Getting Around Renting With Airbnb In Buenos Aires

[spiritk]

hi,
I'm trying to find a way to get a room for a month in a secure way in the city: either pay by the week or rent by airbnb, since I dont see any contract happening for a month period of sublet...

When using airbnb it gives a rate of 1US=10Pesos I believe. This is because owners set payment method to USD$ I think. I have an argentian credit card available (of a friend) but then it still converts to EUR and not to ARS. Does anybody know how can I use a local credit card to book on airbnb? If I book directly like that, I understood my friend will have to pay 35% tax for the credit transaction.

How do argentinians rent on airbnb??

Thanks
tamir

 

[bdk1]

Airbnb charges only in USD. You can set it to EUR, ARS, CHF, whatever currency you want, but that is only the currency in which you want the prices to be displayed: you will always be charged in USD when you check out. This means that, indeed, your friend will have to pay 35% tax for the transaction.

Thus, you basically need to do the following to know how much you need to pay your friend back in ARS (the "rate" being the rate published by Airbnb in USD): rate * 11.88 (official rate + 35%).

 

[spiritk]

Am I stupid to think that something bad can happen if I give 400US$ cash with no receipt, contract, proof of payment or whatever???

 

[Ikaros]

I got charged in EUR on my credit card in a reservation I made on Airbnb 3 weeks ago for an apartment in BsAs but I made the reservation while I was in Europe with a European credit card.

The thing you can do is contact the owner/manager who handles the apartment/room,tell them that you will stay for a month but you will make a reservation for the minimum stay and then when you arrive in BsAs you will pay the rest in cash.

Remember if he agrees to do so you will also have to give him some money as a warranty which will be returned to you when you check out.

Doing that you can ask for a better rate than shown on the Airbnb web page because the owner/manager will not have to pay the commission to either Airbnb or the bank for the credit card fees(he only have to pay those for the reservation made for through airbnb)

Best of luck

 

[Tilda]

Argentinians make contact on AirBnB but one way or another work outside of the system. AirBnB is a safe-ish contact system that doesn't work if you don't have a credit card outside of Argentina. I am still waiting on my first payout from AirBnB as a renter and I don't know how it will work. If they make an international transfer there will be trouble.

 

[jamila]

I don't think it is stupid to be cautious.. But I have been renting out rooms in my house for over 2 years this way and we havn't had a problem. I have several references if you would like to contact them. I can provide a receipt and we also take payment by paypal..... Let me know if you are interested http://www.tango-experts.com/buenos-aires-rentals-barrio-norte/

Am I stupid to think that something bad can happen if I give 400US$ cash with no receipt, contract, proof of payment or whatever???