Airbnb apartment: what can go wrong and how to keep yourself safe

European countries are gradually reopening for Ukrainian tourists. This means that accommodation for the trip duration is again becoming relevant! One option is to rent an apartment through Airbnb. It'd seem that everything is simple. But when renting an apartment from a stranger through a service, you should always stay alert.

Airbnb doesn't require any identifiers other than an email address and phone number, so anyone can be the owner of the apartment you rent. When registering on the site, even real names or profile pictures aren't required. This means that you may find yourself in the same home as a convicted criminal, sexual predator, thief, or fraudster. In addition, the addresses of the houses aren't verified, which means that the property may not even exist and you'll make a prepayment for the non-existent apartment.

The fact that the service is unsafe has been proven many times; this is evidenced by numerous publications about cases that happened to tenants. We looked at the typical situations that are most often encountered during a bad rental experience and have drawn up safety rules for you to avoid such stories.