You are looking for accommodation and you do a search for Airbnb Exmouth WA. Great, lots of accommodation to choose from. But what actually is Airbnb, how do they operate and how does the booking proceed. These little tips are the most asked questions from my Airbnb bookings.

Insiders tips to how Airbnb works.

'I've booked an Airbnb!' I hear this one all the time. No you haven't booked an Airbnb, you have booked a property/bed/shed/granny flat/caravan/shoebox through a third party website located overseas, called Airbnb. So great for Airbnb (the brand) to now have half the western world calling all holiday accommodation other than a hotel room an 'Airbnb'. Great branding, well done.

When you book through Airbnb (like ALL third party offshore booking services like HomeAway, Booking.com, Agoda etc) you are paying them, not paying the owner of the property or the managers of the property. Airbnb pay us (the managers) once you are in residence. So if for some reason you need to cancel or change your booking and there is money involved, then all proceedings go through Airbnb, not us. Guests can find it difficult when they want to speak to someone. Operators are offshore and in different time zones.

In the enquiry stage through Airbnb. You cannot post any contact information. Guests will often say 'ring me' and post a mobile. This information is blocked from us. We cannot post an email or web address either. I totally understand that Airbnb want to retain security and also want to retain a potential booking.

Price differences

Pricing of your property, booked through Airbnb, will always be more expensive than if you booked directly with the managers or the owners. This makes perfect sense. Airbnb are a business, they need to make their cut as well as everyone else. So they will have their commissions, fees etc on top of what the owners may charge or the managers. The payout to us is roughly (as close as we can calculate) what we would have charged the guest should they have booked direct with us. The difference can be anything from $100 up to nearly $800 on some bookings. We have found that guests who do 'shop around' and eventually find us can claim some huge discrepancies in rates.

Saying all that, some guests just like to book through Airbnb as they are comfortable with the format and the procedure, and that is fine by us. We just want you to have all the facts.

Booking Direct

If you do a search for Exmouth Holiday Homes, which would seem obvious to me, you will find us on page 1. If you do a search for Airbnb Exmouth WA you will also find us the managers on page 1. Ningaloo Holiday Homes, page 1.

Booking direct with Ningaloo Reef Holiday Homes will guarantee you the best possible price, guaranteed.

When it goes wrong

So you have decided to book an Airbnb Exmouth WA property. You get there, only to find it looks nothing like the photos, it is filthy and you are stuck in an industrial estate. I say this with some certainty as this is what happened to some desperate guests who rang me today looking for accommodation today. Trying to get out of their Airbnb booking which was 'nothing' like the photos or the description. These sorts of situations are very rare. But, buyer beware! Think it through. Anyone can list their 'place/space' for rental. No checks or balances.

#bookdirect

I am not having a go at Airbnb, on the contrary, I stay in many holiday homes which I have booked through Airbnb, and have only had great experiences and quality accommodation. But if I see that the property is hosted by 'Mary' who hosts another 10 properties in the town, then I most definitely go out of my way to find 'Mary', as she will give me the best price, the personal service that I may need, and I know for sure that what I am booking is what I am going to get.

So instead of automatically doing a search for Airbnb Exmouth WA, how about looking at the local businesses that are also listed on page 1 of your search results.

I will jump off that soapbox now. #bookdirect