Exploring Airbnb

For those who know me also know my love for travelling and travelling often. I do that a lot for work but when it’s about leisure we try and do that a couple times in a year. There’s always a lot of planning that needs to be done especially when you are looking at going for weeks at a stretch. Usually, since we are members of a club, we pick locations and then try and find that particular resort for our stay. You need to do a much advance booking in such cases.

However, sometimes due to sudden change in plans or development of new plans you are wanting to take a short break from the utopian mess that life is and go on a vacation. That’s exactly when it gets tricky because let’s admit, last moment hotel bookings are expensive and frustrating both. I had to plan a surprise getaway once for my husband and I couldn’t until the very last moment. Eventually, we happened to go one for a couple days, but the original plan was for at least 7-8 days.

We’ve known about Airbnb and how it has been around for a while but haven’t really heard a lot of people using it yet. Here are the top reasons why as per MoffettNathanson’s report in early 2017:

  • 38% — prefer hotel services
  • 38% — uncomfortable staying in someone else’s home
  • 37% — prefer hotel property amenities
  • 36% — prefer hotel room amenities
  • 34% — the option never occurred to me
  • 27% — renting a home is too expensive
  • 26% — do not need the extra space
  • 17% — concerned about safety
  • 17% — concerned about cleanliness
  • 16% — not sure what to do if there is a problem during the stay
  • 9% — not comfortable with booking and payment process

All these reasons definitely brought me to consider the whole idea of Airbnbing especially in a country like India. However, the tech-savvy generation that we are, I chose to give it a try for trying to get a place that could accommodate 10 people at once in Delhi for 2 nights and 3 days. Everyone was sold on the idea and we finally got ourselves a bungalow in the Defence Colony, Delhi. From this real-life experience that we had, here are 12 reasons why picking an Airbnb is better than a hotel any day!

airbnb-around-the-world

12 reasons

  1. Value for money: Okay, so I might not have the pictures of the home we stayed in but I will tell you that it was a beautiful and spacious boutique house with 4 bedrooms, a large passageway and drawing room of a sort that had a fountain in the center and I am not kidding one bit. There was another room that we converted into this trippy lounge over the two nights and an equipped kitchen which I cannot be thankful enough for. And all of that cost us approximately around Rs. 3,000 per person for the stay. Can any hotel beat that?

Read More:  How to travel on a budget.

  1. Freedom: You cannot howl in the night or party like it is some nightclub because you’re renting a house in a residential area but what you really have is freedom to take a walk or sit under the sky. It’s as good is your home!
  2. Location: You can pick an Airbnb apartment in any location you want literally whether it is in the city center or somewhere away from the hustle.
  3. Friendly owners: To be honest, the Airbnb owners are not nosy but friendly. I rented a home once in Mussoorie and not one the home was secluded and homely but the owners made sure we were welcomed with warmth.
  4. Free guidance: Of course, the owners of your BnB are locals and will know much more than you know about that place. You can always ask them for any information that could help your itinerary or even in times of emergency. Often, even good hotels fail to do that.
  5. Better for longer vacations: I was reading an article in the newspaper where a man took his family to Goa and rented an apartment for a month-long vacation. All he did was write while spending quality time with his family. For starters, the BnB cost them about Rs. 40,000. ONE WHOLE MONTH! Sigh.
  6. Maintained well: If you are worried about cleanliness, I don’t think I am yet to have a bad experience with that. There is usually a cleaner assigned to the house on a daily basis who cleans the house every day. In most cases, there is a house help present to cater to your needs.
  7. Flexibility: Check-in when you like and most owners do not mind when you would like to check-out.
  8. Entertainment: There’s almost everything that you could think of such as Wi-Fi connectivity, telephone service, Television sets in different separate rooms with accessibility to all channels. It’s all about hospitality and the Airbnb owners do not seem to compromise on that.
  9. A home for all crew sizes: Pick the right home that can fit your gang just right, you will never have a trouble with the size of the living space.
  10. Reliable reviews: I have found all the reviews genuine by far and what they seem to describe is more or less accurate.
  11. The backpacker’s paradise: If you love places that feel comfortable and like to be alone in a few travels, Airbnb is just right for you. Many people who are writers prefer going for a long break in a secluded home somewhere scenic and all they do is build their stories, interact with the locals and live in peace.

So, next time when you plan a holiday for several days to an exotic location, do not forget to explore a little something about Airbnb.

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