or know enough about them to be ready to use them. Our advice is from obvious to veiled, but all of them, in the same style, are aimed at making your work more effective your trip to any of the 190 countries we have represented.

How to rent a house

A little secret for those who are looking for housing for two. Find through the search apartment / room for one person, and then in the selected option, add a second guest. Pay attention to the fact that rooms for two or three guests may be more profitable even those that are exhibited in the category for singles.
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Search filters greatly facilitate the choice of housing: Internet, parking, the possibility of events, smoking - this is not a complete list of criteria by which you can choose the appropriate options. In addition, the ability to search by keywords is implemented, which allows you to find apartments with an office / workplace / near key locations. Convenient when you need housing only for work or business negotiations; the choice of housing on the map of the area will allow you to stay exactly next to the office of the desired company.

The issue of housing in the search depends on many factors, including the profile data and the specifics of the trip.

Verified Photos

Photo in the ad can tell a lot about the place of rent. The sign Airbnb in the upper right corner of the photo means that the photos were uploaded to the site by the owner. A sign of Verified Photo says that in this place was a photographer Airbnb and made a photo shoot. That is, the photo exactly corresponds to reality.

Do not be afraid to live in a room

If you are not a social phobia, try to rent a room, not an apartment. First, the room will cost you less. Secondly, communication with the owners of the apartment will solve many everyday questions: who will have to ask about the nearest pharmacy / ATM, and maybe even have a drink at a nearby bar. Carefully read the descriptions of apartments and user profiles - it usually indicates whether the owner wants to spend time with guests or not. To maintain your privacy, check if the room is locked.

Response rate

Want your hosts to quickly answer any of your questions? Pay attention to the figure that stands under the photo of the owner in the ad. "Frequency of responses" is a measure that indicates how often the apartment owner responds to requests. The owners, in which this indicator is above 90%, respond as quickly as possible.

If the apartment is needed this very second - look for options with the “Instant Booking” button, which allows you to make a reservation without waiting for confirmation from the owner.

Reviews

Read reviews! Travelers who lived in this place honestly write about how they spent their time there. However, the absence of any feedback is not a cause for concern. Just ask all the most important questions for you on the site so that you understand exactly where you will live. In addition, the apartment, which has so far few reviews, may cost less. Travelers publish reviews and about the owners of housing - you can know in advance their character and style of communication with guests.

We monitor the behavior of users on the site and do not allow cheating positive reviews. For example, when the employer and the landlord constantly book a room from each other, the system may regard this as an attempt to create a positive rating on the site.

Security

Reservations, payment, communication between the tenant and the landlord, reviews - the information that we closely monitor. The system for collecting analytical information Airbnb takes into account many factors, based on the patterns of potentially dangerous actions (in many respects this is similar to what has been successfully implemented in eBay). Each object hosted on the Airbnb platform is assigned “trust points”. An apartment with a low score is automatically flagged for more detailed study, which helps to track money laundering and other forms of fraud. The system works perfectly - for 6 million tenants in 2013, conflict situations that demanded compensation from the company were noted only 700 times. And do not forget that we constantly have a customer service hotline, do not hesitate to complain.

Do not forget to study the profile, it will allow to avoid cases of communication with "random" people.

Communication with the owner

We have decided to communicate with the owners kindly. Discuss the standard set of questions in advance: how the keys will be transferred, whether there are Wi-Fi in the apartment, adapters for sockets, a hair dryer, pets, whether it is possible to use the kitchen, where the nearest store / pharmacy is located, how fast and on which transport you can reach to the city center and so on.

Bargaining with the owners for housing can and should be. You can convince the owner to change the rental price. When booking at the last moment it may be more profitable for the host to take you than to leave the apartment empty. Is it possible to significantly reduce the cost of an inflatable mattress, folding bed or sofa? Not. But when you check in with your family for good money, you can rent really good apartments.

Some owners are worried about their property and usually ask for a small security deposit. After you leave your place of residence, the deposit is returned to the card (provided that you have left the apartment safe and sound). The term return on the card is determined by your bank. In order to avoid controversial issues (if the owner tries to accuse you of property damage), it will not hurt to invite the landlord or take a picture of the premises when evicting from the apartment.

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Of course, you can perfectly do without all of the above. But you can get much more good impressions (or even get them at all), and in some cases you can save money. If you have any of your observations or questions not mentioned here, leave them in the comments.