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In the past, when I booked an airbnb, the address was shown after booking. Is this always the case?

  • I'd assume this was just luck. – Aganju Jul 03 '22 at 04:18
  • Once I was never given exact address. We went there and there was nothing. Then called landlord and he sent a boy to check if we were "appropriate" then led us to the apartment. This was in India though. – akostadinov Jul 03 '22 at 09:37

2 Answers2

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You need to be very careful because sometimes you only get the address 48 hours later -- when the free cancel period ends. While most bookings have "Exact location provided after booking":

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there are some where this is missing and of course no warning is shown

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According to a reddit post

Now that Airbnb has a "grace period" for bookings made with strict cancellation, they have stopped giving out the address details until the grace period is over. This happened because a lot of hosts (me included) felt that it was very unsafe to allow people to book, get our private info including address info and check-in details and then cancel within the grace period. So now they only give out specific address details after the grace period is over (48 hours after booking).

Which is partially not true because I have, up until now, received address information immediately after booking always -- but sometimes check in information was only given close to check in which was fine.

Airbnb help is not at all forthcoming about this -- while I can't find anything on the guest side of help about this, if you were to Google this problem you might land on this article which says

Your exact map location is available to confirmed guests,

Which is not true. Be mindful of this when using airbnb if location matters to you.

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    At the risk of having the loophole closed, … Usually the exact location isn't important, but there have been a couple of times where I used Google Street View to find the house in the picture. :-) – WGroleau Jul 03 '22 at 02:40
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    On one trip, the map location given was clearly not on the street the address said, the two places that could have been the address looked nothing like the photos, and the host did not answer any messages. REFUND!! – WGroleau Jul 03 '22 at 02:42
  • Good advice in the comments, maybe not 100% on topic bit worth keeping. – Willeke Aug 17 '22 at 10:18
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It depends on the landlord - there is no official requirement to give you the exact address at any time before you move in. I had cases where they send it only two days before, and cases where it is even in the offering. Sometimes you can also find the name in google maps.

I don't see a problem with that, but if it is important for you to know earlier, you could always contact the landlord and ask him - even before booking.
I can only imagine that this detail is an X-Y problem - you don't really need to know the exact address, but you need to know how far it is exactly from a specific point, like the bus station (having to carry heavy / lots of luggage 50 meters is quite different from 500 meters), or from a place you will need to get to every day, like for work or a training (again, walking 50m every day is quite different from walking 500m every day, especially if you walk with crutches), etc.
So consider what you really need to know, and ask.

Aganju
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  • Very very good point, with the X-Y distance yes! That's what triggered this post in the first place... –  Jul 03 '22 at 06:17
  • Sometimes it’s also important if the house is right next to a major highway/busy street or if it’s a bit down the block. – JonathanReez Jul 03 '22 at 06:23
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    I don’t think I would ever book without knowing in advance where exactly the property is and checking it out on Google Maps – jcaron Jul 03 '22 at 13:39
  • @jcaron that's the main downside of airbnb. – Franck Dernoncourt Jul 03 '22 at 21:20
  • @FranckDernoncourt I haven’t booked on Airbnb very often, but anytime I did I most certainly got a pretty precise location before booking, either directly or indirectly. – jcaron Jul 03 '22 at 21:23
  • @jcaron getting the exact location happens <20% of the time in my experience. Unsure how often the host is willing to give it if asked. – Franck Dernoncourt Jul 03 '22 at 21:25
  • I don't understand you guys - would you want pictures of your home, including everything worth stealing listed out, with the exact address and a calendar when it's uninhabited, in the internet? Thieves would be quite happy. Maybe AirBnB is not for you, better try a hotel. – Aganju Jul 03 '22 at 22:11
  • @FranckDernoncourt , I had only one case in fifteen where the address was not immediately given. It might depend where you book. – Aganju Jul 03 '22 at 22:12
  • @Aganju how often before booking? – Franck Dernoncourt Jul 03 '22 at 22:17
  • Rarely, but as I said above, that would be rather stupid from them; and I really don't care if it's two houses down the road or not - the reviews tell me how noisy it is. – Aganju Jul 03 '22 at 22:19
  • @Aganju why stupid? – Franck Dernoncourt Jul 03 '22 at 22:53
  • See four lines above. It's an invite to thieves to break in. – Aganju Jul 03 '22 at 22:54
  • @Aganju oh I see got it, fair point. Could give address without APT/Unit though if in large building. – Franck Dernoncourt Jul 03 '22 at 22:56
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    @Aganju If I didn’t want photos of my house + address + calendar of occupancy online, I wouldn’t put it on Airbnb? – Tim Jul 04 '22 at 09:12
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    I can only imagine that this detail is an X-Y problem — I moved from Canada to England in 2015. I didn't know the address initially indicated was fake. Having just arrived, I had no mobile phone coverage as I had no local SIM and no Canada-UK roaming, so I did not know I had been sent a corrected address three hours before arrival until I went to a local pub to use the wifi on my laptop. Very annoying and one of the reasons why I avoid Airbnb when I can (I only use it if there's nothing else), as I've never seen normal bed & breakfasts or hotels hide the location until the last moment. – gerrit Jul 04 '22 at 09:45
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    @Aganju If you put it on Airbnb, it's not a home, it's a hospitality business. Homes are private places. Hospitality businesses are not private places. If you want your home to be private, then don't run your hospitality business at the same place as where you live and don't invite paying guests into your home. – gerrit Jul 04 '22 at 09:49