I’m back in the Northern Virginia area and need to spend Saturday night in DC. I looked at the hotels since I am in the IHG promotion – they were about $189 which is high but the parking was $45 additional! I began looking for alternatives and decided to try the AirBnB that I have written about previously.
AirBnB is an online company service that provides a way for private individuals to rent unoccupied living space to guests. The company had over 500,000 listings in 33,000 cities and 192 countries. Listings include private rooms, entire apartments, castles, boats, manors, tree houses, tipis, igloos, private islands and other properties.
I signed up and began looking in the neighborhoods of DC that I was interested in staying in. I also wanted a parking spot as I didn’t want to be driving around DC neighborhoods on a Saturday night looking for a spot. On paper, I think I found a good match. It is a room in a cozy townhouse in DC owned by a woman who is about 3 years older than me. We have communicated back and forth…. what time I would arriving, when I would be leaving, she had a vegetarian household and asked that we keep it that way etc. I also wanted to make sure that it was a non-smoking house. She even invited me to attend the brunch she was having at her home on Sunday morning and to attend a concert with her friends.
I paid the fee which included a $12 fee to AirBnB for providing the listing, etc. At that point I received her name and her telephone number so we could communicate in real time. During the booking procedure I had to provide identification on line using their software to take a webcam photo of my government issued ID. I know what she looks like and she knows what I look like.
I’m really excited about trying this out and I think my first time is going to be a success – I’m going into this with no reservations – I feel completely comfortable. I’ll let you know next week how this all turns out.
Have you ever done AirBnB, Coach surfing or alternative lodging?
Air, Land & Sea 
There should be more competitors in market so it will really help travelers on budget to find awesome deals. Let me add another one here: https://www.findaroom.net/
Please let us know how this works out! I am really excited about this idea 🙂
Woot woot! Glad you found a good place and look forward to hearing how it turns out! See you soon 🙂
As you may remember, we did Airbnb in Turkey and it worked out great. Saved lots on accommodation costs. BTW, my husband was just approved for the Chase Freedom using your link so watch for your reward!! (Although it may take a while like 8-12 weeks if I remember correctly and one of these non-Chase promotions told me once it was 8-12 weeks after the promotion ended, not after the spend was completed!) Enjoy DC!
Yes, I remember that you did AirBnB in Istanbul. Since I had written about it, I felt like I needed to try it for myself. Thank you for using my link for the Chase Freedom card – I appreciate you thinking of me.