Rent a Private Home While traveling abroad

Renting a private dwelling is not only cost effective while traveling but you also get the ambiance of community instead of just a tourist type hotel.

Two of the most trusted companies for renting private homes are Airbnb and Housetrip. We rented out our Vancouver apartment through Airbnb last year and had a series of reliable, respectful tenants. The system is simple. The home owner provides a comprehensive description of their property complete with photos. They usually provide a photo of themselves and a brief personal description. Prospective tenants do the same thing. The website provides a calendar where the landlord can mark days that are available with prices. Anyone wishing to rent puts in a request for the landlord to approve. Rent is paid to Airbnb who take a small fee and pay the rest into a Paypal account. Tenants review landlords. Landlords review tenants. This a system creates a system of testimonials that help build trust and confidence. For those on a budget both Airbnb and Housetrip offer rooms in a host's apartment.

Airbnb claims to have listings in 35000 cities in 192 countries from the most basic room in someone's apartment to a beachhouse overlooking Rio's Copacabana beach.

Launched in 2009, Housetrip offers a similar service with an equally impressive list of properties and locations. I once found a room in Berlin through them by phoning on my way to the airport. Excellent last minute service.

Aside from being much cheaper, if you are going to stay in a city for a long period of time, anywhere from more than one week to a couple of years, you will be able to feel the real culture and ambience of the city through the private home that you will live in. Not only will the house familiarize you with local culture, but also its neighborhood and the people living within the area. If you get to make friends with people in the neighborhood, you get to attain an objective of world travel: world peace and understanding.

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   It may not always be as secure as being in a hotel

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   Hotels are usually equipped with latest technologies in order to protect its guests. You would find CCTV cameras, 24/7 security personnel, front desk personnel who will screen guests, and the like. While some private homes may be posh enough to have all these types of technologies, it may not always be the case.

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   You would have to do things on your own

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   In most cases, private homes require you to be on your own. There will be no housekeepers to do daily turndowns, for example.

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   It can get lonely

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   At times, being able to interact with the other guests in a hotel adds up to the excitement of traveling. You get to see them in lobbies and get amused with their activities. In private homes, you basically have the entire place to yourself, so you only see and experience your own activities. You are somewhat detached from other travelers.

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   Facilities may not be as updated as in hotels

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   It is mainly because hotels are usually governed by certain organizations that uphold certain levels of standard to operate. For example, if a hotel claims that it is a 4-star hotel, there are certain rules that they have to adhere to and certain standards that they have to maintain in order to be continuously classified that way. Private homes usually are not governed by any of those and are just operating independently.

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   You may have to spend more time to look for a good and trustworthy private home as compared to looking for a hotel

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   Hotels have reviews everywhere and these reviews do help a lot in making the search process faster. You also get to read other people's feedback so you make decisions based on real comments of other people. Private homes are more rare and so you may not see much information about them online.

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