Refining your search

Hi everyone, I’m really excited to be writing my first post for the new Notepadder. I have loads of tips to share with you to get the most of out of the site and find your perfect homestay. Today I’d like to show you how you can refine your search using the ‘Search on Map’ feature we have.

Let’s suppose you are coming to London to see a gig at the O2 Arena, and then spending a few days catching up with friends from university. So, you do a search for London and quickly see we have nearly 1000 rooms to choose from. That’s great you think, but how can I choose the perfect host from those?

So next you might do a search for ‘O2 Arena‘. Indeed, that looks more promising, but it still gives you nearly 40 rooms to choose from. Most are within walking distance of the O2, which is perfect, but you’re going to be spending a few days visiting friends. A quick look on the TFL website shows that actually the O2 is out near Greenwich and not as central for easily getting around (especially when the Jubilee line is closed at weekends!).

Instead, London Bridge looks a good area to go; loads of transport links – overground train, two tube lines, walking distance to the South Bank.* To search again you can just drag the map with your mouse to the left a bit so you’re hovering just above London Bridge and zoom in a few notches. The map now displays an area about 1km across with London Bridge in the middle. Perfect! Just press the ‘Search on Map‘ button just under the map and you’ll see all the rooms in that area. Useful or what?!

The new results only have one page and a good selection of rooms. Prices go from £10 to £70, great hosts with different profiles. Why not pick one of the nice looking ones with a photo?

This ‘Search on Map‘ feature works for any location and is a really nifty way of getting the perfect location – especially in London where we have a 1000 rooms to choose from!

Hope this is useful – let me know in the comment box beneath what you want to hear about next? Advanced searching? Appearing high in search results? Promoting you room to get more bookings?

* There’s a really great pub on the riverside between London Bridge and the South Bank; well worth a visit.

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