They sold the building! or finding alternate lodging

We got an email this week from one of the Air BnB hosts notifying us that they had sold the building and therefore our reservation was being cancelled.  Thankfully it was just for one night in a town where there are other options, and also thankfully we were given several weeks' notice so we could secure alternate lodging.

We knew that was a risk when booking with Air BnB, and we were actually a bit surprised when we were able to find a location that allowed a one-night reservation.  It's an older building that had been a hotel in a previous life that the owners converted to small apartments to rent.

One of the things I did when deciding where to stay for each night of our trip was to check out the lodging possibilities.  What I mean by that is if we were going with an Air BnB, a boutique hotel or bed-and-breakfast, or other less-traditional accommodations, I made note of whether there was a nearby hotel that would meet our requirements.  I'm glad I did that because when we got the notification, instead of panicking about where we would stay, I referred to my notes, checked TripAdvisor reviews again, and selected the hotel.  In this case, it's about 2.5 miles away from where the Air BnB was, and it's about half the cost.  It also means we'll be doing laundry at the hotel rather than more conveniently in the Air BnB, but that's no big deal.  (Although it's more convenient to do it ensuite than having to go to the laundry room.)

Our trip planning tip from this is to have a back-up plan for locations that are less populated so you don't get stuck scrambling to find a place to stay.  I wouldn't go so far as to make a reservation at your back-up place, but if it's somewhere you feel a bit anxious about having a cancellation, you can certainly do that - just make sure you are aware of the cancellation policy and know that if you're holding a reservation that you don't think you'll use, you may be preventing someone else from staying (because they'll have likely had to make other arrangements).  Somewhere is the right balance between being prepared and being over-prepared.

~ Cindy D.