Hi everyone thanks for your reply’s. I think I’m going to stick with hotel chains there are a lot more predictable and in my experience the staff have been pretty helpful.

Only had 1 airbnb experience (for some reason I trust hotels more but I might look into future AirBNB's). Absolutely no issues whatsoever. Host was fully understanding about my blindness and never asked stupid questions. Got along incredibly well with the host and the apartment I was staying at was amazing.

It helps if you can bond over something (YAY 420!)

I have done it a lot and usually found it way better than a hotel because you have one on one interaction with the owner, unlike a hotel where they're usually trying to sort you out then run off to another task. However, with airbnb there are a couple of things to be aware of.

First, airbnb is now a full time business for a lot of people and sometimes it isn't just about renting out a spare room. You need to develop your understanding of which listings are homeowners renting a spare room, and which are landlords who own a lot of different properties and put them all on airbnb. Obviously you want to rent your room from a homeowner who will be there when you arrive as opposed to someone who will try to give you a code for a code lock and never meet you during your entire stay.

Second, this is one situation where I'm really clear about the disability from the first interaction and I make sure that they can absolutely be there when I am likely to arrive. Even homeowners have work and other life stuff going on and aren't always at home, so you need to make sure they understand you can't just turn up and pull the key out from under the doormat. If you are delayed for some reason, then you need to start problem solving, and I have ended up hanging out at airports, where there are usually sensible helpers, drinking coffee until my airbnb host gets home.

I have only had one really negative issue with airbnb where I arrived to discover that it was in fact a rented apartment in a big complex. Apartment complexes usually do not allow people to sub rent the units like that, so when I turned up, nobody was there, I called the guy who put the listing up, and in the end he had to call the building manager and explain what was going on. The building manager immediately got very upset about how the guy shouldn't have been doing what he was doing and I basically had to calm the manager down. The upside was that airbnb found me another listing very nearby and paid the difference in price themselves. You can't guarantee never to have a problem, but you can have good problem solving skills and in my experience they do.

You are taking a risk on the host being someone who can behave reasonably around you. It is important to establish that before you make the booking. Otherwise, with these notes in mind, go for it.

I've stayed in several Airbnbs and, for the most part, have had great experiences. I've never mentioned my vision before booking, because I was always with friends/family so I knew I could get them to help me out if needed. In terms of accessibility, I've generally found them to be no worse than hotels, better in most cases.

Most of the ones I've stayed in, we never got a chance to meet the actual host in person. We either met someone else working for them (like a cleaner) or just had lockboxes and communicated via phone calls and the Airbnb app.

One of the hosts we did meet, though, noticed I couldn't see well. After we'd checked in, she came back about 20 minutes later with a couple floor lamps for the living room, which was pretty dimly lit. They were brand new in their boxes and in a Lowe's bag. I'm pretty sure she'd just gone out and bought them.

I've only seen blind people have issues when they have a service dog.

Hi, a group of friends and I stayed in a house. We had an awesome time. We had no issues regarding blindness.

compared with traditional guesthouses, I found the information (door codes, wifi info, list of kitchen equipment, owner contact info etc) more accessible having no sight.