Sometime ago it seemed that traveling costs a lot of money. Today, there are more and more tools available on the market that support and promote cheap travel. One of such tools is the AirBNB service – that is, online flatsharing or roomsharing. What is it about and how does it work? Is it worth using AirBNB? We’ll try to answer that question below.
What is AirBNB?
Roomsharing is nothing but “sharing room”. It’s about making your apartment or your room available to tourists. AirBNB is quite comfortable that each of the offerers to rent your property individually sets the rules and fees for providing a flat or room. Thanks to the fact that private individuals’ offers are used, prices are much more affordable than those offered by guest houses or hotels.
Recently I was looking for accommodation in connection with a trip to a London concert, three-day stay, because I also decided to go sightseeing a little bit. The cheapest hotels I found were about 50-60 pounds per night, and hostels (with average reviews, 3/5 stars on Google) were listed for about 40 pounds per night. At AirBNB I found a lot of offers in the range of PLN 20-40 pounds per night. That’s quite a lot of savings.
AirBNB – worldwide discount code
For your first stay at AirBNB you can get a discount (as if a rebate code) for PLN 100 with a minimum stay of PLN 300, it’s probably a pretty good offer. Link to register with a discount.
Is AirBNB safe and secure to use?
The answer is yes, the use of this website is 100% safe and very easy. The entire accommodation and rental process is closely monitored. In addition, the site has a comment system similar to the one known from booking, blablacar or allegro. Thanks to this, before the accommodation unit is booked, the potential client has the opportunity to get acquainted with the opinions of other guests who have used the offer before us.
To be able to use AirBNB as a tourist, identity confirmation is required in many cases. You can do it with a credit card or document – for example a personal ID or passport. The verification takes up to a few days, but mine was done within a few hours.
Thanks to this, the use of the application is 100% safe, because the host knows who is his guest, and the guest knows who will spend the night.
AirBNB – how to pay for accomodation?
The system allows a variety of payment methods. Their availability depends to a large extent on the location and the country from which we come. For the Poles, the tool makers foresaw the following forms of payment:
- credit card or prepaid card (e.g. from Revolut or Skrill)
- debit card
- PayPal
- Apple Pay for iOS users
- PayU
Unfortunately, payments can not be made in cash person to person, the AirBNB developers found that paying the hosts could be a bit strange or awkward.
AirBNB – promo code 2020
AirBNB runs a referral program with up to 40 USD or 33 EUR for the first booking. Check it out.
The most important advantages of AirBNB
Undoubtedly, the most important advantage of this system is the possibility of finding attractive accommodation at a very affordable price. Sometimes, thanks to this application, you can find accommodation in an interesting place for half or even less than half of the price that hotels and guesthouses collect. This is especially evident in cities besieged by businessmen, politicians or celebrities. In such places, the prices are assumed to be higher. Thanks to AirBNB you do not have to pay for the hotel several hundred zlotys, and at most a hundred dozen.
Another advantage of the tool is the large number of offers and the ability to accurately filter the list of results. Thanks to a fairly extensive list of criteria, you can easily find accommodation that interests us.
An unquestionable advantage of this solution is the opportunity to meet interesting people – the hosts and look around the flats of local people. Many tourists find this the most interesting.
Disadvantages of AIRBNB
As you know, in each barrel of honey you will find a spoon of tar. This is not the case with AirBNB. The most important disadvantage of the system is that you have to pay in advance for the night. This involves the need to freeze a certain amount.
Another disadvantage is the fact that the price visible in the system does not include taxes and the service fee of the portal. Unfortunately, these costs must be added to the price shown on the website.
AirBNB – my opinion
Using the portal allows you to travel around the world for very little money. Thanks to the application, you can book accommodation at affordable prices anywhere in the world, which allows not only for savings, but also for getting to know the local people. I last stayed for 2 nights in Manchester with AirBNB, I arrived there in the morning and asked the host beforehand if I could put my backpack back before the “check-in” time in the room. Host agreed, which allowed me to save time and to start visiting the city immediately, at 10 am. The next day in the morning I made tea in the kitchen and asked the host about interesting places to visit in Manchester. We chatted nice for 15 minutes. Interestingly, returning in the evening I received a message on AirBNB with a password to disable the alarm at home – it turned out that the host is not at home and you had to turn this alarm off when you enter the apartment. I was surprised by a bit of trust, but very positively. The price of this room was twice lower than in the cheapest hostels, where I would be with several people in the room, and here I had a private room. It’s definitely worth it.