These days, many people are hopping on the Airbnb bandwagon. And why shouldn’t they? The room and house rental website has completely revolutionized the travel industry and put hotels on notice that they need to step up to their competition. But even though Airbnb can be completely wonderful, it can also be confusing for first-timers. Hence, we bring in thing you need to do when you check-in at Airbnb.
In this travel guide prepared by Treknova, we will take a look at an important thing you need to do first when you check in at Airbnb.
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A Quick Look at Airbnb’s Online Rental Service
Airbnb is like a global travel community that offers online rental services to people, which include temporary accommodation arrangements, tourism trips and places for holidays in more than 190 countries around the world. The company has partnered with several companies that are actual owners of these services, and for which the online rental company earns their cut by offering such services to their customers world-wide.
So, if you plan on having a holiday experience alone or with family and friends, you can simply visit Airbnb’s website https://www.airbnb.com. Once you have found your perfect Airbnb listing and it’s time to book, make sure you understand the booking terms. You must have an account and get verified with Airbnb before you can book a listing. Note that when booking you have two options: Instant Book and Request to Book.
With Instant Book, you can confirm your reservation right away. While Request to Book means your host has to accept or decline your booking before your reservation is confirmed. Things that help get you accepted are guest reviews and verification on your profile, as well as being upfront with your travel plans and adding a little bit about yourself in the request. Your request might be declined if there are date conflicts or if you have a large group for a small listing. Airbnb are considered as budget friendly even for a cheap honeymoon idea.
You will need to enter your credit card (which will only be charged in full once your request is confirmed) to submit a reservation request. Keep in mind that hosts have 24 hours to confirm your request and your reservation is then, automatically confirmed once they do. So, be careful about submitting more than one booking request for the same dates.
If you reach out to a host with questions before booking, they will probably have the option to invite you to make a reservation as a pre-approval booking or with a special offer. This gives the host the advantage to change the price, date, or other details in the listing based on your message.
Consider This Tip to Avoid Unwanted Charges From Your Holiday Rental
Now, coming to the most important part. The very first thing you should do when you check in to your Airbnb is to immediately take photos and possibly videos of everything. Also, it is essential that you pay close attention if it looks like there might be something missing or anything in your rental has been damaged. Again, do not forget to do the same thing just before you check out.
This precaution is necessary because by documenting the state of your holiday rental the moment you check in, and again, just prior to your departure, you are protecting yourself in case, let’s say, the owner accuses you of damaging the unit or even worse, stealing from the unit. So, it is always better to be safe than sorry. And while it might seem like an extreme precaution to take, it could, however, save you a great deal of time and trouble down the road. For instance, a lot of hosts on Airbnb and other rental sites often do not keep close tabs on their properties.
They might only check in on them every few weeks or months. And when they find that there has been damage done or items have gone missing, they may default to blaming the last renter. Therefore, having a pre-captured video showing what the condition of the property was when you arrived and left could be the key to proving that you did not do it. Such misunderstandings are quite common and many people have experienced such unpleasant incidents during their holiday travel.
So, it is important that you consider this tip and avoid any trouble that may also include paying unnecessary charges.
Things You Need to Know Before Using Airbnb Online Rental
It is simple, but actually, it is not that simple. Here are a few things you need to know before you get started. After you select your location, use these helpful filters to streamline your search on Airbnb:
(i) Dates: If your dates are flexible you can leave out that field. However, keep in mind that if you do filter by dates, only listings that are available on those dates will show up.
(ii) Guests: Guests are determined by bed space. So, make sure to select the number of adults, children and infants in your group.
(iii) Home Type: This is the most important section to filter if you are looking to have a whole house or apartment to yourself. If so, make sure you filter by this search item. Other options that may be available to you are a private room and a shared room.
(iv) Price: You can set your price range and Airbnb will give you the average nightly price for your location.
(v) Instant Book: Instead of going back and forth with your host arranging the dates or fielding questions about your trip, select the “Instant Book” filter, which will let you instantly confirm your rental.
(vi) Trip Type: Using this filter, you can select if you want “For Families” or “For Work Trips” preference. This will show vetted properties for either category.
(vii) More Filters: This includes everything from neighbourhood filters to the number of beds, bedrooms, or bathrooms. If you are travelling with a group and know you want a specific number of bedrooms, then it is recommended that you use this filter. You can also add filters for other things, such as free cancellation, specific amenities or facilities, and even “Unique Homes” like barns, boats, campers, treehouses, etc.
If you are looking for Airbnb to do the work for you, then you can check out the Airbnb Plus section. These listings are vetted by the company for exceptional quality, consistency, design and comfort. All Airbnb Plus homes are visited in person. Also, they are checked for over a hundred things, for example, from must-have amenities to the art on the walls.
Also check out the list of perfect weekend gateway to spend holidays by Airbnb.
Conclusion – Thing you need to do when you check-in at Airbnb
The best way to ensure you will not be disappointed with your Airbnb rental experience is to simply manage your expectations, and of course, know exactly what you want to get out of your rental. With Airbnb’s search feature, it becomes very easy to do what you wish to do for your holiday travel.
