If you, going on a trip, decided to find your own accommodation in an unfamiliar city, then various online services, of which there are many, will help in this matter. A guest post from our colleague, Sergey Bulaev, recently appeared on Lifehacker, in which he spoke about the experience of using the AirBNB service. The experience, in general, turned out to be positive, and we decided to take a closer look at this service, as well as the free AirBNB app for iPhone.
Everything is simple and clear on the service. Immediately on the first page you are asked where you are going to go. After choosing the place of your trip and the date of arrival and departure, you will receive a list of available apartments at this time.
In the right sidebar, you can set filters that will narrow down your search area a little: set the minimum and maximum price that you are willing to pay, specify the required amenities, the area and the type of desired dwelling.
The search results can be viewed in a list, like a gallery of photos, which, in my opinion, is much more attractive, or immediately on the map, so that it is easier to determine the area.
You can share the results of your searches with your friends by clicking on the "Share Results" button. The generated link can be sent by mail or published on social networks.
Each apartment is accompanied by a lot of photos, a detailed description and reviews of those who have already visited them. On the map you can see the infrastructure of the selected area (cafes, shops and other establishments). You can also view a panorama of the street where the building is located, and a calendar that shows the dates that are still available for settlement.
There is more than enough information to form a complete opinion about the proposed housing. On the same page, you can book it or contact the owner to discuss additional questions.
In the main dashboard at the top of the page, you can set the currency in which you want to show housing prices. There you can also see a bright yellow "Rent housing" button. So if you are the owner of a house, apartment or just a spare room, you can already place an ad on the service.
And now let's turn to the iPhone app. It's comfortable and cute. You can view all the ads for renting an apartment in the city you are going to, or immediately use the search by installing the necessary filters to facilitate it.
Of particular interest is the Top40 category, in which, as the name implies, 40 of the best housing rental ads are placed. There is a house in the shape of a shoe, and a real English castle, and a villa. You can even rent an island and go on a romantic trip to it or with a group of friends, as the owner promises, there will be absolutely no one on the island except you.
There is a little less information on apartments in the application than on the service, but still enough: a description of housing, location on the map, reviews of former residents. From the application, you can book a room or contact the owner.
And finally, directly in the application, you can place an ad about renting housing.
In general, this is probably all that I would like to tell you about the service. If any of you have used it, then we would be happy to read your impressions and advice in the comments.
