During our world trip, we stayed 99 nights at 26 different AirBnBs in 18 countries; we learned a thing or two about what to look for. These are our top 5 tips to look for when choosing your next AirBnB and a sign up coupon at the end.

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1. Type of AirBnB

One of the first filters you’ll want to apply is the type of AirBnB you’ll want to stay at. You will have 2 choices to choose from:

Entire place - This type doesn’t share spaces with anyone (maybe a hallway or entryway, but in general it’s very private). You’ll have complete privacy but interacting with your host will be trickier to coordinate.
Private room - This type is always cheaper and you get to interact with your host more (and other travelers if multiple rooms are available) but there may be more house rules, like curfews and communal space limitations (i.e. fridge space and/or cooking hours). If you do select this option, make sure to check if your room door will have a lock & key and if your bathroom is ensuite or shared.

As you can see, with the different types of accommodations your travel experience can change significantly. Why does this matter? AirBnB is all about the experience. In our case, we wanted to stay somewhere with a good location and have access to locals but not necessarily be sharing the kitchen and bathroom.

TIP -> be honest with yourself about how much you want to share the space. We found out that after a day of sightseeing, we appreciated having the entire space all to ourselves and the privacy that entails.

2. Check in policy

You’ve found your dream AirBnB and can’t wait to book it! Before you do, check how you’ll be getting to your AirBnB, and more importantly, what time. Seems obvious but depending on the time of day you arrive this could be tricky. Hosts are not like hotel staff, available 24/7 (unless there is an emergency). Make sure to read the fine print about check-in (and check-out) time. Sometimes hosts simply won’t receive you if you arrive too late or they may charge you a late-arrival fee. Likewise, if you are early, you might not be able to store your luggage before checking in, like you might at a hotel. If late check-out is something you need, we recommend you contact the host and request this before booking. Good hosts are responsive and generally try to accommodate you.

3. Amenities

For us, we had 1 amenity that was a MUST - WiFi. We were more flexible with everything else, but in general this is what we looked for:

Kitchen - so we could prepare breakfast or dinner at home, save some money and also eat healthier.
Workspace area - some AirBnBs have designated workspace areas if you are a digital nomad. We didn’t need a special area, but we did look for places that had comfortable-looking tables or desks were we could work and trip plan.
Washer - a drier wasn’t a must because we carried a clothesline (check out our Best Travel Clothesline post) but the washer saved us the time we would’ve spent at the laundromat.
Parking - for the places we rented a car, we’d usually look for parking too. Sometimes parking was expensive, or very restrictive (city centers have all kinds of parking rules hard for foreigners to understand). Plus, we also wanted to keep the car as safe as possible.
Pool (generally optional) - in South East Asia some AirBnBs have awesome pools, and it’s hot so, why not? But if you have kids, maybe this would be a must for you.

TIP -> If WiFi is a must for you too, definitely filter properties by this amenity. Also, make sure to read the comments to find out if the WiFi is terrible. Slow WiFi is almost as bad as no WiFi.

4. Reviews

We cannot stress enough how important it is to read the reviews! Yes, it’s a lot more work but you won’t be sorry. Also, we don’t normally filter by stars because you’d miss out on the places that have no reviews, however, we don’t really look at any location that has 3 stars or less. Keep reading to see why we checkout no stars properties.

Sort the reviews by newest — some places have been around for a while and there will be lots of rave reviews. You can tell if the quality has gone down by the latest reviews. Don’t fixate too much on the super negative reviews, the most helpful ones will honestly talk about the good and the bad.
4 stars is not bad — For some reason reviews are a bit skewed and a lot of people give 5 stars when the stay was good, but not exceptional. This means that you must adjust your own scale to understand that some people do treat 5 as exceptional and therefore a rating of 4 means good.
No reviews (aka no stars) can be hidden gems — often times a host will have multiple properties. You can look up the host and see the reviews for the other properties. Look for the quality of the other properties because it is likely the new one will be held to the same standard.

5. Cherry on top of the pie

If the AirBnB you are considering has passed the 4 points above, you’re almost there. These last few items are less important but will add to your peace of mind.

Does a Superhost matter? - We’ve had plenty of amazing hosts that are not SuperHosts so in general this didn’t matter too much to us. If you are afraid your booking might be cancelled, maybe because you are booking very far in advance, you might want to give this some weight. Superhosts are reviewed 4 times/year on metrics like: minimum 80% five star ratings, response time and no cancellations. So, as you can see, a superhost might be less likely to cancel on you.
Instant booking - we love instant booking but it’s not like booking a hotel. Yes, you don’t need to be approved, but we don’t suggest booking just a few minutes before arriving because the host might need to prepare. We found instant booking to be most useful 1 day in advance.
Extended stays - some hosts offer discounts for stays longer than 7 days and longer than 28 to 30 days. Sometimes the discount is very steep, especially in the month long stays. Say, for example, you are going somewhere for 28 days - check if there is a discount for 30 days. Why? well, sometimes your stay for 28 days might actually be cheaper if you book for 30 days. Alternatively, you can message the host and ask if they would extend you the 30 day discount for 28 days. Weekly discounts are less enticing but check them just in case.
No cleaning fee - if you see no cleaning fee you’ll feel like you scored! Read the fine print carefully because a lot of the times it is there, but the host wants you to pay in cash upon arrival. Not only will you be unpleasantly surprised that you need to pay once you arrive, but you might not have enough cash on you.

Lastly, and like we promised at the beginning of this blog post, here’s our referral code. If you are new to AirBnB and you use our referral code, you’ll get USD 35 and we’ll get USD 20. Click on this link or the AirBnB coupon image.

What did you think of our tips? do you have any of your own you’d like to share? Leave your comments below the pinnable image. Until next time, happy travels!