Sometimes it can get pretty boring staying in hotels. Even if you pop US$500 (or more) for an expensive hotel room and do it frequent enough, you?ll get tired of the same old lobby?s, room layouts etc. Airbnb is a refreshing site that pairs you to someone renting their rooms/apartment/house on a daily rate.
Airbnb ? more than just a Matchmaker
Airbnb match-makes people that want to rent their properties to those who wish to stay in a home (as opposed to a hotel). But it does much more than that. Its ?Featured? section has a series of themes that are curated for you to browse and discover. For example:
?Berlin: Take My breadth away?
?Passage to India?
?Espana Excelente!?
All feature homes in the respective countries that you can rent.
How it works
Simplicity wins the day with Airbnb ? you get to browse, review, book, and pay ? all within the app.
Browse and Discover
The app allows you to Browse thru the app for apartments or rooms that are available in the area you want to rent.
Review
There are loads of pictures of the property to let you see what you are getting into. Photos will indicate if they have been verified so that you know it?s the real deal. You can also read reviews by other users to anticipate any problems in advance or just to stay away.
There is also a very detailed description of the property, amenities provided, location map, and house rules (policies).
Book and Pay
If that?s not enough, you can contact the landlord (host) directly from within the app. The app also rates the host to tell you their response rates. Here, you may ask the host any questions you may have.
Once you are satisfied, you can pay for your stay thru the app. If there are any issues when your check in, you can contact customer service directly immediately upon check in. Remember this, as payment is only released to the host 24 hours after check-in.
Summary
Airbnb is a refreshing new way to plan your next trip. Most apartments I viewed have wifi and amenities so its nice to escape paying sky high prices for hotel wifi while staying in a home atmosphere.
While I can sense some terrible ?not so livable? homes, which I wont stay in ? a majority of them looked nice and had rave reviews to prove it.
As an app, Airbnb is well designed and really easy to use with everything you want just a swipe of a tap away.
Airbnb is available for the iPhone (Free)
