A little while ago I wrote a post titled Five reasons why Airbnb is not really for me. As I write this, I am staying in an apartment on a beach in Thailand that I booked through Airbnb.
Things have been going so well, so far at least, that it seems that I have some explaining to do.
First of all, I do stand by some of what I wrote. There is no way that I’m going to stay in a room in somebody else’s home while they are there. I’m not even comfortable staying with friends, so that proviso still stands.
I’ll also note, in mitigation, that I said a note from the owner about a nice local place to visit wouldn’t be much use compared to the knowledge of a hotel concierge. But I added: “Unless you plan on staying for weeks or months, you’re never going to get a handle on the place.”
Which is what I am doing here on Mae Ramphueng Beach (pictured) in Ban Phe Municipality, in Thailand’s Rayong province.
I knew I wanted to stay in this part of the world, because I’m thinking of purchasing a place here and this is a “try before you buy” experience. I’ve set aside some “me” time to do just that.
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So I Googled it, and discovered that hotel booking sites, like booking.com, couldn’t help me for a long-term stay. But Airbnb could, and did.
I’m staying for four-and-a-half months in a very pleasant one-bedroom condo just across the road from the Gulf of Thailand. I can see the beach from the balcony, as well as the forest behind the building, and I can hear singing the birds in the trees and feel the fresh ocean breeze in my face.
This stretch of the 12-kilometre-long beach has a few hotels and high-rise apartment buildings, a lot of vacant space, a pub, a couple of restaurants and some “mom and pop” shops.
One of the resorts caters for Chinese tourists, who are regularly brought in and out on a fleet of four or five luxury coaches, but they seem to stay for only a couple of days. They sometimes have raucous entertainment evenings, but I can’t hear them from where I am.
There are a few resident expats, including a large number of Swedes, but also Russians, Germans and Brits (and, allegedly, some other Australians). A lot of Thais own holiday homes here, and I’m told things can get busy when they descend from Bangkok during public holidays and the vacation period.
Right now, however, it’s the quiet season — and that’s just the way I like it. I’m told things will start to fire up in late November, early December. But I’ll be gone by then.
Anyway, back to Airbnb. So far, the process has been painless. I’m paying in installments by credit card over a secure server, and the owner has addressed all my questions by email.
This is the way it’s supposed to work. And if it always does work this way, then I might just be a convert. I’ll let you know for sure in a few months.
