20% Off Airbnb Coupon + $50 Airbnb Credit

Unlike many people in the miles & points community, I am actually a huge advocate and user of Airbnb.

I have used Airbnb quite a few times around the world and have had a terrific experience every single time. My most recent stay was last year in San Francisco (which I wrote about here).

While I love hotel points, elite status, upgrades, tiny bottles of shampoo, etc, I don’t have any loyalty to a specific hotel chain because I have always found the entire hotel experience to be very impersonal.  Regardless of your elite status, at the end of the day, you are still one of a hundred plus hotel guests that night.

Not to mention it is extremely frustrating when “luxury” hotels nickel and dime you for things like internet when “discount” chains like Holiday Inn give it away for free…

It is for those reasons that if I don’t have any hotel points or am running low, I typically opt to do Airbnb over paying to stay at a hotel.

Not only do you typically get an entire apartment for less money than the cost of a tiny hotel room but you can also stay outside of the touristy parts of town, get local recommendations from the hosts, and basic amenities like wi-fi are included!

FYI: Thanks to Vibhu for commenting below that you can actually get 2x UR Points if you use your Chase Sapphire Preferred to book on Airbnb!

Example Savings Using Airbnb

Many people I know don’t use Airbnb because they think it is like CouchSurfing or Craigslist and are creeped out to stay in someone’s apartment. Although sleeping in a hotel bed that literally thousands of people have slept in doesn’t seem to bother them…

So here is a quick example of potential savings using Airbnb and what you can expect to find on the site in terms of quality.

Say you want to take your significant other on a romantic getaway to NYC next weekend.

The cheapest 5 star hotel I could find on Kayak was The Conrad New York, which going for $294 a night or around $700 after tax for a 2 night weekend stay.

While the hotel certainly looks really nice, $700 is not a small chunk of change for a 2 night stay…

With Airbnb, I was able to find someone’s entire 2 bedroom apartment that looks fairly “comparable” in Murray Hill and has a 5 star review from 21 actual guests.

What is the price per a night for this 2 bedroom apartment?

Only a $165 a night or $330 for 2 nights…

Now if you stack the coupons and credit below, this $330 rental could potentially only cost $224 total after all the discounts…

Of course some people will still disagree and would still rather pay $400 a night for the Conrad Hotel but in my opinion, if all you are doing is sleeping in the hotel then it is hard to beat $165 a night for a nice 2 bedroom apartment in a prime location.

20% Airbnb Coupon

Thanks to MilesToMemories who posted that now through November 1, 2014, you can get 20% off your first Airbnb stay (minimum $200 booking) by using the code 20off

If you are visiting site after 11/1/2014 and this 20% coupon is expired, you can still use the free credit below.

In my opinion, this is a FANTASTIC DEAL because Airbnb rarely offers coupons or discounts.

If you already have an Airbnb account, you can always let your significant other, friend, travel partner, alter ego,  etc create a new Airbnb account to take advantage of this great offer.

$50 Airbnb Credit

If you have never used Airbnb before, you can use my link below and get $50 credit towards your first booking (depending on when you read this post, the credit may have gone up or down).

Link To Airbnb

I don’t know if this offer is stackable with the above coupon (or in the event you are reading this post after the coupon has expired) but it is worth a shot to try and see if you can use both.

As always, if you already have an Airbnb account, feel free to post your referral link below in the comments!

Recap

If you can’t tell, I love Airbnb! I have now used it in quite a few countries and it never ceases to amaze me how they have apartments for rent in literally every corner of the world.

Not only is Airbnb significantly cheaper than hotels but when you are staying in someone’s apartment, it really feels like you are “staying like a local” as opposed to just being a typical tourist.

To those of you who have never tried Airbnb, I strongly suggest giving it a shot once. It might just change the entire way you look at travel!

-Parag

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