Finding Accommodations

   


     Obviously if you are going to visit (or live) you will need to find accommodations. The obvious choice is to find a Hotel, but what if you wanted a less touristic experience? I will share with you the options that I found to be the cheapest and what to watch out for!

                                                                                                  Airbnb
     
     I'm sure you've heard about Airbnb and may have used it in the past. Airbnb has various options that you can use to find a place to stay in Spain. You can rent just a room or have an apartment to yourself! however, there are TONS of scammers. When I tried to look for an Airbnb there was a man who had a reasonably priced apartment in Barcelona (but beware Airbnb in Barcelona is expensive).

     He gave me a link and told me to use that to pay for the apartment. The link he gave it was obvious a way to get my credit card information and let me tell you the site looked exactly like the actual Airbnb site!.

     However, I already knew that when you use Airbnb all transactions are done directly through the site. The company sent me a message telling me that he was scamming people and they closed his account. So if anyone sends you a link saying that you can use that to pay. DO NOT USE IT!

                                                                                                 Home Away

     Home Away is similar to Airbnb everything is done through the app and you can choose to pay for a room or have an apartment to yourself. This is what I personally used when I stayed in Barcelona. The owner of the house became a very good friend of mine and we are still friends to this day.
   
      She taught me quite a bit about Spain and she has came to visit me on several occasions. I even go visit her when I'm in Barcelona and she doesn't charge me if I want to stay a few days with her! Using this app gave me the best experience of my life. My family even stayed with her when they went to Barcelona. So using this app may help you make new Spanish friends!

                                                                                               Spotahome

     Spotahome is perfect for longer stays. I used this when I was living in Madrid. I rented out a one bedroom apartment and the owner and I also became great friends. He said I could stay longer than a few months if I wanted.

     He gave me a rental agreement so that I could register myself at the City Hall. I was originally going to stay there for a year, but I was offered a job in the Canary Islands so I left. However, my family also stayed in one of his apartments when they went to Madrid. Spotahome can be used in almost any country. The site address is www.spotahome.com.

                                                                                              Discrimination 

     You should be aware that in Spain there were many people who discriminated against age. Some would only offer housing do people over 40 while others under 25 or some other age limit. Also some only wanted women while others only men. Then there were some that wanted only students, while others wanted only business professionals.

     I know this is illegal in the U.S. but I was surprised when I saw it in Spain. I do understand if they did this in case you have to share a house with other people, but I've also saw this when you wanted to rent an apartment for yourself. However, this wasn't the majority of Spain, but you may see it.

    There are many other options, but these are the options that I've used personally, verified and can give a testimonial. I had no problems (other than the Airbnb scam) and I made some good friends along the way!


Hasta Luego!