Website Of The Week: www.airbnb.com

By FRED MAWER
Updated:

Rating: 5 Star Rating

Who needs hotels? No, really. One of the big benefits of the internet when it comes to travel is that it has made it so much easier for those who are looking for somewhere to stay to connect with those who have a room - or perhaps something more substantial - to spare.

New York

Big Apple options: Airbnb has over 2000 listings for New York

Airbnb.com is at the forefront of this trend. Describing itself as a "community marketplace for people to list, discover and book unique spaces around the world online", the website holds over 100,000 listings across 186 countries.

As well as spare rooms to stay in while the host is present, there are also whole apartments and houses to rent out. Either way, the experience is likely to be more interesting and authentic than booking into a hotel.

Strengths

Airbnb is uncluttered and easy to use, and the accommodation can be massively cheaper than staying in a hotel.

For example, I found a lovely-looking room in a stylish apartment on New York's Upper East Side (a very smart neighbourhood) for just £54 a night - you'd be hard pushed to find a decent hotel room anywhere on Manhattan for under £150.

Search options are excellent. For New York, for example, I could narrow down the 2,000-plus listings by neighbourhood, whether I wanted a whole apartment or a private room - and by facilities (wireless internet, air-conditioning etc).

Airbnb encourages owners to put up lots of photos of, and copious information about, their space and themselves. I know, for example, that a room in an Upper East Side apartment is being offered by an arty couple in their 20s who are not there that much of the time.

Perhaps most reassuring is that, for many of the spaces, you can read multiple reviews posted by previous guests.

It is also evident that Airbnb takes security and safety very seriously, both for guests and hosts - with copious tips on the issues, payments processed only 24 hours after the guest has checked in, and systems in place for verifying addresses.

Though the website is an American operation, there is a big choice of places to book in other major cities - for example, over 900 in London, Paris and Barcelona.

Weaknesses

Booking a place to stay requires a certain amount of work. You won't get far unless you put up a pretty full profile about yourself, and before trying to book, you may need to contact the host and be approved.

Also, though spaces have availability calendars, they may not be up to date. And the prices initially quoted exclude Airbnb's service fee, which is around 10 per cent of the cost of the booking.

Ratings

Inspiring: 5/5
Useful: 5/5
Easy to use: 4/5

Rating: 5 Star Rating

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