Knowing how to find the best Airbnbs when traveling is an essential skill. Across the globe, about 150 million people use this platform to either rent out property or find accommodations during their travels.

Despite the major assets and advantages that Airbnb has to offer, some social media users have complained about less-than-optimal experiences with the service. Common horror stories center around scams, nightmare hosts, and various problems with the accommodations.

Thankfully, Airbnb has a plethora of built-in tools, all of which are designed to help everyone on the platform. One of the first steps to having a great experience when renting lodgings is understanding how to use Airbnb to your advantage.

Make sure hosts have a reasonable amount of good reviews before booking

In the Airbnb horror stores on social media sites, some travelers complain that hosts denied them access to the property, disrespected their privacy, or lied about the nature of their accommodations. Though unethical hosts like this generally have a habit of running into problems with guests.

It's for this reason that any traveler on Airbnb would benefit from reading guests' reviews as they browse accommodations from hosts. These reviews provide deeper insight into the host and their property, beyond what the former has to say.

Travelers who really want to play it safe even have the option of sticking with hosts who have not just good reviews, but good reviews from recent guests. On Airbnb, every single review lists the month and year of the traveler's stay.

Use Airbnb's many available search filters

Other people who complain about their experiences with Airbnb assert that the accommodations they ended up with were not to their liking. However, the platform comes with integrated filters to help travelers find properties that align with their preferences.

Upon entering a location into the search engine, the icon in the upper right hand corner reveals a plethora of available filters. These filters allow guests to sort out lodgings according to the type of place, price range, room/bed numbers, individual amenities, accessibility features, booking options, and more.

At the end of the day, utilizing the Airbnb platform in its entirety increases each traveler's chance of ending up with a host and accommodations that they appreciate.