Have you ever used Airbnb?

Have used them locally (Franschhoek), and in Canada (Montreal and Toronto).

Worked really well, no complaints.
 
Used them and no issues.
Had to cancel the first booking and re-book with the mother as the daughter had the place listed, then the mother took over as a new host/user.

You can keep the funds as credit on the site it seems, or have it paid out/back into your account. Well and the money back depends on the host as well. Mine was a 100% refund if cancelled up to 24 hours of the check in date, which is extremely convenient.
 
encrypted said:
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.
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So you actually don't have your own place that you stay in?

Since you have experience with this, are you able to estimate the daily rate you can get on a 25m2 studio apartment + 1 bay in the Bree area, City Bowl, Cape Town? Assume top finishes (granite tops, basic home automation) in a brand new building. Minimal views of the mountain.

I have had a look at the listings but its very difficult to compare as most of the places are older..
 
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Answer to the OP:

No, have only used Bookings.com

AirBnb hasn't grown on me yet..
 
Used Airbnb on my trip twice to London, and to Scotland. Great if you don't want to pay expensive hotel prices.
 
I'm a host and have had multiple visitors from overseas and local - the overseas guests are mostly polite, friendly and apprehensive to be holidaying in SA. Local guests tend to be brusque and eat all my sweeties and drink all my hot chocolate. :)

We used Airbnb to book our entire 3 week honeymoon in Phuket, was cheap as chips and easy to book and the accommodation was all perfect.

Very happy to have found this service - an excellent and well run organization.
 
No. I've only needed holiday accomm. in SA thus far and always found better prices/deals elsewhere. I guess airbnb really only benefits if looking for business/residential accomm. and perhaps if going overseas.
 
So what are the legalities of hosting your home? Does it have to be registered as a bnb with the municipality?
What if neighbours are upset with random strangers coming into the neighborhood?
Also do you need permission from your Body corporate if in a sectional title?
 
Going to Manchester UK soon and was thinking of using Airbnb. I will give it a shot and revert back with my review
 
Sinbad said:
/shameless plug time
Where in joburg do you stay?
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In Ripen Park I think it's called? It's right by Sandton/Hyde park. It has 100mbit Fibre which is a huge draw. A lot of places on AirBnb just get "internet" for guests.

We had one in Cape Town that only had 10GB LTE and called it internet. Luckily I got uncapped with another provider for the duration, I smoked the 10GB in a day without even trying.
 
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