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With the free photography it depends on what area you are in. Some cities don't have any photographers so if you request it you might just be put into a queue with no one to pick up the job. I'm in a big city so there seems to be many. My friends all got it done in under 2 weeks and my photographer got back to me in a couple of days and came around the day after. Also references definitely don't hurt. Every guest needs to start somewhere. I think 80% of my guests so far have been first timers. I just ask them all to add a profile photo and let me know the reasons why they are visiting.
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Feb 23, 2014 04:37
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Just got done with a long weekend stay at this place in Chicago: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/216737 The condo was spectacular, everyone was very comfortable, and it was in a great location for what we were up to (seeing shows at the Riv). It's right between two train stops and there's a ton of great places to eat and various different bars to hit up. Very easy going, quick replies to reservations/questions and smooth as silk all around.
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Feb 24, 2014 02:51
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I was also in Chicago for the long weekend staying on Airbnb. That place is great value. Bit out of the way for me but it looks real nice.
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Feb 24, 2014 23:20
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I have looked at a few places that have a higher rate per week than per night. How come?
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Mar 1, 2014 21:24
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Morans, most likely.
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Mar 1, 2014 22:23
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Quick question for you guys - I've just had my first two sets of guests (for a whole apartment that I don't live in). It's been a bit of a pain in the arse organising the key exchange, especially during the day when it means I need to skip out of work for an hour and a half in order to go to the flat, wait for the guys to turn up, and head back to work. What methods have you seen that would make this smoother/easier/infringe my day job less? Also, do hosts usually let new guests stay the day that the previous guests leave? I just tried this and it makes things so much harder because it only give me a few hours gap to turn the place over, change the sheets etc. I'm just curious as to what the standard practice for these things is.
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Mar 2, 2014 03:42
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tentish klown posted:Quick question for you guys - Welcome to the wonderful world of vacation rentals! I worked for a rental company in Paris for a little over a year. We had a fairly strict 10am check out policy and our "official" check-in was 3pm. We would frequently have people check in the same day as a check out. But we also had dedicated cleaners who could start cleaning at 10am. Could you do a key box and have the guests check themselves in? .jpg) Or something like this: http://www.nokey.com/mokecoelde.html
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Mar 3, 2014 03:15
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tentish klown posted:Quick question for you guys - Could you make the check in an hour after you get off work? Maybe 6pm? Though that is very late. If cleaning the place same day is a hassle for you, I would recommend that you mark the night after a guest checks out as "not available". Then you have an evening to get the place cleaned up before the next guest.
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Mar 3, 2014 04:45
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A friend and I are going on a vacation this summer, and we'll be using AirBnB for the first time. Since we've no history with the site, should we contact the hosts before booking? I suppose they're able to refuse us if they don't feel like we're trustworthy? And as hosts, what do you guys like to receive as a "get-to-know-you" letter? Short and sweet? Bullet points? Life story? Neither of us drink or smoke, that's probably a good thing to mention, right?
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Mar 3, 2014 08:43
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HatJudge posted:A friend and I are going on a vacation this summer, and we'll be using AirBnB for the first time. Since we've no history with the site, should we contact the hosts before booking? I suppose they're able to refuse us if they don't feel like we're trustworthy? Always message the host before booking. Short and sweet is fine, just say who you are, what you do and what the purpose of your stay is. Ask a couple of questions about the area or house. Yeah, if you don't drink or smoke that's a great thing to say as I would rather have quiet considerate guests than party animals any day of the week.
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Mar 3, 2014 08:57
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Yep. Always contact the host. We usually try to get at least approximate age, what you do for a living, purpose for travel, and why our place before accepting guests. We do allow instabook but that requires all positive reviews and some other criteria my wife set up (minimum of 5 reviews, maybe) and verified identity. Still a good idea to contact prior to stay, even if you could instabook, as a sign of good faith. Saying you don't drink or smoke displays that you have at least some modicum of responsibility, so I'd put that in the bio for sure. Also, put a good bio together for the profile so they don't have a ton of questions to ask...
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Mar 3, 2014 12:05
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I recently booked my first stay (going to Amsterdam for a week!) And my profile was connected to my FB (not sure if thats a requirement), I made sure to fully verify my identity, I fleshed out my bio with my age, occupation, and "travel style". Any time I would email a host I'd include my age, name, occupation as well as the ages and general occupations of my travel buddies. I'd compliment whatever I liked about their home, express my excitement over seeing or doing X thing in their area to further personalize it, and invite them to ask questions. I'd close with a friendly salutation. I ended up with a very sweet girl in a great area paying more than I'd prefer, but still a great rate. I don't think I'll ever stay in a hotel again and I'm already looking at some stateside trips for later in the year!
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Mar 3, 2014 17:01
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Just completed my first Airbnb stay. Like others, I can honestly say that I'll probably limit my hotel stays as much as possible from now on! If you're looking for a relatively cheap place near everything in London, England: https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/2419257 I even got to go out to a pub with the host and meet some of his friends!
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Mar 4, 2014 15:12
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Certainly glad to have another convert. My long term rental with a single guest ends next month. I am somewhat sad, as it's been the easiest money I've ever made as she's been real easy to get along with... :-(
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Mar 4, 2014 17:02
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HatJudge posted:A friend and I are going on a vacation this summer, and we'll be using AirBnB for the first time. Since we've no history with the site, should we contact the hosts before booking? I suppose they're able to refuse us if they don't feel like we're trustworthy? To add to what others say the things that usually make me knock people back is absolutely no profile information and a very basic message. If you are starting out then definitely add everything to your profile that you can. Then send a message only (not a booking request) until you get the hang of how the system works. It makes a difference if its obvious you looked through my listing. For people who have over 10 reviews already I'm less worried about them just sending me a booking request straight up (even with no message although thats still more polite).
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Mar 5, 2014 08:55
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Thanks for the insight, guys. I'll make good use of your advice, and report back to the thread after our trip.
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Mar 7, 2014 00:28
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I've been on both sides of the AirBNB thing, and all of my experiences have been... shockingly positive, actually. Polite, respectful guests and helpful, responsive owners. (Having regular guests has also really helped my cat get over her fear of strangers!) We could actually rent out our room a lot more than we do, but we don't want to have guests all the time.
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Mar 7, 2014 23:27
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Glad it's working out for you. I'd love to put you in the list of goon hosts if you'd be interested. Maybe I want to visit you, IS THAT SO BAD? :-)
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Mar 8, 2014 00:59
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Dead Pressed posted:Glad it's working out for you. I'd love to put you in the list of goon hosts if you'd be interested. Maybe I want to visit you, IS THAT SO BAD? :-) I'd like to, but it's posted under my wife's account, so I want to check with her first (as it has her real name and picture).
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Mar 8, 2014 19:34
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Dead Pressed posted:Not odd. Every place in the EU I stayed at was this way. Some of our local competitors set up keypads with alternating codes and entrance cameras. To me, it was not worth the investment as my wife works from home....but I don't think remote or surrogate hosting is weird at all. To follow up on this, is this also the case with apartment buildings? I'm just not 100% sure how I would go about doing things like leaving keys for people or what have you. I don't really have very much worth stealing, so I'm not too concerned about that, but just the logistics seem tough and I'm not sure what the expectation is for guests. e: Oh, keyboxes. Cool idea.
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Mar 13, 2014 14:40
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Has anyone had any experience with cancelling on a guest? I had to cancel on two guests the other day because my mother failed to remember that she had already committed our unit to someone who purchased it at a fundraiser. One of the people I cancelled on happened to be an AirBnB exec and to say the least he was not happy at all.
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Mar 27, 2014 22:25
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Don't have any experience with that, fortunately. Sounds rough, certainly not the best luck for you to have a big figure as the unlucky bastard. Not happy, but any unexpected frustration on his end? Dead Pressed fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Mar 27, 2014 |
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Mar 27, 2014 22:37
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It was more the way he worded his response. Going back and reading it again a few days later, I may be reading into it too much. I realize it was a lovely situation for him since it was a week long family vacation.
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Mar 28, 2014 17:28
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BIG CITY LAWYER posted:I recently booked my first stay (going to Amsterdam for a week!)... Would you be so kind as to link your accommodation so I've got a more reasonable option to the one I used in Amsterdam? Also, I'm looking to improve the OP. Any thoughts?
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Mar 29, 2014 15:52
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Absolutely! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/917887 There are 4 of us and a major sticking point was a place with TWO bathrooms (with 2 men and 2 women, 2 bathrooms was really a major necessity for us), otherwise we probably could have found a cheaper places. Also, apparenltly 2.5 months is nearly too late to book a place! I looked at literally dozens and dozens of apartments, and this was nearly the last available. LESSON LEARNED. I will be back from my trip the second weekend in May, so I'll be sure to update with a review of the place.
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Mar 31, 2014 02:50
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jvick posted:Has anyone had any experience with cancelling on a guest? I had to cancel on two guests the other day because my mother failed to remember that she had already committed our unit to someone who purchased it at a fundraiser. One of the people I cancelled on happened to be an AirBnB exec and to say the least he was not happy at all. How far in advance? I guess in that situation its a pretty basic gently caress up on your (or your mothers part) which would make me more irate. I think if it was something like a pipe burst and flooded the house its not as much in your control. Also it can all compound if it was a popular weekend, for a hard to book place (bigger groups are harder to organise) and with little notice.
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Mar 31, 2014 03:46
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It was over 4 months in advance, and a popular week. Though, there is no shortage of nice places to stay in that immediate area that would be a good substitute. In my response, I did take the blame, and offered him a special rate should he choose to give us another shot.
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Mar 31, 2014 21:07
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Well its frustrating for sure but 4 months out at least its possible to find accommodation. Then again people can sometimes really want the one they got!
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Apr 2, 2014 04:57
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Does anyone have a recommended place in New York? Preferably lower Manhattan and East Village area. I will be there during August so I realise it my be a bit pricey. Travelling with my girlfriend and we would prefer our own place
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Apr 2, 2014 09:16
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Dead Pressed posted:Well, AirBnB is now offering free CO & smoke detectors and first aid kits for all hosts in 2014. Check it out! Got these today. First aid kit was basically just a (nice) bandaid and gauze pack. CO & smoke detector is a nice Kidde branded unit. Hazard warning provided by voice, rather than beeps....so I guess that's nice. Not bad for free, really. Digger, I don't know of anything offhand. I'll check with some NYC based friends and see if they know of anything...
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Apr 3, 2014 01:45
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What ended up happening with airbnb being banned in New York? Did they just admit is was unenforceable?
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Apr 4, 2014 03:03
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freebooter posted:What ended up happening with airbnb being banned in New York? Did they just admit is was unenforceable? I think they're still going back and forth on it, but there a limits in NYC. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/nyregion/the-airbnb-economy-in-new-york-lucrative-but-often-unlawful.html?_r=0 "In most residential apartment buildings, renting out your space for less than 30 days is illegal, unless you are present when you have that visitor. The restriction does not apply to single- or two-family homes... but zoning laws may still limit the practice. Leases and building bylaws may also forbid it." I think its unenforceable on any real scale, and unless they coerce AirBnB to begin paying those taxes for every city, county, state like Amazon has begun to do, they're not going to get much from a legal effort. Even if they begin to tax it, I think most would continue to host.
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Apr 6, 2014 12:52
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Just booked my first place with AirBnB in Albuquerque, NM. I'm excited to try it out. If all goes well, I'll use it for the rest of my trip in Santa Fe, Telluride, Denver etc.. And if I get turned into a lamp shade, I'm going to haunt Dead Pressed from the other side.
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Apr 16, 2014 00:01
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Finishing up my first ever airbnb trip of 5 nights in Seoul, and like others have mentioned, I really don't see myself using hotels anymore unless I have no choice. My host has been invaluable helping me out, and made a great manual of places to eat, where to go, etc... that she sent me prior to arrival.
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Apr 21, 2014 21:14
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I just booked two nights in Toronto a couple days ago for TCAF next month and reading through this thread has alleviated a lot of my apprehension about it. Thanks goons, I'll let you know how it goes.
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Apr 27, 2014 14:21
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Sounds great, please do! I am on my way home from a trip to Nashville to see a couple of bands at the Ryman right now. We stayed 10 minutes from Dt on the bus route in a rustic home for $35. The host has been hosting since year one, and they had something like 200 reviews, all five stars. Truly a great deal. Certainly beats the socks off a hotel.
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Apr 27, 2014 14:53
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I'm looking at working remotely and renting places to stay through AirBNB for a couple weeks to a month at a time so I can travel full time. Does anyone have any experience doing this? I'll probably start in Europe. The per month prices vary but I seem to find decent looking rentals for close to $1000/month if not less in most major European cities. My primary concern will be a fast internet connection as I cannot have any down-time.
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Apr 28, 2014 05:25
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JibbaJabbaJimmy posted:I'm looking at working remotely and renting places to stay through AirBNB for a couple weeks to a month at a time so I can travel full time. Does anyone have any experience doing this? I'll probably start in Europe. The per month prices vary but I seem to find decent looking rentals for close to $1000/month if not less in most major European cities. My primary concern will be a fast internet connection as I cannot have any down-time. Some friends of mine did this in both Florida and in Austin, Texas. Both of them rely on the internet for their personal businesses as well and haven't had any troubles - just ask up front about connectivity and such. I think, in general, you'll find yourself in good shape.
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Apr 28, 2014 19:33
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JibbaJabbaJimmy posted:I'm looking at working remotely and renting places to stay through AirBNB for a couple weeks to a month at a time so I can travel full time. Does anyone have any experience doing this? I'll probably start in Europe. The per month prices vary but I seem to find decent looking rentals for close to $1000/month if not less in most major European cities. My primary concern will be a fast internet connection as I cannot have any down-time. I basically do this and it's awesome, though I haven't gone outside of the US/Canada with it yet. I use a tethered LTE phone as a backup, and obviously everything goes through a VPN.
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Apr 28, 2014 20:52
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Thanks! I was surprised at how affordable it is. Where have you visited in the US and Canada? I think I'll try to travel a bit first through US/Canada before heading to Europe. I'll be using a VPN and will need to make VOIP calls so reliability/speed is important. Traveling Latin America would be nice because I'll be keeping mostly US work hours but internet reliability worries me. I was thinking of traveling with a long Ethernet cable and asking to make sure there's a place to plug in in the apt/home so I can avoid spotty wifi and also make sure the router is in the apt/home. I'll use a tethered LTE phone or something similar as backup - will have to figure out the best option in Europe.
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Apr 29, 2014 04:10
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