In so many ways, short term home rentals have completely changed the landscape of travel over the last five years. Companies like Airbnb, VRBO, Homeaway, and now many others, have led the charge in expanding what a vacation experience can be. It’s literally been less than a decade since your easily accessible traveling options were hotel, motel, hostel, cabin, and tent. And now, a couple minutes of searching brings you restored train car, refinished Airstream, treehouse, shipping container, yurt...it’s crazy, it’s exciting, and yeah, it’s kinda overwhelming.
As former Airbnb Superhosts and frequent short-term rental travelers, I feel like we’ve gotten a pretty good sense of how to choose the perfect Airbnb without it costing an arm and a leg! One note before I jump in - I won’t be covering Airbnb Plus and Airbnb Luxe, because I’ve generally found it hard to get a great value out of them. They all look super fancy, and definitely have their place in the travel landscape, but just don’t quite fit what we’re covering today!
I’ve generally used two different strategies when starting an Airbnb search, and both are useful for different scenarios.
And a third that I generally haven’t ascribed to:
Strategy 3 is great for retreats or getaways, where you’ll spend most of your time around the house and really make use of its amenities. Just make sure that it’s easily accessible - you don’t want to spend your entire relaxing, isolated time simply getting to your destination! Airbnb’s front page filters are pretty great for helping narrow places down based on how unique you’re trying to go!
Now, let’s start our Airbnb search based on strategies 1 and 2. Set your destination, dates (or choose “I’m flexible”), number of guests, and we’re off. One note here: even when traveling with Isla, I never add an infant. It throws off the search metrics, and if a place is actually not infant friendly for whatever reason, the description will say that. Instead, in my booking message to the host, I always include that we’re traveling with a baby.
Before you start scrolling through places, make good use of the filters at the top. The two most frequent options are “Entire place,” which seems self explanatory, and “Private room.” Private room can mean a lot of things, but it usually entails having a private bedroom, potentially a private bathroom, and shared amenities like a kitchen, living room, etc. We love traveling in private room listings, because of the chance to meet and interact with hosts and fellow travelers, but it’s all up to your comfort level!
Your other two options are “Hotel Room,” which you should always price compare with booking directly on that hotel’s site (whose URL is most likely in the description); and “Shared Room,” which is most similar to a hostel setup.
Do you have a budget? If so, narrow things down with the price slider. But, feel free to dream at the same time and leave it open ended! I like to narrow my list down pretty quickly to save time scrolling through tons of pages. However, other filters often take care of reducing the options.
All that to say: unless you have a clear number to stay below, don’t stress too much initially about budget filtering.
Even if you are traveling for work, you’re going to miss out on a number of great listings. Listings get this designation by happenstance depending on who books it, and if they choose to designate they are traveling for work. It’s a really arbitrary filter.
I know, you want to have a host that people think is awesome, but here’s behind the curtain on how you become a Superhost: You just have to complete 10 trips, with a 90% response rate, no cancellations outside exceptions, and a 4.8 overall rating over the past year. Since this isn’t truly an exclusive club, applying this filter misses out on great new properties that haven’t hit that review threshold yet (with hosts who are probably motivated to start strong!), and there are better ways to narrow your search!
The rest of the filters are ideal for finding a space that best fits your needs! If you’re looking for a unique place, filter that way. If you hate the idea of a townhome, take those options off the table. If you’re traveling with a pet, use that filter to your advantage.
After adjusting the filters, you’ve quickly got your pool of choices to start combing through. This is where things get harder, and you have to begin narrowing places down by reading descriptions and looking at amenities!
But, the better you utilized your amenities filters, the easier this is. Depending on where we’re traveling, I like filtering for options that provide breakfast. It’s a super easy way to save some money, and often leads to some fun interaction with your host, depending on the type of place you’re staying in.
Just because something comes up on the first page does not mean it’s the best place in your parameters! The Airbnb website sorts listings by a number of different criteria, but just because a listing is front page doesn't mean it's the best around. But, a great design of Airbnb’s site is that any property you click on opens in a new tab. My plan of attack when searching is to start scrolling through the names and home images, and open up anything that looks interesting!
Take it two to three pages at a time, and leverage the Wishlist feature. In the top right corner of each listing is a small heart labeled “Save.” Found somewhere you want to shortlist? Hit that save button, create a Wishlist for the trip, and come back to compare your finalists later!
That means that everything comes down to personal preference! How many beds are there? How big is each one? What amenities come in the kitchen? Is there AC/heat, if you’re traveling somewhere that needs that? What does parking look like? How centrally located is it to things you want to do?
You’re really getting into the nitty gritty at this point, which is where my focus turns from the space to reading about the hosts. How much effort did the host put into the description? When I see a 1-2 sentence description about the location, it feels indicative of the effort the host would put in if you had an issue, or needed to get in contact with them for any reason.
I also love seeing when hosts have taken the time to write about themselves in their profile, which can be found just above the “Things to Know.” Oftentimes, I’m swayed when choosing between a couple places by something relatable about the host. It’s fun to meet and stay with people who you have something in common with, especially in private room setups!
Well, there you have it. I know it can feel daunting at first, trying to choose somewhere to stay out of hundreds, if not thousands, of options. But I’ve found these little tips and tricks to be really helpful at quickly narrowing down that search, which leaves more time for reading descriptions and making the tough choices!
