Air BnB

[13m]

Anyone do it? Either as guest or host. I'd be interested to hear your experiences.

[Evolved]

Used it a few times now and never had a bad experience, the last place we booked was fantastic tbh and the host a really nice guy. We would not hesitate to use it again.

[LDN]

Used it as a guest and considered being a host - but can't be bothered, simply put. Works well; great APP makes it easy. Look at OwnersDirect as well.

[rdjohn]

Their fees are enormous and their credit card fees are opaque.

Holding huge amounts of cash in escrow for months on end is what is boosting their market value. Faceless website makes it virtually impossible to speak to a human if you have an issue - like additional 3.5% credit card fee.

I really dislike them, they cast aspersions on ethics of legitimate renters, but rather than veryfy that renters actually exist, they just want to get their hands on the cash.

You may have guessed, I dislike them. Sadly VRBO, Owners Direct, have gone down the same path. None of them own much in assets beyond their websites, yet they are skimming huge percentages of the worldwide travel market.

[ATG]

I use it almost every week for two nights accommodation in London. Initially I was planning to use Air BnB only until I came to a more permanent arrangement, but it's very flexible, much better value than hotels so I'm in no rush to sort anything else out.

[Countdown]

I'm thinking about it for a family weekend down in London. We need 3 bedrooms and it looks like renting a whole apartment/house for 4 days will work out cheaper than even the cheapest Travelodge.

[wombleh]

Used it to get an apartment on holiday, found a great place in the country on a small holding and made good friends with the owners. Looking to emigrate and will probably move into an airbnb while we look for a place to live.

[smifffymoto]

rdjohn said:

Their fees are enormous and their credit card fees are opaque.

Holding huge amounts of cash in escrow for months on end is what is boosting their market value. Faceless website makes it virtually impossible to speak to a human if you have an issue - like additional 3.5% credit card fee.

I really dislike them, they cast aspersions on ethics of legitimate renters, but rather than veryfy that renters actually exist, they just want to get their hands on the cash.

You may have guessed, I dislike them. Sadly VRBO, Owners Direct, have gone down the same path. None of them own much in assets beyond their websites, yet they are skimming huge percentages of the worldwide travel market.

They must have a great sales pitch,look at the money that venture capitalists are throwing at them. AirBnB and Homeaway have had millions upon millions given them.

[Simpo Two]

smifffymoto said:

They must have a great sales pitch,look at the money that venture capitalists are throwing at them. AirBnB and Homeaway have had millions upon millions given them.

Well I'm not impressed with the branding! Apparently, 'Airbnb is an online marketplace that enables people to list, find, then rent vacation homes'. I thought it was a bloody airline! (possibly with bed and breakfast aranged for you at the other end)

[okgo]

Yes, use it all the time, its great, for a guest. Used it all over the world.

[numtumfutunch]

Have used as a 'guest' several times and have just booked summer accomodation with them too

I have previously been a big fan of Ownersdirect until an unsatisfactory dispute over a deposit made me reappraise

Airbnb seems to have 2 way feedback and an ESCROW system neither of which Ownersdirect had the last time I used them

[JJ55]

We host an apartment in London. It can be hard work at times as we like to do it to a very high standard, the washing & ironing is bloody endless, but it's been really good so far, guests have been really nice & respectful to the apartment. Air bnb is an absolute bargain compared to hotel rooms, my partner & I are definitely going to use it for when we travel too. Our place is currently £110 a night on winter rate & sleeps 6. What hotel in London can offer that for up to 6 people. Air bnb really makes travel more affordable for everyone which is a great thing. Getting loads of people from abroad at the moment due to the low pound too.

[RDMcG]

Used it a few times in the US, all excellent.

[The Moose]

JJ55 said:

We host an apartment in London. It can be hard work at times as we like to do it to a very high standard, the washing & ironing is bloody endless, but it's been really good so far, guests have been really nice & respectful to the apartment. Air bnb is an absolute bargain compared to hotel rooms, my partner & I are definitely going to use it for when we travel too. Our place is currently £110 a night on winter rate & sleeps 6. What hotel in London can offer that for up to 6 people. Air bnb really makes travel more affordable for everyone which is a great thing. Getting loads of people from abroad at the moment due to the low pound too.

Do you do the turn around yourself or do you have someone to do it for you?

Wondering about becoming a host.

[mark387mw]

We gave it a go as hosting while we were living in a nice beach house and instantly got bookings.

We've now moved to a property with an extra house and do this full time as our main occupation.
Instant exposure and our guests prefer the Airbnb set up over hotels/motels.

We had a Dutch guest that is very high up in the hotel industry and Airbnb is now the way he looks for accommodation as he much rather be staying in a social environment than a hotel room.

It's the way forward as many big hotel chain operators to the 'room for rent at home' are all using it.

[ashleyman]

My friend uses it to rent out his Central London flat. Makes about £7k a month from it. He's 10 minutes walk from London Victoria and gets loads of US and Asian people staying. He owns another flat in the same building - actually opposite his Air BnB rental so is easily located to do anything that needs doing.

I used it in Paris once to rent a flat, the website and communication was flawless, payment was fine. Super cheap for the location - 5 minutes from the Eiffel Tower. The flat was ok but the advert was misleading - not really Air BnB's fault, down to the host.

Edited by ashleyman on Monday 1st August 10:36

[Rangeroverover]

I've used it a few times always worked well, make sure you have a mobile No for your host so you can contact them if needed.

there are quite a few people renting flats in London posing as normal tenants then running it as an Airbnb business. I feel slightly sorry for the smal family run htels that are suffering as a result as airbnb hosts don't have to have any extra fire regs etc; a bit like I feel sorry for black cab drivers who having done 18months on a moped are now suffering due to Uber

[JJ55]

The Moose said:

JJ55 said:

We host an apartment in London. It can be hard work at times as we like to do it to a very high standard, the washing & ironing is bloody endless, but it's been really good so far, guests have been really nice & respectful to the apartment. Air bnb is an absolute bargain compared to hotel rooms, my partner & I are definitely going to use it for when we travel too. Our place is currently £110 a night on winter rate & sleeps 6. What hotel in London can offer that for up to 6 people. Air bnb really makes travel more affordable for everyone which is a great thing. Getting loads of people from abroad at the moment due to the low pound too.

Do you do the turn around yourself or do you have someone to do it for you?

Wondering about becoming a host.

Yep we do it all ourselves saves a lot of money. Can be hard work at times if there's a lot of back to back short stays. For example I currently have a front room full of large towels drying, garden full of sheets drying (weather not helping) 4th load of washing in the machine & a huge pile of sheets on the ironing board to do. We also do a very deep clean in between each set of guests. This week is a bit of a pain as its back to back 2 night stays so we'll have this cycle every 2 days plus we both have jobs although luckily being self employed I can tailor my hours a little to take care of the apartment. However if people are in for 4 days or longer it's much easier. I know in London we have agencies that will run your air bnb for you, I think they charge 20% per day & take care of everything. If you're busy this could work. We will consider using one if/ when we get a chance to take a holiday.

[FredClogs]

Couple of years ago we got a place in London (South Kensington) through AirBnB for a weekend, with 3 young kids it was out of the question to get hotels or anything else and we wanted to "do" the London museums etc... in 2 days so couldn't do with extra commuting etc...

Anyway, complete disaster. I think I posted a thread about it on here at the time, it's funny now looking back but it wasn't fking funny at the time. To be fair to AirBnB we got a full refund and we were able to stay in one room of the property after taking the cat (that had been left for a week by the owner) to the RSPCA and bleaching the place.

I guess you've got to pay your money and take your chances and just remember that just because someones got an apartment in South Kensington doesn't mean they're not a mentalist.

[The Moose]

JJ55 said:

The Moose said:

JJ55 said:

We host an apartment in London. It can be hard work at times as we like to do it to a very high standard, the washing & ironing is bloody endless, but it's been really good so far, guests have been really nice & respectful to the apartment. Air bnb is an absolute bargain compared to hotel rooms, my partner & I are definitely going to use it for when we travel too. Our place is currently £110 a night on winter rate & sleeps 6. What hotel in London can offer that for up to 6 people. Air bnb really makes travel more affordable for everyone which is a great thing. Getting loads of people from abroad at the moment due to the low pound too.

Do you do the turn around yourself or do you have someone to do it for you?

Wondering about becoming a host.

Yep we do it all ourselves saves a lot of money. Can be hard work at times if there's a lot of back to back short stays. For example I currently have a front room full of large towels drying, garden full of sheets drying (weather not helping) 4th load of washing in the machine & a huge pile of sheets on the ironing board to do. We also do a very deep clean in between each set of guests. This week is a bit of a pain as its back to back 2 night stays so we'll have this cycle every 2 days plus we both have jobs although luckily being self employed I can tailor my hours a little to take care of the apartment. However if people are in for 4 days or longer it's much easier. I know in London we have agencies that will run your air bnb for you, I think they charge 20% per day & take care of everything. If you're busy this could work. We will consider using one if/ when we get a chance to take a holiday.

For me the problem is that the apartments I've got in mind aren't on my doorstep and I'm not trekking into London to do the change over!

Obviously for major issues etc then that's different (as with normal lets).

I suspect it really works best as a host when you've got a spare room or two.