Are you planning a road trip and want to book Airbnbs for when you’re on the road? Or maybe you’re new to rentals by owners and need some Airbnbs tips? I’ve stayed in a bunch of Airbnbs over the past several years, both by myself and with other people, and I’ve enjoyed most of my stays. Airbnbs make great landing places for weary travelers, but there are some things you should know when booking them to make your stay as pleasant as possible. This post is part of my Accommodations on the Road series and will give you seven tips to find the perfect Airbnb for your next road trip!

Decide what kind of Airbnb you’re looking for

There are several different types of filters available to help you filter Airbnb listings, but my favorite is “Home Type.” This allows you to specify whether you’re looking for a listing where you can rent the entire place or just a single / shared room in a home. When I’m traveling alone, I like to try to find a listing for an entire place or at least a private entrance. There are other filter types to help you refine your search even more such as amenities, house rules, and even neighborhood!

Include the dates and the number of guests staying in your search

When you’re first searching for an Airbnb, make sure to include the number of guests staying in your search. This has two benefits:

• Limits the results to only what’s available when you’re actually traveling
• Only displays listings that allow the number of guests who are traveling
• Updates the cost per night to account for any extra guest fees associated with the listings as well as any peak travel time costs

Don’t forget about other possible fees

In addition to the base cost per night, there are other price tags to watch out for:

• Service fees – 5-15% of the total, shown at checkout
• Value Added Tax (VAT) – a tax assessed on the supply of goods and services in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, South Africa, Russia, Serbia, Taiwan, the Bahamas, Albania, China, Japan (charged as JCT), and Australia and New Zealand (charged as GST)
• Extra guest fee – optional additional cost per night
• Cleaning fee – optional fee for the trip

Read the entire listing (including the House Rules)

Make sure to read the ENTIRE listing. When I went out to Taos last summer, I stayed in an adorable Garden Casita that I absolutely loved. It was within walking distance of downtown Taos, it was in a private garden–and it had an outdoor bathroom with a composting toilet. I knew this going in (and I was weirdly excited about the new experience), but the owner Dee mentioned that a lot of guests who stayed in the Casita were unpleasantly surprised when they discovered they’d be showering outside and using a toilet full of ashes. If those guests had read the entire listing, they would have KNOWN that there was a composting toilet, and they would have either stayed somewhere else if that was a problem or been prepared for the experience.

Another example: when some friends and I went out to Terlingua a couple of months ago, I didn’t read the entire listing because my friend booked all of our accommodations for us. So while she had mentioned that I needed to bring a towel, it never really “sunk in” that the barndominium we were staying at wouldn’t have towels for showers, and I didn’t bring one.  Fast forward to our first night there, and I ended up having to use my friend’s tiny microfiber hand towel to dry off after a shower because I hadn’t brought one with me. Can you imagine if she hadn’t even had that extra hand towel? It would have been a smelly trip for all of us…

So do both yourself and your host a favor and read the entire listing!

Read the reviews

Sometimes other guests who have stayed at an Airbnb will mention details that are important that don’t appear in the listing, such as the kind of neighborhood the listing is in, the general vibe of a place, or the kind of person the host is. Always read the reviews with a grain of salt (because there are some grumpy people who will leave a bad review no matter what), but pay attention to any trends in the reviews that might affect the quality of your visit.

Pay attention to what is (and isn’t) shown in the photos

Pay close attention to what’s shown in the pictures–as well as what isn’t shown. If there are no pictures of the bathroom, for example, it could be that the bathroom is a bit of a mess. If there is something that’s important to you, then make sure the pictures show it in detail.

Use Google Maps to check out the neighborhood beforehand.

If you’re traveling to a neighborhood you’re not familiar with, consider using Google Maps to check out the street view of the area before you book your trip. I wish I had done this on a cross-country trip with my brother a couple of years ago. We found a last-minute listing in Nashville that was in an adorable little bungalow and easily Uber-able to downtown.

What the listing (and the reviews) didn’t mention was that it was in a somewhat questionable part of town with a ton of graffiti and most of the houses (except the one we were staying in) had bars on the windows. I felt fairly safe because I was with a big dude who can kick serious butt when he needs to, but I would have been FREAKED OUT staying by myself. So always check out the neighborhood beforehand if you have any questions about the area!

There you go! Seven Airbnb tips to help you find the perfect place to stay on your road trip! Anything else you like to do that I didn’t mention? – Lindsay