How To Find the Best Airbnb Deals

Airbnb has now ended it’s referral scheme for new travellers in October 2020. Coupon codes are no longer available for new travellers. Airbnb is now only offering promos for new hosts joining the platform.

COVID-19 UK Travel Update: In the UK, from 12th April domestic holidays with your household in self-contained holiday lets will be allowed.

COVID-19 Update April 2021: Airbnb has added COVID-19 resources for travellers and Airbnb hosts to their website. Be sure to check the guidelines for your country and any country you are travelling to before booking. If you are unsure whether your trip will go ahead, you can use the “flexible booking” to find Airbnbs with free cancellations.

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How Airbnb Works

Airbnb is a holiday rentals website with rooms, apartments, houses and unique accommodation. You can book accommodation all over the world with Airbnb. It works like any other booking website: you search by location for your travel dates. You can add filters to find more specific Airbnb listings. The benefit of Airbnb is that, unlike other travel booking websites, it rewards you for referring friends who become guests or hosts on Airbnb too.

There are three types of Airbnb accommodation:

  • Entire Home – If you want an entire apartment or house to yourself, search for “Entire Home.”
  • Private Room – A private room is a room that is within the host’s house. The bedroom is entirely your’s but other rooms are shared such as the living area and kitchen. Bathrooms are sometimes en-suite, sometimes shared.
  • Shared Room – This refers to bedrooms where the host or other travellers will also sleep. It’s good for very cheap stays and cheap dorm beds. I rarely use this option on Airbnb.

How to Make Your First Airbnb Booking

Booking on Airbnb is simple – and fun! I love booking on Airbnb because you get to browse so many amazing holiday rentals and apartments, and choose the one that you love the most. Here’s how to make your first Airbnb booking and claim your £42 off:

1. Search for where you want to stay

Type in the city or town where you want to find accommodation. Select the dates you want to travel. If you don’t have dates yet, that’s okay. You can search “anytime” to see what Airbnbs are available. Change the number of guests to the number of people who are travelling with you.

2. Change room type

Airbnb will have pulled up some results for you. But you might want to filter these results to find certain types of accommodation. For example, if you want a flat all to yourself, change the listing to “Entire Home”. For a private room, change it to “Private Room.” If you’re looking for cheap dorm beds or don’t mind sharing a room, click “Shared Room.”

3. Adjust the price range

You can change the price range to suit your budget. The price range filter is on a sliding scale, so you can slide it up and down to see differently priced Airbnbs.

4. Add more filters

You can add more filters to narrow down the listings. I often look for apartments with “wireless internet” and “laptop friendly workspaces.” I’m a digital nomad and usually work from my Airbnb apartment, so this is important for me. If I’m staying for a long time, I would usually tick the box for a kitchen too.

5. Book your Airbnb

On Airbnb, there are two types of booking.

Request to Book – Usually you need to “Request to Book.” Unlike other booking websites, Airbnb properties are owned by local hosts. They can choose to review the travellers who wish to stay at their home before accepting the booking. It can take up to 24 hours for a host to reply to your request.

Instant Book – It allows you to search for Airbnbs where the booking is automatically accepted. This means you don’t have to wait for the host to review, and these are becoming increasingly common. If you’re booking at short notice, use the “instant book” filter. This will show you properties where hosts auto-approve the bookings, so you are booked in straight away! We always use instant book when we haven’t planned in advance.

Listings with the lightning bolt symbol are instant book properties.

6. Browse listings and select a place

Now it’s time for the fun part. Browse through the available listings and click on any you want to read. On each listing, there will be a description of the Airbnb rental, details on all the amenities, a star rating summary and reviews from previous guests. Airbnb also lists unique accommodation like tree houses, castles, cabins and windmills.

7. Check the reviews

Always read the reviews before you book a place on Airbnb. You want to look for mostly 4 and 5-star Airbnbs. These are the most reliable and you want to make sure you book a great holiday rental. I search reviews for “wifi” to check whether the connection is reliable, as this is really important to me.

8. Click to book

When you’ve found your dream Airbnb apartment, click the “book” button on the right-side of the listing page. Your Airbnb promo code will automatically be discounted from your booking. You’ll see the discount applied on the right hand column.

Airbnb Discount Code Applied to Airbnb Booking

Bonus: Most Airbnb users don’t know this, but you can negotiate the room price with the Airbnb host. Click the button to “contact host” if you want to negotiate the price. Whether an Airbnb host negotiates depends on the host, the demand in the location/season and how long you are staying. You are more likely to get a discount if you are staying for a week or more. This is often added automatically when booking for a week or month long stay

Tips for Booking the Best Airbnbs and Finding the Best Airbnb Deals

1. Look for Superhosts

All Airbnb hosts are verified. They must provide their contact details, address, profile photo and ID to be able to list their property on Airbnb. However, there are also ‘Superhosts.’ These are experienced hosts who continually provide excellent experiences for their guests. I’ve stayed with many Superhosts and always had amazing stays! Superhosts have a superhost badgebadge on their profile so you can identify them and you can search with the “Superhost” filter on to only see the best rated hosts. To become a Superhost, a host must meet the following criteria:

Criteria for Airbnb Superhost

Airbnb checks on Superhosts every 3 months to ensure they continue to meet the criteria. You don’t only have to book with Superhosts, but it’s great if you can. It can be easy for a Superhost to lose their status if they had one difficult guest for example.

best budget airbnbs in Mexico

One of our favourite Airbnb hosts. This lady hosted us for 1 week in Chetumal, Mexico. She made us homemade pineapple tea, recommended all the best museums in town and drove us over the border to Belize!

2. Read the Reviews

Always read the reviews on an Airbnb listing. You can find the reviews by scrolling to the bottom of the listing page. Look for places which have a minimum of 4-star reviews, otherwise you may not have a good experience. Raters can sometimes be generous with their stars. Look for any points highlighted in the reviews. I always search “wifi” in the review section to ensure there’s a fast internet connection.

3. Book on the Airbnb Platform

Don’t be tempted to take a booking off of the Airbnb website. If you message a host to negotiate a rate or ask a question, they may offer you to book outside of the Airbnb website. This is to avoid the additional fees charged by Airbnb. I’ve never had a problem with this, but I’ve read stories about this happening to other travellers.

Whilst this might seem like a good way to save a few dollars on those fees, it’s very risky. Airbnb guarantees your stay and protects your payment. If something goes wrong, Airbnb may process a refund or help you to find alternate accommodation. Booking outside of the platform means you lose the safety of these policies. Be aware that Airbnb scams do happen.

4. Price Check Against Other Listings

It’s tempting to book the first great Airbnb you see and be done with it. Don’t. Before you book, make sure you check the price against other listings. I usually compare the total costs of at least three Airbnbs before booking.

Certain Airbnbs charge stupidly high cleaning fees. This can quickly add up. Work out what the actual price per night is when you include the cleaning and service fees that get added on. Most of the Airbnbs I’ve stayed in charge reasonable cleaning fees of around £10. Some don’t charge cleaning fees at all. Avoid hosts that tack on extra fees that make the overall price unreasonable.

5. Search for Unique Homes

Want to stay somewhere special on your trip? When you search, click “More Filters” and scroll down to the “Unique homes” section. Here you an select different types of unique homes like tree houses, castles and even planes!

Unique Homes Filter on Airbnb Listings

One of the best features of the Airbnb platform is that you can find unique accommodation. Many of Airbnb’s coolest homes don’t immediately appear at the top for the search results. Once you dig a little you can find them. A night in a castle in Scotland or a week on a house boat in Amsterdam is a way more exciting experience than staying in a standard hotel.

Airbnb Experiences

Airbnb now offers amazing activities through Airbnb Experiences, as well as accommodation. As with the accommodation, the activities aren’t owned or run by Airbnb. Locals run the experiences and Airbnb is a third party platform where they promote their activities. I’ve found lots of great local experiences this way. Luke and I went to an incredible cooking class in Bali on an organic farm where Luke and I learned to cook gado-gado.

Check Out Some of the Most Popular Airbnb Experiences

Not sure what to do when you arrive in a new city? These awesome Airbnb experiences will give you some inspiration. I always look on Airbnb Experiences to see if there are locally-run or cultural activities I can get involved with. You can find everything from hidden jazz clubs and bicycle tours, to cooking classes and yoga.

Check Out These Amazing, Unique Airbnbs

Unqiue Airbnb Treehouse in Thailand

Climb to new heights in this unique Airbnb Treehouse in Thailand

 

Unique Airbnb Castle in France

Sleep like a princess in this unique Castle in France

Ways to Get Airbnb Discounts

Book Longer Stays

Many Airbnbs offer weekly or monthly discounts. Weekly discounts are for 7 nights or more and monthly discounts are for 28 nights or more. When you’re on the listing, just put in dates for 7+ or 28+ nights to see if the host offers a discount.

Ask Your Host for an Airbnb Discount

You can contact hosts privately to ask for discounts on Airbnb stays. I would recommend doing this if you’re travelling in low season. The host might be more keen to fill their property. It’s also a good idea if you are planning a longer stay in an Airbnb and there’s no weekly or monthly discounts. This is great for long term travellers who have more time in each place. To ask the host for a discount, scroll to the bottom of the listing and click “Contact Host” to send them a message.

Here’s an example of a message I’ve used to get a discounted rate on Airbnb: “Hi [Name], We’re Charlie and Luke, a couple from England. We saw your listing and your Airbnb looks lovely! We are travelling to your town and would like to stay at least 6 days. Would it be possible  to get a small discount on your current price? We would really appreciate it! Many thanks, Charlie and Luke.”

It won’t always work, but sometimes you’ll find a generous host or one who is keen to get their Airbnb rented. You’re also more likely to get a discount if you stay for longer or there is the possibility that you will want to extend your stay after the first few days. We sometimes book a place for a few nights and if we really like it will extend our stay through Airbnb for a week or more. It’s always worth messaging your host in case you can get a special discount!

Refer a Friend to Airbnb (Discontinued)

Airbnb previously ran a refer a friend scheme but it ended this scheme in October 2020. If you previously participated in the referral programme, you’ll still receive the credit from anyone who signed up before October 2020 and goes onto book a qualifying Airbnb.

Remember that Airbnb credit expires after 1 year and if you don’t spend it you will lose it from your account. This is 1 year from the date you receive that specific credit. This means that if you get £25 credit in January 2021, it will expire in January 2022. If you then go onto get £50 in April 2021, that £50 credit will expire in April 2022.

Refer a New Host to Airbnb

Refer a friend to Airbnb who becomes a host and you’ll get £11. They need to sign up for an Airbnb account and create a listing to rent their room or place out on Airbnb. To qualify for any pay outs, the referred host’s first received booking. Terms and conditions are here.

My Favourite Airbnbs That I’ve Stayed In

Bamboo Villa in Bali

This bamboo villa is what dreams are made of. It’s by far our favourite Airbnb. The whole villa is built from bamboo. It has its own private outdoor shower, a self-contained kitchen and outside seating area hidden behind bamboo. And there’s a salt water pool! The stay includes an incredible homemade Korean breakfast. Roots Korean restaurant own the villa.

Bamboo Villa Bali Airbnb

Excuse our messy bed!

Riad L’Africain in Marrakech

Staying in a riad in Marrakech is a must-do. A hidden door from a dusty street led to this gorgeous courtyard. The bedroom is naturally cool and has a beautifully tiled en-suite. Wind your way up the stairs and there’s a roof terrace with views of Marrakech.

The perfect Airbnb riad in Marrakech

Colonial Flat in the Historical Centre in Cartagena, Colombia

Colombia is an up-and-coming travel destination and you heard it here first! Colombia has opened its doors for tourism since their political situation has become much safer in recent years, and locals are warm and welcoming to travellers. We recommend checking out Cartagena, a colonial city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast where we stayed in this gem of an Airbnb which came with a fabulous housekeeper who cooked our meals! This is by far the best Airbnb we’ve ever stayed in.

Our Airbnb Wishlist

Everyone keeps an Airbnb wishlist, right? Well I certainly do! These Airbnbs are the top of my wishlist. I’ve not stayed in them, but hope to some day.

London Airbnb

My home base of Brighton is close to London. Luke and I love to go up and stay overnight in London on some weekends. I keep an eye on all the best looking Airbnbs in London and keep them on my wishlist.

Airbnb Coupon for London

Budapest Airbnb

A trip to Budapest is top of my European travel wishlist! I saw this great apartment on Airbnb and fell in love with the rug. It looks gorgeously urban and is close to the river.

Airbnb Coupon for Budapest

Read More about Airbnb

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