Have you ever used Airbnb?

[Jamie McKane]

Have you used Airbnb? How was your experience?

 

[spiderz]

ask @Sinbad

 

[Badprop_za]

Used once.

Very good experience. Place where we stayed was as advertised. Process was easy.

Will definitely use AirBnB again.

 

[EMAM]

Using for the first time this weekend....booked a house in langebaan. All good with the owner so far.

 

[f2wohf]

Used around 10 times in Europe, Middle East and SA, never had an issue.

 

[Ecco]

Used it a few times. No issues, will use it again for sure.

 

[ph4t3]

Yep, smooth sailing.

 

[xrapidx]

Tried a few times in SA - hosts kept cancelling last minute.

Will try again overseas.

 

[schumi]

No not yet

 

[f2wohf]

Tried a few times in SA - hosts kept cancelling last minute.

Will try again overseas.

Happened to me in Kenya.

It really depends on the host more than on the country.

 

[Sepeng]

Yup, few times. So far only have good things to say.
Always be aware of the advertised price and what you actually get billed - the cleaning and admin fee sometimes catch me by surprise but otherwise all good.

 

[Barbarian Conan]

In SA and Aus.

In Aus the place advertised an open loft as an extra bedroom, and we didn't spot the mistake from the photos.

 

[Sinbad]

ask @Sinbad

Have not stayed at one but I am a host

 

[mbayshark]

Used them 3 times in the last year. Found some nice accommodation in CT through them.

 

[Gideonj]

No

 

[Arthur]

Yes, used 'em quite a few times locally and in Europe. Not a single issue. Everything exactly as advertised. Works smoothly.

 

[Rouxenator]

No

 

[samkruger]

No

 

[encrypted]

I've lived almost entirely in AirBNB for 2 1/2 years now.

I've used it in the following cities, normally for 1-3 months at a time.

Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Phuket, Bangkok, Langkawi, Kuala Lumpur, Bali, Perth, Sydney, Christchurch, Cork, Prague, Johannesburg, Cape Town, New Jersey, Tampa.

There's been a few inconveniences here and there but overall I much prefer it to the traditional renting/hotels.

I'm at 1 Airbnb in Cape Town a the moment, then I'll switch to another one next week (different views are always good) then November I'll be going to Mauritius and staying in 1 there.

General Tip: READ THE DESCRIPTION AND REVIEWS like your grading someones thesis. Scrutinize every single word. "2 bedrooms" means different things around the world. "Entire home" means different things around the world.

As far as problems, we have not had any with the hosts, except for Prague, where the little tv in the bedroom fell out the wall. She forgot to tell us that the TV might fall out the wall. The nintendo switch docking bay made short work of the TV and she put a claim against the deposit, Airbnb then mediates that and decided the claim was invalid.

We had one place cancel in JHB, we booked another, I was super happy since the other place is now my go to for JHB.

We canceled one in Dublin quite far before the trip, technically the lady could have kept our payment, but refunded us.

If there's some other minor support issue you need help with on Airbnb you actually need to follow a strict set of confusing trickery and lies to speak to a human. With the amount of money I hand over to them I expect better support but my options are limited.

It's important to leave the place in good condition, If you leave it in a mess you are probably going to get a bad review. Bad reviews are going to screw up your ability to get more rentals.

 

[Snotface]

Nope, but have been thinking about hosting a couple of spare rooms in my house.