Let me start with telling you that getting the cutest, coziest Airbnb with swanky interiors & insta-friendly decor isn’t the easiest task, so please take out time to browse through the website & don’t be disappointed if you don’t find anything right away☺️Ideally, it should take you a couple of days to find the right space.
I’ve found the cutest spaces to live in during my travels around Europe, all thanks to the baby sister who loves browsing the website in her free time. I personally have had pretty rotten luck, but that’s because I don’t know the tricks and hacks of filtering and looking for exactly what I want. I literally log in, put in my location and dates, and search. Turns out this isn’t how you do it, and I’ve learnt all about it in the last few months as I planned my trips. Leaving you with this guide that’ll hopefully change your experience with the Airbnb website.
1. Start with logging on to the website & putting in your city, date & number of people. Usually it’s best if you work with exact dates & exact number of people since the amount tends to vary per head, & is different on different days. For eg – searching for an Airbnb in Florence for 1 person from 2-4 Dec is much cheaper compared to searching for the same thing with 2 people.
2. Once you’ve put in your filters, zoom into the Airbnb map that shows up.
3. Now move on to a new tab and search for the main attractions in the place, & find the neighborhood that is centrally located to the must visit places.
Note- Why I suggest checking out the central neighbourhood is because spending a little more on your stay can cut down on your transportation cost (which is what we did in Europe & didn’t have to take any public transportation whatsoever)
4. Once you have this information go back to the Airbnb map & zoom in to the the neighbourhood you chose on Google Maps & start looking at the rooms available.
5. Now start consulting the list of Airbnbs that show up, & watch out for rare finds & super hosts. Super hosts are great mainly because they take their reviews seriously, and ensure that you get the best space and service, and are least likely to go AWOL. Basically super hosts are great people, so go find them!
6. After you’ve short listed your Airbnbs start reading the reviews under each. PLEASE READ THE REVIEWS. There is so much you can learn about the space and host from these reviews. Sometimes it happens that the space may be centrally located but maybe the shower doesn’t work or the space is dirty or the area is noisy… No matter how amazing your space looks it is best to avoid homes that come with negative reviews (This way super hosts are often reliable) Spend some time reading the reviews & viewing the pictures. This process might last a couple of days so I said have patience and don’t lose hope.
Tripsy Turtle helped me plan my stays around Europe in Spain and Slovenia, and even customised my trips according to my taste. If you find the process of booking a trip too cumbersome, time consuming or overwhelming, get in touch with them and they’ll sort it all out for you!