Stay For Free with Airbnb – The Best Referral Scheme We Know
Table of Contents
Stay For Free with Airbnb – The Best Referral Scheme We Know
Airbnb has become one of the easiest way to find affordable accommodation all around the world.
It’s an option that can save you a lot of money while traveling and also give you some of the most unique lodging experiences.
For the past 3 years we have been traveling for free with Airbnb all over the world, in Europe, Africa, Bali and many other places and now we want to show you how to do it too.
First of all, let us tell you a little bit about how it works.
What is Airbnb?
Airbnb is a service that gives you access to 5+ million unique places to stay in, with prices starting as low as 5$ per night. It is available in more than 81,000 cities and 191 countries and the reason it has become so popular is that you can choose an accommodation for any type of budget or activities.
It’s more like having a home away from home and it’s a great alternative to traditional accommodation. There’s a ridiculous amount choice, starting from standard rooms to lofts, boats, luxurious apartments, lofts or downtown houses.
You can even stay in castles, camper vans or somewhere you never thought possible before.
For example this place…
So how does Airbnb work?
To get started on Airbnb, you need to first sign up and create a profile. If you sign up with a referral code, you will immediately receive in your account £25 free credit to use towards your accommodation.
Having a complete profile with all your details is important to the hosts as you can also receive reviews from them. After your stay, you can submit your review of the owner and/or the property.
You can find the right accommodation by using the filter search, selecting location, price, amenities, neighborhood, and more.
Once you send a request, the host has 24 hours to accept or decline your request. Any other arrangements can be done through direct messages on Airbnb, which makes it perfect for when you need late or early check-in or check-out, or you have any other special additional requests.
We have hardly ever had any issues with the host or the accommodation, but even if there is a problem then Airbnb are quick to step in and resolve any disputes.
The Unique Airbnb’s we’ve stayed in:
We have been lucky enough to stay in designer villas, classy apartments and treehouses, bamboo huts and even gothic lofts. We’ll just show you a few examples of the places we stayed in, on different continents.
If you want to receive £31 on Airbnb for free (which will pretty much get you a night in any of these0, then all you have to do is sign up here.
After searching for a place for us to stay for a month in Bali, we managed to find this new listing discount deal (which meant an extra 25% off) and booked this villa for a month.
We had a private room with a balcony, a pool and access to the entire villa with a seaview rooftop. It was located in Canggu, Bali and it only cost us 20$ a night – for a designer villa!
While we were in the Philippines we decided to stay on a lesser known island called Tablas and ended up staying in this resort with a treehouse and a pool for just 10$ a night.
Even in Osaka Japan, where hotel prices start at about 60$ a night, we found this traditional Japanese apartment with 2 bedrooms, an open area and balcony for just 18$ a night.
Osaka, Japan
So HOW EXACTLY can you travel for free with Airbnb?
Traveling for free using Airbnb referral credit is entirely possible and it has never been easier.
The simple answer is that we share and promote each accommodation we stay in across our social media channels and always include the Airbnb invite code.
That way, if people want to book the villa or treehouse we’re staying in, then they can do that using our link and get the first night for free (up to about $30 as it stands). We also then receive the $30 or £25 referral credit for introducing someone new to Airbnb – it’s a win win!
We have shown people through our videos how it is to stay in unique Airbnb locations with superb views or great rooms in some of the world’s most expensive cities. Whenever someone signs up with the code, the credit for Airbnb stays as pending – even if they didn’t make a booking straight away.
Then, once they book and complete a trip, they will get free credit towards their first trip and we get the referral fee. By the way, I’m saying that it’s either £25 or $30 right now because it all depends on what country you’re from and if Airbnb change their fees. See their latest policy here.
The more people that you have signed up then the more pending credit you will have accumulated in your account. This will then slowly dripfeed you referral fees while you’re travelling, creating a sort of passive accommodation fund even months after you have done the inital sharing.
If you share it enough, you will eventually have hundreds, or even thousands, of pending referrals ready for their first trip!
For example, at the time of writing this I currently have $2897 pending credit waiting in my Airbnb account – hello more treehouses!
Our latest Airbnb in Canggu, Bali
How should you start?
The best way to start as with anything is just to get going straight away. Sign up here and then begin using your invite link to introduce more people to Airbnb.
Of course, in the interest of full disclosure, we will get the initial referral for your sign up, you will also get the free night stay and then you will be able to share your link to build up your own passive accommodation fund!
It feels like finding and booking accommodation has never been easier and this referral scheme is a win-win for everyone – that’s why it’s currently our favourite one!
If you want to share your own code with your friends, we will tell you how to do it in order to get the most rewards.
Here’s a video I made explaining how to get a free airbnb:
Sharing your Airbnb code, a good travel hack:
Here is a simple step by step guide to getting started:
- Sign up to Airbnb
- Go to your profile
- Click on Invite friends
- Copy your own unique link
- Tell your family friends how they can get their first trip for free.
- Share on all your social media channels
- Free accommodation everywhere!
Top Tip – The key to building up more free credit is sharing the link as many times as possible and being consistent with your content.
If you share the link each day, you will build consistent marginal gains and in the long term, that translates to rewards.
For example, if just one person signed up each day then that would be 365 people by the end of the year. 365 people x £25 referral credit = £9125 in credit. £9125!!
That is enough to stay in nice Airbnb’s for free every night for a year.
The most important thing is to be consistent and share it in places that people will keep visiting without much effort on your part.
Here are a few ideas:
- Embed the link in your email signature
- Share it in a YouTube video description
- In your Instagram bio
- Sharing to Facebook
- In a blog article like this one (yes, we know…)
If you stack up referrals then eventually you will get free travel credit for all of your trips – it’s just a matter of time!
