Planning a trip to Paris for a month - has anyone dealt with the rental agency called Airbnb?

AirBnB is not an agency. It is a listing service. Yes, you pay up front. You have to include your payment information to submit a reservation request and if the person listing the apartment accepts it, you are charged the rental amount. AirBnB releases the funds to the owner (landlord) 24 hours after you arrive. The cancellation policy is set for each rental by the person renting the property. If you want a less strict cancellation policy, you have to look through the listings and see if any apartments with less strict policies appeal to you. If you want a traditional agency that manages the apartments, AirBnB is not the site for you. I don't use AirBnB but many people swear by it. One thing I should mention is that you may be able get the landlord to change his or her cancellation policy but be wary of that unless they change the listing because AirBnB goes by what the listing says not what the landlord tells a renter on the side when a cancellation occurs.

Read what JHK said very carefully. Airbnb does not set cancellation policies; the individual listings do. The advantage of Airbnb over some other listing services is that they hold the money for 24 hours, so if the rental is not as promised, you can complain and get your money back. However, this is only if there is an actual problem with the place; it does not apply to any cancellation.

If you do not like the cancellation policy of ANY place, regardless of what it is (hotel, apartment, etc) or where you found it (Airbnb, hotel's own site, Booking.com, etc), don't book it. Period. And if you have a reason you might need to cancel (say, an ill family member at home), be sure to investigate travel insurance, and make sure you fully understand what is and isn't covered.

I don't have experience with apartments, except for a recent Airbnb that went well; however, that was for 3 days. For a whole month, you can understand that the owners are going to be out a lot of money if you cancel late, so they will want some guarantee; I would imagine most of them would have pretty strict requirements for prepayment, and strict penalties for cancellation. If you aren't able to find places with cancellation policies you can accept, you may have to rent several different places, each for a shorter period.

For a month, you will probably do better with an actual apartment rental agency; search this board or ask for recommendations.

I've used airbnb a lot, but never for stays of more then 2-3 nights. I tend to look for ones with less strict cancellation policies. Some are more flexible. If you fear you may have to cancel for some reason, look for someone with a more flexible cancellation policy. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of listings in Paris. In this case, you may be better off using a company that doesn't charge upfront, since the trip is a year away. I can't rem what the policies are, but when I was looking for places to stay in Rome and Venice this year, I was checking out HomeAway and Cross Pollinate...ultimately, I went with airbnb rentals tho.

Generally speaking apartment rentals put you at risk of losing your money if you are no show or cancel. Some agencies will refund 60 days ahead or at least refund 50% but when you book an apartment the norm is that you are contractually obligated for that money. It is not a hotel where the owners can easily book your room to someone else.

It is very expensive to buy travel insurance that would cover this in the event of a covered reason for cancellation; I don't know anyone who has actually collected in such a case. If you can't stand the risk of losing your rental money through cancellation then you need to be booking hotels.

I have rented 66 time now mostly in Europe, but my first AIRbnb will be later this month, but every apartment I have rented has had a no refund policy of at least half the rent with total loss at 60 days out. The AIRbnb I have rented for LA this month allows partial refund 7 days out.

The Airbnb website refers to refunds you can get if you have to cancel for what they consider a legitimate reason (illness, jury duty, death in family, etc.), which could be an alternative to travel insurance. I've had good but limited (US) experience with the company. You are protected by the fact that the owner doesn't get paid till you've been there 24 hours, and the owner is protected by his or her own cancellation policy.

For a month's rental a year from now, you have lots of alternatives with less restrictive cancellation policies, like homeaway.com, vrbo.com, and others. Google "Paris vacation rentals" for a long and useful list.

Thanks, all.