Our 26th Airbnb in 7 months. Here is a brief description of the Airbnb rental process
Our Airbnb in Seoul Korea was a nice little apartment close to some of the local tourist attractions. This was our 26th Airbnb rental on this trip. Before we left for this journey we had only used Airbnb once. Now 7 months later I feel like a professional Airbnb renter. I’m sure everyone has heard about Airbnb by now because of all the disruption they have caused in both the home rental market and the hotel market. Many people, however may not have had a chance to use Airbnb yet, so I thought I would give a quick rundown on what to expect if you ever decide to.
To begin with, the whole concept is built on trust. Trust that you will be a good renter for your stay and trust that the host (the person who is renting the property to you) will provide you with what they have advertised. Out of our 26 Airbnb rentals all have been exactly as described. All 26 descriptions have been very accurate. On the Airbnb site, the host will publish a series of photos of their rental and a written description. For the most part, every picture we have seen is just like when we get there. Occasionally they have moved furniture or added furniture, but other than that the photos are extremely helpful and accurate.
Another way that helps us choose a property is by reading the reviews. We read at least 8-10 reviews on each rental option. When a previous renter has left the property, Airbnb sends a message asking them to write a review of their experience. At the same time, Airbnb contacts the property owner and asks them to write a review on the guest. Reviews for both the property owners and the renters is what makes this an amazing experience and keeps the rental owners and renters honest. A renter can look up your review to see if they would like to rent to you and a renter can look up the reviews to see if the place matches their needs. We have seen rentals that were in a great location, at a great price and looked fabulous in photos, but once we read the reviews, we knew it wasn’t for us. An example is, there was a loud highway nearby, the Wi-Fi was extremely slow, the place was not as clean as expected or something along those lines.
Once you choose a place, Airbnb’s website will walk you through the steps on requesting to rent the unit from the owner. It is all handled on the Airbnb website. You send a message to the property owner with the dates that you would like to rent and a brief explanation of your trip or about yourself. The property owner then responds with a yes or no. All information passing back and forth is online through the Airbnb website.
Once the property owner agrees to rent their unit to you, Airbnb will then deduct the rental amount from your checking account or credit card. Airbnb holds onto this money until 1 day after you check out. This insures that you are committed to renting the place and that the whole experience goes according to the plan. We have never had any issues with any of the units we stayed in except for one of the rentals we had was dirtier than we would have liked. We could have left and been refunded but we chose to stay. It was also the one time that we rented a place that only had 2 few reviews. Airbnb does have safe guards in place if you end up in a bad rental situation. They will put you up in a hotel if there is no other Airbnb in the area available. This has never happened to us. We also have never met anyone who has an issue like that.
The day before you are to arrive at your new rental, your Airbnb host will contact you and set up a time to meet you and check you in. Typically, the owner will show up, give you keys to the place, answer your questions and show you around. We have had a few places that you can check in without ever meeting anyone. The property owner has set it up ahead of time with keyless doors (electronic locks with a code). When it is time to leave, most often you just leave the key on the table and lock the door behind you. It is all really that simple.
This is just a brief rundown of our last 26 rentals Airbnb rentals. It was only meant to be basic description to give some non-users an idea of how it works. If you ever have any questions, please ask us and I’m sure we can answer from our experience. Thanks for following along. Beth H.
We paid $49 a night for our Seoul Korea Airbnb.
