Traveling Cheaply with Airbnb

In my experience, traveling gets really expensive when you are browsing hotels and figuring out where to stay. I was so thankful to find out about Airbnb, and being able to travel and stay places for much less money. Airbnb has all sorts of different listings– some shared spaces, entire places, private rooms, etc. We choose the type of listing depending on the type of trip we are going on. When we are going on trips to big cities with all sorts of things to do, we usually just do a “private room.” We likely won’t be around the house very much, so it doesn’t matter if we have a whole house to ourselves. Staying in a “private room” is usually much cheaper than booking an “entire place.” If we are going on a vacation where we are going to be staying around the home a lot, then I go for an “entire place.” For example, when we went to the cabin in the woods or when we were out west we were around our place a lot and not too keen on interacting with strangers every time we were home. On the flip side, when we were in Bern, Switzerland, we were out sightseeing so much, so we basically just used our Airbnb as a place to sleep.

Using Airbnb to travel has saved us money, and we have met really cool locals along the way.

Filters When searching for an Airbnb, you’ll search like you would for a hotel– put in the city and dates. Airbnb also lets you put in different filters: room type, price range, different amenities (i.e. hot tub, kitchen, washer, free breakfast) host language, neighborhood, etc. There are thousands of different listings, so I usually use the filters. When I was searching for an Airbnb for our cabin weekend, a hot tub was a must. So I put that into the filter option.

Map I always always always book using the map feature. After putting in your search, at the bottom right corner of the screen is a little pinpoint button. You can look at where all of the listings are on the map. Location is the most important thing to us when traveling, so we always browse the listings by location on the map.

Read Reviews The nice part about Airbnb is that the host’s reviews are all at the bottom of the listing. You can read about what other guests thought of this place. The only downside about reviews is that people are very liberal with their “five star” ratings. This just makes it a bit hard to really find out how a place was. A lot of guests will also put trip recommendations and restaurants nearby in the reviews too, which I always really appreciate.

How to Book Airbnb used to have just one way to book: You had to “Request to book” where you are essentially asking permission to stay at their place. Now they have added an instant book feature, which is exactly what it sounds like. Most Airbnb hosts have their listings set on instant book, but there are still some that use the “requesting” way. This way takes a bit longer, but it’s usually jus set that way for hosts that do not want to have their place booked constantly. Either way is fine.

My favorite part about staying in an Airbnb is that you are able to message the hosts about their recommendations for restaurants, bars, transportation, & sights. It is SO helpful. 

Traveling soon? Use my Airbnb Discount for $40 off your first trip! I’m excited to hear what you think about traveling this way.

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