How to Use AirBnb to Save on Lodging

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Last week I mentioned how I came across a deal with “Flying Blue” airline miles that couldn’t be passed up. Flying Blue (the frequent flyer program for both KLM and AirFrance was offering a 50% discount on award trips from either Chicago, Houston, or Washington DC to virtually anywhere in Europe. It was an amazing deal, so I jumped at the chance and decided to visit Europe, (before I visited Europe again a month later,) and check out Germany for Oktoberfest. I haven’t firmed up all the details of my trip, but plan on going for between two and three weeks.

I’m a big advocate of what some refer to as, “slow travel.” I’d rather visit spend a week in one our two counties than do the backpacking bonanza of seeing 30 countries in 30 days. I never feel like, “I might never come back…” Instead I’ve always treated it like I could come back whenever I want. The ability to pace yourself and immerse yourself in the culture is definitely something we tend to overlook, especially in an American culture that seems to emphasize vacations that are more exhausting than the work you intended to take a break from. Slow travel also tends to be less expensive, as you’re not picking up and moving (and paying for planes, trains or automobiles), every few days.

I’d be flying into Munich, and decided I wanted to focus my Germany part of this trip on the south/southwest area. So while places like Berlin are cities I’d like to see, I’ll save that for another trip, maybe a mid/north Germany and Poland adventure. I decided I wanted to spend a week in the Munich/Bavaria area, and set out to find a place to stay.

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It wasn’t unexpected, but hotels in Munich (right during Oktoberfest) were pricey. $250, $350, even $400 per night weren’t hard to find. Ouch. Even some of the hostels ran for about $100 per night. And that was in a dorm room type suite with 4-6 beds. I ran through my options to redeem some of my reward points, and found either no availability, options that would cost me a ton of points, or places to stay that were many, many miles outside of Munich. Again it wasn’t super surprising as I was booking Munich hotels about a month out from the festival.

So I took a look at options over on AirBnb.com and was pleasantly surprised. **Use the referral link I just included and you’ll save up to $50 off your first AirBnb stay and another $15 if you book an “experience.” AirBnb features homeowners renting out their house, their extra room, or sometimes just sharing a bedroom. I typed in “Munich” and was able to short by location, room type, and price. I could then read the reviews of the owners whose houses I was looking at.

I found a few great options of what seemed to be nice places. I decided on one that seemed like a good location, simple enough for what I wanted, and a good price.

AirBnb shows you the general area the room is, but not the exact address until you finally book it.

The place I decided on actually had a cheaper rate for a full week than the equivalent daily rate. The way it worked out, if I agreed to book a full week, it would actually be less expensive than booking five days. So a week it was.

I “booked” my room and sent a note to the owner. Within 24 hours he’d gotten back to me and said everything checked out and he’s love to have me as a guest. AirBnb appear to have a lot of protections for both individuals, so in this case, if he read through my profile or saw something he didn’t like, he could decline the booking and I wouldn’t be charged.

But everything checked out and I was all set. I ended up getting a full week, seven nights in Munich overlapping Oktoberfest for just $55 per night, tax and fees included. This will actually end up being my first official stay using AirBnb, so I’m curious to go through the process. While some may be set on only staying at hotels, in this case, I was looking at probably $150 a night at minimum, for even a basic room (if I could find one) in Munich for the week. I’m definitely okay with saving hundreds of dollars and trying out AirBnb to gauge the experience.

Coupled with my heavily discounted reward ticket that I only paid taxes for, and I was off to a great start on my October trip to Europe. Use AirBnB to save on lodging when you’re in a bind or want to lower the bill for your stay.

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