Airbnb?

[Callen]

We have a trip to GB planned for September and half of October.....hopefully.

We are there 6 weeks and have 8 VRBO properties booked . I only book properties where I can deal directly with the owner. You glean a lot of infornation when dealing with the owner.

DH wants to rent our place in FL on VRBO....I'm not there yet , think I would rather sell and be a VRBO renter.

 

[Grand Mal]

I live out of Airbnbs since it's cheaper than rent and utilities over here on a month to month basis.

Out of the 15 reservations I've done:

One had my parked car banged into,
One said I need to not talk so much to others who want peace and quiet,
One said I left the place dirty, but I got that review removed since we had plenty of conversation on the app which was friendly and I was never told on the app that I made a mess,
One claimed it was 100 ft away from a railway line on the very VERY bottom of the description which I took as a light rail line since it was near uptown in a city and my previous reservation was nearby, but it turned out to be a freight train line that woke me up in the middle of the night, and
One had a roommate who smoked pot in the middle of the night nextdoor on a regular basis so I had to ask for an air filter to get installed.

IOW, one out of every three reservations goes awry in some way or another.

Now to be fair, the places I reserve with are economy class hosts. They're at the level of your typical 2-3 star hotel as far as accommodations are concerned. I'm not looking for much.

You can find better places than what I reserve, but understand that hosts typically tend to not preview their properties because they know their locations are in demand. What you should do is inquire, not book, with 5 hosts and ask them all to preview so at least one of them gives you a preview and that preview turns out alright. By preview, I mean try to go on Zoom or Skype or some other video call. Ask to see the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and parking in real time. You do not want to get stuck with affording damages from a previous guest because a host might have had one who trashed the place before you arrived.

When you do check-in, make sure you take pictures of every room you're using, check the shower, check the bed, and check the fridge.

Thanks, good to know.
Your advice about previewing is doubly important to us because we're looking at months, not days. The winter season. Maybe two months each at two different places.
We're pensioners but we have no debts so we'r able to save travel money, which we haven't been able to use for a couple years. The upshot is, we have enough saved to live on, including rent, for a few months and our pensions will accumulate while we're gone so we break even, or come out ahead. And there's a pretty good discount on the Airbnb arrangement for booking monthly.

 

[gbg3]

Ive always used hotels when I travel (hate having to do lots of research, and with hotels there's very little chance of getting scammed), but maybe I ought to change that outlook.

Well,if you like having a kitchen and living room, and are staying in one spot for a few days, its waaaay better. And almost always cheaper

I still like hotels. I think they feel a bit more vacation like.

True, if you want a kitchen and living room, an airbnb is a better and cheaper option - but I love a nice hotel. No way I'll give up hotels but, in the future and depending on the length of the trip, I may use an airbnb sometimes. Chances are I'll still go with hotels more often.

 

[gbg3]

Thats true enough. I tend to just eat out when I travel and prefer to have somebody do all the housecleaning and stuff for me.

I'd like to ask, do the owners require you to clean up before you leave or can you just leave the used sheets and stuff lying around? What's the usual method?

You certainly don't have to wash sheets. I think most people tend to load and run the dishwasher when they leave.

 

[reflechissez]

I live out of Airbnbs since it's cheaper than rent and utilities over here on a month to month basis.

Out of the 15 reservations I've done:

One had my parked car banged into,
One said I need to not talk so much to others who want peace and quiet,
One said I left the place dirty, but I got that review removed since we had plenty of conversation on the app which was friendly and I was never told on the app that I made a mess,
One claimed it was 100 ft away from a railway line on the very VERY bottom of the description which I took as a light rail line since it was near uptown in a city and my previous reservation was nearby, but it turned out to be a freight train line that woke me up in the middle of the night, and
One had a roommate who smoked pot in the middle of the night nextdoor on a regular basis so I had to ask for an air filter to get installed.

IOW, one out of every three reservations goes awry in some way or another.

Now to be fair, the places I reserve with are economy class hosts. They're at the level of your typical 2-3 star hotel as far as accommodations are concerned. I'm not looking for much.

You can find better places than what I reserve, but understand that hosts typically tend to not preview their properties because they know their locations are in demand. What you should do is inquire, not book, with 5 hosts and ask them all to preview so at least one of them gives you a preview and that preview turns out alright. By preview, I mean try to go on Zoom or Skype or some other video call. Ask to see the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and parking in real time. You do not want to get stuck with affording damages from a previous guest because a host might have had one who trashed the place before you arrived.

When you do check-in, make sure you take pictures of every room you're using, check the shower, check the bed, and check the fridge.

Sounds like you're getting what you're paying for.

 

[gbg3]

Thanks, good to know.
Your advice about previewing is doubly important to us because we're looking at months, not days. The winter season. Maybe two months each at two different places.
We're pensioners but we have no debts so we'r able to save travel money, which we haven't been able to use for a couple years. The upshot is, we have enough saved to live on, including rent, for a few months and our pensions will accumulate while we're gone so we break even, or come out ahead. And there's a pretty good discount on the Airbnb arrangement for booking monthly.

I have a sibling who loves a particular location and spends 2 months there every year. That couple rented a place one year, loved the rental, and have returned to the same rental year after year. It's like a standing reservation with them. They get a good rate for 2 months and don't have the worry and expense of owning a second home.

We used to go to our family's second home all the time (family owned) but, eventually, it didn't get much use and was quite costly to keep. We didn't want to rent it out. We sold it. We had it for 10 years but tired of feeling the "obligation" to keep going to the same place.

I think you have the right idea for how to experience different places (and I think different places is a good idea). With careful advance planning, you should be able to find nice rentals and get a good variety of locations.

 

[ElChupacabra]

Any experience with them? We're looking at spending winters in warmer places and Airbnb looks at first glance to be a convenient way to find long-term rental accommodation. I don't know anyone who's used them as a guest, though one guy here uses them as a host and says good things.
We're talking about Mexico or Panama or Chile or Argentina, places like that. Portugal, maybe. But I just hope to get general comments about how reliable they've been.

I have used Airbnb for stays here in the US and Europe without incident. Communicating with the hosts has been easy and I haven't stayed anywhere that wasn't as advertised. Access to the places has also been very convenient, so I have nothing negative to report on reliability.

 

[PoS]

I live out of Airbnbs since it's cheaper than rent and utilities over here on a month to month basis.

Out of the 15 reservations I've done:

One had my parked car banged into,
One said I need to not talk so much to others who want peace and quiet,
One said I left the place dirty, but I got that review removed since we had plenty of conversation on the app which was friendly and I was never told on the app that I made a mess,
One claimed it was 100 ft away from a railway line on the very VERY bottom of the description which I took as a light rail line since it was near uptown in a city and my previous reservation was nearby, but it turned out to be a freight train line that woke me up in the middle of the night, and
One had a roommate who smoked pot in the middle of the night nextdoor on a regular basis so I had to ask for an air filter to get installed.

IOW, one out of every three reservations goes awry in some way or another.

Now to be fair, the places I reserve with are economy class hosts. They're at the level of your typical 2-3 star hotel as far as accommodations are concerned. I'm not looking for much.

You can find better places than what I reserve, but understand that hosts typically tend to not preview their properties because they know their locations are in demand. What you should do is inquire, not book, with 5 hosts and ask them all to preview so at least one of them gives you a preview and that preview turns out alright. By preview, I mean try to go on Zoom or Skype or some other video call. Ask to see the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and parking in real time. You do not want to get stuck with affording damages from a previous guest because a host might have had one who trashed the place before you arrived.

When you do check-in, make sure you take pictures of every room you're using, check the shower, check the bed, and check the fridge.

1 out of 3 go bad in one form or another? Thats 33%.

Holy cow, that's not very encouraging.

 

[ElChupacabra]

1 out of 3 go bad in one form or another? Thats 33%.

Holy cow, that's not very encouraging.

I think the price point is going to play a role here. I haven't used any of the economy places on the website, but I'm sure there's a bit of caveat emptor at play; much like there would be for any other accommodation.

 

[Threegoofs]

I think the price point is going to play a role here. I haven't used any of the economy places on the website, but I'm sure there's a bit of caveat emptor at play; much like there would be for any other accommodation.

Yeah- I’m pretty much at 100% satisfaction with Airbnb, but it may be because I pick quality places and don’t go for the cheapest thing out there.

 

[JasperL]

Thanks.
If you don't mind, are you booked long-term? More than a month, I mean, and how far in advance did you book? We're looking at three or four months, maybe not all in the same place, but we're wondering how far in advance we should book the high season, which looks like Jan.-Feb. Depends, I guess, on how popular the location is and the specific house.
Sounds like you're satisfied that the rental is satisfactory, as advertised.

We've had good luck with VRBO and AirBNB. We now prefer those rentals over hotels, and only use hotels for trips we might need to cancel. Generally, VRBO locks you in at least a month prior, so cancelling means losing the entire fee.

As someone else said, the key is to do some due diligence on the front end. The photos and reviews can tell you a lot about the host and the property. And if the place in an area is priced lower than the rest, there's a reason for that and you need to know what that is. But the process is very easy, and we've had no problems with accommodations. We're generally surprised in the right way - better than we hoped/feared.

Our only gripe is if you plan on cooking, you're very likely to find the place has crap for pots, pans, knives, etc. It's because people are garbage and will steal, or abuse, whatever is there, so the hosts learn to stock crap stuff that might work, barely, or maybe not, if you're doing more than just heating up some soup or making toast, which is what apparently the vast majority of visitors want to be able to do. So when we drive, we bring the essentials along with us, a couple of pots and pans, and a good sharp chef knife (Victorinox - $40), cheap paring knife (Victorinox - <$10), Aeropress for coffee (that goes on all trips....). If not, we expect to be very disappointed, and if a long term rental, you can just buy some stuff there. Over a month the cost is easily justified if you cook.

 

[Threegoofs]

We've had good luck with VRBO and AirBNB. We now prefer those rentals over hotels, and only use hotels for trips we might need to cancel. Generally, VRBO locks you in at least a month prior, so cancelling means losing the entire fee.

As someone else said, the key is to do some due diligence on the front end. The photos and reviews can tell you a lot about the host and the property. And if the place in an area is priced lower than the rest, there's a reason for that and you need to know what that is. But the process is very easy, and we've had no problems with accommodations. We're generally surprised in the right way - better than we hoped/feared.

Our only gripe is if you plan on cooking, you're very likely to find the place has crap for pots, pans, knives, etc. It's because people are garbage and will steal, or abuse, whatever is there, so the hosts learn to stock crap stuff that might work, barely, or maybe not, if you're doing more than just heating up some soup or making toast, which is what apparently the vast majority of visitors want to be able to do. So when we drive, we bring the essentials along with us, a couple of pots and pans, and a good sharp chef knife (Victorinox - $40), cheap paring knife (Victorinox - <$10), Aeropress for coffee (that goes on all trips....). If not, we expect to be very disappointed, and if a long term rental, you can just buy some stuff there. Over a month the cost is easily justified if you cook.

One other point….read the reviews on Airbnb. They’re often helpful in pointing out flaws that may or may not be important to you.

For example, one I stayed in had complaints about the noise from a nightclub across the street. That worked for me because I was planning on a couple late nights, but if I was going to be out early every AM, it would have been a problem.

 

[JasperL]

One other point….read the reviews on Airbnb. They’re often helpful in pointing out flaws that may or may not be important to you.

For example, one I stayed in had complaints about the noise from a nightclub across the street. That worked for me because I was planning on a couple late nights, but if I was going to be out early every AM, it would have been a problem.

Very, very true.... We had one we rented in spite of warnings about the noise from the people above you. The location was too good and we tried to rent the top floor but couldn't. We were there a week and got pretty lucky, we could hear them, but they were a family and things shut down around 10 or so, which was fine, and we were up really early every morning so didn't care about noise then. Then our last night, sure enough, a new group came in and we were amazed at how a group of people could walk and stomp and make racket for hours, straight, through midnight. WTF were they doing? We couldn't figure it out, but a week of that would have been awful.

But we WERE warned, and if it proved a problem, really our own fault for ignoring that....

 

[code1211]

Any experience with them? We're looking at spending winters in warmer places and Airbnb looks at first glance to be a convenient way to find long-term rental accommodation. I don't know anyone who's used them as a guest, though one guy here uses them as a host and says good things.
We're talking about Mexico or Panama or Chile or Argentina, places like that. Portugal, maybe. But I just hope to get general comments about how reliable they've been.

We have never stayed for more than a week in any Air B&B. We're going to Puerto Rico for a week and will stay at a place we've been before hosted by absolutely wonderful people.

All of our experiences have been pleasurable. we've stayed in a few US states and all of the folks who acted as hosts were wonderful.

I tend to analyze, re-analyze and over analyze every purchase before I "pull the trigger".

Read the descriptions, check the pictures and read the reviews. I hope you have a good experience!

 

[PoS]

Our only gripe is if you plan on cooking, you're very likely to find the place has crap for pots, pans, knives, etc. It's because people are garbage and will steal, or abuse, whatever is there, so the hosts learn to stock crap stuff that might work, barely, or maybe not, if you're doing more than just heating up some soup or making toast, which is what apparently the vast majority of visitors want to be able to do. So when we drive, we bring the essentials along with us, a couple of pots and pans, and a good sharp chef knife (Victorinox - $40), cheap paring knife (Victorinox - <$10), Aeropress for coffee (that goes on all trips....). If not, we expect to be very disappointed, and if a long term rental, you can just buy some stuff there. Over a month the cost is easily justified if you cook.

Since I travel internationally a lot (I had to stop because of the damned pandemic), I dont think bringing pots and pans (plus a chef's knife) would be a viable idea for me.

 

[JasperL]

Since I travel internationally a lot (I had to stop because of the damned pandemic), I dont think bringing pots and pans (plus a chef's knife) would be a viable idea for me.

LOL, no, I was just pointing out that planning on cooking in that great "full kitchen" might be a problem. Like I said we do that when we're driving. We vacation in the NC/TN/GA mountains fairly regularly using VRBO or AirBNB cabins or condos, and so bring what we need on those trips in the car. And we like to cook because the food options in the areas we like are typically pretty bad or inconvenient.

We rented a place in Switzerland and it had a "full kitchen" and we couldn't cut up fruit. It's the most expensive place to eat I've ever visited, including NYC, so we did buy a paring knife, that Victorinox for about $5 and a 12 inch non-stick pan for about $20 as I recall, and that got us through the week OK. We mainly wanted to cook breakfast, and so that got us most of the way there, and we could and did cook a couple of simple dinners. We just left the stuff in the place when we left.

FWIW, I do love the Victorinox knives. They're cheap and pretty great quality for my purposes. I bought an 8" chef knife (for about $35 with coupon....) as a place holder as I researched something better, and my budget was maybe up to about $200, depending, because I planned on it lasting until I'm dead, and that was 4 or 5 years ago and I don't really care if I ever replace it. It's not pretty, but it is easy to sharpen, keeps an edge, and it's WAY more than I need for home cooking, and I do a lot of it. A few whacks every few days on the 'steel' (mine is ceramic) and it will shave newspaper into ribbons, and certainly cut tomatoes as finely sliced as I want, etc.

 

[JasperL]

One other point….read the reviews on Airbnb. They’re often helpful in pointing out flaws that may or may not be important to you.

For example, one I stayed in had complaints about the noise from a nightclub across the street. That worked for me because I was planning on a couple late nights, but if I was going to be out early every AM, it would have been a problem.

Just another example, one place we stayed in Yosemite was terrific. And it got mediocre reviews, and it's because a bunch of people really needed or wanted internet for connecting with work, watch movies, whatever, and this place had NONE. No cell phone, no internet, no nothing. Maybe you could get emails. Maybe send a text, but often neither. But in about 10 places the owners warn you about this, including things like, "IF YOU NEED INTERNET or WIFI or CELLULAR COVERAGE, DO NOT STAY HERE!" in bold, caps, and so it's idiots who didn't read the description, then leaving bad reviews because they didn't read the description....

 

[BirdinHand]

Stayed in several places off AirBnb and VRBO. Always had good experiences. But we don't stay at lowest price point type of places, so that might be a factor.

 

[Threegoofs]

Just another example, one place we stayed in Yosemite was terrific. And it got mediocre reviews, and it's because a bunch of people really needed or wanted internet for connecting with work, watch movies, whatever, and this place had NONE. No cell phone, no internet, no nothing. Maybe you could get emails. Maybe send a text, but often neither. But in about 10 places the owners warn you about this, including things like, "IF YOU NEED INTERNET or WIFI or CELLULAR COVERAGE, DO NOT STAY HERE!" in bold, caps, and so it's idiots who didn't read the description, then leaving bad reviews because they didn't read the description....

I think I stayed at the same place! Some guy who had a cottage on his property. And we were totally ok without Internet for a couple days.

That’s a great example though, I’ve stayed at places that got reviewed terribly because there was no beach access, but I didn’t care about beach access, so it was fine.

 

[BirdinHand]

I think I stayed at the same place! Some guy who had a cottage on his property. And we were totally ok without Internet for a couple days.

That’s a great example though, I’ve stayed at places that got reviewed terribly because there was no beach access, but I didn’t care about beach access, so it was fine.

Reminds me of some of the reviews complaining because a beach was sandy or some other such nonsense.

 

[JasperL]

I think I stayed at the same place! Some guy who had a cottage on his property. And we were totally ok without Internet for a couple days.

That’s a great example though, I’ve stayed at places that got reviewed terribly because there was no beach access, but I didn’t care about beach access, so it was fine.

This was, I think, Yosemite village, which was inside the park boundaries and a pretty large neighborhood of houses ranging from fairly modest (like ours), which was a two story house subdivided into two self contained units, to luxury. It was maybe 20 minutes to the valley without traffic, and if my directions are right, NW from the valley. We did have a land line, so I guess internet was possible, but maybe it was all by satellite. A couple of times I needed to download a map to my phone for Alltrails and hiking the next day, and we'd have to get in the car and drive until we reached a place that had a line of sight to a cell tower in the park.

Anyway, we're the same at the beach. It's nice to wake up to a view of the ocean, but as we see it not $200 a night nice.... So we typically stay a block or so away, and walk to the beach. That's where we've had great luck with VRBO and AirBNB, mostly small condos, and we've found we can get more room and a better place than the big hotels, and we don't miss any of the hotel 'experience' at the beach.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

Any experience with them? We're looking at spending winters in warmer places and Airbnb looks at first glance to be a convenient way to find long-term rental accommodation. I don't know anyone who's used them as a guest, though one guy here uses them as a host and says good things.
We're talking about Mexico or Panama or Chile or Argentina, places like that. Portugal, maybe. But I just hope to get general comments about how reliable they've been.

I don’t like Airbnb because I think it effects housing supply for locals, and I prefer hotels, however I will say I went on a vacation in Norway with my mother where she used Airbnb to book a flat in Oslo and a house in Tromsø for our trip. It wasn’t a problem at all. We had no complaints. I don’t know how they protect consumers, I didn’t arrange these stays, but I have no complaints.

Where do you want to go in Chile?

There’s actually a small hotel chain in Chile called Hotel Panamericana, I stayed at their hotel in Ancud and I know they have several others. I would arrange normal hotels in Chile, they’re not expensive and if you’re a foreigner you don’t pay the hotel Tax. So whatever your reservation says when you book it you can subtract about 10 (US) dollars once you show a non Chilean passport to the desk.

 

[code1211]

Most of the places we stayed with AirBnb where nice. Except the last one in Mexico. We booked a place in Puerto Morelos (not far from Cancun) for few nights as they had a very good ratings but the place looked like trash in real with scorpions and rats running around. That night was awful and we left the next morning.

We've always had great luck with Air B&B. We're returning to a venue in Puerto Rico for week real soon.

We put in a bunch of effort reading the reviews and so forth.