My amazing private villa in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia for $28.| it's very interseting and cheap place.

Per night. It was a bnb. Those interested it's called Okioka villa and the hosts were by far the BEST bnb hosts I've had in the 30 countries I've visited.

This works for almost any service advertised through a third party. It means they avoid paying Airbnb a cut, although it also means that you have no recourse through AirBnB if something goes wrong.

Really depends on the place. Cash is usually king with independents on sites like Airbnb but they'll often be fine with a bank transfer too, in my experience (in Europe). Larger places like established B&Bs and hotels often take card because Airbnb isn't their only source of customers.

I guess in that case, the only real recourse that you have a realistic chance of using is a chargeback if you've used a credit card, especially if it's American Express (they're notorious for siding with the customer in every possible scenario).

With bank transfer and cash, you're SOL, unfortunately. Thank you for responding so quickly!

We just got FUCKED by this in San Cristóbal de las Casas. The host is a piece of the shit thief and because we went direct, and not through Airbnb we're SOL.

If you discovered potatoes that guy was selling on Amazon, and then went to contact him directly to buy at the farmer's market, yeah, I guess it would be the same. I don't think that's what happened though.

A word of caution: Scammers do take advantage of this. Happened to my brother in laws bachelor trip. Showed up at the house and there was ppl already renting it and the owner had no idea who we were or who had rented us their place for the weekend. Best man lost a bunch of $$ on that one.

This, avoid AirBnB and travel sites if you can. Always try for direct.

I went to Vegas a few months ago and nearly booked at the Westgate for 150 a night. I called the hotel directly and got the same room for 60 a night and 85 for the weekend nights.

A couple of phone calls can save you a lot of money.The best way to get cheap deals in Bali, if you are staying for a while, is to get your first night or two in a place online to ensure you have a place to land, and then shop around once you are on the ground. Lots of places offer MUCH lower rates if you walk up, especially if you're the off-season. It also gives you a chance to see what they're like in person before you commit. This same basic approach works well in other banana pancake trail destinations (Thailand in particular) but can get a little iffy in places that don't have large tourist populations.

If you're only there for a few days this won't be worth spending precious time finding a place to stay, but I went there for several weeks and it saved a ton of money.