Airbnb makes it effortless to search and book and we’re with you every step of the way.

1.    Post your face

-       Sign up for Airbnb.com, it’s free!

-       Create a profile. Upload a photo of yourself and write a description to show off your unique personality.

-       Build your reputation by getting verified and hit up your friends for some recommendations.

2.    Find your place

-       Enter your destination and select dates, click “search”, and watch the prospects appear.

-       Refine your search using our advanced filters including price, property type, amenities, and more.

-       Choose your favorite listing and familiarize yourself with the reviews, profile, and photographs. Click the “Contact Me” button to ask the host any additional questions.

3.    Book your space

-       Submit a reservation request by clicking the “Book It” button and enter your payment details. Don’t worry, you won’t be charged until the host confirms your reservation.

-       Wait for confirmation from your host. They have 24 hours to accept or decline your request.

-       Airbnb will provide email addresses and phone numbers once the reservation has been confirmed. You can now contact your host directly to confirm trip details.

-       Rest assured that your payment is secure with us. Although payment has been collected in full your host will not receive the funds until 24 hours after you check in.

-       Review your host once you have checked out. Your voice is an essential part to building our trusted community.

Booking Tips

-       Message the host to confirm availability before booking.

-       Do your research by reading reviews and checking out host response rates.

-       Read the entire listing description and house rules.

-       Review cancellation policies carefully before booking.

-       For last minute travel try our standby option.

The Golden Rules of Travel

Traveling takes some coordination, so be sure to confirm contact details and address, check-in/check-out times, and key exchange. Notify the Airbnb support team within 24 hours if anything should go wrong. 

Leave a review for your host. They appreciate feedback and we do too!

Frequently Asked Questions

Hosting 101

When it comes to numbers, there are some we can never expect to really comprehend (Avagadro’s, how many stars there are in the universe), but we hope to demystify some of the ones peppered on Airbnb, enabling you to control and use these to your great advantage.

Response Rate

This handy percentage is located on your profile page, sharing with the world how quickly a host respond to messages. It’s easy to keep it up – simply respond to any and all inquiries that come your way. If you don’t have one yet, don’t worry, it will kick in once you’ve been reached out to regularly. Guests tell us that they prefer messaging with hosts with higher response rates because it indicates a certain level of activity on the site – making them feel secure about booking . So make it a habit to check those inboxes!

Search Ranking

All of our hosts have a “ranking” which determines where their property shows up in search results. This ultimately affects how many people see the listing, and as you know, more exposure means more bookings. We encourage you to increase this number by completing your profile, accepting reservations promptly and offering a competitive price. Your ranking can also be negatively affected by declining and canceling reservations, so prevent this by keeping your calendar up to date. (You can find your ranking by logging in > clicking hosting > promote).

Give us a shout at support@airbnb.com if you have any questions. Happy hosting!

Staying at a new place can be a wonderful, eye-opening experience, and to ensure that their are no unsavory surprises we encourage our guests to take a few extra steps before clicking that “Book It” button. Follow along as we help you navigate the various features on property listings, get the scoop on hosts through their profiles and reviews, and show you how to contact them using the Airbnb messaging system. 

Description 

The description section tells you about all the place and host. Here you can find all the fun details about what the space looks like, read about the surrounding area, and get to know your host. Be sure to read it thoroughly, as a host will sometimes put in crucial information for bookings.

House Rules

Everyone has them! Whether it means taking off your shoes before entering, how check-in is going to work, or any other rules that your host will want you to know – if you book – we will expect you to have read these and uphold them.

Details

This section is important not only because it clarifies the exact space you will be staying in, but it also states the cancellation policy. Hosts have four different policies to choose from. Depending on how much flexibility you need, this is something to pay close attention to when booking as Airbnb enforces this policy for all our hosts.

Reviews & Friends

The community loves to share their experiences, so be sure to check out the reviews that previous travelers have written. You can also check to see if your host has friend connections, which is just another way that you can see how they are connected to the community.

Amenities:

This is the perfect place to check in on those details that will make your experience complete. Need wireless internet? Prefer a washer/dryer? How about handicap accessible? This is the place you’ll want to look!

Response Rate:

This is an indicator of how responsive your host is on Airbnb. We suggest messaging with hosts with higher response rates for a better chance at confirming a reservation. 

And of course, just ask!

We have a secure messaging system for a reason: If you still have questions for your host, want to know more about them, or anything at all – just click that blue button. Once you have all your questions answered, book with confidence!

In the event that your travel plans fall through and you have to cancel an upcoming reservation, you can do so from your Airbnb account. Simply log in to your account, click on “Traveling” from your dashboard, and click on “Upcoming Trips”. 

In the event that a host and traveler have negotiated a different price than what is advertised on the listing page, a host can make the guest a Special Offer via the messaging system on the site. To do so, open the message thread with the traveler and click on the drop-down that says "click for other actions", which is located below the blank message box. From the drop-down, select "Make Special Offer".

In the Special Offer field that then appears, specify which property is being offered, the start date of the guest's stay, the number of nights and number of guests, and the total cost of the entire reservation. Don't forget, the total cost should be the price for the entire stay, not the price per night. Once these fields have been filled out, a short message can be included if need. After these fields have been completed, click on "Post Response".

The Special Offer has now been made. For this offered price to be processed in the reservation, the guest must book by clicking on "Book Using Special Offer", which appears at the bottom of the Special Offer message.

If the guest books the Special Offer within 24 hours after it has been offered, the reservation will immediately be processed as accepted. If more than a 24 hour time period has elapsed, the host will receive a reservation request, which then needs to be accepted or denied.

Special Offers are also effective if you would like to include a cleaning fee in the total price of a reservation, which is in addition to the price per night.

If you have any other questions, shoot us an e-mail at support@airbnb.com!

Looking for last minute accommodations? Standby is the way to go! By submitting a Standby request through the site, hosts in the area will be alerted of your request and will be able to send you messages with offers to stay with them. If your trip is within 5 days, you're eligible to sign up for this feature. After doing a search for the dates of your stay, click on the link "Do you need a place pronto?" at the top of the search results.

As a host on Airbnb, you can sign up to receive Standby alerts, which notify you when a traveler is looking for last minute accommodations in your area.  This is a perfect way to fill any last minute availability that you may have!  When you receive a Standby alert, you're then able to send the traveler a message with an offer to book with you.  To sign up for these alerts, click on "Hosting" from your dashboard and then click on the sub-link "Standby Guests":

Our list of countries is growing! There are now rooms available in 77 countries internationally. This means the amount of languages our users speak is growing, too. You can now update your profile to indicate the languages you speak. Travelers can search by those languages, so they connect with you in their native tongue.
 
Go to “Edit Profile” from you account, and select “Languages” to add them.
 
On search results, use the filter “Speak” to select the language of the property owner.

You can choose from:

Arabic
Chinese (Mandarin)
English
French
German
Hindi
Italian
Japanese
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish

What do you speak?

As a host on Airbnb, we want to make renting your property a simple process. We aggregated feedback from hosts, and turned the most common requests into new features. I’d like to explain each one, then show you in detail how to use it. If you have any questions along the way, please drop us a line at support@airbnb.com. We’re listening.