-Removed-I have used AirbnB in the past and have had a variety of outcomes, as for the actual accommodations, never outright negative ones, but I did have to keep my sense of humor when I discovered that one place was a heated shed with a piano and I had to walk across the garden to the main house in order to use the bathroom.
My upcoming accommodation in Weimar, Germany was listed with both AirbnB and Booking.com. I was impressed with the ease of communication and security with Booking.com...however, I am not very adept with privacy and internet sites.
My son and his girlfriend rented a small studio apartment for a fortnight when they first moved to Canada. Interesting place but no cooking facilities with a loft bed in which there wasn’t enough room to sit up! Another family I know have one in an extension at the back of their house which is a thirty minute walk from the sea. It’s a studio apartment that sleeps 3 with a shower room and it’s booked regularly for a fee of £55 per night. An Australian rents it for a month every year when he revisits his family.
-Removed-I’m thinking that this has come about to reassure both parties that neither has a history of causing damage or disturbance at a property? I’ve become a house/petsitter and was offered a higher reference status IF I wanted by sending a copy of my licence or passport which I did. I’m not aware whether the house/pet owners have to do the same thing though it would make sense to me if there was a history of incidents occurring in which sitters were abused in some way. As yet I have not heard of any. The pet/ house sitting is done in exchange for the use of the property .... and of course you need to be a responsible animal and home carer😺
As for the booking fee I would hope that would be refundable within a certain time period? This would make sense to give the owner a chance to rent the property if you changed your mind or some compensation if you decided not to turn up?
What my petsitting site does is charge an annual fee for registering with the site.
@divegeester
At the house of hope we have had a lot of success booking our trips with AirBnB. We only book Entire place with Superhosts and read the reviews.
(n recent guests said this place was sparkling clean)
We are very particular about where we stay, but with AirBnB we can stay in a great neighborhood of our choice. Tree lined streets and kids playing in yards instead of hotels by the airport and paying to park.
The background questions don't bother us as we also would want to know exactly who is staying at our house. The first thing any hotel asks for at check-in is a drivers license which they immediately scan. Same with renting a car which we typically do on these same trips.
Like most services it is not for everyone. We also Uber if we are in a city like DC or Chicago and don't get a car.
-Removed-I signed up on AirbnB years ago and honestly don’t recall being asked for a scan of my passport or driver’s license. I don’t think I would have felt comfortable with that. I can certainly understand your unease in that response.
The best thing that AirbnB did for me, was t help me realize how affordable international travel truly is. Last year, about this time, I was snowed in with a lot of time to consider and dream about where I would like to go for an extended adventure. I used AirbnB’s search with filters to select accommodations at $70 USD or less with private entire apartment or house. Then I created a notebook for each location. I used Google travel to check flights corresponding to each location and created itineraries.
I had intended to visit the UK, however, I was also very focused (as I still am) on a translation project; letters by Goethe to a woman with whom he corresponded for twelve years. I have been working on this project over four years and am not very close to finishing due to work and everyday distractions, so I focused my attention to Goethe’s adopted hometown, Weimar.
I actually originally found the place I will be staying in the AirbnB app, but booked through Booking.com because it provided more comprehensive information. Booking.com also lists hotels which was important for me in Frankfurt because some hotels offer shuttles to and from the airport—important to a solo female traveler in an unfamiliar country who is terrified of missing her flights.
I would definitely recommend Booking over Air now.
-Removed-No real issues with me, although I did have to share a room with a guy named "Bubba" who was 6'8'' and 700 pound once who snored like there is no tomorrow that was not disclosed when I booked the room.
It all worked out though because he smelled so bad for being too big to bathe for the last two years because of his size, it kept the cockroaches away.
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@whodey saidAre you sure that wasn't a jail cell? 🤔 😲
No real issues with me, although I did have to share a room with a guy named "Bubba" who was 6'8'' and 700 pound once who snored like there is no tomorrow that was not disclosed when I booked the room.
It all worked out though because he smelled so bad for being too big to bathe for the last two years because of his size, it kept the cockroaches away.