Airbnb a real home away from home

When it comes to buying things – and travel planning – my wife is, like the others in her family, apt to jump at the first things which come along. So, just over five years ago, when we were planning our holiday to Ireland, she hauled out her debit card to pay just over R53,000 for flights for three of us, even though they weren’t on the days we wanted.

The agent at Flight Centre, you see, had claimed there were “no flights” on the days we wanted on the airlines we wanted – a combination of Emirates and Aer Lingus. There was pressure to book now or lose even that imperfect opportunity. When we got home, I went onto the Internet and found there were plenty of flights – on the days we wanted originally – on both the airlines. I have never darkened Flight Centre’s door since and, unless there is a complex itinerary, I would recommend a DIY approach to planning your trip, especially to a well-visited destination.

There was a similar sort of panicky feel at the end of January last year, when we were looking for accommodation in Knysna over the festive season. We normally stay with family there, but this time I wanted our own place. So, we started looking – and began with the “usual suspects” in the way of websites. Having previously experienced quite a bit of “bait and switch” on some of them – when you see a place has availability but when you go to book, it vanishes in favour of something more expensive – I thought we should also look at AirBnb.

I am very cynical about the products and sites “everyone is talking about” and a friend’s awful experience at a German Airbnb property made me wary. But we looked in Knysna for houses or holiday flats. For page after page on the Airbnb site, they were either too expensive or not that appealing. My wife, as is her wont, started pressing for us to take up a booking on one of the other sites in a resort in Brenton-on-Sea, which was nice enough, although populated with “wagon wheels” furniture and pretty cramped to boot.

Picture: Brendan Seery

Then I stumbled upon a lovely house, close to the Simola golf estate, which was the same price as the “wagon wheels” apartment, but much bigger, tastefully furnished and with a view of a beautiful green valley. The Airbnb process was efficient and easy to follow. You can pay the full amount of the rental, or put down a 50% deposit and the rest is automatically deducted from your card a week or so before your arrival.

The place was even better than it looked in the photographs on Airbnb. Host Alan’s house had two large double bedrooms, both en-suite, as well as two lounges and dining areas, not to mention a sublime garden where fynbos flourished. It was truly a home from home. For the best part of a week, we never bothered to even turn on Alan’s full-bouquet DStv because we were sitting around reading books. We were able to host a braai as well as Christmas dinner for assorted relatives. The cost was also very reasonable, considering what was on offer – R1,500 per day (it has increased to R1,650 for this year).

Airbnb adds in its commission and there is a cleaning charge, which added R3,000 to the overall bill. But, considering that still runs out at just over R500 a day for the three of us (my son joined us), it was a bargain. Of course, Alan was the perfect host, so we were doubly lucky there, too.

Inspired by our Knysna experience, we turned again to Airbnb last weekend when we were looking to book accommodation in the Southhampton area of the UK in June. We are visiting family, but staying with them would be a real squeeze. Again there was plenty of looking – although by now, we both know that it is worth holding out for what you want. In the end, we booked a place with two bedrooms in the Hampshire countryside … the extra space and the view over a golf course and of horses in the field reminded us of Knysna.

This doesn’t mean, of course that all Airbnb experiences will be fantastic, but having used the platform, I can say give it a try. And compare, compare, compare. But never just jump at the first thing…

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