>Booked three hotels in Rome, Paris and Berlin that are really average and like 15-20 minutes from the city center on Booking.com.
>Discover Airbnb and use it to book nice apartments dead center of other European cities i'm travelling to for a lot less money.
>Booking.com is nonrefundable.
DAMN IT.
Read the fine print. Plenty of booking.com bookings are refundable or cancellable. It tells you before you book.
>>1276539
For the most part booking.com is refundable up to day before, or you just wanna save like an extra 3 quid and get a better deal
>>1276600
Not just the money, its the quality of the room + location.
We booked a place in Berlin that is in some dumpy area 15 minutes from the center and AirBnb offers entire apartments for the same price that are super clean, cozy and modern.
>>1276539
OP, this is how you learn things. You make mistakes. Enjoy your trip and use airbnb next time.
>>1276539
The thing about booking hotels online is that the cheapest price us typically the non refundable price. The refundable proce will be a few (often more than a few) dollars more
Same thing happened to me when I bought a ticket for an event I wasnt even sure I was going t o go to. Losing that money is a well deserved punishment.
I hope hotels generally die out, their stupid high prices ripped people off for years and now Airbnb will hopefully kill 90% of them, just like taxis with uber.
>>1276539
>rome
>paris
>Berlin
Ey brotato chip, I'm trying to plan a vacation for pretty much the same. Make a thread here when you come back, I'd like to learn some do's and don'ts lol
>>1276686
Is airbnb really a good option? I find it a bit strange rolling up to someone's spare room or some shit.
>>1276958
Travelling to many more places as well, but when I get back i'll give a run down on what I thought of each.
only had good experiences with airbnb, and only shit ones with booking. you can really get good tips from locals if you get a private room, but I usually prefer if it has lockable doors and private bathroom. or you can save a lot of money some times renting a whole apartment and sharing it with friends. the only thing shit is that airbnb tax and cleaning fees some times make no sense at all.
i prefer using hotels over booking, you can get some good deals with coupons and your 10th night is free
>>1276962
people on airbnb don't need to make a profit, many are just supplementing rent payments
it is strange, but so is a hotel room
>>1276962
I've stayed in a ton of Airbnbs and hosted for about 2 years. It's so much better than a hotel, I can't believe they are still around.
I rented a spare room to supplement my rent, as I didn't want a proper tenant, just like that other anon said. But when I'm traveling I just get an entire house to myself, as it's still cheaper than a hotel or hostel and vastly superior.
>>1276969
This. Some Airbnbs charge very little for the nightly room but sting you with cleaning fees. Even if it's like a 8x8 mini room with nothing but a bed in it, they'll charge like $30 for cleaning when it's $15 a night.
These are pretty rare though and you can see the prices so no big deal