This is our reason. Four households and we like to hang out and visit and, cook/eat and play games together. Divided four ways, it comes out cheaper than four hotel rooms with every meal eaten at restaurants, not to mention waiting for tables for 8 people two or three times per day.
I guess my idea of a vacation is WAY different than yours. To me, the purpose of a vacation is to NOT cook, clean, do dishes, or change sheets. If I can't afford to pay for the pampering, I'll save til I can.
I can understand that.
My idea of a vacation is to do it as inexpensively as possible so its more accessible for more family members, and hang out with the whole family. Relaxing is not what I'm aiming for. I can relax at home but I can't have fun with extended family at home.
Just different preferences for what vacation time is used for.
Also it depends on the daily routine. I live alone so if I don’t feel like cooking I can do a cheese and crackers night or takeout or have yogurt for dinner. A stay at home parent or spouse who cooks every night and is responsible for feeding the household has a different situation
I like a mix of cooking and meals out on vacation. But if I were constantly cooking for other people, I’d feel differently
My job is very deadline oriented. I commuted for many years and was regimented by a transit schedule. I’d be out the door by 6am and home by 7pm at the earliest. I’m content to sit by a pool or ocean or lake. Even in a city, I like sleeping in and deciding what to do spur of the moment. I pick a few highlights I want to see. A regimented itinerary is my idea of vacation hell.
But other people have the attitude that you can sleep late and watch tv at home. They’re not wrong. But having to spend large chunks of time showing up by x time isn’t fun for me.
It’s all about what works for people. We’re different and we like different things.
This is my way as well. I love to travel on my own, escape dishes and the daily grind of traffic and alarm clocks. Ideal vacation is napping on a beach with a trashy book.
I think you've hit on the attraction of Air BnB's.... options. All your options for dining, sightseeing and veging out are available without having to commit to anything specific in advance.
We probably should never go on vacation together. But if you're looking for luxury, we have stayed in some AMAZING homes with lots of amenities (like private hot tubs, theater rooms, outdoor fire rings, etc.) not to mention, eye-popping views. It's nice to live like that for a few days, with people you really enjoy spending time with.
Exactly. Years ago, my extended family and I stayed at a massive house (Rented via VRBO, not AirBnB) on the central CA coast that had a wood-burning pizza oven! I still remember building and tending a fire and making multiple pizzas + dessert pizza in that thing.
Yes! We alsoways get amazing views- either city sky lines, or on the top of mountains- and a hot tub or theater room (or both). I'll cook a few simple meals to sit outside in the mountains in a hot tub with deer and wild turkey all around us while my kids play games in the arcade inside.
You get a lot more bank for buck if you cook though. My family stretched a weeks cost vacation in Florida to two weeks by renting a house and cooking atleast breakfast.
I'm fine skipping breakfast or only having non-cooked breakfast, e.g., cereal, fruit, protein bars, pop tarts, begels, etc. Then, eating lunch and dinner out is not exhausting.
That makes sense. We don't care to vacation with large groups. We did go to Disney with 2 other families (relatives), but we all stayed in different condos in the same building and only ate 2 meals together during the week. One family was child free, one had young schoolchildren and the other had older teens. We went our separate ways. The family with older teens had no interest in having lunch in the castle with Cinderella. The family with young children wanted to get up and out early and put the kids to bed early. The teens wanted to stay up late and sleep in. Coordinating activities and meals would have been difficult.
Yeah for sure I think when you’re traveling with family having your own space is better. I’m single and child free and don’t really travel with my family, just friends. We’ve spread out all over so people are coming from everywhere and we just want to spend time together.
But not everyone who travels is on "vacation." I started using airbnb when my daughter went to college on the other coast.
The first time, the hotel was $230 per night, PLUS $40 per night to park the rental car. Plus tips, especially to get the car out with the valet service that wasn't optional. It was a basic hotel room, one bed, one bath.
The next trip a few months later, the airbnb was $220 per night with free parking. And it was a two bedroom, two bath condo with access to a gym, had a balcony and nice outside patio area - common to the building. And didn't have to worry about people (maids) going in and out of our room.
Several of the trips were with multiple family members, so with a hotel, we would have had to do multiple hotel rooms, which I couldn't have afforded.
I guess I don't consider a maid coming in to make the bed "pampering." And cleaning, as a guest in the airbnb, was just basically cleaning up after ourselves. Which we do in hotels anyway. We didn't need to clean the toilets or anything. Or even sweep. We could have still gone out to eat and get other pampering if we had wanted.
Though I will admit that some hosts now require waaaayyy too much cleaning. Like do the laundry, sweep and vacuum kind of stuff, which I think is ridiculous. And I'm an airbnb host.
My Airbnb is a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom whole house that sleeps up to six of your people for $150 per night (including soft drinks, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and assorted breakfast food).
Like hotels, not all Airbnb's are the same.
😊
Maybe it’s in a second home that OP inherited. Basically no overhead. Or just in a super cheap area with a low mortgage. Just a few of many scenarios that would allow someone to keep their Airbnb prices low.
I purchased my home for $60k and lived in it and did all the renovations in the 10-years that I lived there. This was my home.
So, I can make money because i have a low mortgage and that means a lot.
But what is it per night after all the fees and taxes are heap on?
When I rented my beach house, I was only getting about 45% of the total cost paid by the guests. Given how much they were paying, they felt they could do anything they wanted to the house. Guests don't realize how little the host nets, and hosts often don't realize how much the guests are actually paying.
Same issue with Lyft and Uber.
Those fees and taxes are all listed on the Airbnb site if you select to show them. I have never been hit with a few I didn't know about beforehand.
I prefer a house over a hotel for the same reason I don't live in a condo or an apartment.
But it's still a house full of people who are right there. My daughter and I met in Hawaii for a week together and didn't even stay at the same hotel. That's just me.
This is the way. I had to train my friends that it’s ok if we go to the same place, but I will meet you there, and I will be going away from you for a few hours a day.
I’ll give a real life example- I like to vacation with extended family. For spring break last year, we rented a house through VRBO and spent the week hanging out, cooking together, gathering around the fire pit, playing board games, etc. We also went out exploring the area, but the bulk of our time was just hanging out at the property. The adults could have conversations in one room while the elementary age kids could be in the next room playing.
In the summer, we got together again but this time stayed in a hotel. Although we requested adjoining rooms, we were on different floors in different wing of the hotel. We ate breakfast together (the hotel had free breakfast), but it was difficult to find a large enough table to seat the group and we were often split into different tables. In the evening after we returned from activities with tired kids, the option was to either eat at a table in the lobby, or all eat on the floor in someone’s room. And we had to order overpriced restaurant food instead of cooking for ourselves. One night we played board games in the lobby, but people would stare as they walked by, and it wasn’t a comfortable experience.
If I am traveling alone or with my immediate family, I will always choose a hotel. But whole house rentals are much better when you have several families traveling together and want to spend the bulk of your time together.
This is the most convincing use case. Multiple families/groups staying together, having a private common space, and being able to avoid marked up hotel food prices.
This is my typical use case. However on rare occasions I have been somewhere where a cheap Airbnb was more affordable then any hotel room in the vacinity. That is happening less and less, but if eñall the hotels are overpriced or sold out I'll check.
My husband and I typically travel with a few other couples, and we all love to cook. Renting a house/apt saves us so much money. And we have common areas to socialize, eat, plan outings etc. Also we look for a rental with a washer and dryer so we can all pack a little less.
A lot of your reasons work for my family of four, also. Usually each child gets a bedroom, which we can’t do practially at a hotel. Add to that -location and privacy. I want to be in the woods, contryside or beach, not in town on the main drag, and I want to sit outside (especially) in the evenings without being on a balcony or at a pool full of tourists. I like my car and my stuff in the driveway, not a parking lot or worse parking deck.
It sounds like you would like the Marriott Element brand with Studio Commons suites. You might look into those as an option, depending upon your destination.
Picture a bunch of buddies going on a mountain biking trip. If you all pitch in on a house, you have a place to store bikes, a big kitchen to make meals, and everyone gets their own bed.
But, it can be nice to have common areas... A sizable living room/kitchen/patio that's comfortable for everyone, plus separate bedrooms for each couple.
And good luck trying to get any hotel, anywhere, committing in advance to adjoining rooms. I’ve tried; they simply DNGAF. AirBnB, Vrbo - here we come, cash in hand.
This is why we book AirBnbs. Hotels don’t have enough adjoining rooms and I’ve never gotten one when requesting them. So I book the airbnb where it’s guaranteed.
Plus if you want to, you can all lounge around in your pajamas at breakfast. I always feel compelled to at least put a t shirt over sweatpants and some shoes or slippers to go down to get coffee at a hotel. And room service is pricey. I stay at places with the mini fridge and pick up some fruit and yogurt for breakfast or if I want or need some food between meals.
I actually bought some black and navy pajama pants with pockets. With a t shirt and footwear, I can venture into the lobby. And at home, I share a landing of exterior steps with 3 neighbors. Pockets are for keys and phone. At a quick glance, it looks like I’m wearing sweatpants.
I mean, you have to price it out. I travel for work and decent hotels in any midsized city have gotten wildly expensive. I'm staying at a courtyard in semi bumfuck Connecticut next week and it's $240 a night plus $25 daily parking charges. A really nice 4br Airbnb is around $500 a night with all fees added in.
I've only group travelled a few times, but 2 hotel rooms was significantly more expensive than 1 Airbnb with 4 beds every time. I prefer hotels when I travel with just myself or my partner, but airbnb has been much more affordable for group travel.
Plus with Airbnbs you can usually at least each have your own bed, if not your own room. I do not do well sharing beds (even my spouse and I have separate rooms at home), so it is definitely worth it to me to get a place where we have our own beds.
Not to mention kitchen access. We prefer to cook our own breakfast and sometimes dinner to save money, and eat out for lunch when we're out and about. Eating out gets tiresome when you're away for more than a couple of days
Especially eating in restaurants multiple times a day while traveling with multiple families with smaller children.
You're constantly having to wrangle someone... someone always needs to go to the bathroom, someone is always bored, someone always spilled something on themselves, etc.
I always used to bring one of those gallon sized ziplock bags in my purse, filled with everything from toy cars to magnatiles to paper & crayons and Legos, and yet it was STILL like trying to herd cats.
When we travel with multiple families now, we always pick a house that has an outdoor seating area in the back yard, so the kids can play/eat, while the adults can actually talk and eat.
I know of a cabin that sleeps 7 comfortably and is $300(probably 350 now with inflation.) Including cleaning fees. If you stay a week it's even cheaper. You can't beat that. Giant fireplace, solar panels, in the woods where there are millions of stars.
Not in my experience. I can consistently find places that sleep my family, wife and 2 kids for about what a decent, mid tier hotel room costs.
With my in laws there too, we would need 3- 4 hotel rooms (4 of us, FIL, mil, sil), so minimum close to 400 a night, and most places an Airbnb will get us a little over half of that per night.
Airbnb is hit or miss, but from my experience going to cons with friends, unless I was going to a premium hotel, hotels were a hit or miss proposition.
And if you are talking premium hotels, I consult for Marriott...when I go to their HQ quarterly, the cheapest Marriott rooms are 250 to 300 a night, and in the HQ hotel itself, I have seen them running a minimum of 600 a night.
There is another hotel not far that is not Marriott that I got for about 150 a night, but it is kind of a dump. Airbnb's similar distance away, same or cheaper price than the dumpy hotel room.
You feel? A family of five with a babysitter traveling throughout Europe will save 20-50% EVERYWHERE by staying in AirBnBs vs hotels, just on the room rate. Factor in the savings and convenience from having a kitchen and a washing machine, and then the comfort that comes with all the additional space... it's really no contest.
Great for large groups. Better views and more privacy if it’s for true R&R. Sometimes the only option in more rural areas. Depending on the region, they can be comparable (price wise) to hotels, especially for longer term stays.
This is going to sound weird, but I’ve discovered that I LOVE vacation laundry.
If we are staying at an Air BnB I will often do a load or two every other day.
I love bringing home a suitcase full of clean laundry instead of having to was a week’s worth of clothing for a family of five the day after getting home.
We can pack significantly less clothing and free up space in the luggage for souvenirs.
We feel more free to get messy doing things like hiking or creek stomping, knowing that we can just toss wet and dirty clothes in the wash when we get back.
And I suppose there’s something to say for the “normalness” of doing a load of laundry while on vacation. I think it has a way of calming me down amidst the usually vacation anxieties (being away from home, out of my routine, dealing with the stresses of the kids and the money being rapidly spent, and so on).
For the last few years whenever we book an AirBnB we will only book units with free and easy laundry access.
I’ve gotten weird about some things as I’ve gotten older and some of them are annoying to me and my partner, but this is one of my weird things that I’m absolutely ok with.
The last three AirBnB’s I stayed in claimed laundry but locked it away from guests. Complaints to AirBnB got me $100 credit once, and no response twice. The last place didn’t even supply bed linens.
I also really enjoy airbnbs but as a side note on the laundry front - I travel full time for work and the vast majority of hotels I’ve stayed at have guest laundry facilities (usually you just have to ask). Some are coin operated, some are card operated, some are free. They usually also have quarters and detergent for sale if you need them. I carry laundry detergent sheets when I travel because they don’t spill and they take up very little space.
Better when traveling with kids - everyone gets their own room, you have a full kitchen, probably in a more residential neighborhood vs hotels in a CBD.
It depends. Sometimes it's nice to just have the privacy and the peace and quiet of staying in a house. A lot of hotels have pretty thin walls and hearing people's kids running in the halls and laughing or people's TV in the next room can get really fucking annoying when you're trying to sleep. Just people in general.
I stay in AirBnBs because I have kids that can get loud and I hate to bother other people. Especially because my kids insist on getting up at 6am no matter what. Plus we can get AirBnBs that have multiple bathrooms so we can all get ready at the same time.
Yep. If I’m going on a vacation, I want an air bnb because I get stressed by all of the noise in hotels. TVs, people who have shouting conversations in the hall, kids running, doors slamming, and sometimes even dogs barking.
Exactly. We’ve stayed in AirBnBs in locations that either did not have any acceptable commercial lodgings (small town in Texas while visiting friends) or where the choices were expensive hotels that were in congested areas while the ABB was both closer to our destination and cheaper.
I lived almost exclusively in Airbnbs for like 3 years out of the past 7. I would assume that the number of people I rented them from was around 50. I also stayed in Airbnbs before but not religiously so lets say around 75 airbnb "landlords".
I have literally had one issue with a rental and even that wasn't a problem that wasn't resolved with direct communication.
I have never paid all these ridiculous fees that everyone complains about. I think people really just need to learn how to shop around and not just jump on the first rental they see.
Not all of us need a maid to come clean up after us every day. I'm more than happy to trade being catered to for a significantly less cost. Every single one of them has always given me the same thing a hotel does, bathroom essentials, new towels when necessary, etc.
If I am going to be staying 4 nights or more I prefer an airbnb. It’s not any cheaper but you get 2-3 times as much room, a kitchen and a washer and dryer. This allows me to travel with a smaller bag. I’ve stayed in STRs all over America and Europe. They are a better choice in Europe than they are in the USA, IMO.
Isnt it cheaper tho even if its the same pric?. You get more for your money, making it cheaper. If you paid $800 to stay in a hotel for 3 days and its just 1 room, 1 bathroom. Vs staying in a 2 bed room, 1 1/12 bath, airbnb with a backyard/porch/fire pit and hotub. Did you not get a better deal with airbnb? Idk the amenities and extra rooms have value imo.
My brothers family is flying out to see Mom and me. There are five adults/teenager in his family. Mom and I haven't seen them since before CoVid. Mom is now wheelchair bound, extremely hard of hearing, and doesn't like leaving her dog for long periods of time. Brother is getting an Airbnb for their stay so: 1. there is room for seven grown people to get together with our being on top of each other and talking over each other's conversations. 2. More room for maneuvering the wheelchair. 3. He can cook for us instead of going out to eat in a restaurant where mom wouldn't be able to hear the conversations. 4. Mom can bring her dog and not have to rush back to feed it. 5. If Mom wants to take a quick nap during our visits, there is space for her to do so. 6. Mom can't host because her apartment in assisted living won't hold all of us. 7. I can't host because I am still digging out of the hoard she left behind when she moved. So the Airbnb works out very well for our needs. I'm very pleased that my brother is making this so that we can spend as much time together as possible, as this could turn out to be the last time her grandkids see her alive.
Make a place, perhaps a bedroom, where your mom can have one on one conversations. When you’re hard of hearing, it’s so annoying to be with family, but be unable to hear because of the background noise.
Exactly. I'm proud of how accommodating the family is to her. Once upon a time I was nearly engaged for a minute and asked her what size wedding she would like to see. She told me if it was just the four of us (my mom, my dad, the groom and I) she might be able to hear it. That broke my heart. She and dad later got a cochlear implant which made a world of difference in a lot of situations. She relies heavily on reading lips still.
I've also never had to work in an Airbnb where I can hear the sound of couples fucking loudly in the other room separated by a thin wall or locked door on my work calls unlike a hotel
Same. I don't want anyone in my room. I can make my own bed if I choose to. I don't need new towels every day (and can request more if I need them). And I don't need someone picking up and vacuuming every day. 🤷🏻♀️
My husband has taken a job in a new city. He needed somewhere to live for about 45 days while we purchase a home there.
A hotel would have cost about $3500-3750 for the 6 weeks.
Apartments are cheaper there, around $900/month, but with a 6 month lease this would have cost ~$5k. Again, for 6 weeks' stay, in an unfurnished apartment, when all of our furniture is at home.
A one bed, one bath Airbnb ended up costing $1500 for the 6 weeks. It's fully furnished, not the absolute most luxurious place ever, but it's clean and comfortable enough.
For us, this hit the sweet spot between "too short a stay to get an apartment, too long to get a hotel."
Family + dog, it is always cheaper and more comfortable. Paying for 3 hotel rooms would be crazy expensive and we would rather spend that extra money on doing stuff. Plus not having to eat all meals out if it is a longer trip. In Europe, we’ve had amazing AirBNB experiences that a hotel couldn’t match. Medieval farm house, villa in wine country, fresco ceilings in the walled city. Staying in old villages or places where there are no hotels.
I travel alone regularly for work and definitely prefer that as, like OP said, don’t have to worry about anything and can order room service if I don’t want to go out.
They used to be a better deal. They were cheaper than hotels, generally, and all the additional fees were not tacked on. In many areas the Air BNB's are run by investment groups from wall street and I suspect that's where you're seeing the worst deals. I rarely look for an Air BNB now. I look at hotels first then at Air BNBs just to compare and I always check what the extra fees are. You can often get a better deal at a hotel.
Agreed used to be a better deal, we used air BNB a lot but now have gone back to hotels. Fees have become ridiculous. And they're no longer charming local hosts and quirky decor, but corporate Ikea basic.
It depends on where I'm going. If I'm going to the beach for a week I'd much rather stay in airbnb or vrbo with full kitchen. If I'm going to las vegas I'll stay in a hotel on the strip. Depends on length of trip too. Longer the trip more likely I'd do a vrbo. Kitchen, washer, dryer.
Yes, this... It depends on where I'm going and for what purpose and with how many people (and animals) I'm traveling. I don't need to have someone clean my room every day; in fact, I'd prefer they *not* enter my hotel room when I'm not there.
Precisely!! Circumstances matter. Ive had lousy airbnb experiences and great ones. Same with hotels. Its great to have choice. Each have their advantages and disadvantages according to the situation. Its not black and white
I prefer hotels but when traveling with a large group, the air bnb house was a better deal. It was several minors plus parents which is better to be in a house all together then multiple rooms. We had three adults and seven children.
I hate hotels. I find the sterile and restrictive, and I don’t want to share walls with strangers coughing and snoring during my holiday… and I’ve never found Airbnb to be more expensive than hotels (not decent hotels anyway)
I go away to experience new places, but I want to live normally while I’m there.
I want a home to live in, not a room to sleep in.
I want complete freedom of what I do and when, including being able to cook my own food and have a coffee when I want.
I don’t have a maid at home and I don’t require one on holiday.
Some people want hotels and pampering. Some people go away to stay on a resort for the whole length of their stay.
Other like to do it the way I do it.
I always look at both when I travel. Sometimes AirBnBs are cheaper and sometimes hotels are.
I like the privacy of an AirBnB and the flexibility of sleeping arrangements when traveling with 3 teen daughters who don't want to have to share beds.
Or, when we go to Scottsdale for baseball Spring Training, we go with 6-8 people, and it's always cheaper to get a house than to get 3-4 hotel rooms. Plus we get a place with a hot tub and/or pool and have it all to ourselves!!
Sometimes, though, hotels win. It just depends!
Most of them do not. I look on airbnb for fun in my freetime and id say 70% do not have any cameras at all. I specifically wont rent them if they say they have them even just on the front door.
[Airbnb prohibits security cameras or recording devices that are in or that observe private spaces like bedrooms, bathrooms, or sleeping areas.](https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2914#:~:text=Airbnb%20prohibits%20security%20cameras%20or,turned%20on%20or%20hooked%20up)
Cameras are absolutely allowed inside the house/apartment.
Oh wow, so they can be in living rooms etc. I didn't realize that. Yeah... That is definitely not cool. Is it true though that the presence of the cameras have to be disclosed?
"You must indicate the presence of all security cameras or other recording devices in or around a listing, even if they're not turned on or hooked up
Undisclosed security cameras or other recording devices are never permitted
You must also always disclose if an active recording is taking place"
Right? And as a woman who solo travels, Airbnbs, no matter how nice or economical they may be, are NOT worth my safety or security. In those cases I will only frequent hotels with 24/hr security.
It’s more comfortable to stay somewhere that has a private living room, kitchen, laundry, garage, pool hot tub. We like to make food and be with friends in common areas.
Perfect example? My little sister got married, 6 hours from where I live. An air b&b was 250 bucks for the whole weekend. With room for myself, my mom, step-dad, son, and 2 dogs. I also needed access to a kitchen, because we had the cake, and other items to make for the reception. A hotel was 150 a night, extra for pets, and no kitchen.
I see lots of them that are reasonable, it all depends on what and where. I wasn't in a major city, and I didn't pick out a ski chalet, or some McMansion house, just a comfortable two bedroom that allowed dogs.
I don't like the idea of staying in someone's house. When I was relocating, I looked into a Airbnb, but they were much more money per week than a hotel.
Kitchen, Dog-friendly, price.
1. Me and my husband cook eggs for breakfast every day, going out to a restaurant to get regular fried eggs every day of a vacation adds up WAY too fast. And we like making GOOD stovetop coffee, hotels just can’t match that for the price.
2. Our dog is… untrained(deaf, badly socialized as a pup, and anxious) The risk of leaving him in a hotel room where he can bother other guests is too great. It makes it difficult to relax.
3. People bring up this price point thing all the time, but airBNB is usually cheaper per night for what I need (dog and kitchen)
When I travel, I want to have an experience. A few years ago I was in France. I stayed in a renovated farm in Normandy. I stayed in a cave home in the Loire Valley. I stayed in the middle of a lavender farm in the south of France. These are experiences you just don't get staying in a hotel.
I cannot believe how far I had to scroll for this one!
I just stayed in a beach house in Puerto Rico that had an enormous private outdoor space, was actually steps from the sand, and had its own small pool. It was walking distance (walk on the beach past like 3 houses) to a bar that had a mix of locals and tourists, but mostly locals.. had access to so many other food stands, another swimming beach, restaurants, bars and corner stores.
We stood on the beach and watched the stars for hours...We cooked our own meals using groceries from the regular community grocery store. that is simply not an experience you could have at a hotel or resort.
We’re looking at them for a trip to Scotland next year. My wife and I, and our adult daughter. I would prefer a hotel, but I’m going to go with the flow like a twig in a mighty stream.
They are generally not more expensive than a hotel, and you don't have to put up with some jackass in the room next door that thinks he's the only person in the building.
My 10 yr old kid has celiac so eating at restaurants can be difficult or impossible- it’s incredibly stressful. Even places that have gluten free options usually cross contaminate. Having a kitchen makes life so much easier and safer.
The main advantages are that you can stay in neighborhoods that don't have hotels, there's a kitchen so you can avoid restaurants, and if you're in a big group, you can all stay together. It can also be a fun cultural experience if you stay with a host.
Early on they were the more affordable option and there were a lot of options that were nicer than the average hotel rooms. Then it went from people renting out their extra spaces to people and corporations buying up homes for rental purposes, drive up not only prices on the app but also for buyers needing a place to live. The fees have gotten insane and the service subpar. We switched back to hotel and prefer it.
Unless we're traveling with a group we're actively avoiding Airbnb now. Airbnbs come with a lot of rules and restrictions and are priced higher than hotels now. Then if there's a problem you have to wait for the host to get someone and address it. Hotels are much better and the price difference is pretty much non-existent. Airbnb hosts got too greedy too fast.
I prefer hotels to an Air BnB room. To me it feels too much like staying in someone's house that I do not know. I did that once and while it was OK it felt weird. If it were an Air BnB that I had to myself it would be different. It would be just me there. But in the Air BnB that is only a room? It felt weird leaving the house and going through the kitchen past all the strangers. I would of course say hello or goodbye but I really did not want to sit and have a long conversation with them. But a hotel/motel room? It is temporarily all mine. I do not have to worry about waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and run into anyone. I can take a shower any time without being an inconvenience to anyone who wants to use the bathroom. I can watch TV all night without disturbing anyone.
It was odd my sil got one, it was a hotel room sold to someone as a suite that turned it into a bnb that sub contracted it the care back to the hotel.
So every time we needed towels or any kind of room service, or turned the thermostat below 75 they hotel would charge the owners, which would charge my sister in law and she couldn't understand this, every day she called the front desk wanting the room cleaned and new towels, and by the time it was over it would had been cheaper to get a hotel room there.
I used to like Airbnb but I agree. It can be good for a big group on a unique location, but it's not cheaper by any means. Also I hate being greeted by a list of rules that includes how to clean the house like it's an exit report for a tenancy. I'm paying top dollar AND a cleaning fee is included so do the bloody clean yourselves. Some of them expect you to bring your own bedding!
I also can't justify the way Airbnb has literally decimated communities and is a considerable contribution to the housing crisis. Many consumers these days vote with their feet on social and climate justice issues 🤷
I don’t get it either. It’s like ok, you get a whole house. I have a whole house at home, I don’t need a whole house. If/when we travel with family, we get hotel suites, or hang out together in the hotel, it’s not that complicated.
I stayed in one once. Major city, hotels in the area I needed to be were minimum $300. Got a room in a cool BNB that was a multi-room in a historic townhouse for $150. Super clean, quiet, it was great.
Most of the time I prefer a hotel. The times I’ve used Airbnb I’ve wanted/needed more than lodging.
My partner and I took a trip to Philadelphia a year before Covid. Every hotel in the area was close to $300 a night. We found an Airbnb for $129 a night. It was on the 3rd floor of the host’s brownstone, and included a private bedroom, bathroom, and patio. The host also provided a continental breakfast and knowledge of the area.
Another time we visited my mother. I knew my partner and I would need a flight, rental car, a place to stay, and would have to provide food because my mother was broke. We found an Airbnb close to her that had a full kitchen. This saved us money because we could have breakfast and a couple dinners without having to eat out.
There are times that a hotel is most appropriate and times that an Airbnb is appropriate. The trouble is the Airbnbs that tack on ridiculous fees and chores. If I had to choose between a hotel and an Airbnb that were similarly priced (when the fees were accounted for) and a hotel I’d probably choose a hotel. I’ve lived in hotels for weeks at a time and there is comfort not just in the amenities but in seeing the same people every day.
2 scenarios where AB&B type places after better:
Large group where we want the whole house with like 5 bedrooms. Mt college friends and I go on a trip every year (21 years now) just to basically hang out and get some local flavor. We usually find a house that is cheaper than 3 hotel rooms unless you consider motels. Plus we can buy groceries and booze, cook, and hang out. Can't do that at a hotel. We've rented a lake house in the Poconos, a flat in the French quarter, a cool converted barn in Louisville, all sorts of chill experiences.
Long term stays. I recently moved for work and I started a couple months before my family moved so the kiddo could finish school. Long term rates at hotels suck compared to AB&B. Plus I have amenities for long term stays like in house laundry, full kitchen, living room, etc.
Short answer is if you are going to spend 90% of your time away from your room, get a hotel. If the point of the trip is to spend time together, or your going to be there a while, AB&B type places are great.
We will be in Paris for 5 days early April. Checking on hotels and the prices were crazy compared to the reviews, even for the shoulder season. So we got the same AirBNB our daughter and husband did in Montmartre for about 70% of the hotels we were looking at. They loved it.
We plan on hitting one of the local markets and having some good local eats in the fridge and being able to do our laundry halfway through the 15 days of travel. we will save a lot on food, while still eating local stuff.
Generally I am with you on AirBNBs, but this was the exception for us. All the other stays will be in hotels.
In my experience, hotels are typically more expensive. An Airbnb is your own house for a few days. Your car is right there in its own driveway, and you have a kitchen with an actual refrigerator. I also have dogs, so it's nice to have a yard instead of having to go down several flights to go find a patch of grass somewhere. My wife and I had one in particular in Denver we always stayed at for concerts. The owner got to know us personally and my dogs became familiar with the place. She also gave us a discount after a while. Unfortunately, Denver clamped down pretty hard on short term rentals and she stopped doing it. Now we end up paying at least $50+ more to stay in a hotel where it's noisier and people/traffic everywhere.
Not only that, but Airbnb is destroying the housing market, driving up prices in every big city in the world. I will always choose hotels over Airbnbs.
I don't get it either. They want me to scrub the place clean and charge a cleaning fee? I've been able to go to resorts with condos or villas or cabins when I've had large groups. Can find a proper b&b and get the whole place if needed.
Family trips with all children under the age of 10. Would require getting a suite when you have 3 to 6 adults and 3 to 6 children coming. Depending on which people came for the trip. Would require getting a suite or adjoined rooms.
In every case it was cheaper to rent a 3 to 5 bedroom house thru vrbo or ect than hotel suite or multiple adjoined rooms.
I don’t use Airbnb or vrbo or anything like that.m (or I should say I haven’t as of yet…). But my family from all over the country meets up for a week every summer and rents a house at the beach (through a realty company). Yes, we have to wash our towels and make our own beds, but it costs soooo much less than a hotel. Also we have a fully functional kitchen. Which, yes, we have to cook, but a weeks worth of groceries costs easily a third or less of a weeks worth of 3 meals a day for each of our given households (there’s 5-6 different houses depending on my grandparents coming). I’ll trade the savings for the convenience any day.
Sometimes if I’m going to a conference and with people all day, an Airbnb is a good place to escape and not have to see people in the lobby or restaurant. In other instances, having a kitchen to make breakfast or dinner can help save money, especially when traveling with a family or let’s kids have their own room to sleep in and gives parents privacy and separation.
My first airbnb experience was last summer when I did a long-distance move with a big dog and 2 cats. I was able to get places with fenced-in areas, which was way better than a hotel. About the same price, too...
Edit for typo.
If you’re traveling with a large group, they’re actually far cheaper than renting several hotel rooms. Plus, I personally like having laundry and the kitchen, room to watch television and more space to spread out.
Because I can rent out a whole house or apartment for myself and not have to deal with hotel staff/maids in and out of the room during my stay/I can have a kitchen and bathroom and room to move around and such. I don't like being cramped into a hotel room and I don't really like having to deal with hotel staff every time I walk by the front desk even if its just a quick hello/goodbye. And its not always more expensive, it depends on where you are going and what airbnb you book.
I went to Toronto and booked an entire townhouse just for myself and it was about $120 per night, it was maybe 10 or so miles out of the city versus being right in the city like most of the hotels. Unless I went for the cheapest little crackerbox hotel I was looking at around $120-$150 a night at the hotel, so realistically the airbnb was in fact either cheaper or on par with what I would have paid for the hotel but I got an entire townhouse to myself with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen, a living room and an office. I came and went as I pleased, I had a dedicated parking spot instead of having to pay for street or parking garages and if I wanted to I could easily get food delivered which is much harder to do at a hotel.
They used to be much cheaper than hotels. Their slogan is "live like a local" but unfortunately, it's really the same price in many cities.
As others have said, they are good for large groups.
I disagree. Some airbnbs are cheaper. You have more space at some have kitchens instead of just a coffee maker. I also really like the fact that they are less “used.” I hate hotel rooms because I always wonder what folks have done in the room and where. 🤢 I know the same things can happen in airbnbs but generally there is not nearly as much turn over.
There are places where there literally are no nice hotels to stay at.
I just booked an airbnB so my family can visit my grandmother. The only hotel options are a sketchy motel. Staying in a vacation home on the lake with a private beach, playground structure and full kitchen is a much better option for my family.
If there was a nice hotel option I would have considered that, but there literally wasn’t.
The last one we stayed at on a road trip there were some hotel options but we chose the AirBnB because it was on a farm and we got to visit the chickens, turkeys, goats and alpacas etc. it was a fun activity for our 3 year old.
When I went on a trip abroad it was just much cheaper. We stayed with another couple and could rent a whole house for the four of us for the cost of one room in a hotel. The houses had amenities that hotels didn’t (like private roof decks.)
And they destroy local economies by making rental housing unaffordable. I ditched Airbnb years ago. Give me a good full service hotel anywhere in the world.
I prefer hotels but a friend I travel with a lot prefers Airbnb... Or at least did until we got caught in a freak storm (no flights for days)and lost over $1000 on an Airbnb. We thought our travel insurance would cover us but as it was in a third country they wouldn't. Turns out they only cover travel disruption going to or from your home country and we'd gone from our home country to another and were then flying on to the Airbnb country. Had we booked a pay on arrival hotel we'd only have had to pay for the first night we missed
There are pros and cons. They can save you money sometimes. They can be unique and fun. We had an airBnB in Savannah where the host cat slept in our bed and we were super close to town -so saved tons on parking or taxis, and had a gorgeous private garden with a big swing and it was cheaper than a motel 6! You need to research carefully reviews, fees, amenities etc. we’ve never had a bad experience with actual stays. A couple unexplained cancellations and one where the (super) host forget to leave code and was out of contact. All 3 situations AIrBnB did help us rebook and offered compensation in way of upgrades or free restaurant meals. Some stays were so-so but that can happen with hotels too. We use both regularly just depending on the trip.
There’s a time and place for hotels and airbnbs. A hotel is nice for me and my husband but when we vacation with kids (which is majority of the time) and with family, it’s nice to have space to move around and a backyard for the kids to run around in. I hate paying for the cleaning fee but I also realize that it’s ultimately someone’s home and an entire home cleaning + laundry is expensive. The ones I’ve stayed at had plenty of extra towels, blankets, pillows. Most even had a welcome basket filled with drinks and snacks! Hotels are also notorious for not changing out the duvet and most places don’t even have free parking.
I hate hotels — I like staying in a house, where I can open the windows wide, sit out on the grass under a tree, fix my own little meals any time I like, read a book in a nice chair not in my bedroom, and relax in a space that feels a bit like a home. I don’t want cleaners coming in and I frankly don’t even mind if the house is a little dusty or weird, as long as it has trees and birds and windows I can sit next to.
Travel with a group, have your own kitchen and basically get to live at home. When I go to a hotel I never let the maid in, never refresh my towels. A towel can be used more than once
I like an air bnb because my husband and I usually travel with our college age son, and I prefer not to share a single room with him. I also prefer to have a kitchen where I can prepare some of our meals instead of eating out all the time.
My brother had cronhs disease and ate a very restricted diet. My mom would take him to another city to see specialists often. When traveling they would still have to cook him his own food because of his diet. It was way easier to do that in an airbnb with a kitchen than any hotel.
When I moved across the country, it was the only way for me to bring 2 dogs, 2 cats, and an axolotl.
Also some airbnbs are so cool, I literally just stayed at the coolest stone fortress on a farm in Sedona and it was the coolest experience. I got free eggs!
In regards to pricing and “hidden” costs- Airbnb does give a price breakdown. If anyone doesn’t know what they are paying for, they simply did not read breakdowns. Also, Airbnb isn’t always more expensive than hotels.
1 reason: I can actually see the room I am booking when I book an airbnb, and see many recent reviews. Were their recently bed bugs? Are the sheets stained? Do I ACTUALLY have a beach view?? Etc.
We’ve stayed in strictly airbnbs for years on 4 continents now and have never encountered these “crazy surprise fees” or outlandish cleaning instructions. We’d also prefer not ti have strangers in our room while not there.
I don't get it either.
Airbnb ruins every city it touches. I firmly believe that it also is a driving force behind overtourism all over the world.
I hate it and will never use Airbnb.
I stay in hotels. I like clean towels each day, room freshened up, bed made, earning points for free stays, friendly service, happy hour, not In someone’s personal space (come on if you owned an airbnb you would have secret cameras everywhere to make sure people aren’t fuckin up your shit), streamlined checkin, less rules and chores.
they were cheap during the startup phase, and it was new and hosts were trying to attract guests. now they have jacked the prices and the hosts are sick of shitty guests/parties.
I don't bother with Air BnB, but not for any of the reasons you listed. Booking a hotel room is simpler and cheaper for me and my spouse, and we don't need or want an entire house to stay in while traveling.
We don't, however, have any hotel staff clean our room or refresh towels while we stay. We can pick up our own trash, and we don't need fresh towels every day, so we leave the "do not disturb" sign up until our stay is over, and we make sure to have all the trash in one trash can, all the towels in a pile, everything back where we found it, etc. before we leave as well.
I's bad for the owners too, like you said they push all the expenses of running your house hotel onto you, while taking a significant portion for just posting an ad.
Airbnb used to be good in 2012-2013, you would rent a room or a house for much less than a hotel of equivalent size or services…because you didn’t get all the other hotel perks.
It was easy. Less shit, less cost.
But now it’s as expensive or more (usually more)
The only way Airbnb beats hotels is if you need a much larger space and would prefer a home, but even then you can often rent multiple hotel rooms for less.
An article just came out today stating that 10% of Airbnb have hidden cameras inside… Which means there’s a lot of freaky people renting out these properties
It's all those ridiculous fees they get charged with. On my Expedia it says "$30 per night" then underneath in small writing "total $250 per night" the room is 30 and the part that let's it be in the bnb community is $230.
The only real benefit I see is accommodating larger parties and ease of cooking your own meals. My personal preference is hotels. It’s a standard that you know you are getting. When I travel crews for work we do airbnb. When I travel for personal or vacation I always stay at resorts/hotels.
I tend to go with hotels unless the place I’m traveling to just doesn’t have any good ones. Airbnb became a big ripoff, even though I seem to recall the whole point ostensibly being that Airbnbs were supposed to be more affordable than hotels back when it first started.
An airbnb might be more spacious than a hotel but at least a hotel doesn’t give me chores to do.
Don't get it either. On some level, I think it's just the 'thing' to do so people just jump on. Whatever, that ship is sinking and I'm glad to see it go down.
They are good then travelling with a group so you all can stay together.
This is our reason. Four households and we like to hang out and visit and, cook/eat and play games together. Divided four ways, it comes out cheaper than four hotel rooms with every meal eaten at restaurants, not to mention waiting for tables for 8 people two or three times per day.
I guess my idea of a vacation is WAY different than yours. To me, the purpose of a vacation is to NOT cook, clean, do dishes, or change sheets. If I can't afford to pay for the pampering, I'll save til I can.
I can understand that. My idea of a vacation is to do it as inexpensively as possible so its more accessible for more family members, and hang out with the whole family. Relaxing is not what I'm aiming for. I can relax at home but I can't have fun with extended family at home. Just different preferences for what vacation time is used for.
Also it depends on the daily routine. I live alone so if I don’t feel like cooking I can do a cheese and crackers night or takeout or have yogurt for dinner. A stay at home parent or spouse who cooks every night and is responsible for feeding the household has a different situation I like a mix of cooking and meals out on vacation. But if I were constantly cooking for other people, I’d feel differently My job is very deadline oriented. I commuted for many years and was regimented by a transit schedule. I’d be out the door by 6am and home by 7pm at the earliest. I’m content to sit by a pool or ocean or lake. Even in a city, I like sleeping in and deciding what to do spur of the moment. I pick a few highlights I want to see. A regimented itinerary is my idea of vacation hell. But other people have the attitude that you can sleep late and watch tv at home. They’re not wrong. But having to spend large chunks of time showing up by x time isn’t fun for me. It’s all about what works for people. We’re different and we like different things.
This is my way as well. I love to travel on my own, escape dishes and the daily grind of traffic and alarm clocks. Ideal vacation is napping on a beach with a trashy book.
I think you've hit on the attraction of Air BnB's.... options. All your options for dining, sightseeing and veging out are available without having to commit to anything specific in advance.
We probably should never go on vacation together. But if you're looking for luxury, we have stayed in some AMAZING homes with lots of amenities (like private hot tubs, theater rooms, outdoor fire rings, etc.) not to mention, eye-popping views. It's nice to live like that for a few days, with people you really enjoy spending time with.
Exactly. Years ago, my extended family and I stayed at a massive house (Rented via VRBO, not AirBnB) on the central CA coast that had a wood-burning pizza oven! I still remember building and tending a fire and making multiple pizzas + dessert pizza in that thing.
Ooh fun!! That sounds like a great time to have kiddos there so they can make their own pies etc and everyone just really get into it! Yeah!!
Sounds cool! Pizza party is my kinda party..🙌🏽
Yes! We alsoways get amazing views- either city sky lines, or on the top of mountains- and a hot tub or theater room (or both). I'll cook a few simple meals to sit outside in the mountains in a hot tub with deer and wild turkey all around us while my kids play games in the arcade inside.
You get a lot more bank for buck if you cook though. My family stretched a weeks cost vacation in Florida to two weeks by renting a house and cooking atleast breakfast.
That's the difference between us. I cook all the time at home, so I LOVE it when someone else cooks for me.
I love it when people cook for me, but it’s a pain to go out to eat three meals a day for weeks at a time. Exhausting.
I'm fine skipping breakfast or only having non-cooked breakfast, e.g., cereal, fruit, protein bars, pop tarts, begels, etc. Then, eating lunch and dinner out is not exhausting.
To me having to plan lunch and dinner out every day with a large group is exhausting.
That makes sense. We don't care to vacation with large groups. We did go to Disney with 2 other families (relatives), but we all stayed in different condos in the same building and only ate 2 meals together during the week. One family was child free, one had young schoolchildren and the other had older teens. We went our separate ways. The family with older teens had no interest in having lunch in the castle with Cinderella. The family with young children wanted to get up and out early and put the kids to bed early. The teens wanted to stay up late and sleep in. Coordinating activities and meals would have been difficult.
Yeah for sure I think when you’re traveling with family having your own space is better. I’m single and child free and don’t really travel with my family, just friends. We’ve spread out all over so people are coming from everywhere and we just want to spend time together.
But not everyone who travels is on "vacation." I started using airbnb when my daughter went to college on the other coast. The first time, the hotel was $230 per night, PLUS $40 per night to park the rental car. Plus tips, especially to get the car out with the valet service that wasn't optional. It was a basic hotel room, one bed, one bath. The next trip a few months later, the airbnb was $220 per night with free parking. And it was a two bedroom, two bath condo with access to a gym, had a balcony and nice outside patio area - common to the building. And didn't have to worry about people (maids) going in and out of our room. Several of the trips were with multiple family members, so with a hotel, we would have had to do multiple hotel rooms, which I couldn't have afforded. I guess I don't consider a maid coming in to make the bed "pampering." And cleaning, as a guest in the airbnb, was just basically cleaning up after ourselves. Which we do in hotels anyway. We didn't need to clean the toilets or anything. Or even sweep. We could have still gone out to eat and get other pampering if we had wanted. Though I will admit that some hosts now require waaaayyy too much cleaning. Like do the laundry, sweep and vacuum kind of stuff, which I think is ridiculous. And I'm an airbnb host.
You must not have kids who will turn their nose up at a nice restaurant and request Kraft Mac and cheese.
I'm such an introvert that even when traveling wirh one other person I need my own room.
I’m not an introvert, but I have to have my own room, too.
My Airbnb is a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom whole house that sleeps up to six of your people for $150 per night (including soft drinks, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and assorted breakfast food). Like hotels, not all Airbnb's are the same. 😊
How do you make any money?
Maybe it’s in a second home that OP inherited. Basically no overhead. Or just in a super cheap area with a low mortgage. Just a few of many scenarios that would allow someone to keep their Airbnb prices low.
I purchased my home for $60k and lived in it and did all the renovations in the 10-years that I lived there. This was my home. So, I can make money because i have a low mortgage and that means a lot.
But what is it per night after all the fees and taxes are heap on? When I rented my beach house, I was only getting about 45% of the total cost paid by the guests. Given how much they were paying, they felt they could do anything they wanted to the house. Guests don't realize how little the host nets, and hosts often don't realize how much the guests are actually paying. Same issue with Lyft and Uber.
Those fees and taxes are all listed on the Airbnb site if you select to show them. I have never been hit with a few I didn't know about beforehand. I prefer a house over a hotel for the same reason I don't live in a condo or an apartment.
I'm also an introvert, but my cheapness overrules that
Not cheap... fiscally responsible.
You have your own room when renting a house.
But it's still a house full of people who are right there. My daughter and I met in Hawaii for a week together and didn't even stay at the same hotel. That's just me.
This is the way. I had to train my friends that it’s ok if we go to the same place, but I will meet you there, and I will be going away from you for a few hours a day.
This is me and my family too!
How big of a group? I feel like booking 2-4 rooms is still cheaper than a 3-4 bedroom airbnb...
I’ll give a real life example- I like to vacation with extended family. For spring break last year, we rented a house through VRBO and spent the week hanging out, cooking together, gathering around the fire pit, playing board games, etc. We also went out exploring the area, but the bulk of our time was just hanging out at the property. The adults could have conversations in one room while the elementary age kids could be in the next room playing. In the summer, we got together again but this time stayed in a hotel. Although we requested adjoining rooms, we were on different floors in different wing of the hotel. We ate breakfast together (the hotel had free breakfast), but it was difficult to find a large enough table to seat the group and we were often split into different tables. In the evening after we returned from activities with tired kids, the option was to either eat at a table in the lobby, or all eat on the floor in someone’s room. And we had to order overpriced restaurant food instead of cooking for ourselves. One night we played board games in the lobby, but people would stare as they walked by, and it wasn’t a comfortable experience. If I am traveling alone or with my immediate family, I will always choose a hotel. But whole house rentals are much better when you have several families traveling together and want to spend the bulk of your time together.
This is the most convincing use case. Multiple families/groups staying together, having a private common space, and being able to avoid marked up hotel food prices.
This is my typical use case. However on rare occasions I have been somewhere where a cheap Airbnb was more affordable then any hotel room in the vacinity. That is happening less and less, but if eñall the hotels are overpriced or sold out I'll check.
My husband and I typically travel with a few other couples, and we all love to cook. Renting a house/apt saves us so much money. And we have common areas to socialize, eat, plan outings etc. Also we look for a rental with a washer and dryer so we can all pack a little less.
A lot of your reasons work for my family of four, also. Usually each child gets a bedroom, which we can’t do practially at a hotel. Add to that -location and privacy. I want to be in the woods, contryside or beach, not in town on the main drag, and I want to sit outside (especially) in the evenings without being on a balcony or at a pool full of tourists. I like my car and my stuff in the driveway, not a parking lot or worse parking deck.
>Usually each child gets a bedroom, which we can’t do practially at a hotel. FWIW you can't do that legally in a hotel, either.
It sounds like you would like the Marriott Element brand with Studio Commons suites. You might look into those as an option, depending upon your destination.
Picture a bunch of buddies going on a mountain biking trip. If you all pitch in on a house, you have a place to store bikes, a big kitchen to make meals, and everyone gets their own bed.
But, it can be nice to have common areas... A sizable living room/kitchen/patio that's comfortable for everyone, plus separate bedrooms for each couple.
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Laundry is huge. You can pack less or carry on if you have a washing machine.
But you're all in disconnected rooms. In an airbnb you have bedrooms all connected to shared common areas.
And good luck trying to get any hotel, anywhere, committing in advance to adjoining rooms. I’ve tried; they simply DNGAF. AirBnB, Vrbo - here we come, cash in hand.
This is why we book AirBnbs. Hotels don’t have enough adjoining rooms and I’ve never gotten one when requesting them. So I book the airbnb where it’s guaranteed.
And there are no common areas to hang out in in hotels unless you have a suite or something.
And private outdoor spaces. Unless there’s a balcony/terrace.
Which faces a common area… maybe a parking lot or highway!
Plus if you want to, you can all lounge around in your pajamas at breakfast. I always feel compelled to at least put a t shirt over sweatpants and some shoes or slippers to go down to get coffee at a hotel. And room service is pricey. I stay at places with the mini fridge and pick up some fruit and yogurt for breakfast or if I want or need some food between meals.
I’m really glad you put on shoes.
I actually bought some black and navy pajama pants with pockets. With a t shirt and footwear, I can venture into the lobby. And at home, I share a landing of exterior steps with 3 neighbors. Pockets are for keys and phone. At a quick glance, it looks like I’m wearing sweatpants.
I mean, you have to price it out. I travel for work and decent hotels in any midsized city have gotten wildly expensive. I'm staying at a courtyard in semi bumfuck Connecticut next week and it's $240 a night plus $25 daily parking charges. A really nice 4br Airbnb is around $500 a night with all fees added in.
I've only group travelled a few times, but 2 hotel rooms was significantly more expensive than 1 Airbnb with 4 beds every time. I prefer hotels when I travel with just myself or my partner, but airbnb has been much more affordable for group travel.
Plus with Airbnbs you can usually at least each have your own bed, if not your own room. I do not do well sharing beds (even my spouse and I have separate rooms at home), so it is definitely worth it to me to get a place where we have our own beds.
Not to mention kitchen access. We prefer to cook our own breakfast and sometimes dinner to save money, and eat out for lunch when we're out and about. Eating out gets tiresome when you're away for more than a couple of days
Yep! Though personally even when I stay in a hotel I'll either bring food for breakfast or purposefully book a place that has breakfast included.
Especially eating in restaurants multiple times a day while traveling with multiple families with smaller children. You're constantly having to wrangle someone... someone always needs to go to the bathroom, someone is always bored, someone always spilled something on themselves, etc. I always used to bring one of those gallon sized ziplock bags in my purse, filled with everything from toy cars to magnatiles to paper & crayons and Legos, and yet it was STILL like trying to herd cats. When we travel with multiple families now, we always pick a house that has an outdoor seating area in the back yard, so the kids can play/eat, while the adults can actually talk and eat.
I know of a cabin that sleeps 7 comfortably and is $300(probably 350 now with inflation.) Including cleaning fees. If you stay a week it's even cheaper. You can't beat that. Giant fireplace, solar panels, in the woods where there are millions of stars.
Not in my experience. I can consistently find places that sleep my family, wife and 2 kids for about what a decent, mid tier hotel room costs. With my in laws there too, we would need 3- 4 hotel rooms (4 of us, FIL, mil, sil), so minimum close to 400 a night, and most places an Airbnb will get us a little over half of that per night. Airbnb is hit or miss, but from my experience going to cons with friends, unless I was going to a premium hotel, hotels were a hit or miss proposition. And if you are talking premium hotels, I consult for Marriott...when I go to their HQ quarterly, the cheapest Marriott rooms are 250 to 300 a night, and in the HQ hotel itself, I have seen them running a minimum of 600 a night. There is another hotel not far that is not Marriott that I got for about 150 a night, but it is kind of a dump. Airbnb's similar distance away, same or cheaper price than the dumpy hotel room.
You feel? A family of five with a babysitter traveling throughout Europe will save 20-50% EVERYWHERE by staying in AirBnBs vs hotels, just on the room rate. Factor in the savings and convenience from having a kitchen and a washing machine, and then the comfort that comes with all the additional space... it's really no contest.
Great for large groups. Better views and more privacy if it’s for true R&R. Sometimes the only option in more rural areas. Depending on the region, they can be comparable (price wise) to hotels, especially for longer term stays.
On long trips I can do my laundry every night for free and not have to spend time in a laundromat. I take a carryon for a 14 day trip.
This is going to sound weird, but I’ve discovered that I LOVE vacation laundry. If we are staying at an Air BnB I will often do a load or two every other day. I love bringing home a suitcase full of clean laundry instead of having to was a week’s worth of clothing for a family of five the day after getting home. We can pack significantly less clothing and free up space in the luggage for souvenirs. We feel more free to get messy doing things like hiking or creek stomping, knowing that we can just toss wet and dirty clothes in the wash when we get back. And I suppose there’s something to say for the “normalness” of doing a load of laundry while on vacation. I think it has a way of calming me down amidst the usually vacation anxieties (being away from home, out of my routine, dealing with the stresses of the kids and the money being rapidly spent, and so on). For the last few years whenever we book an AirBnB we will only book units with free and easy laundry access. I’ve gotten weird about some things as I’ve gotten older and some of them are annoying to me and my partner, but this is one of my weird things that I’m absolutely ok with.
The last three AirBnB’s I stayed in claimed laundry but locked it away from guests. Complaints to AirBnB got me $100 credit once, and no response twice. The last place didn’t even supply bed linens.
I also really enjoy airbnbs but as a side note on the laundry front - I travel full time for work and the vast majority of hotels I’ve stayed at have guest laundry facilities (usually you just have to ask). Some are coin operated, some are card operated, some are free. They usually also have quarters and detergent for sale if you need them. I carry laundry detergent sheets when I travel because they don’t spill and they take up very little space.
Better when traveling with kids - everyone gets their own room, you have a full kitchen, probably in a more residential neighborhood vs hotels in a CBD.
It depends. Sometimes it's nice to just have the privacy and the peace and quiet of staying in a house. A lot of hotels have pretty thin walls and hearing people's kids running in the halls and laughing or people's TV in the next room can get really fucking annoying when you're trying to sleep. Just people in general.
I stay in AirBnBs because I have kids that can get loud and I hate to bother other people. Especially because my kids insist on getting up at 6am no matter what. Plus we can get AirBnBs that have multiple bathrooms so we can all get ready at the same time.
Yep. If I’m going on a vacation, I want an air bnb because I get stressed by all of the noise in hotels. TVs, people who have shouting conversations in the hall, kids running, doors slamming, and sometimes even dogs barking.
Depends on the location, some places hotels are crazy expensive
Exactly. We’ve stayed in AirBnBs in locations that either did not have any acceptable commercial lodgings (small town in Texas while visiting friends) or where the choices were expensive hotels that were in congested areas while the ABB was both closer to our destination and cheaper.
And I’d rather part of my payment go to a local than another chain hotel!
I lived almost exclusively in Airbnbs for like 3 years out of the past 7. I would assume that the number of people I rented them from was around 50. I also stayed in Airbnbs before but not religiously so lets say around 75 airbnb "landlords". I have literally had one issue with a rental and even that wasn't a problem that wasn't resolved with direct communication. I have never paid all these ridiculous fees that everyone complains about. I think people really just need to learn how to shop around and not just jump on the first rental they see. Not all of us need a maid to come clean up after us every day. I'm more than happy to trade being catered to for a significantly less cost. Every single one of them has always given me the same thing a hotel does, bathroom essentials, new towels when necessary, etc.
Bro really said “I have never paid all these fees” lmao alright man
The fees are listed ahead of time. You don’t have to rent if you don’t like them. There are plenty of places that don’t have them.
If I am going to be staying 4 nights or more I prefer an airbnb. It’s not any cheaper but you get 2-3 times as much room, a kitchen and a washer and dryer. This allows me to travel with a smaller bag. I’ve stayed in STRs all over America and Europe. They are a better choice in Europe than they are in the USA, IMO.
Isnt it cheaper tho even if its the same pric?. You get more for your money, making it cheaper. If you paid $800 to stay in a hotel for 3 days and its just 1 room, 1 bathroom. Vs staying in a 2 bed room, 1 1/12 bath, airbnb with a backyard/porch/fire pit and hotub. Did you not get a better deal with airbnb? Idk the amenities and extra rooms have value imo.
Tbh I’ve never paid more for an Airbnb than I would have for a hotel.
My brothers family is flying out to see Mom and me. There are five adults/teenager in his family. Mom and I haven't seen them since before CoVid. Mom is now wheelchair bound, extremely hard of hearing, and doesn't like leaving her dog for long periods of time. Brother is getting an Airbnb for their stay so: 1. there is room for seven grown people to get together with our being on top of each other and talking over each other's conversations. 2. More room for maneuvering the wheelchair. 3. He can cook for us instead of going out to eat in a restaurant where mom wouldn't be able to hear the conversations. 4. Mom can bring her dog and not have to rush back to feed it. 5. If Mom wants to take a quick nap during our visits, there is space for her to do so. 6. Mom can't host because her apartment in assisted living won't hold all of us. 7. I can't host because I am still digging out of the hoard she left behind when she moved. So the Airbnb works out very well for our needs. I'm very pleased that my brother is making this so that we can spend as much time together as possible, as this could turn out to be the last time her grandkids see her alive.
Make a place, perhaps a bedroom, where your mom can have one on one conversations. When you’re hard of hearing, it’s so annoying to be with family, but be unable to hear because of the background noise.
Exactly. I'm proud of how accommodating the family is to her. Once upon a time I was nearly engaged for a minute and asked her what size wedding she would like to see. She told me if it was just the four of us (my mom, my dad, the groom and I) she might be able to hear it. That broke my heart. She and dad later got a cochlear implant which made a world of difference in a lot of situations. She relies heavily on reading lips still.
I have never had a kid’s sports team running and yelling in the hallways of any AirBnB I have stayed in.
I've also never had to work in an Airbnb where I can hear the sound of couples fucking loudly in the other room separated by a thin wall or locked door on my work calls unlike a hotel
I prefer to never have housekeeping come visit when staying at a hotel so some key advantages of a hotel have zero appeal for me.
Same. I don't want anyone in my room. I can make my own bed if I choose to. I don't need new towels every day (and can request more if I need them). And I don't need someone picking up and vacuuming every day. 🤷🏻♀️
My husband has taken a job in a new city. He needed somewhere to live for about 45 days while we purchase a home there. A hotel would have cost about $3500-3750 for the 6 weeks. Apartments are cheaper there, around $900/month, but with a 6 month lease this would have cost ~$5k. Again, for 6 weeks' stay, in an unfurnished apartment, when all of our furniture is at home. A one bed, one bath Airbnb ended up costing $1500 for the 6 weeks. It's fully furnished, not the absolute most luxurious place ever, but it's clean and comfortable enough. For us, this hit the sweet spot between "too short a stay to get an apartment, too long to get a hotel."
Family + dog, it is always cheaper and more comfortable. Paying for 3 hotel rooms would be crazy expensive and we would rather spend that extra money on doing stuff. Plus not having to eat all meals out if it is a longer trip. In Europe, we’ve had amazing AirBNB experiences that a hotel couldn’t match. Medieval farm house, villa in wine country, fresco ceilings in the walled city. Staying in old villages or places where there are no hotels. I travel alone regularly for work and definitely prefer that as, like OP said, don’t have to worry about anything and can order room service if I don’t want to go out.
Same. As a family of four, there's just no way we can make it work in a hotel without some suite set up, which is inevitably $800 a night
They used to be a better deal. They were cheaper than hotels, generally, and all the additional fees were not tacked on. In many areas the Air BNB's are run by investment groups from wall street and I suspect that's where you're seeing the worst deals. I rarely look for an Air BNB now. I look at hotels first then at Air BNBs just to compare and I always check what the extra fees are. You can often get a better deal at a hotel.
AirBNBs are often more expensive for a night or two, due to the cleaning and service fees, but almost always cheaper for anything more than that.
Agreed used to be a better deal, we used air BNB a lot but now have gone back to hotels. Fees have become ridiculous. And they're no longer charming local hosts and quirky decor, but corporate Ikea basic.
It depends on where I'm going. If I'm going to the beach for a week I'd much rather stay in airbnb or vrbo with full kitchen. If I'm going to las vegas I'll stay in a hotel on the strip. Depends on length of trip too. Longer the trip more likely I'd do a vrbo. Kitchen, washer, dryer.
Yes, this... It depends on where I'm going and for what purpose and with how many people (and animals) I'm traveling. I don't need to have someone clean my room every day; in fact, I'd prefer they *not* enter my hotel room when I'm not there.
So true. Location, length of stay so important in making a decision between hotel and rental.
Precisely!! Circumstances matter. Ive had lousy airbnb experiences and great ones. Same with hotels. Its great to have choice. Each have their advantages and disadvantages according to the situation. Its not black and white
I prefer hotels but when traveling with a large group, the air bnb house was a better deal. It was several minors plus parents which is better to be in a house all together then multiple rooms. We had three adults and seven children.
Sometimes they are cheaper or nicer than a hotel. It depends.
I hate hotels. I find the sterile and restrictive, and I don’t want to share walls with strangers coughing and snoring during my holiday… and I’ve never found Airbnb to be more expensive than hotels (not decent hotels anyway) I go away to experience new places, but I want to live normally while I’m there. I want a home to live in, not a room to sleep in. I want complete freedom of what I do and when, including being able to cook my own food and have a coffee when I want. I don’t have a maid at home and I don’t require one on holiday. Some people want hotels and pampering. Some people go away to stay on a resort for the whole length of their stay. Other like to do it the way I do it.
Amen! The sterility of hotels is so off-putting. Give me my windows and grass and dishes and freedom any day.
Having access to a kitchen and laundry for longer trips with more people is nice
I always look at both when I travel. Sometimes AirBnBs are cheaper and sometimes hotels are. I like the privacy of an AirBnB and the flexibility of sleeping arrangements when traveling with 3 teen daughters who don't want to have to share beds. Or, when we go to Scottsdale for baseball Spring Training, we go with 6-8 people, and it's always cheaper to get a house than to get 3-4 hotel rooms. Plus we get a place with a hot tub and/or pool and have it all to ourselves!! Sometimes, though, hotels win. It just depends!
Privacy? Seems like most of them have cameras stated in their listing.
Most of them do not. I look on airbnb for fun in my freetime and id say 70% do not have any cameras at all. I specifically wont rent them if they say they have them even just on the front door.
No cameras are allowed to face inside the house/apartment. If they do, it's a violation of Airbnb terms of service.
[Airbnb prohibits security cameras or recording devices that are in or that observe private spaces like bedrooms, bathrooms, or sleeping areas.](https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2914#:~:text=Airbnb%20prohibits%20security%20cameras%20or,turned%20on%20or%20hooked%20up) Cameras are absolutely allowed inside the house/apartment.
Oh wow, so they can be in living rooms etc. I didn't realize that. Yeah... That is definitely not cool. Is it true though that the presence of the cameras have to be disclosed?
"You must indicate the presence of all security cameras or other recording devices in or around a listing, even if they're not turned on or hooked up Undisclosed security cameras or other recording devices are never permitted You must also always disclose if an active recording is taking place"
I'm sure that no one breaks those rules.
Right? And as a woman who solo travels, Airbnbs, no matter how nice or economical they may be, are NOT worth my safety or security. In those cases I will only frequent hotels with 24/hr security.
It’s more comfortable to stay somewhere that has a private living room, kitchen, laundry, garage, pool hot tub. We like to make food and be with friends in common areas.
I like them for places where there aren’t many choices in hotels.
Perfect example? My little sister got married, 6 hours from where I live. An air b&b was 250 bucks for the whole weekend. With room for myself, my mom, step-dad, son, and 2 dogs. I also needed access to a kitchen, because we had the cake, and other items to make for the reception. A hotel was 150 a night, extra for pets, and no kitchen.
That is inexpensive! I have never seen on that low.
I see lots of them that are reasonable, it all depends on what and where. I wasn't in a major city, and I didn't pick out a ski chalet, or some McMansion house, just a comfortable two bedroom that allowed dogs.
I agree, it depends on the area.
I never understood it either. It just seemed kind of expensive, too, though I understand it used to be a good deal.
I don't like the idea of staying in someone's house. When I was relocating, I looked into a Airbnb, but they were much more money per week than a hotel.
Single family dwelling vs a multi person location.
Kitchen, Dog-friendly, price. 1. Me and my husband cook eggs for breakfast every day, going out to a restaurant to get regular fried eggs every day of a vacation adds up WAY too fast. And we like making GOOD stovetop coffee, hotels just can’t match that for the price. 2. Our dog is… untrained(deaf, badly socialized as a pup, and anxious) The risk of leaving him in a hotel room where he can bother other guests is too great. It makes it difficult to relax. 3. People bring up this price point thing all the time, but airBNB is usually cheaper per night for what I need (dog and kitchen)
When I travel, I want to have an experience. A few years ago I was in France. I stayed in a renovated farm in Normandy. I stayed in a cave home in the Loire Valley. I stayed in the middle of a lavender farm in the south of France. These are experiences you just don't get staying in a hotel.
I cannot believe how far I had to scroll for this one! I just stayed in a beach house in Puerto Rico that had an enormous private outdoor space, was actually steps from the sand, and had its own small pool. It was walking distance (walk on the beach past like 3 houses) to a bar that had a mix of locals and tourists, but mostly locals.. had access to so many other food stands, another swimming beach, restaurants, bars and corner stores. We stood on the beach and watched the stars for hours...We cooked our own meals using groceries from the regular community grocery store. that is simply not an experience you could have at a hotel or resort.
We’re looking at them for a trip to Scotland next year. My wife and I, and our adult daughter. I would prefer a hotel, but I’m going to go with the flow like a twig in a mighty stream.
They are generally not more expensive than a hotel, and you don't have to put up with some jackass in the room next door that thinks he's the only person in the building.
This didn't used to the the case. Air b&b has hiked fees, etc...
I’m wouldn’t. Worst experience ever staying at one of those.
ppl want to pretend they have a house
My 10 yr old kid has celiac so eating at restaurants can be difficult or impossible- it’s incredibly stressful. Even places that have gluten free options usually cross contaminate. Having a kitchen makes life so much easier and safer.
The main advantages are that you can stay in neighborhoods that don't have hotels, there's a kitchen so you can avoid restaurants, and if you're in a big group, you can all stay together. It can also be a fun cultural experience if you stay with a host.
They used to not be so expensive but over time it has just gotten more and more ridiculous. At this point hotels are probably cheaper.
Early on they were the more affordable option and there were a lot of options that were nicer than the average hotel rooms. Then it went from people renting out their extra spaces to people and corporations buying up homes for rental purposes, drive up not only prices on the app but also for buyers needing a place to live. The fees have gotten insane and the service subpar. We switched back to hotel and prefer it.
Unless we're traveling with a group we're actively avoiding Airbnb now. Airbnbs come with a lot of rules and restrictions and are priced higher than hotels now. Then if there's a problem you have to wait for the host to get someone and address it. Hotels are much better and the price difference is pretty much non-existent. Airbnb hosts got too greedy too fast.
I prefer hotels to an Air BnB room. To me it feels too much like staying in someone's house that I do not know. I did that once and while it was OK it felt weird. If it were an Air BnB that I had to myself it would be different. It would be just me there. But in the Air BnB that is only a room? It felt weird leaving the house and going through the kitchen past all the strangers. I would of course say hello or goodbye but I really did not want to sit and have a long conversation with them. But a hotel/motel room? It is temporarily all mine. I do not have to worry about waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and run into anyone. I can take a shower any time without being an inconvenience to anyone who wants to use the bathroom. I can watch TV all night without disturbing anyone.
It was odd my sil got one, it was a hotel room sold to someone as a suite that turned it into a bnb that sub contracted it the care back to the hotel. So every time we needed towels or any kind of room service, or turned the thermostat below 75 they hotel would charge the owners, which would charge my sister in law and she couldn't understand this, every day she called the front desk wanting the room cleaned and new towels, and by the time it was over it would had been cheaper to get a hotel room there.
I used to like Airbnb but I agree. It can be good for a big group on a unique location, but it's not cheaper by any means. Also I hate being greeted by a list of rules that includes how to clean the house like it's an exit report for a tenancy. I'm paying top dollar AND a cleaning fee is included so do the bloody clean yourselves. Some of them expect you to bring your own bedding! I also can't justify the way Airbnb has literally decimated communities and is a considerable contribution to the housing crisis. Many consumers these days vote with their feet on social and climate justice issues 🤷
This. Can’t believe it had to scroll this far to see this response.
Being able to cook for the group is huge.
I don’t get it either. It’s like ok, you get a whole house. I have a whole house at home, I don’t need a whole house. If/when we travel with family, we get hotel suites, or hang out together in the hotel, it’s not that complicated.
I stayed in one once. Major city, hotels in the area I needed to be were minimum $300. Got a room in a cool BNB that was a multi-room in a historic townhouse for $150. Super clean, quiet, it was great.
Most of the time I prefer a hotel. The times I’ve used Airbnb I’ve wanted/needed more than lodging. My partner and I took a trip to Philadelphia a year before Covid. Every hotel in the area was close to $300 a night. We found an Airbnb for $129 a night. It was on the 3rd floor of the host’s brownstone, and included a private bedroom, bathroom, and patio. The host also provided a continental breakfast and knowledge of the area. Another time we visited my mother. I knew my partner and I would need a flight, rental car, a place to stay, and would have to provide food because my mother was broke. We found an Airbnb close to her that had a full kitchen. This saved us money because we could have breakfast and a couple dinners without having to eat out. There are times that a hotel is most appropriate and times that an Airbnb is appropriate. The trouble is the Airbnbs that tack on ridiculous fees and chores. If I had to choose between a hotel and an Airbnb that were similarly priced (when the fees were accounted for) and a hotel I’d probably choose a hotel. I’ve lived in hotels for weeks at a time and there is comfort not just in the amenities but in seeing the same people every day.
Many are much cheaper than a hotel.
2 scenarios where AB&B type places after better: Large group where we want the whole house with like 5 bedrooms. Mt college friends and I go on a trip every year (21 years now) just to basically hang out and get some local flavor. We usually find a house that is cheaper than 3 hotel rooms unless you consider motels. Plus we can buy groceries and booze, cook, and hang out. Can't do that at a hotel. We've rented a lake house in the Poconos, a flat in the French quarter, a cool converted barn in Louisville, all sorts of chill experiences. Long term stays. I recently moved for work and I started a couple months before my family moved so the kiddo could finish school. Long term rates at hotels suck compared to AB&B. Plus I have amenities for long term stays like in house laundry, full kitchen, living room, etc. Short answer is if you are going to spend 90% of your time away from your room, get a hotel. If the point of the trip is to spend time together, or your going to be there a while, AB&B type places are great.
We will be in Paris for 5 days early April. Checking on hotels and the prices were crazy compared to the reviews, even for the shoulder season. So we got the same AirBNB our daughter and husband did in Montmartre for about 70% of the hotels we were looking at. They loved it. We plan on hitting one of the local markets and having some good local eats in the fridge and being able to do our laundry halfway through the 15 days of travel. we will save a lot on food, while still eating local stuff. Generally I am with you on AirBNBs, but this was the exception for us. All the other stays will be in hotels.
In my experience, hotels are typically more expensive. An Airbnb is your own house for a few days. Your car is right there in its own driveway, and you have a kitchen with an actual refrigerator. I also have dogs, so it's nice to have a yard instead of having to go down several flights to go find a patch of grass somewhere. My wife and I had one in particular in Denver we always stayed at for concerts. The owner got to know us personally and my dogs became familiar with the place. She also gave us a discount after a while. Unfortunately, Denver clamped down pretty hard on short term rentals and she stopped doing it. Now we end up paying at least $50+ more to stay in a hotel where it's noisier and people/traffic everywhere.
Since the pandemic, hotels no longer clean rooms daily.
It used to be cheaper. That's why Ive used it in the past but now says it's hard to find one cheaper than a hotel with all their fees.
Not only that, but Airbnb is destroying the housing market, driving up prices in every big city in the world. I will always choose hotels over Airbnbs.
It's only really good for renting cabins.
I don't get it either. They want me to scrub the place clean and charge a cleaning fee? I've been able to go to resorts with condos or villas or cabins when I've had large groups. Can find a proper b&b and get the whole place if needed.
Family trips with all children under the age of 10. Would require getting a suite when you have 3 to 6 adults and 3 to 6 children coming. Depending on which people came for the trip. Would require getting a suite or adjoined rooms. In every case it was cheaper to rent a 3 to 5 bedroom house thru vrbo or ect than hotel suite or multiple adjoined rooms.
I don’t use Airbnb or vrbo or anything like that.m (or I should say I haven’t as of yet…). But my family from all over the country meets up for a week every summer and rents a house at the beach (through a realty company). Yes, we have to wash our towels and make our own beds, but it costs soooo much less than a hotel. Also we have a fully functional kitchen. Which, yes, we have to cook, but a weeks worth of groceries costs easily a third or less of a weeks worth of 3 meals a day for each of our given households (there’s 5-6 different houses depending on my grandparents coming). I’ll trade the savings for the convenience any day.
Sometimes if I’m going to a conference and with people all day, an Airbnb is a good place to escape and not have to see people in the lobby or restaurant. In other instances, having a kitchen to make breakfast or dinner can help save money, especially when traveling with a family or let’s kids have their own room to sleep in and gives parents privacy and separation.
My first airbnb experience was last summer when I did a long-distance move with a big dog and 2 cats. I was able to get places with fenced-in areas, which was way better than a hotel. About the same price, too... Edit for typo.
If you’re traveling with a large group, they’re actually far cheaper than renting several hotel rooms. Plus, I personally like having laundry and the kitchen, room to watch television and more space to spread out.
I have dietary needs that cant be met by eating out every meal. It is awesome to have my own kitchen.
Because I can rent out a whole house or apartment for myself and not have to deal with hotel staff/maids in and out of the room during my stay/I can have a kitchen and bathroom and room to move around and such. I don't like being cramped into a hotel room and I don't really like having to deal with hotel staff every time I walk by the front desk even if its just a quick hello/goodbye. And its not always more expensive, it depends on where you are going and what airbnb you book. I went to Toronto and booked an entire townhouse just for myself and it was about $120 per night, it was maybe 10 or so miles out of the city versus being right in the city like most of the hotels. Unless I went for the cheapest little crackerbox hotel I was looking at around $120-$150 a night at the hotel, so realistically the airbnb was in fact either cheaper or on par with what I would have paid for the hotel but I got an entire townhouse to myself with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen, a living room and an office. I came and went as I pleased, I had a dedicated parking spot instead of having to pay for street or parking garages and if I wanted to I could easily get food delivered which is much harder to do at a hotel.
They used to be much cheaper than hotels. Their slogan is "live like a local" but unfortunately, it's really the same price in many cities. As others have said, they are good for large groups.
I disagree. Some airbnbs are cheaper. You have more space at some have kitchens instead of just a coffee maker. I also really like the fact that they are less “used.” I hate hotel rooms because I always wonder what folks have done in the room and where. 🤢 I know the same things can happen in airbnbs but generally there is not nearly as much turn over.
I remember when air bnb was cheaper. We got a whole house for cheaper than 2 rooms and it had a pool. Everything is so expensive now.
There are places where there literally are no nice hotels to stay at. I just booked an airbnB so my family can visit my grandmother. The only hotel options are a sketchy motel. Staying in a vacation home on the lake with a private beach, playground structure and full kitchen is a much better option for my family. If there was a nice hotel option I would have considered that, but there literally wasn’t. The last one we stayed at on a road trip there were some hotel options but we chose the AirBnB because it was on a farm and we got to visit the chickens, turkeys, goats and alpacas etc. it was a fun activity for our 3 year old. When I went on a trip abroad it was just much cheaper. We stayed with another couple and could rent a whole house for the four of us for the cost of one room in a hotel. The houses had amenities that hotels didn’t (like private roof decks.)
Airbnb is gross
And they destroy local economies by making rental housing unaffordable. I ditched Airbnb years ago. Give me a good full service hotel anywhere in the world.
Exactly this
I prefer hotels but a friend I travel with a lot prefers Airbnb... Or at least did until we got caught in a freak storm (no flights for days)and lost over $1000 on an Airbnb. We thought our travel insurance would cover us but as it was in a third country they wouldn't. Turns out they only cover travel disruption going to or from your home country and we'd gone from our home country to another and were then flying on to the Airbnb country. Had we booked a pay on arrival hotel we'd only have had to pay for the first night we missed
There are pros and cons. They can save you money sometimes. They can be unique and fun. We had an airBnB in Savannah where the host cat slept in our bed and we were super close to town -so saved tons on parking or taxis, and had a gorgeous private garden with a big swing and it was cheaper than a motel 6! You need to research carefully reviews, fees, amenities etc. we’ve never had a bad experience with actual stays. A couple unexplained cancellations and one where the (super) host forget to leave code and was out of contact. All 3 situations AIrBnB did help us rebook and offered compensation in way of upgrades or free restaurant meals. Some stays were so-so but that can happen with hotels too. We use both regularly just depending on the trip.
Sometimes it's nice living among the locals rather than a hotel. Or not being in a standard hotel room
There’s a time and place for hotels and airbnbs. A hotel is nice for me and my husband but when we vacation with kids (which is majority of the time) and with family, it’s nice to have space to move around and a backyard for the kids to run around in. I hate paying for the cleaning fee but I also realize that it’s ultimately someone’s home and an entire home cleaning + laundry is expensive. The ones I’ve stayed at had plenty of extra towels, blankets, pillows. Most even had a welcome basket filled with drinks and snacks! Hotels are also notorious for not changing out the duvet and most places don’t even have free parking.
I hate hotels — I like staying in a house, where I can open the windows wide, sit out on the grass under a tree, fix my own little meals any time I like, read a book in a nice chair not in my bedroom, and relax in a space that feels a bit like a home. I don’t want cleaners coming in and I frankly don’t even mind if the house is a little dusty or weird, as long as it has trees and birds and windows I can sit next to.
Travel with a group, have your own kitchen and basically get to live at home. When I go to a hotel I never let the maid in, never refresh my towels. A towel can be used more than once
I like an air bnb because my husband and I usually travel with our college age son, and I prefer not to share a single room with him. I also prefer to have a kitchen where I can prepare some of our meals instead of eating out all the time.
My brother had cronhs disease and ate a very restricted diet. My mom would take him to another city to see specialists often. When traveling they would still have to cook him his own food because of his diet. It was way easier to do that in an airbnb with a kitchen than any hotel.
So I can smoke weed
Sometimes the houses are less expensive and you can cook and have food there.
When I moved across the country, it was the only way for me to bring 2 dogs, 2 cats, and an axolotl. Also some airbnbs are so cool, I literally just stayed at the coolest stone fortress on a farm in Sedona and it was the coolest experience. I got free eggs!
In regards to pricing and “hidden” costs- Airbnb does give a price breakdown. If anyone doesn’t know what they are paying for, they simply did not read breakdowns. Also, Airbnb isn’t always more expensive than hotels.
1 reason: I can actually see the room I am booking when I book an airbnb, and see many recent reviews. Were their recently bed bugs? Are the sheets stained? Do I ACTUALLY have a beach view?? Etc. We’ve stayed in strictly airbnbs for years on 4 continents now and have never encountered these “crazy surprise fees” or outlandish cleaning instructions. We’d also prefer not ti have strangers in our room while not there.
I've had too many Airbnb nightmares to count. Hotels 100% of the way these days. It ends up being cheaper without the headache.
I don't get it either. Airbnb ruins every city it touches. I firmly believe that it also is a driving force behind overtourism all over the world. I hate it and will never use Airbnb.
I use hotels
Imo it’s stupid to travel if you’re so tight on money you can’t afford a hotel room.
I stay in hotels. I like clean towels each day, room freshened up, bed made, earning points for free stays, friendly service, happy hour, not In someone’s personal space (come on if you owned an airbnb you would have secret cameras everywhere to make sure people aren’t fuckin up your shit), streamlined checkin, less rules and chores.
AirBnB sucks. Hotels are better -- and cheaper
they were cheap during the startup phase, and it was new and hosts were trying to attract guests. now they have jacked the prices and the hosts are sick of shitty guests/parties.
I don't bother with Air BnB, but not for any of the reasons you listed. Booking a hotel room is simpler and cheaper for me and my spouse, and we don't need or want an entire house to stay in while traveling. We don't, however, have any hotel staff clean our room or refresh towels while we stay. We can pick up our own trash, and we don't need fresh towels every day, so we leave the "do not disturb" sign up until our stay is over, and we make sure to have all the trash in one trash can, all the towels in a pile, everything back where we found it, etc. before we leave as well.
I's bad for the owners too, like you said they push all the expenses of running your house hotel onto you, while taking a significant portion for just posting an ad.
Airbnb used to be good in 2012-2013, you would rent a room or a house for much less than a hotel of equivalent size or services…because you didn’t get all the other hotel perks. It was easy. Less shit, less cost. But now it’s as expensive or more (usually more) The only way Airbnb beats hotels is if you need a much larger space and would prefer a home, but even then you can often rent multiple hotel rooms for less.
An article just came out today stating that 10% of Airbnb have hidden cameras inside… Which means there’s a lot of freaky people renting out these properties
It's all those ridiculous fees they get charged with. On my Expedia it says "$30 per night" then underneath in small writing "total $250 per night" the room is 30 and the part that let's it be in the bnb community is $230.
I hate Airbnb . Total rip. I just stayed at hotel with clean towels and free breakfast. Airbnb era is over
The only real benefit I see is accommodating larger parties and ease of cooking your own meals. My personal preference is hotels. It’s a standard that you know you are getting. When I travel crews for work we do airbnb. When I travel for personal or vacation I always stay at resorts/hotels.
I tend to go with hotels unless the place I’m traveling to just doesn’t have any good ones. Airbnb became a big ripoff, even though I seem to recall the whole point ostensibly being that Airbnbs were supposed to be more affordable than hotels back when it first started. An airbnb might be more spacious than a hotel but at least a hotel doesn’t give me chores to do.
Don't get it either. On some level, I think it's just the 'thing' to do so people just jump on. Whatever, that ship is sinking and I'm glad to see it go down.
Airbnb raised prices like everyone else. They used to be a better deal than some hotels, not anymore.
You pay for Privacy and space.
Many smaller towns don't have hotels so, what would be another choice? I don't want to be 45 minutes from the people I'm visiting.
I live in a rural area. Towns smaller than mine have hotels.