Renting a room in private home

We just returned from Vienna 2 weeks ago, and we always stay at K&T Boardinghouse II. They have two properties across the street from each other on Mariahilfer Strasse and the rate is 79 Euros. The Metro Station is 100' away, and there are restaurants and grocery stores in this very popular neighborhood. It's just one subway stop into the Ringstrasse--5 minutes. They're at KTBoardinghouse.at online. Tina and Kaled are good friends of Rick Steves--who used to stay with them.

I was looking at Booking.com and on TripAdvisor.com for Salzburg rooms. It's a very popular tourist stop, and prices are now very high. Don't hesitate to find reasonably priced accommodations with AirBnB.com--an upcoming giant in online reservations. Across the board, B&B's and hotels in Austria are impeccably clean and great places to stay. We've found the citizens of Salzburg to be some of the warmest, most accommodating hosts of anywhere we've ever visited. Try to find a room in a separate apartment--without your host staying there.

Last time we used AirBnB was in Halifax last Summer. We were requested to fill out a review on the property and our hosts as soon as we left. Come to find out, the host was also rating us as guests at the same time. I appreciated that.

I have used airbnb with mixed results. Totally awful places that looked good online in London and Portugal. We actually couldn't even sleep in the place in Portugal. Typically, you stay in an apartment and not actually with the family, but I guess that can also be an option. If you choose to go this route, I would pay particular attention to the reviews - the more reviews the better. With a 9 year old daughter, I would shy away from actually staying with other people, but that it just me.

First, I think "renting rooms from people in their homes" is a misconception. Someone on this site referred to it as "Frau Schmidt's spare room". I've stayed in "Privatzimmer" multiple times in the last 10+ years, and these rooms are almost always in a part of the house (one floor) that has been remodeled just for rental rooms. They often have bathrooms integral with the rooms; a few have had shared bathrooms on the hall, although that has never been a problem.

I'm not sure I would be so confident in some countries, but the German-speaking people have such a high standard. I have never stayed in a Privatzimmer that was not clean, comfortable, well-maintained, and safe.

Before looking at a commercial booking website, try the towns own website, usually www . town name . at. A lot of homes are very small operations, and they can't afford the rates charged by commercial websites. You are likely to find many more places on the town website than on a commercial website, particularly on the economical end.

Hi Heidi: I've found on Airbnb that you can actually rent just a room or an entire apt. I have never actually stayed in an Airbnb place as yet, but that is coming up in Sept of this year in Bali. Next spring I'm going to Vienna & looked at their site once again. As I'm traveling solo, I have mixed feelings of staying in a room in someone's flat. I just don't want someone coming into a room while I'm asleep-could be very dangerous. I would have those same concerns if I had a 9 yr old. I would try renting an entire flat as opposed to a room. As other people have suggested, sometimes people convert their home so that there's a separate entrance, etc for their rental units. (I had a place like that in Cinque Terre.)
Cheers & enjoy your trip!
Gail

I can also recommend K&T Boardinghouse in Vienna. You may sometimes share a bath with another guest, but I can't recall sharing a bathroom with the owner's family in a Privatzimmer in these areas. Although it may sound like a bold thing for a single woman to do, I've never had any trouble with all the miscellaneous room owners whom I've followed home from the train/bus/ferry stations in various countries, or with B&B's listed in Rick's books or recommended by the town's tourist office or room-finding service.

Thank you all for your input and advice. As an American I think the thought of renting a room in someone's home is a strange concept to wrap my head around as it's so foreign to me. The more I've thought about it, the idea of renting a room is an incredible way to meet a local and learn about their country, far more than if I was to go to tourist sites. If I find one that seems to fit and they have numbers ratings and great reviews I think we are going to go for it. My husband who is meeting us the following week in Italy thinks it's perfectly safe as he lived in Germany for 7 years and stayed many times with people like this and made some lifelong friends.

My daughter and I have done this a number of times, both in the US and abroad. We belong to a "hosting network" with an annual membership fee, which is how I first started doing this - we've had folks stay with us about 6-8 times, and we've stayed in private homes both in the US and in Japan [so far it's never worked for European trips]. In Paris and London we have stayed in a private home through B&B networks - Good Morning Paris, London Home to Home, and At Home in London. All were excellent experiences. And last summer we had two stays in the south of France through the Bedycasa network. It's sort of like AirBnB, I think; there are web postings of rooms, with location maps, reviews, photos of the host, etc. We stayed with either a single woman or a couple, which made me feel safer. And you are right - it's a fun opportunity to meet a local person and get a different perspective on the place you are visiting. There are several other postings on the Forum about choosing AirBnB hosts, with some great advice if you are seriously considering this. Have a wonderful trip!

I just checked Bedycasa.com, and it turns out they have no listings in Austria - oh well! Keep it in mind for future travels.

My son and I (he was 12 at the time) rented a room via airbnb in a Victorian home. It was actually the library of the home with an attached bath. We were surrounded by books! The hosts were professors at a local university and were wonderful. They gave us a key to the house and we came and went as we pleased. They were full of information and were instrumental in helping us have a great time and to find things we never would have had we just stayed in a hotel or rented a flat.
I think the key here is to go with your own comfort level. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of staying in someone's home then don't do it. Even if you just rent a flat from someone though you will still be speaking with them and most likely meeting them when you arrive. Contact with a local is a huge bonus when traveling and renting a room or flat from someone is a great start to making this happen.

If you opt for an apartment in Vienna here is a review I have given many times:
We love staying at Apartments Augarten when we go to Vienna. Beatrix is a great landlady who speaks English and is very easy to deal with. The apartments are very clean and quiet and have kitchens with lots of utensils. The neighborhood is slightly out of the city center, but there is the Taborstrasse U-bahn right in front of the apartment building...you will be in city center within about 5 minutes. the apartments are very reasonably priced for Vienna. Also a short walk up the street brings you to the Augarten Porcelain works. We really liked being able to shop in the local markets so we could cook in occasionally as well. The family also owns the restaurant on the ground floor, Zur Reblaus, which is very good and local.
http://www.apartment.at/eng/apartment/66