5 Tips on Booking the Best AirBnb

I firmly believe AirBnb has revolutionized how we travel. It allows us to stay anywhere in the world for just about any price. But like most big and scary internet sites, there are some tips to follow to make sure you are getting the best bang for your buck. 

1. UNDERSTAND THE RATING - Notice I didn’t just say “look at the rating”? There are a lot of ratings now-a-days and just looking at it is usually sufficient. For example, if I am on the fence about a movie and I see it has a 20% on Rotten Tomatoes then I don’t usually go into the reviews to understand why it got 20%. I just wait for it to go to streaming services to watch it. But this is your home away from home. Staying in a shitty place can make or break an entire vacation/trip, which is why you need to look at why a rating is what it is. 

For the sake of this tip, let's say you are going to Barcelona in July and you see a place that has 4.75 stars. Not too shabby. The pictures look great and it’s in a great part of town. But then you start to read the reviews and the majority of positive ones are from people staying during the winter when the average temp is 60ºF. However, when you look at reviews from people staying in the summer months they say it’s absolutely unbearable (real life example). 

On the other side of the coin, let's say you find a place that looks good to you but it only has 4 stars. However, you go to the reviews and there are only two reviews and they both say that everything is incredible but it’s on the third floor with no elevator which made it difficult for them. That’s not difficult for you so should you really decline a great deal because of some stairs? This brings me to my next tip...

Here is an example of a review below. You can’t see how many stars the person gave a place so for all we know this person gave this location 3 out of 5 stars because the pool was chilly.

2. HOW MANY REVIEWS? Less reviews might mean a lower price, but it also means more of a gamble on your part. I am not saying don’t stay somewhere that only has a couple of reviews, but you run a higher risk of an unpleasant surprise here as opposed to somewhere that has 275 reviews. You shouldn't be surprised staying anywhere with a healthy number of reviews because you should be reading a good chunk of those (see number 1 tip). 

This is my own personal preference, but I never book a new listing with 0 reviews. I feel bad because everyone has to start somewhere, but unfortunately I am not going to be that first guinea pig. I have read too many horror stories of people showing up to a place that doesn’t exist, college kids living in the other room partying when you have a marathon to run the next day even though it says it should be the whole apartment (my wife’s real life example), and more. On to number 3! 

3. LOOK AT THE ADDITIONAL FEES - AirBnb has gotten trickier with their fees since I first started using the site. On the confirmation screen before you purchase make sure to look at the final price because you might be in for a surprise. It’s not hard to see a place for $50 a night, but on the confirmation screen it says there is a cleaning fee and service fee, bringing the total up to $75/night. 

4. USE THE MAP - When searching there should be a map by default on the right hand side of your screen. You have the option of just looking at listings without the map, but I would advise against that. You should understand where you are staying and this becomes more important with places you are less familiar with. It’s VERY easy to search for a city and see a place, with great ratings, and a great price and jump on it because of AirBnb’s stupid “This is a rare find” text they will throw up there. But hold your horses and see if the location is right for you. Are you flying in? Where is the airport in relation to where you are staying? How do you get there? Are you looking for a relaxing time and the area you are in is surrounded by clubs? Are you staying in the Atacama desert like a mile outside of the main area and there is no public transportation where your place is (real life example)? Just use the map and don’t rush. 

5. ENTIRE PLACE vs. PRIVATE BEDROOM - It goes without saying that you should check mark your criteria before performing the search (price range, number of people, and the type of place you are looking for). The one criteria though that you should pay extra attention to is the type of place. Hosts love taking liberties with this especially when overseas. The most common one you will find is on the “Entire Place” listings. There have been countless instances where our place was listed as being an entire place, but we’ve gotten there and it’s been an entire basement (with a separate entrance) or a small detached structure in someone’s backyard. I am not saying they classified it wrong (well maybe the basement example) BUT just be mindful because while it might not bother us I can understand why it would make others very uncomfortable. 

Below is a perfect example. Notice that “Whole Place” is selected as a filter but Chef Tan’s place is a private guest suite and the title says “Private Home”. My guess would be that this is a suite within someone’s house or a detached suite but still on the property of someone’s home. May not be a big deal, but make sure to check what you’re signing up for.

None of these are too hard to do, but they can make or break a trip!

Visiting Small Mainland Towns in Greece (Ioannina, Patras, Loutraki)

After our holiday time in Albania we made our way down to Greece. We enjoyed Albania, but it was nice getting back to a country where transportation was straight forward with plenty of signs and directions. Our first stop in Greece was Ioannina which is a cute little city located right on Lake Pamvotida. We actually stayed an annoyingly short distance away from the city center in a little town called Perama. Our advice would be to make sure to get a place right in Ioannina if you are planning on visiting.

Ioannina

On our first day (New Year’s Eve) we went to the Cave of Perama. This was the only bonus of staying in the small town because it was right down the road from us. Most likely you’ve been to a cave before so there’s no need for me to go into detail, but it was a very well done cave with paths and even a spot for a concert. After the cave we made our way to the Ioannina city center to celebrate the New Year! The streets were packed with people celebrating and the bars were noisy so we felt right at home. We were able to nab a table looking out onto the street which made for some great people watching.

On our second day we went back to the city center of Ioannina to wander around in the daylight. We loved the city and it only made us wish more that we would have stayed in the main area. It was a picture perfect New Year’s Day, so everyone was out on the lake enjoying food, coffee, and drinks. The touristic highlight was by far the Ioannina Old Town, which is a fortified part of the city filled with cobbled streets, awesome entry gates, two beautiful mosques, and much more. Nearest the lake inside the Old Town was the Kale Acropolis (another fortified area within the larger walled city) that had awesome views of the surrounding mountains, lake and city. All in all we enjoyed our New Year’s in Ioannina and wished we could have spent even a day or two more in the actual city center.

Patras

After Ioannina we continued south to Patras which is the third largest city in Greece. To be honest this was more of just a convenient stop as we made our way down to Athens. However, we really enjoyed getting back into a bigger city and being able to walk for hours while still seeing new things. The main tourist sites in Patras included the Roman Odeon, which was a place for musical performances dating back to the 1st century AD. The great thing about coming in the winter time is that guards don’t seem to care much so often times they will just let you in for free.

Patras also claims the largest church in Greece, the Agios Andreas Cathedral. We enjoyed some coffee while watching a wedding take place outside the cathedral.

The Castle of Patras wasn’t the most exciting thing we have seen, but the views it offers over the city and sea were worth the climb. Just wandering the streets really reminded us of San Francisco because it was very hilly but once you make it to the top of those hills then you are rewarded with great views. We had a fine time in Patras. More than likely this probably won’t make many travel lists, but if you are in the area and need a day or two to kill than you could do worse than Patras.

Loutraki

Once again, this was more of a stop as opposed to a destination for us. We didn’t want to spend 9 days in Athens, so we decided to visit a small town on the way called Loutraki. We were pleasantly surprised with the small seaside town! Like a lot of the places we have been recently, it is primarily a summer destination but that just means no crowds for us during the winter! We had two great weather days in Loutraki and luckily there were a couple of walking/hiking options for us to stretch our legs. The first mountain/hill was an hour hike that ended at a monastery that we took pictures of but were too afraid to go inside. The gates were wide open but there was not a single car or person in sight so we decided to forego the monastery. On the second day we took a long walk to the Corinth Canal which connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. Loutraki is a very short one hour bus ride from Athens, so if you are in Athens in the summer time and want an excellent beach with very beautiful turquoise water than we’d recommend jumping on that bus!