When you search for a room to rent for a day or a bit longer, you may be quite surprised when you see the place, or what you pay for it, if you don't check the following items. These are just from my experience.
- The price per night that you see on the list of rentals when you search on the Airbnb portal doesn't include the fees. These, especially for 1-2 nights start can increase your cost even by 50% from my experience. For any rental, you consider renting, open the rental details and check for fees. Some are fees paid by the owner to Airbnb, other fees are for cleaning etc. Esp. the latter ones differ a lot along rentals.
- When you are looking for a room with a private bathroom, make sure to check what the owner considers "private". You may be thinking of a bathroom with an entrance from your room. But sometimes owners advertise as "private" bathrooms with an entrance from a shared hall as long as you're the only one allowed to use it. Contact the owner and confirm. Don't assume.
- Quite often, the guest unit that you're renting isn't on the ground floor or in general accessible only via stairs. Make sure you're comfortable with the stairs you will be using every time to get to your room or to get out of it. For example, are you comfortable if they're outside spiral stairs?
- If you rent a room in a shared hall, you may want to check that you'll be able to lock the room from outside, once you check in and decide to go out for dinner or just for a walk. I've met locations that didn't have such an option. Do you trust the owners and others guests with your stuff you leave in the room, when you're enjoying a hike?
Please, add your own tips in comments.
