I have stayed in an Airbnb home in Paris, France and in Negril, Jamaica. That was two very different experiences. My own home has also been handed over to strangers, and I absolutely love Airbnb. I am moving from Norway to Australia in September and I will stay at an Airbnb for the first week, that way I can get to see the different areas and decide where I want to live. I am now ending my Airbnb career as I am renting my place to someone on a permanent basis when I leave.
- Karianne, Lene, @laivi, @susanne and Stina in Negril, having fun in spite of our accommodation situation.
Being a guest
My first time being a guest was in Paris. The flat was lovely, clean and very central. The host communicated well with us. My friend and I were so happy to stay there.
My second Airbnb trip to Jamaica was more interesting. I went there with four girlfriends, one of them was the lovely @laivi.
The location could not have been better, it was basically on the beach. It had a good price and the place was huge. But that is the only positive thing I can say about that place, unfortunately. The reason why we picked it was the low price and the good reviews. We expected it to be rustic, but let us just say that flying cockroaches were tucking us in at night.
We still enjoyed the beautiful island:
- The view from a restaurant we went to
Being a host
After using Airbnb as a guest, I decided to try being a host. This was a good excuse to do a spring cleaning, and to get rid of tons of crap that I had hoarded through ten years in my apartment. I rented the place to guests as an entire home, and I stayed at my parents' house when I had guests.
- Old brickwall in my livingroom
I bought a 4 dollar lock in a hardware store, put that on one of my cabinets, and when I left I put my private stuff in there and locked it. The core value of Airbnb is trust, so I trusted guests with my stuff. Also, Airbnb includes insurance for every guest I host, so I was not worried.
- The dining room
I also bought some waterproof sheets for my bed, lets be honest, I know that there are some weird people out there. Other than that, I just cleaned, bought some beer for my guests and got started.
- My bedroom
My apartment is super central and it is right next to the ferry that you can take to go on the awesome hike to Prekestolen. Because of this, my calendar was full within days. Because my place was in the higher price range, I mostly got requests from grown up couples.
- My living room
I read the reviews on potential guests, and I asked them a little bit about what they were doing in Stavanger. I would never rent the place to a 19 year old rugrat from the rural part of Stavanger. I guess it is a bit judgmental, but I would be afraid that he/she only needed a flat in town to host a party or do something dodgy.
Because of my cautions, I have only had super clean and tidy guests staying with me. I also do not charge for cleaning and my place is immaculate when they arrive. I think that might be the reason why people leave the place tidy and clean too.
Airbnb is a super easy was to make extra money and I love the concept.
What I have learned
Hosting:
- If you charge for cleaning, people are more likely to leave the place looking like a pig sty.
- Pictures are more important than you would think. Clean your space, borrow a good camera and show the guests every relevant room on your listing.
- It is all in the details. Make your home feel welcoming and cosy. I tie a silk ribbon around the towels and leave a snack for the new guests.
- Make sure to be a good communicator.
Guest:
- Great location is cool, but cockroach invasion is not. Do not lower you standards because the place has good location.
- Leave the place like you found it and the host will give you a good review.
- Tell the host a little bit about why you are going to their city.
Susanne
As a frequent airbnber, I find this post very helpful! It's easy to leave a great review when your host has taken the time to leave snacks, arrange towels, etc. We always try to leave our place a little better than we found it, and it pays off! Great content, look forward to reading more of your posts!
I also love Airbnb, @susanne
Airbnb is my favorite site to use when travelling, I've had a ton of great experiences. Thanks for the post!
love Airbnb - great concept
Very nice post.
Oh yeah
Hehe, we did learn some lessons from our Airbnb experience in Jamaica, @susanne :P
Great post, I actually just started hosting with my sister and we already had two guests and they were really nice and amazing! Love the concept and its perfect to earn extra cash :) Alla x
This was an interesting read, I always wondered about how to host.
Airbnb has changed it all
Lame, i can tell 100 better stories as a Superhost...