#even if a local 5 star hotel does work out to like 50 bucks a night and food is fairly cheap too

[ineffablefool]

India update: it is Thursday morning here now, so one and one half days left in the office. Tomorrow night we fly to Delhi, then there's not quite one day in a hotel there (which I forgot when I was packing, whoops), and then we fly for home really late Saturday local time. Should be back in my own house like 8 pm Sunday evening CST if nothing goes horribly wrong!

I am looking forward to getting out of here SO MUCH. I love our team here, but I do not love having to go through a week of being extra-misgendered, feeling like a colonialist (we definitely get e.g. lighter security screenings because we're white, and what are you going to do, *argue questions of racial equity* with the guy who has semi-automatic weight backing his moral argument?), and not being able to drink or rinse with the tap water.

And, of course, I'm looking forward to not being 10.5 hours off from my normal dash/discord activity anymore. And having a computer! With a real keyboard and a mouse!!! People who are leaving me long AO3 comments or emails this week are... not getting responses in a timely manner, I'll tell you that much.

[gibsonmusicart]

The real truth behind pay to play!

By Chris Standring

Few things get my goat. "Pay To Play" has always been one of them, as long as I can remember. Until recently. For those of you who are not familiar with this concept, I will briefly explain. I should preface this article by saying that there are indeed many other band-booking scenarios. This article is specific to one and one only. Also, the concept of pay to play is rife in big US cities such as Los Angeles and New York. It may not exist in certain countries. It's not a perfect world, just the one that we live in. Ok, with that little disclaimer aside, I will continue.... An unknown (and unproven) band will approach a club booker and try to get their act booked on a certain date. The booker listens to the band's CD and decides that they are worthy of public attention and agrees to give the band a date. There are two ways this will pan out. First, about 300 tickets will be printed up and sold to the band by the club. The band then sell these tickets to their fans and do their promotional job enticing people to come to see their show. It is in the band's interest to sell all the tickets otherwise they are out of pocket and end up "paying to play". The second way is where a contract is issued to the band explaining that they need to have a certain amount of people in the club for them to make a profit, let us say 100. If 100 people do not show up and pay 5 bucks to get in, the remaining amount is due to the club. So if a band only fill that club with 50 people, then 50 people (that haven't paid $5) is due to the club. The band end up paying the club $250.00 Ok so now we have that understood let's try to get a new perspective on this. Although I have always abhorred this behavior from club bookers I have a new attitude to it, something that changed once I started touring as a recording artist, promoting my own records. What all bands want is a nice guarantee to perform at venues and start making a profit. However, as a new unproven artist, one has absolutely no market share. This is an essential "ticket value". If a promoter wants to book The Eagles to play live then he knows that this band has an enormous fanbase and can guarantee an audience. He then does a deal with the bands' agent who later accepts. The promoter is initially out of pocket but with low risk as he has done the numbers and knows that he will turn a profit with this proven act. The new artist has no market price as this band is unknown. Therefore a club booker cannot offer a guarantee because he is at risk with this band. It is, therefore, the band's responsibility to take the risk. Usually, the band does take a hit because it cannot draw a crowd and ends up out of pocket. Now the band has an attitude about giving away free entertainment! But this is business. A product needs to be proven to work before other business people decide to get involved and give away money. Here is something that opened my eyes once I got in the record game. A manager friend of mine said to me as I signed my first record deal, "Welcome Chris, now you're off to the races let's see how much money you lose in the first year!" Now there's the encouragement I thought. Wise words however and I took heed... As my first radio single took off on the airwaves I started to get invitations to perform at radio station events and promotional functions. Most radio stations like to have annual events they call "listener parties" where they invite thousands of listeners to an event they put on and invite let us say 3 bands to perform. The first two artists will be proven stars, the third (little old me in this example) what they call a "new rising star". The first two bands may be offered a guarantee to perform, but quite possibly not. Usually, if money is offered for radio events it will be minimal as they expect record label tour support. Sponsors sometimes jump on board and offer free hotel and air so ostensibly the radio station ends upcoming just a little out of pocket to promote their event. So, I am invited to perform at one of these listener parties but the radio station only wants to pay $1500.00 assuming that my label will kick in the rest. I go back to my label and ask for a further $2000.00. The event is on the east coast and I have to fly 4 other guys as there is no air sponsor. Air tickets are costing $595 each as it's peak summertime. That's $2975.00 before I have even paid my sidemen! My label agrees to kick in $1500 and that's it! So now I have a guaranteed budget of $3000 and my airfares for the band have tapped that! I absolutely have to pay my band as they should not have to take a hit, it's my career after all! I decided to try and do the show without a sax player. That will save me airfare and show fees. Now my airfare is down to $2380.00. I'll pay my band $250.00 each to do this show. Now I am up to $3130.00 I am down $130.00 and I haven't paid myself a penny!!! Do I do the show? You're damn right I do, this listener party has 7000 people coming in checking me out, possibly buying my CD and becoming new fans. Now 3 years later and another hit record to my name I am being offered more healthy guarantees from promoters in the USA and Europe. Why? because I was smart in the beginning and made sure I got things to work when I needed them to. Now I even have musicians I call to do shows that live in New York, Los Angeles and London to make an even healthier profit. This is obviously not such a good idea if you are a 4 piece band but as a solo artist, you can do this very effectively. By hiring musicians in London for a UK show I can save myself around $2400.00 That's a big slice if you do this on a regular basis! To understand one thing. You have to start small and build your fan base. Once you have a legitimate fan base, you can do good deals with promoters. In order to do this, you need to localize. Build-in one area and expand. It's a "baby step" program. Watch for the con artists, they do exist as I'm sure you know. Be smart. I love contracts, you should grow to love them too. Prove yourself. Build your market share and understand that "pay to play" does exist but it's nothing more than smart business. Once you have market worth, trust me promoters will be calling you offering healthy guarantees!

Source: Music-Articles.com

[wonderbackpack-blog]

Airbnb is a service which picks up speed very fast in the modern traveler’s list of possible accommodations when away from home.

So how to book the best stay with Airbnb?

Through the website, you can pay to stay at someone’s home. What a great way to go on vacation or a business trip. To book the best stay with Airbnb home is as easy as 1,2,3. However,  sometimes It can be a bit of a challenging experience. Follow the steps I use, to utilize the platform to work for you.

I am going to Japan in less than a month and I decided that I want to stay in a traditional Japanese house or the so-called Ryokan.

    There were a lot of different booking sites I could use. I was thinking of using points through Marriot, SPG or Hilton. Paying cash to collect points was on the table too. Booking.com also had great pricing for the busy season. To book through the AMEX Travel portal was a good option too, considering I can collect points with my Amex Platinum that I can transfer to so many different programs, but that is a whole another conversation. I weigh all the options and finally decided to use Airbnb. I stay in a normal hotel for almost all my business travels, I thought.

So what happened is, I ended up looking for a Ryokan on Airbnb. With just a few clicks I was able to explore all the options and I found one that I really like. The place was very traditional, well-kept home with an amazing location. Then I was ready to book and my disappointment came to live on my face. I had forgotten to put the dates in. Then I did,  just to find out that the place was already sold out for those dates.

Tips for booking the best stay with Airbnb.

TIP No. 1- Duh! It’s easy to come to mind, that we need to input the desired location first. But we now have some more options too. At first, the only service Airbnb offered was a stay in someone’s home. But just recently they released their new product- “Experiences“.

Those are events or attractions usually offered by locals, like experiencing tea ceremony or calligraphy course. So, first chose which one you are interested in. Let’s say, first, we start with “Homes“.

  TIP No. 2- Always, always set the dates for your stay FIRST. For me, this is a dealbreaker because it can make or break your experience with Airbnb especially when using it for the first time. Another must for me is setting the number of guests. If you are flying solo, this is not a big deal, I think since I would hope that every home can accommodate at least one person. Some places might charge per person and/or for kids too. Extra tip: Remember to hit “apply”. Usually with other booking platforms, when you click outside the calendar, your selection is saved but not with Airbnb. You have to click “apply”.

TIP No. 3-The following options home type, price, instant book, trip type, and more filters are personal preference. Usually, I set the home type to “Entire place” because I don’t like sharing with other people and gives you more privacy as well. Furthermore, sometimes it makes check in and out easy. A lot of places have a little lockbox, where they keep the key and provide you with the unlock code, so you can get it whenever you arrive and not have to wait for the landlord to come and hand you the keys. !Remember to click apply again!

TIP No. 4- Normally if on a budget, I would set the price slider to the maximum I am ready to pay for a night plus few extra bucks and once more click apply. But if I am looking for a specific type of accommodation and price is not an issue, I would just leave it to its default parameters and look for the place I like the most.

TIP No. 5-The instant book is the next search filter. What that option does is- It lets you select only the homes that can be booked instantly, without the host approval. By default, most homes require the host’s approval.

TIP No. 6-Under trip type, you will find 2 options to chose from “Family trip” or “Work trip”. If you click the “Family trip” you will get results with 5 stars reviews from families and essentials like a full-size kitchen. The “work trip” will only show properties that have wi-fi, workspace, and self-check-in.

TIP No. 7-The “More filter” tab opens a huge drop down menu, that will let you narrow down the search to the number of bathrooms if you wish. In my experience, the Super Host option is the most powerful. If you chose this, it will show you homes hosted by people who have at least 4.8* rating, they have 0 cancellations, usually, respond to question in 24h and/ or have had at least 10 stays per year. I’ve stayed with 3 Superhost so far and always had an amazing experience, it turns out that the “title” is just right.

If you completed the steps with me so far. You would be looking at something similar to this. Of course, not the same since choosing different dates and filters will show you different options.

What I really love about the interface is that you can very easily scroll and see the properties. Their brief description and price per night are also shown. Another cool feature is the map. For example, if you hover your mouse over the home post, you can see where it is located on the map, or you can click on the price tag directly on the map and it will show you a summary of the selected home. Keep in mind that the location is not fully disclosed before booking and it just shows a general area but I find it to be pretty accurate.

New types of homes added to the portal are “Airbnb PLUS“. Those are homes which have been verified by Airbnb to be of good quality and comfort. Just another step to bringing you a piece of mind in my opinion. I believe that this is only for US homes at the moment, but they will probably expand the program.

Make sure to also check the Airbnbmag. I think about it as a blog. It will show you different homes that are in some way extraordinary, or homes that offer experiences as well. It will feature the top experiences they have had posted recently like this Dragon Boat Carnival. Definitely worth checking out.

Things to keep in mind when booking with Airbnb:

Prepayment in advance is required. Your Total for the property consists of: the Price per night X number of nights + Cleaning fee (different and preset for every property) + Service fee.

Make sure you read the cancellation policy before you pay! All homes have very different policies. Some of them would accept your cancellation and issue a refund. Some of them would cancel but not issue a refund for cleaning and service fee or would keep 50% of the price per night for the total number of nights. Other properties would have very strict cancellation policies and would not even consider refunding you. So, READ before you BOOK.

Make the whole listing a must read for you, before clicking book. Simply because sometimes there are things that are not quite as clear on the pictures. It is always a good practice to read about the property in detail to make sure it will fit your needs before paying for it since the cancellation policies are sometimes harsh. I find it useful to read the reviews of people who have stayed there to get a general feel for the place and the host.

After the booking is completed and you have paid. Wait for the host to approve your stay and get in touch with them. Provide them with your check-in time and specifics if any. Sometimes hosts require extra information about you and your guests like names, nationality, and passport. I ran into that while booking my accommodation in Japan. People seem to be very cautious about who stays in their homes. I didn’t find the requirements so tight when using it in the US or Europe.

If you are traveling a lot, you might want to get in touch with Airbnb and considering becoming a host. When you register, you will see the tab as the first one in the navigation panel. It will also give you an estimate of how much you can make renting your home in a month. You can host yourself or you can have a professional company to do it for you. I find that especially useful if you have a property that you can make work for you.

Last but not least, Airbnb has a very good Reward program If you consider inviting your friends to sign up they will get $40 in travel credit.  The best part though is that you will get $20 dollars too. It is very good if you are traveling with your friends, they sign up and get the $40 travel credit. Then they pay for the stay with their account and you can save $40 on the first trip using the credit. Then you can use your $20 for future trips.

Airbnb is picking up speed very fast among other similar services like VRBO, which I will review separately. I, personally, am liking it a lot. I have used it 5-6 times already and have never been disappointed. The description was always accurate, the price was amazing and never had issues with hosts. It has been a great experience for me. I hope you have a great stay too!

Have you stayed in an Airbnb before? If yes, how did you like it? If no, how do you feel about this accommodation type? Leave a comment below, let’s chat about it.

How to book the best stay with Airbnb- Tips on how to use the platform Airbnb is a service which picks up speed very fast in the modern traveler's list of possible accommodations when away from home.