Visit a foreign country and stay at a local’s home.

ONE of the popular ways of booking your travel accommodations is through website aggregators of lodgings, especially those that have options that range from budget to luxury.

The more such websites, the more options for travellers to choose from the best price for their lodging.

One interesting website is Airbnb (airbnb.com), founded in in 2008 by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nate Blecharczyk, which claims to be the world market leader in unique, short-term accommodations. What’s unique about it is that the website connects two different parties.

One side is the Host, an ordinary Joe who wants to rent out extra space − be it an entire house or an extra bedroom. The other side is, of course, the Guest, the traveller who is looking for a unique place to stay at any location they travel to.

Malaysia is now one of their rapidly growing areas when it comes to listings and bookings.

The number of guests nights booked on Airbnb in Malaysia has increased 547% in 2012 alone. Airbnb has over 780 listings in Malaysia including 430 in Kuala Lumpur.

The number of guest nights booked by Malaysians travelling elsewhere also increased by 350% last year, with the most popular destinations being Hong Kong, Paris, New York, Amsterdam, Rome, Seoul, Bali, Singapore, London and Tokyo.

There is also the option to view and do the bookings in Bahasa Malaysia. Users can also connect their Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts to Airbnb. In addition, there is the Wish Lists option, where the user can explore the collection of listings created by others or save their own and share it with others.

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