All photos by Alvaro/www.airbnb.com/rooms/3039968

By Aaron Cranford

Not many people can say they lived next to Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but with the help of Airbnb, I booked my first apartment there.

After contacting 11 hosts on Airbnb, I finally found the apartment that provides everything I need in the location I want and for the price I am willing to pay. Some of the hosts never responded to me, but most others did within 24 hours from my initial message. However, if you use Airbnb, send more than one message. There were a few hosts who did not engage in conversation, and I simply could not trust them.

I wanted to find someone that would respond to all of my messages because doing so develops trust between the host and the tenant. I wanted to find a host that could immediately help…