AirBnB..pretty awesome.

[Repatriate]

This isn't related to just Asia but I just found Airbnb which is basically a pay version of couchsurfer where people rent out their spare rooms or condos for travelers. Everything is automated like a hotel booking and from what I hear there's a lot less flakes and cancellations. The problem with couch surfing is that it can be rather hard to get accommodation in a high demand city since you're relying largely on the generosity of others.

Just as an experiment I did a little browsing around the world and found condos and apartments for <$50 a night in Paris. In the LA area you could find $60 detached guesthouses in decent neighborhoods. This thing really is an accommodation game changer especially if you hate hotels and want to live like a normal person in a regular condo during your stay in a foreign land.

I'm probably way behind on this site since a lot of people seem to know about it already but just throwing it out there.

[Rock]

This isn't related to just Asia but I just found Airbnb which is basically a pay version of couchsurfer where people rent out their spare rooms or condos for travelers. Everything is automated like a hotel booking and from what I hear there's a lot less flakes and cancellations. The problem with couch surfing is that it can be rather hard to get accommodation in a high demand city since you're relying largely on the generosity of others.

Just as an experiment I did a little browsing around the world and found condos and apartments for <$50 a night in Paris. In the LA area you could find $60 detached guesthouses in decent neighborhoods. This thing really is an accommodation game changer especially if you hate hotels and want to live like a normal person in a regular condo during your stay in a foreign land.

I'm probably way behind on this site since a lot of people seem to know about it already but just throwing it out there.

Yes, its a good site. I've used it a few times to stay in San Francisco and the options available sure do beat hotels as long as you filter by features which are important to you and read the reviews to get the ins and outs. But best to start a few days in advance on bookings. Each time you propose a stay and offer up payment, owner has 24 hours to accept, not respond which is same as rejecting, or reject. Some people don't keep their calendars up to date well so available days are not available. And some people might look at your picture and info and not feel comfortable renting to you. The first time I used it, I didn't get accepted until my third try. So if I had waited to arrange it a day or two before my arrival, I would have been screwed.

[Repatriate]

It seems pretty ideal for a mid-stay traveler who goes from city to city and likes to spend at least 2-3 weeks leisurely scoping out the scene. For really short stays it's probably a lot of hassle timing everything though.

The Bangkok ones are a bit overpriced. It seems like someone could do pretty well buying some mid-range sub luxury <3 million baht condos within reasonable distance of the bts/mrt then lowball all the Thais trying to price gouge.

For example i'm seeing a lot of 1 br condos for $50 a night in Bangkok. That's $1,500 or 46,605 baht a freaking month! I understand there are vacancy periods and there's nothing wrong with charging a slight premium because it's a short stay but that's a ridiculous price. I've seen quite a few of those same 1 br condos only rent out for 15-20,000 a month in the same location. There are quite a few nice 1 br condos located close to the BTS/MRT that can be easily had for 3-4 million.

Here's an example of the gouging i'm talking about:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/953079

The Trendy is a mid-rise right smack dab in the p4p area. It's a decent condo building but 1br units there only go for around 4-5 million baht. Rentals can be had for 15-20k easy since a lot of people purchased investment units there. This lady is charging $44 a night when it should be like $30 tops.

Price for a 1br at Trendy :

http://www.ddproperty.com/en/property/r ... t-1-536267

It's even cheaper than what I thought it was.

[xiongmao]

$44 a night was about the same price I paid for my Bangkok hotel. And that was right in the heart of the monging district.

I'm now paying $21 a night for what could be Expedia's cheapest Bangkok hotel. I've got a nice little studio in a good neighbourhood.

You can stay in Bangkok for next to nothing if you share in a dorm room. Not sure if any of these places are the best for bringing a girl back to your room though - lol.

[Repatriate]

$44 a night was about the same price I paid for my Bangkok hotel. And that was right in the heart of the monging district.

Hotels operate under a different pricing structure since they are designed solely for short term tourists and business travelers. However for home stay type condos there's no reason the price should be 44+ something a night when the average is $17 a night (about 500 a month) for a long stay rental. 1.5 to 2 times daily average rental price seems more in line with the real world. Of course this depends on how high vacancy rates are for some of these condos. I'm guessing it's as high as 60% vacant days out of each month which is why they are jacking the price up so high. Keep in mind these condos they are renting out are not expensive at all. With a lower price they could probably maintain much higher occupancy rate and make much more profit each month.

Thais have this really bad habit of setting prices unrealistically high and driving off larger costumer bases.

[Jacaré]

XM,
Out of curiosity, which hotel is that? If you don't want to post it in the forum, you can pm me. I'm planning to return to BKK in the fall and would be cool to have some ideas.

Cheers!

[Winston]

$40 a night for a room in Thailand? I was told that you could get a hotel for $10 a night there, or an apartment for $200 a month there.

Why would anyone want to pay US prices in Thailand? No one goes to Thailand to pay American prices. That makes no sense. Are there people who think that others think that hotel prices are the same everywhere in the world as in America? lol

So why is Airbnb better than a hotel if the prices are similar? I don't get it.

Also, is the host required to provide breakfast or a TV in the room?

Maybe I can put up my spare bedrooms in Vegas on Airbnb? Would I have to provide breakfast and a TV in the guest room?

People can make a living renting out rooms like hotels on sites like this. That way they don't have to deal with renters. It's like Couchsurfing but with profit. lol

[Winston]

This isn't related to just Asia but I just found Airbnb which is basically a pay version of couchsurfer where people rent out their spare rooms or condos for travelers. Everything is automated like a hotel booking and from what I hear there's a lot less flakes and cancellations. The problem with couch surfing is that it can be rather hard to get accommodation in a high demand city since you're relying largely on the generosity of others.

Actually in big cities or medium cities, it's easy to get a host on Couchsurfing. There are thousands of profiles in each city now. It's just that it's time consuming to go through every profile and send a request. Now you can go to the city page and submit a request to everyone in the area who is available.

The thing with Couchsurfing is that it is not just a hotel, but a cultural exchange thing too. You can't just treat it like a hotel. You've got to entertain the host and do cultural exchange and try to learn from each other. So you've got to socialize and be a people person to use it. It's an interactive experience, not a hotel. Most of the time the interaction on Couchsurfing is superficial, but you can make some good quality friends on it sometimes too.

Also, the host does not have to accept everyone. Some probably only accept requests from those they find attractive. (even though they're not supposed to do that)

A quicker way to find a host is on Global Freeloaders:
http://www.globalfreeloaders.com

You can send one letter and check mark it to everyone in a particular location.

[tre]

I had never heard of that Couchsurfing website until now. I decided to look into it. I cannot believe how many people all over the world are willing to allow a stranger into their home to stay overnight. It's even more surprising to see extremely attractive women offering both women AND men a couch to sleep on for free. I'll bet that the majority are EXTREMELY choosy about who they let stay over...they'd have to be IMO.

[Winston]

I had never heard of that Couchsurfing website until now. I decided to look into it. I cannot believe how many people all over the world are willing to allow a stranger into their home to stay overnight. It's even more surprising to see extremely attractive women offering both women AND men a couch to sleep on for free. I'll bet that the majority are EXTREMELY choosy about who they let stay over...they'd have to be IMO.

The couchsurfing female hosts in America are very choosy about who they allow to stay over. But the European female couchsurfing hosts aren't. As long as you are interesting, genuine, and intelligent, they'd usually love to have you. European girls like genuine guys who are interesting and intelligent. They appreciate such qualities more. I've stayed with a lot of girls on Couchsurfing and HospitalityClub.org in Europe. But the ones in the US are very picky and only select guys they think are hot. lol

So in the US, you are mostly stuck with male Couchsurfing hosts. Or sometimes hippie girls in the US will take anyone too.

The one downside to Couchsurfing is that it's very politically correct. Most people on there only want to hear positive things about how great everything is.

Another similar site is HospitalityClub.org.

[Ghost]

.

[Winston]

So do sites like these only work for people who live in only the biggest, well-known cities of the world? I've signed up on sites that offered different services when I was still in the States, and I rarely found anyone around me. I'm already thinking of ways to make money once I return to the States for a while. Geography can be a tough thing to mitigate.

No. Couchsurfing and HospitalityClub are almost everywhere, even in smaller cities. Go to their sites and do a location search and you will see. HC lists each city by region and index. The list is very global and comprehensive. There are millions of people using those sites. But you have to be a real people person to fit into that. It's not a free hotel service.

[tre]

I had never heard of that Couchsurfing website until now. I decided to look into it. I cannot believe how many people all over the world are willing to allow a stranger into their home to stay overnight. It's even more surprising to see extremely attractive women offering both women AND men a couch to sleep on for free. I'll bet that the majority are EXTREMELY choosy about who they let stay over...they'd have to be IMO.

The couchsurfing female hosts in America are very choosy about who they allow to stay over. But the European female couchsurfing hosts aren't. As long as you are interesting, genuine, and intelligent, they'd usually love to have you. European girls like genuine guys who are interesting and intelligent. They appreciate such qualities more. I've stayed with a lot of girls on Couchsurfing and HospitalityClub.org in Europe. But the ones in the US are very picky and only select guys they think are hot. lol

So in the US, you are mostly stuck with male Couchsurfing hosts. Or sometimes hippie girls in the US will take anyone too.

The one downside to Couchsurfing is that it's very politically correct. Most people on there only want to hear positive things about how great everything is.

Another similar site is HospitalityClub.org.

I checked out Las Vegas, Nevada and I immediately got the feeling that girls in that area are looking for hot, foreign guys. It makes perfect sense as Las Vegas is an International destination and attractive girls can effortlessly pull in hot, foreign guys using this website. Guys offering to be hosts are looking for the same thing....hot foreign girls.

However, in Asia...the feeling is different. Girls want to host people as they, themselves want to be hosted abroad. Some of them are very attractive and have many positive reviews for men, women and couples that have been hosted by them. I'm sure some of them hook up with guests though...this system makes it all too easy IMO.

If I were single, I'd likely host females or couples (male and female). I doubt I'd host a male on his own for a couple of reasons that immediately come to mind. Since I live with my GF, I couldn't feel good about hosting anyone.

[tre]

So do sites like these only work for people who live in only the biggest, well-known cities of the world? I've signed up on sites that offered different services when I was still in the States, and I rarely found anyone around me. I'm already thinking of ways to make money once I return to the States for a while. Geography can be a tough thing to mitigate.

Since you are looking at profit, you'd want to have a place in a tourist destination. That could be big, well-known cities or a small town near a natural attraction (Sedona, Arizona....for example).