STAY AT
MY PLACE
F
irst there was couch surfing, then thanks to the web
and social media there was CouchSurfing.org,
which let people all over the world find couches to
crash on. Now savvy travelers looking for a unique
and local place to stay in Eugene or across the
planet can use Airbnb.com to find a room, studio
or cottage for their vacation getaway.
Airbnb.com is a self-described “community market-
place” that allows users to search for privately owned
lodgings in locations all over the world. Hosts advertise
their properties with pictures and descriptions while guests
Airbnb makes any home
a vacation destination BY AMY SCH NE IDE R
simply type in their destination of choice and can look
through pages of available bookings, including rooms,
studios and cottages.
“I’m sold on Airbnb,” Margot McDonnell says, who uses
the service to rent out her studio apartment near the UO.
McDonnell, a retired elementary school principal, says
she started using the site in May 2011 after meeting with a
friend who recommended the service. Since then, McDon-
nell says she and her husband have hosted around 30
guests, all of whom were “great and conscientious.”
Airbnb-listed properties are typically less expensive
MARGOT
MCDONNELL’S
EUGENE
STUDIO
FOR RENT
THROUGH
AIRBNB
than hotels, she says, which contributes to the appeal of
booking with Airbnb. Nightly prices in Eugene range any-
where from $18 to $450, but the majority of properties fall
well under $100.
The bed-and-breakfast finder is a portal to a variety of
destinations. In Portland, over 500 rentals are listed for
$100 a night or less. Shakespeare lovers will appreciate the
68 rentals in Ashland (and beer lovers, too; one rental touts
“Learn about Beer — Stay with Us”), while skiers can
lodge in Bend by choosing from 76 locations. For the
world traveler, a penthouse overlooking the harbor in
Copenhagen, Denmark, goes for $107 a night, a private
room in Reyðarfjörður, Iceland, is $41 a night, and for
those looking to be a bit warmer, $500 gets you your own
island in Fiji. The economy-minded can stay in a shared
room on Fiji’s Coral Coast for only $22 a night.
For those of us who want to make sure that shared room
or penthouse is a nice as the photos makes it seem, one of
the most important aspects of Airbnb, according to
McDonnell, is the review system. Both hosts and guests
can leave reviews of each other, highlighting good experi-
ences and taking note of bad ones. With enough reviews,
potential guests get a sense of what it’s like to stay at a
listed location.
“It’s a whole range of places,” says Deborah Basler, an
Airbnb host in Eugene. “You can go from palatial places to
sleeping on someone’s couch.” Basler says her guests stay
at her cottage because it’s close to the UO and it offers a
more personal experience than a hotel.
Airbnb host McDonnell, who has also stayed in Airbnb
rentals in Brooklyn and Oakland as a guest, says that hosts
with many positive reviews are usually a good choice.
From experience, she says she now prefers to go with list-
ings that offer to rent out an entire apartment rather than a
single room, for the sake of privacy.
“It’s an up-and-coming business and well-run,” McDon-
nell says. “I think that the hotel industry should start pay-
ing closer attention to it.” ■
PHOTO COURTESY AIRBNB
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HEIGHTS IN
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eugeneweekly.com • October 18, 2012
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