Hi, this is
Lorna Li, host of
Entrepreneurs for a Change,
and in this video series, we are exploring lifestyle business design.
The topic of today is whether or not Airbnb
is a good option for business travel, especially long-term business
travel. Now, I will say that I use Airbnb a lot. I find it a great way to land in a country and establish my base first,
before seeking less expensive options. Airbnb is a service that allows
homeowners to be able to rent out extra rooms in their homes, or even their
entire home.
For a traveler it's a great option, especially if you want to have a more
personal... if you want your accommodation to have more of a personal touch,
or more of a homely feeling, rather than staying in a really impersonal hotel
or noisy youth hostel for example, especially if your budget doesn't really
include staying at high-end business hotels.
Some of the advantages of Airbnb are that depending on the listing, some of
these listings are actually open for month-to-month rental. It's not
necessarily the cheapest option for month-to-month rentals in a given
locale, for example, but some of the places will include discounted monthly pricing.
But you're gonna have to check, because sometimes the hosts really don't
wanna accommodate anyone in their home for more than 10 days. So the places
that tend to be more open to long-term month-to-month, or week-to-week
rentals are places that are kinda more bed and breakfast like, for example.
Another advantage of using Airbnb is that you will have access to Internet
most likely than not. But you will have to check because
some of the profiles include the amenities,
and so you're gonna have to see whether the place has WiFi or not.
It's great to be able to look at all the details of what the Airbnb listing
has, and so another advantage of Airbnb is that you can check out the
profile, and look at the different photos. The more marketing savvy the
Airbnb host is, the more photos that they typically will upload of their
listing so that you can have an idea of exactly what you're getting. Is there
a really cosy living room space? Is there a desk in your room that you can
work from? A lot of important details.
Chances are, because you are staying in a home-based environment, you will be
able to have access to a desk, which will allow you to work
for long periods of time out of your Airbnb residence.
A lot of hotels and youth hostels and the bed and breakfasts don't actually have a desk in the room that you're
renting because it's really geared more for tourists.
Another advantage of staying with Airbnb is the relative security.
Because you're staying in a private home, there's a lot less
random traffic and travellers passing through.
So I usually feel safer leaving my laptop and my external hard drive, and my electronic gear in an Airbnb home rather than
leaving it in a youth hostel or leaving it in a hotel.
Some of the disadvantages of Airbnb include the cost. It's really not the
cheapest option in some locales, especially in Southeast Asia
where there's an abundance of inexpensive and nice hotels that you can choose from.
In a place like Brazil, I found it absolutely indispensable because the alternate
service for finding month-to-month rentals was much more of a renting process
where you had to go and visit the location, and fill in an application, and
go in for a landlord interview. So that was a much more time-consuming
process. So, Airbnb was much more straightforward, even though it was more
expensive.
Lets see... I think that pretty much covers most of the pros and cons of
Airbnb. I would certainly do your research, and check and see what the prices
are on Airbnb, and compare it to other options in the location that you are
visiting.
Thanks a lot, and for more information about lifestyle business travel tips,
please go to entrepreneursforachange.com. Thank you.