Air Bnbs

We used airbnb recently for an apartment in a US city and had no problems. They've been recommended by others on this board, but I don't know about Turkey.

Turkey's a different kind'a place, and their people are not as "westernized" as people in Europe. I'd probably look for another source of rooms in Turkey.

Hi, we booked through Airbnb for our Venice apartment. We are travelling next summer. I think the sight is well set up and you can contact prospective owners before committing to rent with the price right there in front of you. It is like any other site, you check the reviews and read their cancellation policy. I found if you take keywords for the apartment, you can sometimes find that apartment listed on other sites and you can cross check it. Also check to see how long it has been listed for and response rate of the owner. I crosschecked our Venice apartment by "Overlooks such and such canal" and googled that phrase and found another site that also books that apartment. After I booked, I checked the independent site and my dates were already blocked out. As well as reading the reviews on the independent site. Good luck, hope you find a great place regardless of what site you use.

David, have you been to Turkey? Wondering what you are basing your statements on as far as hotel rooms or Air Bnbs? Do you have experience with them in Turkey? What cities did you visit while there? Istanbul or Bodrum is going to be different than a small village.

Used airbnb for Boston in '11 and London, Florence, Villefranche, Paris and Bath last year. All were suitable...as stated before, READ the reviews left, check out the photos, read about amenities offered (can you use the kitchen?) and check if they have a cleaning fee (some can charge a lot for a cleaning fee...I tend to skip those) look at the map of area to see if it is near city center...use the google street view if it's there to get a feel for the neighbourhood...

Read the listings by airbnb owners carefully. Each owner has their own rules for cancellations. The listing should say whether there are pets present, cleaning deposit required, and distance to various features such as transportation. Many claim to be "centrally-located" but aren't. Look at the map included. I looked at airbnb in Bath and found some nice ones that were far from the train station. Some would be good if you have a car; some would be terrible if you have a car. I stayed at an airbnb in September and was surprised that there was a full-time dog present, even when the owner wasn't. The dog barked a lot. I hadn't read the listing and visitor comments closely enough. At least I would have known there was a dog.

Thank you for your replies about Airbnb's. We have stayed at an Airbnb in NYC and the advantage was the price, convenience to a subway and the person we were visiting. The owners were also very friendly and were amenable to conversations. The downside was they also had a barking dog and the woman upstairs came home after midnight and tromped back and forth in her heels. I will ask before I book in regards to the
experiences I had and what I have heard from the rest of you. Dawn

Used AirBnB in London in October. It was great. It's going to change the way we travel... What I would not do if I'm not familiar with the area the BnB is in is to book a place with no or only 1 or 2 references. But if 5 people said that pleace is great then I'd believe it, too, and book it.

I will say most of the hosts were great - the lady in Villefranche cooked us supper and took us to Eze the next day for a drive before we had to move on. The fella in London let me use his washing machine after I got my white jacket dirty at the airport. The guy in Bath picked us up at the train stn (even tho with the traffic, walking prob would have been faster, then we got stuck behind the recycling truck on the narrow one way street to his house...always our luck...lol), and dropped us off pretty close by the next day to save us dragging our luggage. The Florence hosts picked us up at the closest bus stn. So closeness to main train stns isn't always impt as you may get a lovely host who will pick you up. But you prob want to be close to public transport like buses/subways

I used airbnb September 2012 to book places in Florence, Arezzo and Rome. Overall it was a great experience, meeting local people who offer parts of their home. They also offered advice on restaurants, sights, transportation, etc. Much nicer than staying in a hotel. I will definitely use this site again. BUT.... Do your research, read ALL reviews, check out neighborhoods and location on Google maps. Florence & Arezzo were wonderful, Rome....not so much. From the main street, there were 3 sets of 20+ stairs straight up to the cross street, then 2 more sets of 20+ stairs to reach the bottom of the street where the place was located. Inside an additional 30 spiral stairs outdoors to the room, adding 300 Roman steps daily. It was crazy and exhausting, since you do so much walking anyways. Reviews had mentioned 'alot of stairs', but never the number. Good luck and happy travels!