Reply To: Airbnb – my review

[Jeet Singh]

It’s good to hear you had a good experience and that story is scary. The best way to safe guard yourself is check reviews and if the owner has validated their identity on AirBNB.

Koreans for the most part are pretty honest, but there are bad eggs. You want to make sure you keep the fact you’re getting surgery on the down low from hosts you don’t feel 100% trust from because they can presume you have cash on you, and if they don’t do it, they may blab to other people who are shady by accident. One thing I recommend is to keep your valuables in unconventional places that people don’t check like non transparent food containers in a freezer or in a cereal box blended next to other cereal boxes – sometimes hiding things in plain sight works, but has its risks, so be creative and take precautions. When a break-in happens, the perpetrators are usually in and out quick, so they will target suit cases, drawers, etc…

Korean door locks tend to be electronic pin codes that look like an ATM machine. Ask your owner to reset your code the day you check in, and watch them to do it. Maybe a previous tenant who moved to another spot entered the residence or if the pin wasn’t changed they blurted it out loud in the hallway.

Also you want to ask the owner if there is CCTV cameras in and around the building – this can help prevent or track down a thief. Seoul CCTV coverage is amazing, so tracking people down is not as hopeless as other cities.