My Airbnb Experience

First of all I feel I must start by saying that I love staying in hotels, so much so I am one of those people whose dream home would be a hotel residence (with a huge bath with a view and a modern fully equipped kitchen - but this is for another post).
 This said you may be able to imagine what my views of Airbnb are, so let me tell you how I felt about giving up my lovely comfortable idea of a lovely clean and safe hotel room for an Airbnb experience.

I have never been a great fan of Bed and Breakfasts and guest houses, when I'm staying somewhere I like to feel at home, and staying in someone else's house whilst they're there makes me feel uneasy at times. But we were planning a mid May trip to Paris for a long weekend during a very busy period, and Paris in spring is not cheap. So my other half, who thinks Airbnb is a fantastic idea, had more  convincing arguments than usual when he found a studio in the 17e arrondissement for less than £100/night.

I finally agreed and was pleasantly surprised when we arrived in front of the elegant Parisian building, until we stepped in. We were taken to the back of the building through the "service" door, it wasn't the chic Parisian staircase I was expecting - far, very far from it. The staircase was partly open to the environment and very narrow and dark. We had four heavy suitcases to get up those seven flights of stairs and untrained legs and lungs, it took us a good twenty minutes to get there.

The studio was alright, not more, it was a bit dark, needed a slight refurbish and an added ghost in the shower. The sower ghost was actually just the water coming back up the drain with a slight brown colour and a sewage smell to go with it. Now the host did end up booking a plumber for the day we left.

I guess you can tell from this post that I wasn't very pleased with our accommodation, but here are my pros and cons of using Airbnb.

- More choices
- Better prices
- Bigger accommodation
- Self catering opportunity
- Live like a local
- Flexibility

- Little standardisation - incl cleanliness and security
- A lot of stairs - Ok that was just my experience but I'm still recovering ;)
- Hidden costs - Housekeeping fees

I guess at this point it's a personal preference, if you enjoy bed and breaksfasts and similar accomodation then Airbnb is probably better for you than hotels. But I love my hotels too much and will keep Airbnb as a last resort for my future trips.

I'll talk to you Sunday.

Love, Sarah