Airbnb – my review

[Bella]

I stayed in 2 x different studios in Seoul – I was in Korea for eye surgery and stayed there for about 2 weeks. Both of the places I stayed at where located near Apgujeong station and within walking distance from: Teiums, Regen, Grand, Dream, TL, The Face, JK and a couple of big skin clinics – namely Hsu Hsu and Oracle.

The studios itself were in a safe area, clean, larger than expected (for Korea) and the owners were really nice and helpful.

Both places were between USD$55-60 per night. I booked very late notice…this is bc my work is crazy and I kept putting off booking flights, accommodation, translators etc.

All in all i had a good experience with airbnb….however….

…not to scare anyone, but someone I met in Korea had money stolen from her apartment that she rented thru airbnb – approx USD$1000. She concluded it could only be the owner of the apartment. Now there’s no evidence of this, but there wasn’t any ‘forced entry’, most of the stuff in the flat was disturbed and the owner didn’t seem to concerned when she reported it to him. Again, this isn’t necessarily ‘evidence’, but come on, it’s doesn’t add up. Anyways long story short, she changed apartments and no more problems. I said her luckily she only had money stolen, it could have been worse!!!

I stress that my personal experience with airbnb was great and i would use them again. I will just make sure i book a place that has many positive reviews, which is what i did.

[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.

[Author]

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