Vrbo or AirBnB's You have stayed in

06 August 2022, 06:52 PM

Like the local real estate listing thread, let's share our personal experience. Where have you stayed? Good? Bad? Amazing? Tell us all about it!

I have just returned home from our old ladies hiking trip, we had hiked in the Swiss Alps and Italy before COVID and this year we stayed in country in Rocky Mountain National Park.

In order to have us all fly in (from CA, HI, Boston, NY) we took a VRBO/AirBnB for two nights in Loveland, CO ahead of time to hike locally, get our bearings and shake off the altitude.

ADORABLE!

The Church of 1906

Where have you stayed?

06 August 2022, 07:10 PM

rontuner

Cute little penthouse in the woods with water views where we recently spent a few nights. Peaceful homebase while we explored the area.

Missed having a microwave...

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4...0_O%2BMWnp9s9dvFzJyD

06 August 2022, 08:42 PM

Steve Miller

I’ve stayed in this AirBnB many times and I really like it. Our guests seem to like it too - we have like 4.9 stars!

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5...JBR9eTUsHOy&guests=1

Coming in January, the Lake House AirBnB! 5 Bedrooms are going to be a challenge to set up on a budget. The current tenant is going to sell us about half of the furniture and we already own the appliances, which will help. So will being 20 miles away instead of 350.

Cedar Point adjacent and lake view for days. Lakeside patio. Two blocks from the best Mexican restaurant in NE Ohio! (With a patio for Sam and a grass area for Jack. We just found it).

06 August 2022, 09:01 PM

wtg

Steve -

and

--------------------------------
We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home. - Australian Aboriginal proverb

Bazootiehead-in-training

06 August 2022, 09:18 PM

Steve Miller

We’ve stayed at several AirBnBs in both Italy and the US and have never gotten a bad one.

The best one was a converted 15th century barn in Tuscany. Charming doesn’t begin to describe it and the grounds were spectacular!

Maybe the worst was a converted garage in a sketchy part of Phoenix. Even that one was super comfortable and offered all of the required amenities. A bit more funk than you’ll find at the Wyndham but the front patio (driveway) was very nice and the goats would come up to the fence for handouts and pets. The owner was trying hard - there must have 20 different shampoos on offer and the fridge had enough food in it to feed us for weeks. Memorable, and we’d go back.

Only downside was that the A/C was almost as noisy as the ones that Hilton uses.

06 August 2022, 10:21 PM

Steve Miller

quote:
Originally posted by rontuner:
Missed having a microwave...

What a dumb thing to leave out. They’re like $30 at thrift stores.

07 August 2022, 02:02 PM

pianojuggler

Never have. Might never after reading this:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mayao.../airbnb-horror-story

07 August 2022, 04:21 PM

jon-nyc

Oh my. I’ve stayed in dozens over the years. Best was this last April in Ipanema.

Huge duplex penthouse overlooking the city and the water, 1000sq ft private terrace with a private pool, two comfy living rooms, in unit sauna.

2m walk to Copacabana, 2m walk to Ipanema.

Check out the pictures.

https://www.vrbo.com/4695204ha

07 August 2022, 04:32 PM

jon-nyc

I’ve had much better luck with VRBO than Airbnb. VRBO just has better properties and more experienced owners. A friend of mine who has a property she rents in San Miguel Allende says the same about renters. She actually delisted from Airbnb after a while.

07 August 2022, 04:40 PM

Nina

I started using VRBO years and years ago. My parents had a great experience in like 1990? using a house-swap arrangement that I think became VRBO. At that time, you literally swapped houses (and cars if you felt like it, which they did). They ended up with a place in Devon, England IIRC, and the swappers stayed at my folks place in Scottsdale. It worked out great for both parties, so I started doing the same thing, starting with a 10-month swap from Tempe to McLean, VA (no car swap, though, we drove).

My general experience is similar to Jon's - VRBO is better, perhaps because it hasn't been advertised quite as much? Who knows. I've rented the same place in Brisbane several times, and have gotten to know the owners. They've been very nice, even offering to pick me up at the airport (!), pre-stocking the fridge, etc. They do list the same property on AirB&B now, but when I started it was VRBO only. I've also done similar rentals in Phoenix/Tempe when I would go down for a week or so a few times a year for accompanying.

We have rented HUGE houses for family reunions, which is far more affordable than individual hotel rooms, even if it's sometimes a bit crazy-making. Places in Flagstaff (AZ), Breckenridge, Yachats (OR), South Hadley (MA). I've not had a bad experience.

07 August 2022, 04:54 PM

jon-nyc

You might be talking about Homexchange.com. We did that several times successfully with our Brooklyn apartment.

Jeffrey the former poster put me on to it. I remember being concerned these families could damage something. He said “if they did 2500 worth of damage it’s still cheaper than renting a house in Europe for 2 weeks”. In the event we never had any damages and met some good families that we exchanged with more than once.

07 August 2022, 05:24 PM

jon-nyc

Speaking of VRBOs, I woke up in this one today:

https://www.vrbo.com/2474112

Spent the week in Asheville NC. It was lovely and relaxing.

07 August 2022, 06:08 PM

CHAS

Stayed in a VRBO on Pensacola Beach in 2008.
We were near a great restaurant and the beach was several feet away. It was a very nice townhome.
Friends moved there and one friend was a navy pilot. We had a great time.
Rented an AirBnB in San Diego near the water. It was the basement of the owner's home. He did not seem happy that two guys were renting the place. It was ok.

07 August 2022, 08:37 PM

Steve Miller

We rented two bedrooms in a fine old Victorian house in Wilmington, NC. It was a real BnB and Ms. Sophie provided both breakfast and supper in a fine Victorian dining room on the good China.

Mind that Ms. Sophie didn’t allow alcohol in her house, but after we lingered at the table for a while after supper she busted out a bottle or two and the fun really began. Turned out that Ms. Sophie enjoys the occasional tipple and was not only a Realtor but an incurable gossip. We sipped whisky out of cut glass goblets (Mama’s, of course, and wouldn’t she be scandalized!) learned things about the local population that you couldn’t find reading 20 guidebooks and quite a bit about local politics as well. Sophie, as it turned out, loved to socialize and was glad for the company. Good cooking, too.

I don’t think I’ve ever spent a more enjoyable evening. We, of course, replenished the whisky stock before we left, along with a nice card and some flowers for the entry table.

Five stars!

07 August 2022, 08:46 PM

Steve Miller

Washington DC. We were there visiting Kim who was working for a Jesuit organization, banging on Congressional doors advocating on refugee issues. Kim recommended the AirBnB.

Nondescript frame house on a quiet street. The proprietors were a husband and wife team who also provided breakfast and supper. They lived on the third floor but we never saw much of them until the last night. We invited them to sit with us and I’m glad they did.

Such interesting lives! They’d been culture warriors since Vietnam and had seen a lot. Stories I’d only seen in newspapers came to life that night and there’s no way we’d ever get that by visiting museums.

Five stars!