It turns out that I made the right decision using Airbnb for my first experience in New York. I had a bit of a work-cation on the East Coast and thought it would be great to go to NY since I had yet to visit. I had been scrolling through a bunch of listings when Sophia's listing caught my attention. Communication via internet was great. We were both new so connected over Facebook to make sure things were legit. She was really easy to talk to. I was only able to use her space for the second of her two week trip in Asia but it turned out really great. Her roommates Ellen and Mike were super nice, relaxed and generally great to hang out with when we weren't in the city working or hanging out. Sophia's place is super close to Manhattan and it took me about 20 minutes to get to Grand Central. The great thing about her place is the loft has a really open space feeling so it makes you feel like you're in a big place. Her room is really big with high ceilings and the bed is comfortable enough. The surrounding neighborhood around her area is really cool and has an actual neighborly feel to it with a few local bars and a local grocery store that everyone seems to go to upon getting off the subway. There are a lot of young 20-somethings. Sophia's roommates left her keys for me to pick up at the grocery store (Brooklyn Natural) and Sophia left a guide book for me to check out, though I never actually used it. All in all, the price was great, the space was great and a had an awesome time exploring the city. I'll definitely use the site again now that I know it's legit and easy to use...at least if you work with a host that makes things uncomplicated like Sophia did. Cheers!