The magical power of referrals, or how to save on housing on vacation?
The most popular resources for renting apartments around the world are booking and airbnb. They have their own referral program to attract new customers.
Do you know how referrals work?
In short: someone invites you to the site to use the service by a special link, after passing through which you register, you are awarded a bonus.
The person who invited you is also credited after your first reservation. Everyone is happy and happy. The sites are provided with advertising. Users, bonuses.
If most travelers have heard about the meaning of referral links, then I doubt that the amount of rewards varies in different countries.
For example, airbnb for Russian users accrues a bonus of 2100 rubles. But if you are invited by a Norwegian, the amount will be 2600 rubles. True, the site will be in Norwegian at first, and the bonus is written in kroner, but this can be overcome with two mouse clicks.
Let's say I'm Norwegian here's my link, it'll be in crowns. https://www.airbnb.ru/c/32119b?currency=NOK
On booking, I also found a lot of referrals from other countries. You can search the booking referral code. You need to check which currency will be beneficial for you.
For example, I used C$40 (rubles approximately 1945) with a booking amount of C$80 (3890). It was more profitable than in rubles.
To make sure that there will be a refund, there should be a note about this when booking. A special window pops up stating that you have been invited by a John, Thomas or Mahmoud, and that you will be refunded $40 Canadian for this trip. The message about the discount also periodically pops up when searching for housing and then when processing data.
To return your money, in the profile you need to specify the card to which the site will later be able to enroll. That is, this discount is not immediately when booking (especially, on booking you can often find options for booking with payment on the spot), it is a refund after living at the expense of the booking itself. The owner will have to pay in full. And after the trip, the discount amount is returned to the card.
Met referrals with discounts in percentage. They are profitable when booking a large amount.
Sometimes a Russian referral is also profitable - gives a discount of a thousand rubles, when booking from 2 thousand.
Here's mine just in case. https://www.booking.com/s/34 6/cc723657
Yes, the discount is given only for the first booking. The account is linked to the phone number and email. But sometimes buying a new SIM can be more profitable.
Periodically in the network there are coupons that further reduce the price. But they haven't been spoiled much lately. Although I always check before booking.
Of course, this is not all the secrets of economical travelers : But the most accessible and suitable for all.
Text and photo: Evgenia Lysenkova