Right now, if you sign up for Airbnb through this link, you’ll get $50 off your first qualifying booking.

Many moons ago, Airbnb started as a home sharing platform and turned into a full-fledged hospitality behemoth. Sure, you can still get a room in someone’s house, or even a bed in a shared room, but most travelers are now using Airbnb as an alternative to a hotel stay.

You get more space, a kitchen, a separate living space and whatever amenities your pocketbook can afford.

At the Chicago Seminars last weekend, Scott gave two presentations:

Airbnb Mastery
Sweetspots 2017

I will publish a post tomorrow with the slides from the Sweetspots 2017 presentation.

Right now, if you sign up for Airbnb through my referral link, you’ll get $50 off your first stay, and I’ll get money towards my next stay. Feel free to leave your referral link in the comments.

I've booked myself many stays on Airbnb, a website that lets you rent rooms, apartment, and houses from locals around the world.

In March 2017, I went to Minsk, Belarus without a visa under the new program to allow citizens of more than 80 countries to visit the country for up to five days, which launched in February 2017.

The majority of us earn heaps of miles through sign up bonuses, maximizing category bonuses on credit cards, and flying. And at the end of the day, credit cards are the bread and butter that enable most of us to fly free in First Class.

But there are lots of other ways to earn miles, many of which are passive and all of which require little effort.

My friend, Sarah Page, recently took a trip to Brazil to escape the dismal winter weather in Buenos Aires that drove me to Brazil and then Europe myself. She and her friends used tips they learned from this blog to save money and earn extra travel rewards on the trip.

I will go through those tips below so you can learn from their experience. (Ignore the fact that she started in Buenos Aires.

I stayed two weeks at an Airbnb in Santiago, Chile at the start of the month. That's not uncommon for me, since I am a nomad. Here's where I slept every night of 2015 for reference.

When your Airbnb stay ends, you and the host have two weeks to review each other. The first review is hidden until the two weeks are over or both reviews are made.

I travel full time. FAQ:

“OK, but where do you live?” It’s equally true that I live wherever I am at that moment and that I live nowhere.
“Where’s your home base?” Nowhere.

I’ve learned that I like to stay in a place for at least several weeks to figure out its rhythms, my favorite restaurants, and meet new friends before I move on.

Save $50 off your next $200++ Airbnb booking by using the promo code MEETHALFWAY and paying with PayPal for a stay booked by December 31.

Airbnb Explained
I'm typing this post from an Airbnb apartment in Buenos Aires. Airbnb is the site I use to arrange lodging for the vast majority of my nights on the road.

I will spend over 200 nights this year in Airbnb apartments--here's where I am sleeping in 2015--so three pieces of news about Airbnb caught my eye today.

Most (all?) AMEX cards are offering $50 off a $100 Airbnb purchase made by 12/31/15.
You can use AMEX Membership Rewards to pay for Airbnb stays.
You can earn Virgin America Elevate points for Airbnb stays.

Right now, if you sign up for Airbnb through my referral link, you’ll get $25 off your first stay, and I’ll get $25 off my next stay.