13 Ways to Save Money with Airbnb

Are you looking for how to get a discount on Airbnb? Well, here are 13 different Airbnb tips for guests to save money on Airbnb bookings!

If you are not familiar with Airbnb, Airbnb is a community marketplace where people list, discover, and book places to stay all over the world. You can list your place or can stay at someone’s place.

The platform is a great way to find great places to stay and there is a lot of different opportunities to save money!

I’ve used Airbnb a lot and I have never had a bad experience, but because it is a community marketplace, you do need to use some caution. I do a lot of research and read a lot of reviews before booking!

I use Airbnb a lot for family travel as of late because it gives us a little extra space with two young kids. You can read more about my favorite ways to travel with young kids if you are interested.

Below are 13 ways to save money with Airbnb to get the most savings possible:

1. Sign up with a referral link for a FREE $40 Airbnb Credit

If you don’t have an account with Airbnb, make sure to sign up with a referral link. New users can get a FREE $40 Credit (my referral link) with a friends link and can be applied to your first booking of $75 or more!

You have one year from sign up to use the free $40, excluding taxes and guest fees.

If you just create account with no referral link, you get no perks or coupons, so make sure to sign up for a new account with a referral link to get some free credit.

To get free Airbnb credit, please sign up through my referral link here!

2. Refer a Family Member or Friend for more FREE Credit!

Once you create an account, you can refer your friends and family to Airbnb to earn more free credit!

Every person you refer, they would receive a free $40 credit and you would too! You have up to a year before your referral credit from a friend expires, and you can earn up to $5,000 in credit.

Referral credit through Airbnb is nice because you can combine credit, so if you refer 2 people, you get to use the $80 credit in one transaction, instead of taking two trips with the $40 discount.

You can share your Airbnb referral code to friends and family via e-mail, Facebook post, various social media channels, or your personal blog like this!

I love booking through Airbnb, and appreciate it if you use my friend referral code, however, I totally understand if you’d rather go through a friend or family member to help them out!

Just don’t sign up without anything because you’ll lose out on free money!

Keep in mind that Airbnb will sometimes change the terms of the referral program or the credit amount, so something to keep in mind and keep an eye on.

You’ll also get even more free credit if a referral decides to host, and of course more if they host and travel.

3. Book Early

The best places on Airbnb tend to go first: the places with the best hosts, the most unique properties, best views, and places that are the best overall value.

Hosts can set their own prices and sometimes they will prefer high occupancy and/or high satisfaction over high prices.

The best places and the best value places will tend to go early, so book early if you want a great place for the dates you are looking for.

4. Book Last Minute

If you are looking for a great price, you may want to roll the dice and book last minute.

This can definitely be hit or miss, especially depending on your travel location and dates.

However, sometimes hosts will drop prices at the last minute for their rental because some money is better than no money if the rental stays empty.

I’ve noticed hosts dropping the rates at the last minute (day before and such) to entice last minute booking.

I’ve also seen many properties stay at the exact same price without any movement.

However, you can find places that will be cheaper or offer a last minute discount because otherwise they would be receiving nothing at all.

We once got a great rate because of a last minute cancellation too so their loss was our gain!

5. Be Flexible with Travel Dates

Having flexible travel dates will help you find a great place at a great price. Unlike a hotel that has many rooms available all at once, a host will likely just have one or two, so having flexible dates can be helpful.

Weekday dates and off season dates tend to be cheaper, but it really depends on where you go and when.

Having flexibility with dates, and the number of days in your stay, can help save money in the long run.

6. Split with Friends

Splitting an AirBnB house rental with friends or family is a great way to save money on a place to stay.

We’ve split a house with family for a wedding, and it ended up being cheaper renting a big house then staying in a small hotel room per couple/family– and a lot more fun!

Look for houses with lots of room and amenities, and split it with other family or friends.

It can make that $500 a night a lot less intimidating if you are splitting it with 8 people!

Girls weekend, anyone?

7. Utilize the Kitchen and Perks of a House

Things like a full kitchen can be such a money saver because you can make food at home instead of eating out for 2-3 meals a day.

It may not be an initial money saver when you book the hotel, but throughout your stay, it may end up being cheaper than a studio hotel room.

Other perks like pool, beach frontage, free parking, washer & dryer, tennis courts, free entertainment, etc. are great perks that may save money elsewhere in the budget.

House perks can help save money on your trip and should be considered when booking a place! Plus house perks usually make a trip much more special!

I love looking at house perks and finding unique and fun properties that you can’t find elsewhere!

8. Look at all the Costs and Fees

When booking through Airbnb, you really need to keep ALL the costs in mind when finding a place.

It can be a little tricky, especially for newbies!

See the example above where the first place is $320 a night and the second is $343 a night, but when you look at the total cost for my four day trip, the second place comes out cheaper.

It’s because people can pick what they want to charge per night as well as other fees. I could charge $100 a night with a $50 cleaning fee or I may decide to charge $150 and clean the room myself with no fees attached.

However, when you are looking you may be more apt to book the $100 place, but they are the same exact price. You really need to look at the total number to see how fees will figure out to find the best place for the best price.

You also need to keep in mind the extra perks too! Although place #2 ended up being cheaper, it could be in fact #1 cheaper in the long run because it may come with a beach rights, and you won’t have to pay $20/day to park or whatever!

There’s so many different fees and factors to keep in mind when finding the best place for the best price!

However, I always look at that total price first because it will give be a good estimate where the major fees will land.

Also, if there’s a major perk like beach frontage, many listings will put it right in the title or the very first line so you don’t have to look too far for the big perks!

9. Stay Longer for Discounts

Some hosts will give a variety of discounts and others won’t give any, but a popular discount is for long stays!

Most hosts would prefer one person staying a week then a different person staying every night. A lot less work for them.

You’ll find a lot of hosts will give discounts to encourage longer stays. It will vary, but staying for a week will usually give you a good 10-25%, but will vary depending on the host.

I was looking at a place for 6 days, and accidentally hit 7 when playing with my dates, and it ended up being $100 LESS if I stayed for a week compared to staying for just 6 days thanks to a 25% weekly discount rate.

I would have booked that 7th stay even if I didn’t need it because I would have saved money, and I wouldn’t have to worry about an early checkout, and just left when I needed too on that 6th day if I couldn’t extend my trip for 7 days!

Play around with your dates and see what the discounts are for extending your stay– sometimes it’s cheaper to stay longer!

Weekly and monthly discounts are the norm, but it will vary depending on the place and host.

10. Change Your Filters and Keep Looking

Airbnb can be a little overwhelming because there can be a lot of different options or hardly anything– depending on location and dates!

However, every time I look for a place, I seem to find something new and interesting!

If you feel a little stuck with the options at hand for your dates and preferences, try to tweek the filters a little bit.

Change your dates, number of bedrooms, pricing, location, number of people, whatever it may be, and you’ll probably find something new.

I always find new listings when I play around with filters, or sit on a trip and check back later and will usually find new stuff.

11. Stay at a New Listing

It is typically solid advice to stay at a Superhost property or a place with a lot of strong reviews as their are some duds on Airbnb too.

However, if you are looking to maximize your savings, you *may* want to book a new listing.

New listings are typically cheaper because they don’t have the reviews that an established listing has.

A new listing needs reviews to get more bookings, and a host knows that. A host will often do a sale for the first 3 people that book within a certain time frame, get 25% off their stay, or something similar.

We did take advantage of this once, although I said I would never book an Airbnb without reviews.

I made an exception because the place was a multi-family unit and the apartment next door was already listed with the same host and he tons of reviews with that listing. The host was also a SuperHost. The place was also hundreds dollars less than anything thing else that weekend, including dinky hotel rooms, and this was a 2 bedroom apartment downtown!

The place we scored was just renovated and the host was rushing to get it done for Memorial Day weekend. I found it the night before we left for our trip. Last minute trip with a great last minute price + 25% new listing discount = Major Score!

Be careful with this tip though. Make sure you are comfortable with the listing. There are great hosts out there that are just getting started that to get started and need a break, and their are others who definitely don’t and shouldn’t host.

If you have the time, you can also wait to see if any reviews come on. I’d look at the availability calendar first and see if there’s upcoming dates unavailable, and if so, I’d wait and see if people stayed and reviewed.

The unavailable dates may just mean that a host is going to stay at the house, but it could also be an upcoming guest with a review!

My mom LOVED a house for a wedding in a few months but it was brand spanking new and there were no reviews on it.

I told her to wait a few weeks and they’d probably be reviews. (Wedding was in October, it was prime time July). She ignored me, booked her second favorite choice because she was impatient, and then she checked it a month later and saw a spew of 5-star reviews.

She was sad she didn’t wait because the reviews were great and our dates in October were still available. However, it could have gone the other way too. It always a gamble.

12. Look for Credit Card Cashback Points for booking with Airbnb

You may want to check your credit card or any places were you get at discounts or perks.

I noticed my Chase Credit Card was offering 5% cashback when I booked an Airbnb stay through my Chase Credit.

I’ll receive the 5% cashback on my statement balance as long as I use my Chase card. If I’m going to book through Airbnb anyway and use a credit card anyway, I may as well get that extra 5% back!

Check your offer tab from your credit card to see if you got any offers from your credit cards to see if you can combine for even more savings!

13. Ask for a Discount

And lastly, ask for a discount. This is one tip I have never personally done.

I’m not really the haggling type and don’t like to bother people. However, it’s a great way to save money with Airbnb.

BUT, you can always ask for a discount. Airbnb is a marketplace of regular people listing their homes, cabins, condos, beach house, tents, igloos, etc. and you can always message people and ask questions.

You can even ask the person if they would consider a discount.

It doesn’t mean they will say yes though.

However, if you have a good approach, ask nicely, and be reasonable, they may go for it.

You may also have better luck if it’s a last minute type of trip. You could reach out a few days before and see if they’d offer any discounts if they don’t have any booking within the next few days, and if it’s still available, you’d be interested at ::insert number amount here::

I think the longer you stay, the better chance you have at receiving a deal.

It can’t hurt to ask. Right?

Have you tried asking for a discount before? Are you an Airbnb host that have granted discount requests?

To book on Airbnb or to get a free $40 credit to put towards your first stay, please head here.

Do you have any money saving tips for Airbnb? What is your favorite way for Airbnb Savings?