I’ve used Airbnb in Taiwan, Japan, Lisbon, Vancouver, Whistler, Washington DC, and New York. So far I’ve been pretty lucky and some of my more memorable stays were at a Penthouse in DC overlooking the Washington monument and a beautiful apartment in downtown Vancouver. It really helps to do your research and make sure there were previous reviews of the place. After doing some calculation I found it quite useful for family vacations since it gave us the opportunity to cook in the apartment. Dining out constantly with a family of 6 can get quite expensive. In the end, do some research and you can really find some hidden gems on airbnb.
@RBE, thank you. Why is that possible?
Does the law not require fire escape ladders?
Are the buildings too tall to make it down in time?
Now I think maybe the prices in that post are out of date.
Because so many of the buildings are really old, poorly maintained and nobody is enforcing the safety codes (to the extent they even exist). Everything is chabuduo in these parts.
Thank you @RBE. I found some good tips from this couple, who has been staying in Taiwan after the pandemic began.
https://www.nomadnumbers.com/top-tips-save-money-airbnb-guide/ says to focus on the pictures. And says try asking for a 20% discount!
When airbnb arrived in Taiwan a few years ago, there were much better deals. There was some kind of translation issue so most hosts offered both a first time discount and monthly discount which lead to some crazy deals (40%+25%)
However these days, either lack of inventory or too many guests, the price is much higher than two years ago. I’d rather stay at a hostel in Taipei for $10-20 a night, the $20 ones serve free breakfast and are very clean. $30 gets you a private room usually with no windows, and $50 is a regular hotel room.