Columnist Sophie Kruse writes about her first experience booking accommodations with Airbnb.
For graduation, my family is going on a weeklong trip to Napa Valley in California. We’ve recently been working on getting our accommodations set in stone, and being the youngest person in my family, I was put in charge of arranging our lodging for the trip.
My family had a list of hotels and condos it was interested in staying at, but each was more expensive than the next. As an alternative, we ended up renting a whole house on Airbnb for about half the price of the majority of the other places we had looked into. Though I don’t know for sure how the accommodations will be since our trip is in May, the web presence of the home is much nicer than some of the alternatives have looked.
I never had used Airbnb before, but had been itching to go on a trip where I could utilize the service. It had been much easier than I had expected. Finding a suitable home was simple and a little bit fun because you could scroll through pictures and look at descriptions of the marvelous vacation homes (this is coming from a House Hunters addict).
The process to book the stay was also simple and required a number of verification steps that made me feel secure in using the service. The host of the home quickly reached out to thank us for booking and allowed us to make any arrangements necessary.
I had been very gung-ho about using the service, but my parents previously had been a little apprehensive about using it. I understand their uncertainty: For someone that’s accustomed to booking hotels that are guaranteed, it can be a little scary.
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I think Airbnb is the future service model of our generation. While hotels will continue to thrive, as well, I can see myself and many others continuing to utilize those kinds of services in the future. It’s easier, you see what you’re getting, and you have more of a choice with where you’re staying.
There has already been apps like Getaround that allow you to rent cars from other users in a handful of cities. Though it doesn’t seem like many industries have adopted the method, it seems like it definitely could expand in the future.
The test will come with how well those accommodations actually are, I can say for now that I will definitely be returning to use their service in the future.
Sophie Kruse is a senior studying journalism. Have you ever used Airbnb? Email her at sk139011@ohio.edu.
