Some links to products and partners on this website will earn an affiliate commission.

I’ve been using Airbnb quite a bit on my recent travels, and it looks like lots of other people have been too! The statistics released for Summer 2017 (1st June-31st August) are amazing – with 45 million guest arrivals over the period and 2.6 million guest arrivals on a single night (12th August).

7 years ago, the figure for the Summer was just ~47,000. Even as recently as 2015, guest arrivals were a ‘mere’ 17 million in total for June/July/August.

As you might expect, some of the fastest growth is happening in Chinese cities like Hangzhou (495% growth) and Wuhan (370%). Perhaps more surprising is the fact that Fort William in Scotland also seems to be undergoing an Airbnb explosion, with numbers up 156% from last year.

Bottom line

I’ve really enjoyed all my Airbnb stays, but was wondering what the experience of InsideFlyer readers has been like? I tend to spend ages choosing the ‘perfect’ place, which has meant I’ve had great stays but also probably wasted quite a lot of time… Any tips on how to whittle down the options quicker would be greatly appreciated!

If you haven’t tried Airbnb yet, check out my post on how to get a big chunk of credit toward your first 2 stays (existing users can get something too).