My First Time Using Airbnb

This past trip to New Orleans, LA I did something I have never done, I stayed in an Airbnb. I must say while I was really nervous, I am so glad I made the decision to stay in an Airbnb over a hotel. Here are some tips that I learned during my experience and while researching other blogs.

Our Shotgun House in New Orleans

Look into locations: You will have the choice between entire place, private room or shared room. When we were booking we wanted to stay somewhere safe and easy access to the French Quarters. Look into public transportation near your place or if it is in walking distance of where you will be spending most of your time.

Read reviews: The reviews will tell you more details about the place and how the host is. This is a good place to see who easy it was to get around town and if the photos are really true.

Contact hosts: If you are planning to go during high time or months in advance it would be a good idea to send a message the host before booking. We ran into a situation where the hosts did not update their prices for Mardi Gras or they did not have their place available at that time. Make sure that your place of interest is available, and keep places as back up just in case they do deny your request.

Choose the required amenities: There is a long list of different amenities that different Airbnb's offer. Such as air-conditioning, dryer, full kitchen, gym, indoor fireplace, parking, self check-in, washing machine,Wi-Fi amoung other amenities. During my trip we needed access to Wi-Fi because half of us were taking classes at the time. So to have easy access to the internet was necessary. A full kitchen was also important because there were times where we didn't want to go out to eat, we just wanted to cook a quick meal or snack. Make sure to look into all the amenities that you need.

Research the house rules: Before booking make sure to look through the house rules and see if they are something you can follow. If you do not feel comfortable with the house rules, just move on to the next available place.

Get tips from host: No one knows the area better than your host. Ask questions about where to eat, go grocery shopping or about public transit. They will be honest with you and tell where to go and how to get around easily.

I would definitely do another Airbnb, I had such a wonderful experience and had a wonderful host. It came out much cheaper than staying at a hotel during that time. A basic hotel would have cost us $1,000 a night but we got a deal of $391 per night for the whole house. This is definitely the way to go when trying to save money when wanting to travel.

I hope you find these tips helpful and give Airbnb a chance to see for yourself that this can be a great way to travel differently and to save money!

Con Amor,

Adriana 💕