Our First Airbnb Stay

We had a bat mitzvah to attend in Philly last month that also happened to coincide with my birthday! I decided since we were already ditching the kids for the day, we should make a trip out of it and stay overnight. After a quick look around at hotel prices, I decided to take a peek at Airbnb.

Like most of you, I was super nervous about booking our first Airbnb stay. I scoured reviews, compared prices and mapped everything I could to make sure we were going to be in an area that we wanted to be.

If you’re new to Airbnb, you can save $40 on your first reservation (with a value of at least $75, excluding taxes and fees). Each night of your stay does not need to be $75, just your total reservation. That means if you find somewhere for $25/night, you could stay 3 nights and your stay would qualify to use the credit. To get this discount, just click here or on the image below.

Booking an Airbnb is simple, just like booking a hotel online. You just search the area you want to stay, plug your dates in and find something that works for you. You can narrow down the features and search by price, too.

An important thing to look at when searching for your perfect Airbnb is what all is included: parking, dishes, towels and linens, toiletries, etc. Although it may not make or break it for you, you’ll want to be prepared either way!

Here is the home we decided to stay at in Philadelphia, just a few minutes away from everything.

Our first stay at an Airbnb was great!

We were emailed the code to a lock box outside the house that contained our keys. After that, it was just like home. The host was available by email or text if we needed anything (which we didn’t).

Here’s a quick tour of our Airbnb in Philadelphia.

As you can see, this place would have been large enough for the family if we opted to rent the second bedroom. Of course, the kids probably wouldn’t have minded crashing downstairs in the living room either.

Thanks to our great Airbnb experience, I’ll definitely be checking into using it more when we go on trips as a family and quick getaways for just Mom and Dad.

After wandering around the city in the freezing cold, we ended up picking up a bottle of wine and a cheese steak to enjoy back at our home for the night.

We flipped on the football game (it was playoff season) and sat on the couch.

I like being able to stay somewhere that feels like home and I think that’s definitely the appeal of Airbnb.