5 Airbnb Tips
for Guests

Airbnb Tips for Guests

With more travelers than ever using Airbnb to book accommodation across the world, here are 5 Airbnb tips for guests. I’ve compiled all these after having traveled via Airbnb myself over the years as well as been a host on the other side of the coin… Hopefully these help you and save you both money, time and any possible aggravation as you hit the travel road.

1. Plan Ahead

If you’re headed to a very touristed place at a very touristy time of year, chances are most of the best places will fill up fast. What’s more is the fact that the real fun and unique advantage about staying via Airbnb is the opportunity to stay somewhere that’s really ‘off the beaten track’ or another way to phrase it is simply someplace magical! Think, medieval castle, luxury yaht or whimsical treehouse. Yes, you can stay at these places through Airbnb… Just know that they fill up fast! Best to plan ahead and book well in advance if you’re going for the true Airbnb experience!

2. Over Communicate

This can of course be said for both guest and for host however, as a traveling guest, your plans are more apt to change on a daily basis than your host. Best to keep in constant communication with your host to let them know if you’ll arrive early or be super late. Nothing could be worse than arriving to their place and realizing you’re locked out and having to wait because you forgot to tell them you’d be two hours early.

3. Personalize your Stay

If sharing space with someone in their home, don’t treat it like you would a hotel. What I mean by this is you don’t want to treat your host (and their home) like it’s a hotel and that you’re only interested in the room itself. Most hosts really do like meeting their guests and don’t want to feel like their home is so sterile and lacking in personality that it is treated like the Super 8. They want you to feel invited, comfortable and most would like to get to know you. After all, they’ve opened up their home to you and don’t want their living space to feel awkward and cold. In fact, I’d say the number one reason people prefer staying Airbnb is the opposite feeling they often get than staying in a lonely hotel room. It’s all about the experience so keep this in mind when you stay in someone else’s place and it’ll be better for both parties involved.

4. Don’t be afraid to Negotiate

For every ten hosts on Airbnb, there are probably at least one or two that are willing to negotiate a nightly rate. In fact, if you are planning to stay at least 5 days or more, you would be wise to inquire with multiple hosts to see which will offer you a discounted rate for your longer term stay. It’s a great way to save and don’t feel embarrassed by doing so. Most Airbnb hosts would much rather not having to clean or coordinate multiple bookings in a week so they’ll be much more inclined to offer you a discount for a longer term stay if you’d simply ask. Try to do this with a hotel and you can forget about it (well most of the time anyway).

5. Read the Rules

Does your host have any special rules of the house? For instance, a curfew when they don’t want you coming in too late or perhaps they have a strange way to access the home. You can find yourself in a bind if you don’t read the full description. In fact, I’ve often seen many time a guest leave a host a ‘bad review’ about something in particular that later, the host went on to reply to the bad review pointing out very plainly that whatever the problem or misunderstanding was, was pointed out right in the listing’s description. For instance, if there is an open sleeping area instead of a closed door bedroom, you might think you were mislead into thinking you would have full privacy when in fact this description (and possible even a photo of the space) would have given you the information needed up front. It is also very important to take note of the host’s cancellation and refund policy. Not all hosts will refund your money if you cancel your reservation at the last minute. This is all entirely dictated by them so you should check this out prior to booking.

Having stayed via Airbnb in many parts of the world over the years, I could go on and on with more Airbnb tips for guests however, these 5 tips cover the major things you’ll want to keep in mind as they may be the biggest factors of influence when staying somewhere. Good luck with it and safe travels! And if you have Airbnb tip for guests that you’d like to share with us that isn’t listed above, please do so and share with us in the comments section below!

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