Take advantage of AirBnB's service but do so well in advance.

Last minute planners heed my advice: while the raise of sites love AirBnB Couchsurfing and The Hospitality Club may seem like providers of a quick and cheap place to hang your hat they may in fact leave you high and dry.

I admit that New Year’s Eve is no time for last minute plan making particularly when headed to one of the most popular vacantion hotspots. I can’t help to think though that the parties to which these sites cater – backpackers or wanderers sans itinerary – are exactly the type to do just what I did: wait until three days before arrival with the false hope that the thousands of listings on AirBnB are just waiting for my reservations. We – my boyfriend and I – did find a reservation but we found it December 30 behind some 10-20 rejections or unanswered inquiries and so I write this  to advise you not to make the same mistake I did.

Though I’m glad it exists AirBnB is a bit misleading. After plugging in my location and desired date range I was relieved to see the 20-something pages of what I thought were available listings. I narrowed down the selection to entire apartments (as opposed to private rooms in occupied flats) and was serene left with many listings priced well under what I would pay for a last minute motel booking.

We were wrong though to hastily click “Book It” on the first attractive option. As it turns out “booking it” is no guarantee at all – your reservation is pending until accepted by the property’s owner or – like in our case – declined two days later.

Meanwhile in an attempt to find a backup I sent e-mails to numerous other owners.  Most went unanswered while those that didn’t received a disappointing notice of the apartment’s occupancy. The continued search grew quite irritating not only for the fact that so many booked apartments were still listed but also since my search specifications – both dates and cost – went half-ignored; properties through my price range appeared on the list as did ones available for a different set of dates entirely. My date range got completely wiped out got when viewing a particular place’s “similar listings” leaving me looking through a bunch of unavailable apartments and subsequently wasting my diminishing time.

I will use AirBnB again because let’s face it a little hassle is worth not breaking the bank on lodging alone. But what I thought was a great resource for the spontaneous student traveler requires a little thinking ahead. Take advantage of this precious resource just do so well in advance.