Final Up to date: 4/16/24 | April sixteenth, 2024

I used to hate renting residences from web sites like Airbnb or VRBO. As a solo traveler, I most popular the social environment of hostels. You bought to satisfy folks, they ran actions, hosted occasions, and had been the place you had been “supposed to remain” as a backpacker.

After I did need one thing apart from a hostel, I used a hospitality community preferred Couchsurfing or just stayed with pals.

However, after a decade of life as a nomad, there are occasions after I like my privateness (and typically I additionally want additional house for work). Whereas I could not use condo leases on a regular basis, I keep in them usually. I’ve discovered that they supply good worth (particularly in case you’re touring with a number of folks), privateness, house, and an incredible home-like atmosphere.

Whereas Airbnb does contribute to overtourism, there are nonetheless a number of nice hosts on the platform who present budget-friendly lodging to vacationers searching for a substitute for hostels that received’t break the financial institution.

After utilizing condo leases usually for years, I needed to create an in depth information about how they work, tips on how to decide the right condo, and tips on how to not get cheated.

How Do Condo Leases Work?

Condo rental websites enable locals to hire out a person room, shared house (comparable to a sofa in a front room), or total house/condo. The host lists their place on-line, posts pictures, writes an outline, hits publish, and, presto, they will begin to make extra cash with the unused house.

The reserving course of is like reserving every other sort of lodging on-line. You search the database, discover a place you want, create an account, and request a reserving. When the proprietor accepts, you’re despatched a affirmation.

Moreover, many web sites enable house owners to record their place with an on the spot reserving possibility, which implies you don’t even have to attend for the proprietor to answer. You’re immediately booked in your lodging (just like whenever you guide a resort).

You’ll additionally be capable of learn opinions in regards to the host and the condo and see precisely what facilities are included. For instance, you possibly can see if there’s a kitchen (so you possibly can cook dinner your personal meals to save cash) or if there are restrictions on noise, smoking, and pets. Perhaps you want entry to a washer and dryer or quick Wi-Fi. You could find all of that out within the host’s profile (or within the opinions).

Most lodging rental websites additionally embrace a map so you possibly can see the place you’ll be situated. That approach, you possibly can decide an condo near the points of interest you wish to go to, or, select one additional afield so you possibly can have a quieter keep and get a really feel for native life past the vacationer crowds.

Who is that this for?
Condo leases signify the house between hostels and accommodations. In case you are touring on enterprise and need the comforts of house, you most likely aren’t going to remain in a hostel. However accommodations could also be too costly or too impersonal for you. A rented condo is an ideal compromise.

Or perhaps, like me, you like the hostel scene however sometimes want more room and privateness. An condo rental shall be quite a bit quieter and extra enjoyable than a hostel because you received’t have to be round as many individuals (or as a lot noise). You’ll additionally be capable of cook dinner your personal meals, serving to maintain prices down in your journey.

Touring with pals or an enormous group? That is undoubtedly the choice for you. Squeezing a bunch of individuals right into a rental house/condo shall be less expensive per particular person than a room in a hostel or resort. Plus, you get house to unfold out and loosen up. Dorm rooms and cramped accommodations don’t offer you quite a lot of “me” time.

Furthermore, Airbnb has a brand new function known as “Rooms” which helps you to seek for listings in folks’s houses or visitor homes. It’s like how Airbnb was — folks renting out additional rooms or visitor homes for added money. You all the time get your personal room and, typically, a non-public entrance. You’ll additionally get to work together along with your host, who can present a number of insider ideas and perception to your vacation spot.

I’ve used Rooms quite a bit within the final couple of years — in LA, Rome, Paris, Good — and, to me, as a solo traveler, it’s a significantly better technique to journey. I extremely suggest doing this as a technique to fight the detrimental results of those platforms (extra on that under).

The right way to Choose the Proper Airbnb

Sadly, as lodging leases have exploded into the mainstream, it’s grow to be tougher and tougher to search out nice hosts. Quite a lot of hosts now personal a number of properties and dwell elsewhere. Which means you usually cope with property managers and by no means get to work together with the precise proprietor.

Moreover, quite a lot of residences aren’t fairly as good in actuality as they seem within the pictures (my crew needed to get a refund on an condo in Boston as a result of it was soiled and falling aside).

With the intention to discover appropriate lodging, I take advantage of the next standards when searching for a spot to remain on these platforms:

1. Have they got optimistic opinions? – If different folks stayed there, had fun, and located the condo as marketed, you most likely will too.
2. Have they got a number of listings? – That is vital as a result of many individuals use these websites to be property managers. They purchase a bunch of residences after which re-rent them on Airbnb. I attempt to keep away from these locations as a result of they trigger quite a lot of issues for the native rental market and lack the non-public contact that comes when hosts hire out their very own residences.
3. Have they got correct pictures? – Any itemizing that doesn’t embrace quite a lot of (high quality) pictures might be hiding one thing (or on the very least misrepresenting the lodging).
4. Are they an energetic person or Superhost? – Lively customers are good customers, so see after they final logged on. If it’s been some time, your question would possibly go unanswered.
5. Is their calendar up to date? – Whereas listings solely present up in a search if they’re out there, hosts don’t all the time replace their calendar. If somebody hasn’t up to date their calendar in 30 days, I are likely to skip it. There’s nothing worse than going to guide a spot, just for them to cancel and say, “Whoops, sorry, it’s not out there!”
6. Are they verified? – Verified accounts are much less more likely to be folks of suspicious high quality, because the itemizing website has at the least discovered some background data on them.
7. Have they been another person’s visitor earlier than? – In the event that they had been somebody’s visitor and that went nicely, it’s seemingly that they are going to be dependable.

These guidelines are useful tips, however on the finish of the day, it’s important to go along with your intestine. I don’t want an inventory to satisfy each level. I as soon as had a number who hit solely a few these factors and she or he turned out to be my favourite host! And typically, in locations with out many hosts, you might need to be just a little free with this record.

However the extra factors a spot meets, the safer I really feel.

A Notice on Gentrification/Authorized Points
Over time, Airbnb and different condo rental web sites have dramatically raised the value of rents and pushed out the locals you wish to work together with as folks have began to purchase a number of properties as a way to hire them out to vacationers. It’s an enormous drawback.

In lots of locations, like Lisbon and Venice, most locals can’t afford the value of hire anymore. And it’s not simply cities. Rural areas at the moment are turning into affected too.

There have been robust protests towards Airbnb (and related websites) in Barcelona. All through Europe you usually see “Airbnb go house!” graffiti. Japan cracked down on Airbnb. NYC has strict legal guidelines towards it now too.

Given native pushback and the problems with over tourism and the housing market, I strongly encourage you to solely use Airbnb if you’re renting a room in somebody’s home in case you can. As I discussed above, Airbnb has a brand new function known as “Rooms” which lets you simply seek for rooms in folks’s homes the place they really dwell. They’re verified listings and a significantly better approach to make use of the platform. It’s like how Airbnb was earlier than it grew so huge — folks renting out additional rooms or visitor homes for added money. I extremely suggest it.

Nevertheless, in case you can’t, strive as arduous as you possibly can to guarantee that the place you’re renting is both a licensed B&B (if it’s solely used for vacationers) or somebody’s home that they really dwell in. This manner you received’t add to any native housing points!

Assist finish overtourism. You might have the facility. Don’t displace the folks you wish to go to!

Are These Websites Secure?

These websites run on belief. All these firms attempt to confirm each purchaser and vendor to make sure nobody finally ends up robbing anybody else, however you typically hear reviews of intercourse events, robberies, or creepy hosts.

Nevertheless, condo rental firms do present a window that means that you can get your a reimbursement in case you get a spot that’s not as marketed. Simply name their 24-hour hotline and they’re going to set you up elsewhere (you can even attain out on social media to get the dialog began). In addition they maintain your cash in escrow in order that if the place isn’t as marketed, you’ll get your a reimbursement. You by no means hand it over on to the host.

All forms of lodging have dangers (cleaners can steal from resort rooms, dorm mates can take garments from hostels, Couchsurfing hosts can get creepy), which is why these guidelines are vital. I don’t suppose condo leases are any much less secure than your different choices, and the advantages significantly outweigh the perceived hazard.

Furthermore, hosts depend on opinions rather more so than conventional lodging. Which means, as a visitor, you will have quite a lot of energy ought to there be an issue.

The Finest Websites to Discover a Rental Condo

Whereas Airbnb reigns supreme, there are literally a number of web sites you need to use to search out rental lodging when you journey:

Another choice for long-term vacationers is home sitting and pet sitting. In change for taking care of somebody’s property or pet whereas they journey, you get entry to free lodging. It’s an incredible possibility for gradual/long-term vacationers trying to keep in a single location for longer durations of time. Take a look at this submit to be taught extra about it!

If I’m touring on my own, I have a tendency to remain in a hostel dorm or use resort factors, however I take advantage of Airbnb just about each time I journey with pals.

And most of the hosts have actually made a distinction. There was the host in Curaçao who picked me up from the airport (and drove me across the island), the host in Galway who took me out for drinks (he turned out to be a reader!), and the French hosts who left me a cute hand-drawn map and a bottle of wine. You received’t discover such private service at accommodations.

Condo leases, when completed proper, are secure, inexpensive, and assist you will have a extra genuine expertise. Use the information above and check out one in your subsequent journey. You’ll lower your expenses, get away from the vacationers, and have a greater journey!