Air B&B or VBRO advice, please

These days, Airbnb would be my last resort, as they are much more expensive than VRBO, Trip Advisor or Booking.com for the same product that has a multiple listing, thanks to their fees.

All you can do is read the reviews and ask questions of the owner. I never use hotels, always cottages/apartments.

I don’t travel light but sometimes still need a washing machine. I never use driers as I air dry clothes, preferably outside.

I do my research, read the reviews, check out the location on Google Maps and so far, I haven’t had a bad place or landlord. I wouldn’t opt for a place that has just been listed.

One way to help to see if there are any issues with major appliances is to read lots of reviews of places you are considering.

I’d be surprised if you have any dryer to be concerned about though. We’ve stayed mainly in private homes every year since 1995 and only once had a washer/dryer combo. Every home and rental has had a small but spinning efficient washer and a dryer rack. You can not do laundry the night before you need to pack. Otherwise washing machines and racks work fine for small-medium sized loads.

We stayed at our first VRBO rentals in 2019 in Europe and had fine, working washers. Many times there are pictures posted in the listing’s photos.

One thing I should say about showers though isn’t the water pressure, which hasn’t been a problem in homes, just 1* and 2* star hotels in some cities. The thing for us to get used to has been the complete lack of an enclosed water barrier. We’ve had small glass enclosed showers, bathrooms that were a wet room with a drain in the floor, tubs with a hand held sprayer but no shower curtain, tubs that had a 2’ partition but never a full shower door. Look at pictures.

With all of these things to get used to, I learn more from each unique home or rental we encounter and eagerly look forward when we can return for our next adventure.

i travel solo and use hostels (40%) , airbnb (40%) and hotels (20%)
3 things for airbnb
1. the amenities are listed and when searching for a property you can pick which amenities you want so your search is refined
2. read the reviews so you get a feel for the place
3. when you leave a review , add comments about shower pressure , hot water , wifi strength and other things you would like to see in reviews . ive been doing this for years to give the next travelers a better idea

As noted above, there are apartments listed on booking.com. I prefer inexpensive hotels, which I usually book through that website. On a few occasions (booking late) an apartment has been a less-expensive option. Booking.com doesn't allow you to leave a review unless you've actually stayed at the property. I've found the reviews generally to be very accurate about things like Wi-Fi and air conditioning, so I think you can trust what they say about the shower and laundry situations. Even if you book on another platform, it's worth trying to find reviews of the property on booking.com.

I've read many comments about European clothes dryers by Americans living in Europe. The news isn't good, I assume because of energy-efficiency requirements. In any case, there's a reason why you see so much laundry hanging outdoors in European cities. I travel for up to 4-1/2 months at a time and do all my own laundry without any laundry appliance, washing every night or two. Admittedly, finding a place to hang the wet laundry can be more of an issue when you are a party of two, but one advantage of an apartment vs. a hotel room is that you are very highly likely to be provided a drying rack.

First approach to success is to park your US mind and expectations at your state side airport.
You know the differences, and others have mentioned them, so there is always a risk.
As mentioned, read the reviews of the past year or so. I don't necessarily consider a review from 4 years ago, as those problems are most likely fixed.
You may want to limit your AirBnB to a Super Host as they strive to provide a more global environment. As a solo traveler, I still find AirBnB to be my best option and I don't find it more expensive than VRBO particularly since VRBO started to add a surcharge. But experiences vary.
Washers/dryers are often a bit of a crap shoot. They take much longer to complete a cycle than in North America. My only experience with the combo machine was the dryer was too hot and set wrinkles in some clothing and didn't fully dry others. In the future, I would only use it for a short time then hang things to dry....of just line dry.
Tip - once there, google the make and model of the machine + english manual to get english instruction on how to use it. I am older and do not find all pictograms to be intuitive.
Also, I always revisit my listing regularly to read more recent reviews to see if any problems are cropping up. I also contact my host a week before arrival to reconfirm the booking and find out if there is anything different from time of booking. This is the time you can check to ensure that shower and washer are working effectively.

Also remember that once arrived, if things don't meet expectations, don't suffer in silence, contact them and remind them they had said the equipment was in working order (assuming you did contact them the week prior and enquire), and if it isn't please fix it. Not saying anything and then giving a negative review helps no one. I had a hot water tank leak on a Sunday. Thankfully it was just me, but there was sufficient hot water to allow for a shower, and he arranged for it to be replaced Monday while I was out sightseeing. It was a minimal fuss and didn't slow down my plans at all. I locked away most of my stuff when I was out and didn't worry about a repair person being there.

If you are going for 2-3 weeks and staying in the same place, no real need to pack light. Take what you need for 10-12 days and find a laundry half way through your trip.

We usually stay in self-catering accommodations when we travel and used to book exclusively thru VRBO or Homeaway, but once they added the surcharge we started exploring further afield and have generally settled on Booking.com as our primary search engine.
A Google search may show country-specific booking sites that can offer good deals as well - there are at least a couple of good booking sites featuring Gites in France for example.
Once we've identified a property that looks promising we then check to see whether they have their own website - can sometimes get lucky and find much better rates by booking direct versus thru a 3rd party website. We've also occasionally found better rooms, better amenities and better pricing for hotels and apartments on Booking.com as well.

And we've generally found that dryers, when they're offered at all, are pretty useless and instead rely on a drying rack or an outside clothes line to get the job done. Having a washer is priority one for my wife (and therefore me) - by having one available we're able to travel very light indeed, even on trips lasting a couple of months in some cases.

A term you need to add to your vocabulary is "European dry." That means dry enough to pack or wear, but maybe not as dry as you are used to at home.

I've used a large wine rack to dry clothes that didn't even get close to European dry in one of the combo washer-dryers. Other than that place, almost all of the apartments I've rented have had drying racks and washers that were good enough for a week stay, but I've never stayed longer than 8 nights in any apartment. Note that I pack for a week and 3-4 weeks is a short trip for me.

I've stayed in one apart-hotel. Their self-service laundry facilities, complete with separate washers and dryers, were off the lobby. That worked fine for me. That place cleaned once in the middle of my stay. That was the perfect time for me to do laundry.

So far as I know, no service includes the location of the shower head or wand as a filter option. You have to look at the pictures, sometimes in the mirror. I prefer walk-in showers, but I still can step over the edge of a high tub if I have to.

I hate the inescapable "rain" showers that come straight down on my head. If that's all the shower has, it's a deal-breaker for me.

So far I've rented a total of 11 apartments. Three have had unexpected issues. All of those 3 were inadequately cleaned before our arrival.

Two were found through VRBO. The 1st had sewer smells, ants in the kitchen and dead bed bugs on one side of the bed. The 2nd had deferred maintenance needs and no freezer when the listing said it had a fridge-freezer. Worst of all was that cleaning was required by us upon departure. That was never mentioned in the listing or in any email correspondence with the owner.

The 3rd I found through Airbnb. It had severe maintenance needs, inadequate kitchen equipment, no microwave, a broken hair dryer, broken bathroom lighting with outdoor-like lights strung around it, a toilet tank top that didn't fit, multiple almost empty bottles of cleaning liquids, a dirty mop and mop bucket in the interior hall, a TV set to Polish TV with no information on how to work the thing and owners that disappeared, leaving a "manager" who was impossible to contact.

My husband and I made some repairs ourselves and worked around the other issues, but those experiences sent me to Booking.com and I will never use VRBO or Airbnb again.

And in true "once bitten, twice shy" mode, I always make sure that I don't have to clean the place when I leave. I'm happy to pay for the cleaning.

I've never had a problem with an Airbnb, but the one described in Poland rivaled one had by sister in Rome. She complained to Airbnb, with documentation (photos, receipts) and got all her (prepaid) money refunded. Unhappy customers mean less money for them. They were happy to hold the landlord's feet to the fire until he made it right.

In Europe, I mostly only know about Italy, but we almost always use airbnb there and have never had a bad experience. Not even close to a bad experience.

I do read and evaluate every review, message the hosts, and examine the photos --- this does not seem like work to me since I have fun imagining ourselves in every nice-looking place and I enjoy feeling like a detective. You learn to read between the lines. Like "lively area" tends to mean "noisy at night." Also, it's well worth my time and effort because we do often stay in one place for 5 days to 5 weeks.

Usually, we just hang up our wet clothes inside the apartments, but a few times we have taken a bag of damp clothes to a nearby laundromat and used the dryers there.

Some showers are indeed hilariously tiny, but we've had plenty of well-functioning showers larger than ours at home in small inexpensive apartments on the top floors of medieval buildings --- I've wondered if what made the difference was that these apartments were ones the hosts used to live in themselves.

I've had good luck with both airbnb and VRBO, reading all of the reviews and lists of amenities carefully. I have also written the owners on several occasions to get clearer information--a rapid response is a good sign. We have always had a decent washing machine, and sometimes even a good dryer, but have otherwise used the drying racks provided by the hosts to dry our clothes. We really like having an apartment whenever we spend 4 or more nights in one location. Have used airbnb or VRBO in Positano, Rome, Barcelona, and St.-Remy-de-Provence.

Showers have always been small, but adequate in terms of water pressure.

There may be a misunderstanding about the Airbnb apartment I described above. It was in Athens, not Poland. I guess that the previous renters, or maybe the cleaner, were Polish, but that's only a guess. The TV being set to Polish TV would not have been an issue if there had been any info on how to work the cable access for the TV.

We like apartment or rental homes when feasible. I used to use VRBO a lot, but more recently I prefer Airbnb. Why? VRBO/ Homeaway now charges the same fee that Airbnb does, so that savings is gone. With Airbnb the host doesn’t get paid until 24 hours after your arrival. If there’s a problem that can’t be solved you can contact Airbnb. They will help you find another place or give you a refund. With VRBO once they have your money you are on your own.

I’ve had a couple of rentals with a washer/dryer combo. I always choose to air dry my clothes because it takes a long time for the dryer to work and frankly I prefer to air dry.

Read all the reviews before booking. If you have any questions you can contact the owner before deciding to book.

Our experience on this has been limited to France.

We frequently use Airbnb for extended trips; typically 2 to 3 weeks somewhere we find interesting. While we've rented a few apartments that way, we now generally prefer to rent houses. They always have more space than we need, but they tend to have better facilities (especially kitchens) and bathrooms than apartments, and certainly better than hotels. Laundry facilities usually are better as well, and we haven't had the poor experience others describe above with dryers. I suppose if you're very concerned about the dryer, you could contact the host to find out the make and model and do your own research on it.

When we bought a dryer for our house we got one that works with a heat pump. It's efficient in terms of energy consumption, but it does take longer to dry clothes (though, one could argue that, by not routinely exposing one's clothes to the high temperatures associated with a typical American dryer, clothing, especially elastic, lasts longer).

If you're renting in a high-demand area like Paris or some similar place, I would shy away from Airbnb as there's more chicanery and false advertising in the high-demand locations. Some friends of ours in Saint-Etienne had a very bad experience in Paris with an Airbnb rental. It was nothing like the listing.

Chicanery got me thinking. More and more cities require lets to register with the city, gain a license number and charge guest tax. The guest tax is just like a hotel charge, but you don't tend to see it on the hotel bill. Let guest rent is usually collected in cash in local currency per person. This is legit, and you may prefer those providing that information in their listing...or at the very least, upon request. More listings on more platforms are providing the license details.
In Barcelona, there is a website where you can cross reference the number to the address to check if legit. If the jost says it isn't needed but other listings have it, then move on.
The fact that AirBnB withholds host payment for 24 hours, and they also hold the security deposit is 2 main reasons I prefer AirBnB, but I respect not everyone does.

I would recommend most of all to only rent places that have a LOT of reviews — and if you read through the reviews enough and there is something like a problem with the shower having too low of water pressure, precious renters will mention it — and you can turn your attention elsewhere.

First off, list your priorities for a rental. We must have safe, private and reliable wifi (no hotspots). I must have a sofa with soft armrests, an additional love seat or armchair a bonus. Depending on the square footage, practical layout and price, we sometimes stump up for a second bedroom. I like a bit of outdoor space, preferably a balcony. Eiderdowns much better than cakie layers. Shower instead of bath. Check out the photos: you may not like the look of the place, even if it has a hundred five star reviews. If you are driving, you require parking and ease of access. Restaurants close by, or staying in the countryside: the edge of a village or small town usually works best for us. Staying in the city, no car required.

I don't recall ever having a dryer in Europe. We use radiators, hooks, hangers, any spare inch available: outside, if the weather cooperates. Most places we've rented in Europe have a small, slow, front-loading washing machine, or a nice host willing to do some laundry for us. Shower pressure much depends on street pressure and the restricting flow of the shower head, whether it be cheap or expensive. No host is going to tell you that the shower water is a mere trickle, or that the washer and dryer work poorly, though you can check out any available reviews.

You don't say where you are thinking of basing for two or three weeks. If it is the countryside of Germany, France, Britain or Switzerland, check out the the regional and local town/village websites first. We've rented a number of rentals this way, all without any reviews. My only rental in a European city was in Rome, through VRBO. City rentals are usually more expensive, all things considered, and certain cities way more than others. Airbnb will ask for a copy of your passport, if you are comfortable with that: I'm not.

Some rentals have been better than others, but I've never had a bad experience.

Here's another few things I do to find an apartment my husband and I are likely to like.

I've had really good luck avoiding the most heavily touristed part of a town or city, but instead finding an apartment just inside where the old medieval walls were (or still are). Because the historical center of town is so small, we are still within easy walking distance of most things we want to go to --- if you think it looks far on a map, use Google Maps to see how many minutes walk it is from the apartment to another location. Then use Google Street View to "walk" around the neighborhood a bit and see if you like it. If the neighborhood has a name, try Googling on it.

A pedestrian-only street or a very small street is no guarantee of quiet at night, but it's a good bet. Bedrooms facing a courtyard rather than the street may be quieter. We enjoy apartments on upper floors or even right under the roof, but our 8th floor (and elevator-free) apartment in Naples for a week was almost too much for us. Ideally, near the apartment there will be a small restaurant that can become "your" restaurant --- it's such a luxury to go home after a long day, relax somewhat, and maybe change your clothes, and then walk just down the street or around the corner to eat. Eat for a few hours and then stroll or waddle back home.

Many apartment owners (most?) list on several platforms. My Budapest apartments are on all the platforms mentioned above. The rates tend to be very similar, or the same, on each platform. Too much bother otherwise. If you see a place you like on one of the platforms, look for a unique sentence or phrase in the description and then google that. With luck the other listings will pop up. We all tend to use the same description on each platform. Choose based on price and the guarantees of each platform. I prefer to think that professionally run units are better than the inherited apartment from dead aunt Gertrude that is now being rented out by the nephew to raise some extra beer money. With a bit of hunting you can find a website for a management company that will show what they take care of. Then check all the reviews of the apartments they list and if they are all fairly uniform in service comments its got a very good chance of being a pleasant stay.

For amenities, a good listing will show you photos so you can sort of judge. Do remember that most European washers are small and very slow as compared by our standards. Some dry as well, many do not. The ones that dry are often condensing dryers which means figure a few hours to dry anything. Still good to have, you just load it every day with a two pairs of pants and two shirts and not too much more.

I've rented apartments in Italy, Spain , Denmark ,the UK and Paris for 20 years, mainly in Italy.
I've used Airbnb, VRBO, and TripAdvisor and Booking.com; and have had only one of 23 that wasn't very good.

In Europe you will rarely find a dryer in a rental apartment, and if they have a "combo" w/d, it's usually not that efficient.
Washers there can take up to two hours for the quickest cycle, so plan accordingly.
The quickest I've found was a place in Rome that washed a big load in 30 minutes!
A miracle!
Some washers in warm countries will be outside on the balcony or patio, with a waterproof cover over them, so ask if you don't see one in the photos.

Ask the host to SHOW you how the washer works, and write it down.
Some are not intuitive to get working!
If there's a washer, there is usually a fold-up drying rack.
Get a flat with a balcony or outside space, and you can dry your clothes in the fresh air.
Some flats in Italy have racks or lines outside the windows attached to the building.
Don't drop your undies in the street when you hang them out!

Rent an apartment with loads of photos, and ask the host to send you a "map" or blueprint of how the flat is laid out.
Some listings have this in their photo list.
It might say two bedrooms, but one might be the main living room; and you can't always tell from photos, as they sometimes show the same one bedroom with different bedding and lamps to make it seem like two different bedrooms.
Study the photos carefully.

Note if there is a photo of a washing machine, and what the shower looks like.

Look for a shower that is enclosed in a cabin or with glass doors.
Those are smaller than what we are used to in N. America, so if you are a bigger person, you might find it a bit of a tight fit.

If it's a "wet room", or the shower head looks like it's over the toilet, give that place a miss.
The bathroom will be soaked all the time.

Some flats have an en suite bathroom; but that's no good if it's the only bathroom, and you want two bedrooms for more guests, as people will have to walk through the main bedroom to get to the only bathroom.

If you like a flat but can't see on the photos what you are looking for, write to the host and ask for confirmation of a working washer, reliable WiFi, etc.
Look at Google Street View if you have the address of the place, to see what's around the area.

Don't rent a flat over a bar!, they can get noisy at night, though in my experience, people do not drink to get drunk in mainland Europe.
(I'm sad to say that the UK is a different story.) :(

Try and find a place that does not face a busy street with shops etc.
Lots of shops have early morning, as in 5 am, noisy clanking garbage collections.

Look for lots of reviews, good and bad.
Some people complain about the silliest things, such as the TV only having Italian channels. Really??
Ignore those.

Try and rent from a Super Host.
Look for reviews that say the owner or host was very helpful, and visible.
I would be leery of renting a place where you have to pick up keys from a shop or agency storefront, and you never met an owner or host.
Not that it's dodgy, but what if the keys didn't work, or you lost them and couldn't contact anyone.
Also, you need the owner/host to show you how things work in the apartment.

Make a list of your must-haves.
Mine are: reliable WiFi, an outdoor space, and a working washer.
Now that I have bad knees, I can't walk up five flights with luggage nowadays, so I look for one floor up from the street, or something with an elevator.
Some European buildings will have elevators, but you might have to walk up a flight to get to the first elevator stop.
If you are fit with good legs, go for a higher floor for the views!

I like to be able to get to a main train station easily too, for daytrips.
You can map out the area and even look at local bus routes on Google Maps.
Good luck!

I’ve personally had great luck with VRBO/HomeAway and AirBnB (in US, UK and Italy). As others have said, check the reviews and pay close attention to the location descriptions. For the dryer - yeah. Probably won’t work but make it part of the experience. Hanging clothes on the line from our balcony in Sorrento made me feel like an Italian for a few minutes. Some of our most interesting interactions have been with the hosts of our rentals - the woman in the Cotswolds wanting to talk about the upcoming 2016 US election, the lady in Tuscany giving us olive oil from their orchard and laughing with the gal in Rome as we tried to use Google translate (she even brought her husband to meet us later and gave us big European cheek kisses as we checked out).

But, as some have mentioned, certain locations have different regulations for apartment rentals. You want to make sure you have a legal rental. When you pick your city, ask questions on that country’s message board. People there will be able to give you a heads up if there’s something particular to look out for.

You've gotten a book's worth of detail, but I'll add my ditto:
1) Don't expect a dryer; the combos are indeed horrid--a rack/clothespins will be provided. I always travel in spring so sun drying has not been an issue. In winter, I would employ a laundry service or use a laundromat.
2) Check the photos carefully and don't hesitate to contact the owner with questions. I like to touch base with an owner, let them know my language ability, adding any particular interests or questions or experiences that lets them know I am reliable and low-maintenance.
If there is anything of note about a shower, I include it in my reviews (i.e., it is very small and tough to turn around, or the water pressure/temp is great/not great). I also take reviews with a grain of salt, and some of the finest places I have rented have not had a single review--if you get a good response from the owner and the photos don't lie, you are generally all set.

I’ve rented apartments all over Europe using AirBNB and Booking.com. We are a family of 4 and try to travel light. Laundry is always a priority: washer and dryer included in the listing description. I’ve found that MANY places that advertise a “dryer” do not actually HAVE a dryer. They have a metal drying rack for air drying you clothes. I have encountered the combo washer/dryer units a few times. These (when they work) take a REALLY long time. 4+ hours to wash and dry. And one of these units holds about two changes of clothes. They are SMALL compared to US washers. I have never encountered a separate dryer. Although in planning our next trip to Colmar, I have seen a few and I’m so excited about the idea! The truth is you will probably be able to get all you laundry done much faster in a self service launderette (3hours max) or you could go use a drop off laundry service.

I’ve had much better luck with showers, and I like good water pressure! Basically, look at pictures VERY closely. If there are no pictures of the shower, move along to another listing. I think many units being rented are renovated specifically for rental purposes, and bathrooms are a high priority.

I always review the places we stay and give details such as: accuracy of amenities listed, water pressure, availability of hot water, firmness of the mattresses, extras (scissors, aluminum foil, extra dishwasher tabs, laundry soap provided, etc).

If something is critical to your decision about renting the unit, ask the owner directly and specifically.

In 4 solo trips to Europe so far I stayed in hostels about 2/3 of the time and hotels the rest of the time. I may experiment with apartments on future trips. So far I have used booking.com to find my logging places. Yes, Booking.com does list some apartments. I look for reviews on TripAdvisor.com too. I don't have experience with VRBO or Air B&B.

In the hostels I remember, the showers were enclosed by dividers like the kind surrounding toilets in public bathrooms here in the USA. In the hotels I remember, as others have mentioned above, there was usually not an adequate amount of barrier separating the shower from the rest of the bathroom. Except my hotel in Delphi, Greece, had a shower curtain. The type of barrier around the shower or lack of barrier is a low priority for me.

As for clothes dryers, even at home in Michigan, I take my clothes to the laundromat, wash them in the washing machine, pack them back into laundry bags wet and hang them up to air dry on clothes racks in my apartment. Clothes last longer if you air dry them. When traveling, I have learned to just take 1 to 2 changes of clothes, hand wash them in sinks, use a towel to help dry them, and then let them air dry. When clothes don't dry overnight, sometimes I just acquiesce to wearing them damp until they dry on my body. If a place I stay at has a working washing maching, I will use it, otherwise I will be ok hand washing my next day's clothes in the sink. Washing machines are low on my list of priorities. I care most about cost, location, not smelling smoke (from tobacco, Marijuana, and so on), and maybe ability to buy, prepare, and eat food from grocery stores instead of eating restaurant food.