Empire City, Empire State, via Airbnb
I recently traveled to NYC for the Gilt Group Expert panel (review coming shortly). It was a quick trip but since the meeting was from 7-10 at night, I needed a place to crash in the city. I recently learned about Airbnb.com and decided to give it a try. Airbnb is an online marketplace for places to stay, kind of like hotels.com but from individual owners, currently serving 1911 cities in 101 countries! As a traveler, you can book either rooms or full apartments from their website. The site has social features so you can connect with people in your network(s) if you choose to. I easily found lots of options throughout NYC and opted for a full apartment in Murray Hill which was pretty close to the Gilt panel venue. As expected, a full apartment is more expensive than a private room, but still a bargain at $88 (actually $79 plus a $9 service fee). I attempted to book the room the night before the conference and instantly got an email claiming the owner had 32 hours to get back to me. Oh no, I needed the place by 6pm the next night, was this going to work?
I decided to go for it. Worst case, I could just book a hotel when I got to the city. The next day, I grabbed the 12:30pm Bolt Bus out of South Station, Boston (another BARGAIN: $15 plus $0.50 service charge when booked online!) and headed to the City. Bolt even supplies AC power and Wifi (painfully slow so I just tethered my iPhone) so working on my computer for the entire trip down was pretty seamless. During the ride down, I received an email from the apartment’s owner confirming the booking with a full set of instructions and the owner’s phone number–I had a place to stay! When I got there, I received the keys to the apartment from an adjacent apartment’s doorman. Here’s a pic of the building:
The apartment was a decent, clean 1 bedroom with a combined kitchen/living room.
Since it is called airBNB, here was the breakfast portion (oatmeal, teas, coffee, espresso):
Overall, I have to say, it was a great experience. Sometimes you don’t want the sterile, hotel experience and want to pretend to be a local in a foreign city. Although I didn’t use it, having a full kitchen could come in handy during a longer stay. I didn’t meet the host (she was traveling in Europe for work) but we kept in contact via email and texting. She was responsive and it was nice of her to offer any of the food already in the apartment. Part of the agreement was I needed to clear the bed and take the sheets to a laundry mat steps from the front door–easy. It was also requested that I leave $3 for the cleaning service (I left $5). Airbnb’s tagline is “Travel like a human” and I have to agree; it felt more human and I was connecting to actual people, not employees of corporations. I’ll still use hotels but Airbnb is a great option for a more “local” experience at a better price. I may also try renting out our studio/carriage house in our backyard in Cambridge. If I do, I’ll let you know how it goes…
on January 20, 2010 at 1:28 pm
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Hi, my name is Alejandra, from Argentina, me and my family have decided to go to NY next March. I´m not sure if I should go to an apartment, it looks quite unsafe to send money to someone you don´t know. I visited the AIRBNB website and asked questions to the owners, but..I don´t know what to do. Tell me how many people could sleep at the apartment where you stayed, we are four. Thanks, Alejandra
on January 23, 2010 at 8:06 am
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Hi Alejandra. The apartment I stayed in was a 1 bedroom and could probably only handle 2 people comfortably. When you are searching for a place on Airbnb, enter in the dates of your trip for 4 guests and Airbnb will only show you places that can accomodate all of you. Since you are paying Airbnb (they act as a payment intermediary) your transacation is much more secure than sending an individual check. Hope you have a great trip!