Print this page

5 Things I Learned Living In AirBNB’s As A Digital Nomad

Written by Posted On Thursday, 17 October 2019 00:38
5 Things I Learned Living In AirBNB’s As A Digital Nomad

So I did it – I uploaded my driver’s license and bam – I was in the AirBnB ecosystem. And pretty soon I had booked my first place. Since then I have stayed at over 15 places in AirBnB – just in Australia alone – and I wanted to share the good and the bad of living in the AirBnB ecosystem – there was a lot of frustration I went through and if only I knew these things it would make my life a heck of a lot easier.

Note: some of these are unexpected but to be fair – a lot of these are common sense – however common sense is not as common as we all may think – so if this beats down things you would already do anyway I apologise.

  1. Book monthly or Weekly If You can – That’s where the Savings Are – And Be Open to New listings

The best discounts you will get on AirBnB is if you book either weekly or monthly. And I’m talking big savings – it’s not unusal to get a 50% discount if you book for the entire month. This of course depends on how long you will be staying – but you will get good discounts for weekly and monthly stays.

When booking on AirBnB for the month you will see the savings that you are getting on the listing page where it calculates all the costs for your stay:

image 1

The other thing to look for is ‘NEW’ listings and here’s why

image 2

When someone registers for AirBnB for the first time – AirBnB will push them to give deep discounts for their first few customers to entice those customers over and build a rating. Basically what AirBnB will say to the hosts is “Get your rating up so that you can build credibility” – so many times if a place is advertised as New and you book for a month you’ll get the deepest discount possible.

Another thing to note – if you book for a month and have an issue with the host and things don’t work out – you can ask to leave early and you’ll only pay for the 2 weeks at the rate of the monthly booking. So keep that in mind. Most hosts will agree to this if there is some issue and AirBnB can process this.

Now before you proceed to book make sure…

  1. Check the Amenities (or more so – lack of them)

Here is an issue I had with a recent house. Here is a screenshot of their amenities section listing:

image 21

Judging by this – and I was staying there for a month – you would assume it has all the basics. But not so fast! And I only found this out after I booked – if you click on ‘Show all 33 amenities’ and scroll down:

image 4

You will see they have no washing machine! And by the way there were no laundromats around – closest one being 1.7km away – and not only that you couldn’t just leave the clothes there and you had to wash the clothes and sit around for 1 hour until they washed and dried. You would think they would mention that as the more important aspect rather than a carbon monoxide detector but alas this is not the case. So make sure to check what is NOT INCLUDED in the amenties and plan accordingly.

Note: the reason AirBnB is so adamant about mentioning they don’t have a carbon monoxide detector on a property is due to the death of an AirBnB guest when gas leaked into a home or something of that nature. So to cover themselves legally I guess they put that on all the listings.

  1. Street View is Your Friend

One of the places I had booked was described as being in a trendy part of Brisbane. Me not knowing the area had taken that on face value. Becauase I didn’t know the city too well – and the area was geographically close to the inner city – I had thought I was going to be staying in one of these inner city subrubs where everything is shiny and everyone is at the park playing ball.

However I was wrong about this – I had actually booked in an area which made me feel unsafe as soon as I landed. The main road that the listing was on – which I thought was the main road of an inner town with cafes and the like.. was actually a highway. This is what it looked like.

image 5

Here is a photo of the place I was taying at – if I knew this is what it looked like I would never have signed up. Getting a street view look at the place is very important when it’s available (I’m aware not every area is covered). Understanding what kind of area you’re moving to and the geography is important – and don’t ever trust the AirBnB host to adequately explain it because most times they will describe it through rose coloured glasses.

By the way – that place was worse than I thought – even with the area. Because it turns out I didn’t have a room but instead was basically staying a shop front that the owner had converted to a room – literally right on the high way. Yeah – another nightmare story – and another reason why it’s important you learn this stuff!

  1. Understand Your Rights – But Also Understand your Rights Don’t Really Matter

What do I mean by understanding your rights and that your rights don’t really matter? Here’s what I mean – while there are certain AirBnB rules that a host agrees to – there really isn’t much consequence to the host other than getting a bad review and legally speaking – the host can kick you out at any time.

For example recently I had a situation where I forgot to wash two pots before I left for work – I was on the bus and called the host and informed them of the situation – and said I was worry but I was on the bus – the host said it’s ok but afterwards I was told by message that I not only had to leave early – which I thought meant perhaps the next day.

I was then notified by AirBnB and told that the hosts wanted me to leave that very day! This significantly interrupted my plans – the host even going so far as to say they will call the police if I was to stay there that night – and yes – if the police get involved – at the end of the day even if you haven’t broken any house rules – the host can always ask you to leave – call the police – and there’s nothing you can do.

While AirBnB did cover my hotel stay for that night it made me realise that under AirBnB I really don’t have any legal protection and I am – at the end – under the whim of the host – who can ask me to leave at any time with no repurcussions from AirBnB which leads me to my last point:

Note: in this review I am referring to AirBnB’s where you rent out a room – if you have the budget to rent out an entire place to yourself then this probably won’t apply to you.

  1. Use AirBnB as a stop-gap – Not the Final Solution (And find local accommodation)

If you are staying somewhere for longer than a month then you should see AirBnB as a temporary stop gap solution – and you should look for local accommodation when you land – not only can you get a better deal than what you are paying for – but also you will be covered legally – so if god forbid the host decides on a whim to ask you to leave – you have a rental agreement.

As a web developer (you can find my website here - https://headstudios.com.au/) – AirBnB has been fun for while it lasted – but I am glad I have a more permanent addres snow in Brisbane.

Good luck!

Rate this item
(0 votes)
Elena Tahora

Latest from Elena Tahora

Joomla! Debug Console

Session

Profile Information

Memory Usage

Database Queries