Sometimes booking a hotel is not practical, or there are no hotels readily available. This was the case for us on our Cinque Terre holiday. There were 5 of us and Air B&B was the best option. But, you need to be careful… they can catch you out.

I mean, imagine waking up to this view!

Get yourself an AUD $50 discount

If you’re new to Air B&B, click here to receive AUD $76 off your first adventure.

This is a great discount and you can get this added to your account when you sign up using this link. You might be thinking that you’ve already got an account and you can’t make use of this discount, but here are a couple of tips that can help.

1. If you have a second email address (work or a second personal one – use that to create a new account) it’s worth it to save $50!
2. If you have a Gmail email address, you can simply add a ‘.’ in your email address and receive the credit as google doesn’t recognise these in email addresses. For example, our email address is thewelltravelledman@gmail.com … we could use the.welltravelledman@gmail.com and it should allow us to get the additional $50 off our booking.

Once you’re signed up, get your mates to sign up using your link (via the Refer a Friend link), and you will soon be receiving an additional credit to go towards your future bookings!

This is another of our bookings in Turkey!

Booking your first stay

You first need to set up your profile. This includes a profile picture of yourself, confirm your identify and include a short bio of yourself. This is actually quite important as often the hosts will pick their guests based on what’s in the bio, particularly if they have multiple requests. Once you’ve booked a few times, you will be given reviews which other hosts can view when deciding whether to accept your booking or not.

How to pick an Air B&B that’s right for you

It is important to know what you’re looking for before starting your search.

1. Do you want an entire home, or happy with sharing with the host?
2. Do you need a laundry?
3. How many bedrooms do you need?
4. Do you need car parking?
5. Is there Wifi?
6. Do you need a kitchen?

As soon as you’ve worked out what it is exactly that you need, you can use the filter options to start searching for properties.

Once you’ve found a few you like, read other travellers reviews. These should form part of your decision on whether to stay somewhere or not. If the same issues were mentioned in review after review, chances are it is a common theme and you should avoid it.

Additional Costs

When you are looking at the price of the place per night, it is good to double-check if this includes the cleaning costs and deposit – this is often in addition to the advertised price. This means the price can quickly add up so make sure you check this before booking.

Some rentals also have specific rules, such as must empty rubbish, strip beds and so forth prior to leaving. Others do not specify and it is not required. You should be aware of these before booking to avoid receiving negative feedback.

If you need to cancel your booking, some hosts are quite flexible but others aren’t and will charge you a cancellation fee. Best to check this if you think your plans may change.

At the end of the day, if you arrive at your Air B&B and something isn’t right, it isn’t what you signed up for and the property isn’t as described, contact Air B&B as soon as possible before the funds are transferred to the host. It is better to be safe than sorry.

If you’re new to Air B&B, click here to receive AUD $76 off your first adventure.

Do you have travel insurance?

Before travelling, make sure you get a travel insurance policy – you never know when you might need it! Click here for information on travel insurance, what company we recommend and a link to get an instant quote.

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill