Review of AirBNB, a service for booking accommodation

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

If you, going on a trip, decided to find your own home in an unfamiliar city on your own, then various online services, of which there are many, will help in this matter. Lifehacker recently published a guest post from our colleague, Sergey Bulaev, in which he talked about the experience of using the AirBNB service. The experience was generally positive, and we decided to take a closer look at this service, as well as the free AirBNB app for iPhone.

Everything is simple and clear on the service. Immediately on the first page you are asked where you are going to go. Having chosen the place of travel and the date of arrival and departure, you will receive a list of currently available apartments.

In the right side panel, you can set filters that will slightly narrow the scope of your search: set the minimum and maximum prices that you are willing to pay, specify the required amenities, the area and the type of desired dwelling.

The search results can be viewed in a list, like a gallery of photos, which, in my opinion, is much more attractive, or immediately on the map, so that it is more convenient to identify the area.

You can share your search results with your friends by clicking on the Share Results button. The generated link can be sent by mail or posted on social networks.

Each apartment comes with many photographs, detailed descriptions and reviews of those who have already visited them. On the map you can see the infrastructure of the selected area (cafes, shops and other establishments). You can also see a panorama of the street on which the building is located, and the calendar, which indicates the dates that are still free to move in.

There is more than enough information to form a complete opinion about the proposed housing. On the same page, you can book it or contact the owner to discuss additional questions.

In the main toolbar at the top of the page, you can set the currency in which you want to display housing prices. There you can also see a bright yellow button "Rent out". So if you are the owner of a house, apartment or just a free room, then you can already place an ad on the service.

Now let's turn to the iPhone app. It's comfortable and cute. You can view all the ads for renting an apartment in the city you are going to, or immediately use the search, having installed the necessary filters to facilitate it.

Of particular interest is the Top40 category, which, as the name implies, contains 40 of the best rental advertisements. There is a house in the shape of a boot, a real English castle, and a villa. You can even rent an island and go to it on a romantic trip or with a company of friends, as the owner promises, there will be absolutely no one on the island except you.

There is a little less information on the apartments in the application than on the service, but still enough: a description of housing, location on the map, reviews of former residents. From the app, you can book a room or contact the host.

And finally, directly in the application, you can place an advertisement for renting a home.

In general, this is, perhaps, all that I would like to tell about the service. If any of you have used it, then we would be happy to read your impressions and advice in the comments.