How to Score the Airbnb of Your Dreams Every Time

We love living in beautiful spaces no matter where we are in the world. After all, we’re not on a two week vacation. We’re on an open-ended journey with no permanent home anywhere else in the world. 

With that in mind, every apartment we stay in needs to be comfortable enough to call home — at least for a month. After all, for all the time we spend exploring our latest destination, we spend even more time inside, whether we’re having a meal, working out, relaxing or sleeping. 

But a perfect apartment doesn’t just fall into our laps with each new destination. It has to pass a rigorous search process and deliver on our list of non-negotiable features and amenities. And hopefully on a couple of our nice-to-haves as well. 

Our non-negotiables

It’s been quite a journey to figure out what’s most important to us in a long-stay apartment. When we rented Airbnbs during our working lives, it was only for a few nights at the most. We would choose apartments that felt like vacation getaways. In Finland we had a micro loft with a hammock. In Japan we slept on the floor on traditional tatami mats. In Bali we stayed in a lavish 3-bedroom villa with our family. 

All of these were really memorable experiences but totally inappropriate for a long-term stay. After some trial and error, we’ve finally figured out exactly what we’re looking for in an Airbnb. 

First up is an uncluttered space. We really struggle to be comfortable in an apartment when there’s lots of other people’s stuff around. We appreciate clean, empty surfaces and also clean, empty cupboards. 

We learned this the hard way by booking a few Airbnbs that were just bursting full of stuff. Our very first apartment in Istanbul was like that. There was a whole office space that we couldn’t even go into because it was so full of stuff. 

Gillian had to spend the first couple days running around and tucking things away in cupboards. I’m even more allergic to clutter than she is so I said, “let me know when you’re done.”

Next up is a modern kitchen and bathroom. In fact, I love it when the listing says those magic words: “recently renovated.” Gillian is less fussed whether it’s modern or traditional. As long as it’s a pleasant room and well equipped, she happy.

We both love a large comfortable couch. Some of the smaller spaces we stayed in had equally small couches. In Krakow we had a tiny two seater couch in our little studio. I often found myself sitting on the bed because two seats were already taken by our two dogs. We’ve learned that we actually need seating for four, even though only two of us are humans. 

We’ve also found that we need a proper dining table with comfortable dining chairs. We use it a lot for both working and eating. This was a real issue at our place in Ukraine. The only seating available was either a really uncomfortable vinyl couch, or some really uncomfortable Ikea stools. Fortunately we were only there a couple weeks so it was a relatively easy lesson to learn.

This next one is really important: a washing machine. We didn’t have one when we were in Florence and it was a real pain to send Gillian to wash our clothes every week at the laundromat. And I had to just relax at home and read a book and wait for her to be done — although I do always good the laundry.

We knew this one was important but just didn’t realize just how important: having lots and lots of natural light. Last year we stayed in an historic apartment in the town of Lecce in Italy. The living room was really well put together with lots of traditional touches. The only thing it was missing were any windows. We found ourselves hanging out in the bedroom, which was the only room with lots of light.

Nice-to-haves 

It turns out that we’re not too fussed about having a dishwasher. Even though we cook a lot, we don’t mind taking 15 or 20 minutes to clean up a few times a day. Don’t get me wrong — we’re happy when there is a dishwasher. But we wouldn’t rule out an apartment just because it doesn’t have one. 

We also don’t mind an open-concept studio apartment when it’s well designed. We originally thought it was important to have a separate bedroom. But after having good experiences in large studio spaces, we find we don’t mind them at all. 

Finally, we’ve discovered that we can live without an oven, which was a surprise. This is fortunate because many apartments in warmer countries can lack an oven. Yes, it can be tough to do all the cooking we need on a stovetop. But in a pinch we can get creative. 

Again, it’s always better when we do have things like an oven or a dishwasher but we’ve learned to compromise. When you have as many non-negotiables as we do, it’s good to let go of a few things. 

Those are the features and amenities that we look for on the inside. But we also have a list of things we look for on the outside.

Exterior

The first thing we want in an apartment is a central location. We like to be relatively close to the main attractions and good restaurants. Ideally everything will be within walking distance. Or in a bigger city there will be great connections to public transit. We also really like to have a bit of an ambiance to our neighbourhood. So that could be a few cafes and restaurants or maybe a beautiful view. 

Our next outdoor essential is a green space. Going on walks a few times a day is a non-negotiable for our furry travel companions. So we usually look to have a nearby park. 

Finally, we need easy access to groceries, whether it’s a market or grocery store. 

The search

Getting an apartment that meets our long list of requirements means hours of searching on Airbnb or other websites. There’s really no way around taking the time to go through dozens or hundreds of listings. 

In terms of what we’re looking for, there’s the listing itself. We’re scanning  for photos and descriptions that show us this apartment will have all the features and amenities we look for. Then we comb through every single comment looking for clues. We want to see if previous guests are talking about things that you can’t see in a photo, like how well equipped the kitchen is; or if the neighbours are noisy; or if it’s cold in the winter. 

We’re also looking for clues about the host. We want to know whether the host is attentive and responsive and takes care of issues right away. So we zero in on those listings where guests speak enthusiastically about their hosts. 

Cost 

Of course, being so fussy doesn’t come cheap. We started this journey with a strict budget $900 USD per month for our accommodations. We quickly discovered that $900 USD doesn’t go very far in some of the countries we visited. 

We eventually increased our budget to $1250 USD per month and we’re even willing to go higher depending on local conditions. We do try to negotiate a fair price with each host but ultimately we are willing to pay more for a space we’ll really enjoy.  To see just how much more we paid last year, you can check out our cost of living round up right here. For us, being comfortable doesn’t come cheap.