Airbnb: Five tips for smarter booking

Real room, real house, Astoria, Oregon

I haven't slept in the luxury tree house perched in a Georgia pine forest. Nor I have spent a night in the apartment fashioned out of a shipping container in downtown Phoenix.  I suspect I'm like most when it comes to booking a room on Airbnb.com, the online service that connects travelers with people who have rooms and apartments to rent: Spending the night in a tree house or shipping container sounds intriguing, but what I'm really after is a regular room with a real bed in a real  house for less than I'd pay in a generic hotel.  

Here's the catch: While Airbnb has added many new types of accommodations to its website since its founding in 2008, searching for the perfect combination of host, room, location and price has become more complicated. In a move to blunt the competition, hotel trade groups lobbied government officials in some cities to force Airbnb customers to pay lodging taxes. Some hosts started adding cleaning fees on top of the fee Airbnb charges travelers for booking -  6-12 percent, depending on the room price. None of these add-ons show up in the initial price quote pasted over pictures of the units for rent, making it harder to spot good value at a glance. 

Another wrinkle: As Airbnb took on investors, expanded (currently to 190 countries), and began marketing its services to employers and business travelers, agents representing owners of multiple condos and apartments began posting listings, putting a commercial spin on what started out as (and for the most part, still is) a service offered by individuals with rooms to rent.  

That said, I remain a fan. I've booked rooms successfully a half-dozen times in the U.S. and Canada paying in the $100-a-night range or less for doubles with private bathrooms and hosts that, in Airbnb speak, like to "interact'' with guests. I'm anxious to try Airbnb overseas after reading this excellent New York Times story on Japanese hosts. 

Follow these five tips, and you too should come away a satisfied customer. 

A Los Angeles Airbnb host with a face I liked

1) Put a face on your host. As Airbnb has expanded, people other than real homeowners (rental agents, owners of multiple units etc.) have infiltrated the site. One of the things I like best about Airbnb is the opportunity to connect with locals, so I look carefully at the hosts' profile pictures. I get suspicious when I see a photo of a swimming pool or the ocean instead of a real person, or when I notice the same person's picture popping up on several different listings. 

Tip: Airbnb provides a trove of information about the hosts and properties listed on its site, but it often takes a few clicks to find the details. To learn more about a host, click on the photo, then click "More,'' and finally "View full profile.''

Example: Lucy and Angel have a private room with a private bathroom to rent in their townhouse on the Portland, Oregon waterfront. Their profile picture shows them sitting at a cafe with their laptop open. Clicking on the photo brings up a friendly "Hola, hola,'' the Spanish greeting for "hello."  Hit "More'' and they reveal that they are Southern California transplants who love the "amazing coffee and craft beer...and love, love LOVE introducing people to this amazing city." 

2) Use the filters to narrow your search: Airbnb starts out by asking you to enter your dates, then check one of three boxes indicating whether you want to rent an entire apartment or condo, a private room or shared room. Click on "More filters'' to zero in on particular neighborhoods, availability of amenities (Wi-Fi, use of the kitchen etc.) and whether the host speaks another language. 

Tip: Whether or not a room comes with a private bathroom isn't always immediately clear. Filtering for number of bathrooms and finding "two'' is usually a clue. Hosts almost always clarify the set-up somewhere in the description. If in doubt about this or anything else, ask. Airbnb provides a way for guests to e-mail hosts before booking. 

No trick photos. What you see is what you get

3) Check out the space. What you see is what you get when it comes to photos - No trick fisheye lenses used to make the room look bigger than it is.  Nice furnishings and wall decorations are signs that the host cares about details. Look for indications you're getting a real spare room and not the host's bedroom which he or she plans to vacate for a night to earn some extra cash. 

Tip: Hit "More'' under "Description and Space'' to find useful details about whether or not the owners have pets, details about the neighborhood and tips on getting around. Check out what hosts have to say under "Interaction with Guests'' where they indicate their availability to spend time with you.  

Example: Lucy and Angel in Portland sound like great hosts for travelers who like to socialize. They note that they host brunch every other weekend and occasionally invite friends over for drinks on Saturday nights. Nancy, my host for a two-night stay in Astoria, Oregon last summer, was careful to mention she has a dog who stays in a separate part of her home when she's not there. "I enjoy meeting my guests and visiting, if that is your preference," she noted. "I am also sensitive to your need for privacy."

4) Pay attention to what other travelers have to say. Each listing carries reviews from previous guests. Airbnb also has a place where hosts can rate guests.

Tip: Zero in on the type of feedback that's most important to you - the host, the space, the neighborhood etc. 

Example: My husband and I booked three nights in the home of former New Yorkers, Amy and Richard,  now living in a residential neighborhood a mile from the beach in Santa Monica, California. The room looked comfy and clean, so I zeroed in on what guests  had to say about our hosts. The couple aced "helpfulness'' with gestures such dropping one traveler off for a job interview. Everyone raved about the breakfast Nancy prepares, not usually part of the deal with Airbnb. We awoke each morning to a table set with large plates of fresh fruit, hard-boiled eggs, coffee, tea, juice and Richard's warm homemade coffee cake. 

5) Add up the extras to find out the true price: Book Airbnb in cities such as New York, Portland and San Francisco and you'll find a hefty lodging tax tacked onto the nightly room rate. This and other fees don't show up until you select a property and enter your dates.

Example: A San Francisco owner quotes a nightly price of $119 for a private room in his Nob Hill townhouse. Add on a $45 Airbnb fee for a three-night stay; a $20 cleaning fee and $49 in occupancy taxes, and the bottom-line price pencils out to $157 per night.

Tip: Many Airbnb hosts offer discounts for 7-day stays. It can sometimes be cheaper to book all seven even you only need six.

Example: A seven-night stay in a private room near Cincinnati hospitals, the University of Cincinnati and the zoo, is priced at $342, or $42 per night plus cleaning and service fees. The cost for a six-night stay is $365, $53 per night plus fees.  Your choice here is to either book all seven nights, or simply e-mail the host and ask for a discount. Some hosts throw in a seventh night free, meaning the charge is the same for booking seven nights as it is for six. 

It's a Go: Paris Meets Africa in the French suburb of St. Denis

Paris meets Africa in Saint- Denis

PARIS — Women in flowered robes and matching head coverings stroll past stalls stocked with Algerian spices, Moroccan olives and Tunisian pastries.

The glass cases at Au Royaume De L' Oriental display colored sweets made with nuts and honey. A woman fills crepes with a spicy vegetable combo while we settle in over glasses of mint tea.

Thirty minutes from central Paris on Métro Line 13, France meets Africa in the northeastern suburb of Saint-Denis.

Tourists are few, not unusual given that many Parisians associate this area with riots and car burnings that made headlines in 2005. Most of the 2005 rioting, in fact, happened elsewhere in Seine-Saint-Denis, a larger area that includes several towns, or banlieues as they're called, including Saint-Denis. By day at least, Saint-Denis itself has the feel of a French village, albeit one with a population of immigrants struggling with poverty and high unemployment.

Saint-Denis: To Go or Not to Go

Why go now?  Fox News attempted to label ethnic neighborhoods surrounding central Paris as "No-Go'' areas for non-muslims, an erroneous leap for which the mayor of Paris has threatened a lawsuit. I'm not sure if Saint-Denis was on the Fox list or not, but it's too easy for outsiders to paint the working-class northern suburbs with the same broad brush. Saint-Denis, in fact, claims a special place in French history as the burial place of most of the country's kings and queens. Its historical centerpiece is the Basilique Saint-Denis, a Gothic cathedral, museum and national architectural monument named for Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris who was buried here in 250 AD.

Basilique Saint-Denis,

With its purple and blue stained-glass rose window and flying buttresses, the church could pass for a smaller version of Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris. For those who go beyond Place Victor Hugo where the basilica sits across from city hall, other surprises await.
A network of pedestrian streets come alive on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays when people from all over Paris come to shop at the Marché de Saint-Denis, one of the largest indoor market halls in Europe.

"If you want to see the France most tourists don't see, it's the place to go," says Harriet Welty, an American writer and journalism teacher living in Paris. Welty, who has been blogging on the fallout from the Charlie Hebdo bombings, once sent a group of students to Saint-Denis to dig up stories on a side of French life few see. "It's much more representative of the 'real' France than what people see in the Latin Quarter." Reason enough to hop on Line 13 the next time you are in Paris. 

Metro Line 13, Saint-Denis

Walking tour

I spent a rainy morning a few years ago exploring Saint-Denis with Michel Moisan, a longtime resident and a guide with Parisien d'un Jour, an organization of volunteer "greeters" who take visitors on free walking tours through out-of-the-way Paris neighborhoods.

It was apparent from the time Moisan and I met at the subway exit that this was not the Paris of Michelin lore. We walked passed a tent camp on the steps of city hall. The demonstrators were protesting losing their apartments just days before a winter moratorium on evictions went into effect.

Greeter Michel Moison in Saint-Denis

"Saint-Denis has always had a mixed population," Moisan explained. As the rural countryside became industrialized, immigrants settled in. A socialist workers' movement took hold, earning Saint-Denis the nickname, "la ville rouge," or "red city."

"Italians came in the 1930s, and the Spanish after that," Moisan said. Today, the population is largely Muslim, with residents coming from former French colonies in North Africa, the French West Indies and parts of East and West Africa.

Marche de Saint-Denis 

Inside the Marché de Saint-Denis, Italian tripe sellers work beside Halal butchers. Outside, among stalls stocked with rugs and cheap clothing, vendors peddle corn roasted in grills fashioned from grocery carts. A historic wooden dyehouse, once part of a thriving textile industry started by King Louis XIV, houses a cafe and restaurant. At noon, we listened as church bells ring, and a merchant shouts "Insha'Allah," the Arabic phrase meaning "If Allah wills."

Royal church

Saint-Denis developed a reputation as an important trading center in the Middle Ages after the French King Dagobert rebuilt Denis's original burial site into a royal monastery. According to legend, the martyred Saint-Denis collapsed here after walking from his execution site in Montmartre, carrying his own head. More likely this was the area where he was beheaded.

Dagobert choose the abbey as his own burial site, and his successors followed. Forty-two kings and 32 queens were buried here from the sixth century on. Suger, abbot of Saint-Denis, enlarged the abbey in the 12th century, turning it into what became known as a masterpiece of early Gothic art. It became the model for the more well-known Notre Dame and other Gothic churches throughout France and England.

In 1789, during the French Revolution, the tombs were opened by workers under orders from revolutionary officials. The bodies were removed and dumped in two large pits nearby where they stayed until after Napoleon Bonaparte reopened the church in 1806. Today, elaborately sculpted statues positioned over the tombs stand in for the real royals.

The basilica (which became a cathedral in 1966) is divided into two sections. The light-filled necropolis boasts over 70 recumbent statues and tombs marking the final resting places of some of France's most colorful characters: 42 kings, 32 queens, 63 princes and princesses, and 10 important historical figures are buried here. Beneath is the crypt, where visitors can find the tombs of St. Denis and the last of the French Bourbon kings, including the ill-fated Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, beheaded during the French Revolution.




Getting there

From central Paris, take Métro line 13 toward Saint-Denis Université. Get off at Basilique de Saint-Denis. The trip takes about 30-40 minutes.

Tourist information
Contact the Seine-Saint Denis Tourist Board