To ask about Air B&B in France?

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

Hope nobody minds me posting here for traffic. I'm a longstanding home exchanger (over 60 of them!!) but it's just not working out with France any more as I'm finding so many members want to bring huge families

I'm not keen on gite hire after too many poor experiences/extortionate prices in the past, so wondered about Air B&B ... please would anyone be prepared to share their view on pros and cons?

I don't expect a palace - though actually some look lovely - and obviously I'm used to staying in other folks' homes, but I'm wondering how reliable it all is around owners being there to meet you, what happens if they change their mind/withdraw the property and so on

This wouldn't be until next year, but it's good to be prepared and I'd really appreciate any advice from those who've experienced this

We’ve used it. In France the experience was good. In fact, it’s been good everywhere with just one disappointment (shabby poky place, in Germany) out of maybe 10 properties. On the last occasion, the person who was meant to bring the key failed to show up but I Whatsapped the contact person and they came over quickly.
It’s important to read the posting and reviews carefully and check in again with the host a few days before leaving to give an arrival time. (If they don’t answer at that point, best to contact Airbnb.) Then note down the host’s contact phone number before travelling, and normally everything works like clockwork.

We’ve stayed in a few recently and in every experience the check in/out was very easy - some we were met by the owner, one v rural one just left the door unlocked for us (!) and a couple were with a keypad entry and a key lock. All very clean, nicely decorated (although we are very very picky when choosing) and well-situated.

The main things to consider that I’d bear in mind now are parking, if you’re driving - this can either be absolutely fine or a bloody nightmare, aircon in summer (small studio in Paris with no aircon during a heatwave = not so fun, but not exactly the owner’s fault), read carefully for any essentials (quite a few had no TV for example, or no iron - nothing gamechanging but good to be forewarned as it was mentioned in the listing), and I’d also look carefully at whether they’re “proper” Airbnb listings, ie the owner’s own place let out occasionally (everything to hand of course, quirky but maybe less manicured), a hobby let (which tend to be beautifully decorated, with personal touches and with an attentive owner) or a business let (nice decoration etc but often the sparest of facilities, more like a hotel room).

I thought airbnb was illegal in paris

We stayed Airb&b in France and it was great. The owner lived in another country but arranged for someone to meet us and sort out the key. We had fun trying to understand her directions to the underground car par as she was an elderly Portuguese lady who spoke french, so whilst my speaking French isnt too bad, i dont speak any Portuguese, and she seemed to mix the two together. In the end she gave up, got in the car and guided my DH round the one way system using hand signals and shouting, as a kind of live sat nav. She was lovely. The apartment was fantastic, in a great location and the secure parking was a real bonus. Like everything, there must be good and bad. We will definately use Airb&b again. I hope you find somewhere suitable 😁

Thanks so much everyone; these are exactly the sort of things I wanted to know and it's especially good to hear you have a back-up in "HQ" if you can't reach the owner

I've twigged how to use the filters for aircon, parking, etc, so all's good there. Strangely it doesn't seem to break them down for a garden or balcony, but that's all in the description of course

After all the exchanges I think I'd prefer someone's real home; it's what I'm used to rather than a more sterile business let, but apart from looking for personal possessions in the photos how do I tell, please? Is there something in the listing which will tell me?

And what about apartments which have a community pool? With exchanging you just do what the owners would, but does the same apply to renters or do you get a "what are you doing here?" attitude?

Have stayed in a few and filtered search by super host and English speaking just for extra security/ease. They were great, beautiful rural places as stop overs on a long drive. Great value option

"After all the exchanges I think I'd prefer someone's real home; it's what I'm used to rather than a more sterile business let, but apart from looking for personal possessions in the photos how do I tell, please? Is there something in the listing which will tell me? "

You can click on their profile and if they have loads of properties listed then they are obviously doing it as a business, but if they just have the one it's more likely to be their home. You can always just email and ask them of course. Also check the availability calendar - if it's available only for a few months a year or short period - it may be fully booked of course, but it may also mean the owner uses it the rest of the time.

I stayed in quite a few in France, eg a particularly nice flat in Lyon that the owner had clearly put a lot of care and thought into and had some personal touches and personality/character. But there is no way to tell for certain beforehand that I know of unless you ask.

Keep in mind that apparently only 5 stars = a good review on airbnb, so if you want the nicest places, pick those that only have 5 star reviews and have lots of them. I have stayed in a few grotty places that had mostly good reviews and then only one or two bad ones - perhaps some people have really low standards or they feel bad/rude/guilty leaving bad reviews?? Who knows? But in those cases the bad reviews were actually the accurate ones, whereas on other review sites I may dismiss 1 or 2 bad reviews as just being overly fussy people or whatever. Also I think the majority of people don't even leave a review, according to the hosts I spoke to anyway.

I agree a filter for garden/balcony outside space would be useful as well as one for no smoking properties (even more so for ones which are a room in someones home) - seems such an obvious thing to have a filter for (pardon the pun) but they don't and you only find out if someone mentions it in a review.

And yes filtering for superhosts only, is a good way to find decent places, they also have a new "superior" category or whatever it's called, not really looked into that though as I think it's the more fancy and therefore expensive places?

Of course there may also be perfectly nice places that are too new to qualify for superhost status, so you may miss these by filtering - for a stay of a few nights I would personally take a risk (eg a place I stayed at in Carcassonne was newly listed and had no reviews but price, pics and location were all good and both the host and the flat turned out to be great. But for an entire holiday of 1 or 2 weeks in one place I might not take that risk....

It is legal, but you're right there's been a big clampdown. See www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187147-i14-k11385694-How_can_you_tell_if_your_AirBnB_in_Paris_is_legal-Paris_Ile_de_France.html

Again, very many thanks everyone; there are some excellent points here and I really appreciate this