Anyone tried flipkey?

[NZflygirl]

https://www.flipkey.com/bali-villa-...=7&rates-max=350&rates-min=100&sort-price=asc

Just an example above. I guess it's tripadvisor's answer to Airbnb although you can now get Qantas points with Air Bnb. They do other regions also but wondering if anyone had any experience with them. The thing I dislike the most about Air bnb is the host's ability to cancel the reservation at short notice. We tried them once a few years ago and it was ok. I would like to try out these homes away from home a bit more.

 

[Franky]

Hi there - I used this service recently to book an apartment in Florence, of which there are about 3500 available. My wife and others needed to attend a nursing conference there, along with about 4300 other attendees. Our experience was great, the apartment picked itself with the excellent reviews of it and the owner, everything went as it should. However, a colleague of my wife who made a booking at one place, and then cancelled and booked another, was having problems getting her deposit back, with the owner and Flipkey both saying it was the others' problem. Not sure how that was resolved, if at all. Before booking, I read the T&Cs, and questioned then on refunds, but was basically told it was all care and no responsibilty. Many apartments are owned and managed by owners direct, other apartments seemed to be owned by realtors of some sort. Some wanted only a deposit in advance, some wanted it all up front. Flipkey is a TripAdvisor subsiduriary, so I was reasonably happy that all would go well. It was pretty seamless, we shared the apartment with others attending the conference. There were buses close by, along with a mini mart which stocked all of our needs, and compared to the exorbidant prices being asked for by the conference hotels, we had a relatively cheap 9 day holiday in that great city. As stated by many of the reviewers of our property, the owner turned up with the key on our arrival, along with a bottle of wine, as well as organising cabs for us on departure. Would recommend the system, read the reviews and I'm sure it will wotk for you.

 

[NZflygirl]

Aloha!

Yeah I imagine that's probably the tricky part is cancellations/change of plans. It's incredibly rare this happens to me. I don't think I'd want to pay all up front yet I prefer that method when booking hotel/motels. As you've pointed out I like the price and I guess perceived value for money which can be out of proportion for some hotels. The partner booked an air bnb once and it was ok but ages from transport and I've not booked anything otherwise from them but was impressed with a list of properties on flipkey. I'm glad to hear you had a good experience. Sounds like it's worth a go as long as my plans won't change.