The views from our favorite Airbnb in Prague.
Airbnb or Hotel?
It used to be an easy choice for us. A few years back we were full-time travellers and spent over 300 nights/year in Airbnb apartments.
The reasons was simple: On Airbnb you can rent weekly or monthly and save tons of money off the daily rate. We’d have a kitchen which meant we could cook our own food (and save money) and usually have an apartment with 1 or 2 bedrooms which meant much more comfort than the standard hotel room.
The choice is no longer that simple. The shine has come off Airbnb these days and the advantages of the platform are not what they used to be. I’ll discuss that below. There’s also increased competition from hotel booking websites who’ve worked on including aparthotels and apartments in their search engines. That’s cut into Airbnb’s market share. I discuss that as well.
But I start with a general comparison between Airbnb and Hotels. People usually have a clear-cut favorite. We don’t. What we choose depends on a few different factors.
Choosing a Hotel – the Pros and Cons
The Pros
- I like that Hotels are centrally located and usually easy to find. You show up and there’s someone at reception to greet you. Hotels are easy.
- Service & help. There’s always someone there if you need help with something in your room.
- There might be a restaurant in your hotel. It’s always good choosing a hotel with a restaurant especially if arriving after a long travel day.
- Usually you don’t have any unpleasant surprises when arriving in a hotel. You have a comfortable bed, a bathroom stocked with basic toiletries and wifi (hopefully decent wifi. We’ve seen lots of hotels with bad wifi).
The Cons
- Unless you’re splurging, one hotel is like the next: a basic room with four walls.
- Hotels are usually more expensive than an Airbnb.
- You’ll generally pay much more for food because chances are that if you’re staying in hotel you’ll be eating in restaurants. If you try to save money by bringing food into your room, it’s often uncomfortable in a hotel room and you need to bring some of your own supplies (plastic knives, forks, paper plates…).
- I can’t tell you how many hotel rooms we’ve had with thin walls (where you can hear all your neighbours), bad wifi, bad beds (and bedding) and poor ventilation.
A hotel is the easy and reliable choice, especially if going somewhere for a night or two. But the eating thing tends to drive us crazy – if you’re on a 1-month trip through Spain are you going to be eating every meal in a restaurant or bringing fast food back to the room?
As I say, hotels are easy. But after 2 nights maximum I tend to go stir crazy in hotel rooms.
Choosing an Airbnb – the Pros and Cons
The Pros
- A good Airbnb apartment can be a great experience. You’re in a home away from home, have a comfortable living space, a working kitchen, a washing machine/dryer for your laundry.
- Besides the comfort, you have an “in” if staying in a good Airbnb. During our travels we often had great hosts and in many cases were shown around the city, invited out for drinks, etc. Many hosts really want to give you more than just an accommodation experience (the longer you stay, the more you might experience the above kind of relationship with your host).
- You save money on longer stays because of weekly and/or monthly discounts. Long stay discounts are the reason we were able to travel the world full-time for 6 years (paying an average of $1000 US/month in Airbnb apartments).
- Cooking and eating at home. The average traveller will pay more on food than on accommodation when staying in a hotel. You have to factor that into your costs when deciding whether to stay in a hotel or Airbnb. Another thing – after a day of walking around a city sometimes you just want to come “home” and eat on the couch while watching tv. Going out and finding food can be exhausting.
The Cons
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- Co-ordinating check-ins with owners and finding the place. It can be stressful.
- As much as you can have great experiences, you can also have some really bad ones with shitty hosts. I wrote a post on how to get the most out of Airbnbs here and, following these rules, we usually have good experiences. BUT we’ve also had a few very bad ones, especially if: 1) we’ve broken own rules (sometimes you have to, in some places there aren’t many options), 2) on shorter stays. A few examples of bad Airbnb stays here and here.
- It’s harder to get help on Airbnb if there’s an issue/conflict, and harder to get your money back should something happen (especially on longer stays).
What’s been happening with Airbnb
In my opinion Airbnb has gotten greedy. It used to be an app that connected people with apartments to travellers searching for lodging. Often the hosts were like-minded people who rented not just to make money but also to meet up with fellow travellers.
Somewhere along the line Airbnb became big business. They started squeezing both hosts and customers with higher commissions. They started having more “professional” hosts, people who bought 2nd or 3rd properties just to rent them out on Airbnb. And just as the business changed, so has the host/customer relationship. More and more, you’ll have self check-ins where you pick up your keys from a lockbox. It’s changed the dynamic, made it less personal and made both hosts and guests less accountable. It became all about the money and all about growth which has led to the backlash against Airbnb that you see in many cities. And with all this, prices have gone up, making Airbnb a less obvious option.
It’s all a shame because we absolutely loved Airbnb.
I’ll say this though – you can still have great Airbnb experiences. I recently travelled through Mexico and we had GREAT Airbnb experiences where we had fantastic stays and incredibly helpful hosts. I think, more than ever, you just have to do more research if thinking of staying in an Airbnb. Carefully read reviews, research the area, and book with Superhosts anywhere you can.
A good article by WIRED: Is this the end of Airbnb?
And then there are those other Hotel Booking Sites
Hotel sites like Booking.com have increasingly added more aparthotel and apartment options on their search engines in recent years. If looking for a short stay it’s a good alternative to Airbnb. In fact we recently stayed in an apartment in Salamanca that we booked on Booking.com that was better (and cheaper) than anything we saw on Airbnb.
HOWEVER – for anything more than a few days hotel websites can’t compete price-wise with Airbnb because their websites are not set up for the flexibility of longer term stays. If an apartment on Booking.com is 100 Euros a night, the price for 7 nights will show up as 100 Euros * 7 nights = 700 Euros. On Airbnb owners have the discretion to change their pricing for longer term stays. It’s why long-term travellers chose Airbnb.
So while Hotel search engines have cut into Airbnb’s market share, that competition is in the short-stay market. Airbnb is still the place to go for longer stays.
So Airbnb or Hotel?
I stick to a very simple strategy:
- If we’re staying somewhere 2 days or less we stay in a hotel.
- If we’re staying 3 days or more we stay in an Airbnb or an apartment we find on Booking.com.
My logic? You won’t save much on Airbnb on a 2 day stay and the inconveniences aren’t worth it. But if staying somewhere 3+ days you see the price differential add up, plus you get the comfort and savings (on cooking your own food) of an apartment.
Another variable: If I’m travelling with a family member (like I do with my mother), I’ll always try to book on Airbnb. The reason being that we need a place with 2 bedrooms, something that the average hotel won’t offer.
Your thoughts? Do you have a preference when travelling?
Related: Leipzig and the Worst Airbnb host in the World
Related: Eating on vacation: the best or worst part of travel?
Related: Our Airbnb tips for newbies. And the little things Airbnb hosts can do to be outstanding.
I think that the AirbnB luster has peaked and will decline from this point forward. Until recently, I had been a fan of AirBnB. However, on a recent trip to 3 Spanish cities staying in AirBnBs, I decided that I will be more discreet in the future for several reasons.
At a high level, it’s obvious to me that many people got into the business who aren’t really suited for it. One must realize that you’re in the hospitality business – like it or not. Those that got into the business originally understand that. Many that enter today, do not.
On this trip, I had my first negative experience with a host. She clearly lacked all people skills and, as noted in the article, didn’t show up to greet me. Ironically, she was a superhost, so even that doesn’t prevent a negative experience. The other 2 stays were excellent, however, and showed all the reasons why AirBnB can be so good.
The issue with the lack of a restaurant was also a major problem in Spain because there eating times varied dramatically from what I was used to and I had a hard time finding a decent meal in the morning hours. It caused me serious health problems at all 3 of my locations.
I think the advice in the article is spot on. For a few days, hotels are better. For a longer stay, where you need access to a kitchen and laundry facilities, I’d choose an AirBnB.
Great comment Marty. We’ve been travelling through Mexico the last 6 weeks and have stayed in Airbnbs, all with Superhosts. It’s the most Airbnb-ing we’ve done since the days we travelled full-time (up to 2020) and we’ve seen a big drop off in the quality of hosting and apartments (they’re giving out those Superhost labels like cookies these days). Of 8 apartments so far, 6 have had checkins with lockboxes. We don’t really have an issue with that per se, but it comes with the less personal approach to hosting that we are seeing now. Not only that, more than half of the hosts we’ve stayed with are renting out multiple units in the same building. Airbnb is no longer about a family renting out a 2nd apartment unfortunately…
I prefer hotels and not to support the monolithic AirB&B. And I do find that Booking.com gives discounts for longer stays. As for meals, Mexico is loaded with fresh food: breads, fruit, veggies (esp. avocado), cheeses. Buy a jar of mustard and make an elegant sandwich. I bring powdered collagen, nutritional yeast, and dried seaweed to make a delicious soup with my immersion heater.
More and more the lines have blurred though. Booking.com now offers lots of apartments (we just stayed in a few on a recent trip in the Baltics) and it has the same negative effects on the housing market. I’m afraid though that Airbnb is the poster child for all these apartments for rent…
What to do? I’m not sure…
As for food you’re absolutely right, it’s usually what we end up doing when we travel!
Thank you Amy. But that must be really expensive, no? We used to pay an average of about $1200 US/month on Airbnb which really made full-time travel actually cheaper than living in Canada. That was mostly in Europe, in Asia we usually stayed in longer stay apartments (which were even cheaper) or stayed in cheaper hotels which are not so expensive in SEA.
I understand that for short trips the convenience of Hotels beat out Airbnbs. But it just seems like staying in Hotels for full-time travellers would end up prohibitively expensive. I’d be curious what you pay per night? per month?
I do agree. Most of the time we only stay a few nights, and we rarely use AirBnB for those stays because it is often more expensive and more hassle. An additional factor is luggage storage: when we are moving on later in the day we are often glad to store a bag in the hotel or hostel until the train/bus leaves. In AirBnB that’s usually not possible …
great article as always! Look I generally havent been that impressed when I’ve used Air Bnb and they have indeed gotten greedy and charge more than ever, and frankly the price advantage isnt there anymore. I would still book Air Bnb for Long stays, longer than 2 nights, say a week or more it makes sense, especially when in a place where you want to cook for yourself. Otherwise I prefer hotels to be honest they are usually better located if youre visiting a city and want to be near the centre and you can get easier and better assistance too.
We stayed in a lovely Airbnb in Portland after we had sold our house and we’re waiting for our Visa appointment in San Francisco and then approval. For Portugal. It ended up being from August until mid January. We were staying month to month because we didn’t know when we would get approval. We loved our host, and in spite of some problems (there was a heat wave and the host was running his AC all the time upstairs. The way the house was set up was it was freezing in our basement apartment and we had to turn the heat up to the 70’s to stay warm).
The reason we chose that Airbnb was it was it was in a great walkable neighborhood with lots of restaurants and two grocery stores nearby. It had a room with a desk and a door that closed so I could work remotely. The other reason was it appeared to be cheaper than other places that looked horrible online, were far away, were in not so great areas for a long term stay. There was a substantial discount for booking by the month….when we got the credit card bill it had the Airbnb fee and tax added in, so it went from $2800 to $3500 per month. I think we spent about $20,000 for the time we were there.
It was very hard to find a short term rental and again, many in our price range were not good places to stay. I felt we had no choice.
I wrote a 5 star review about our host and did mention any of the problems. I guess it’s the way it is as long as Airbnb fees are so high.
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Yikes, that’s expensive. But I guess rents everywhere in the US are now. Crazy…
Hope you got your Portugese visa. You’ll find life here much less expensive 🙂
Frank, you have made an very pertinent, important post. I agree with your criteria and methodology. I have had limited experience with AirBnBs. We booked one the summer of May 2021, for a stay in Dubai in March 2022. In October 2021, the owner canceled the booking, stating that the unit was being sold. We rebooked a hotel that had apartments for about a 1/3 more than the canceled unit. That unit was still on AirBnb for the next 6 months at a higher price. We booked in May 2021 while Covid was still a big issue. By the end of 2021, vaccinations, removed people’s hesitancy to travel. So the owner canceled us so they could reprice our rental.
But I took another chance on AirBnB. We booked an apartment in the Casco Viejo neighborhood of Panama City in January 2022 for a stay this past November. We didn’t want to spend $250-300/night for a hotel in the area, so AirBnB was the best choice. There were good and bad things. The unit’s location was excellent. But everything in the unit was old, like minimum of 12-15 years old. But the A/C worked and it was clean, which is difficult to do in the tropics. We specifically asked if the unit had a pool because there were other units in the building that mentioned a pool. The building was a converted hotel built in 1930s. The owner specifically stated “No Pool”. There was a pool. You needed a key to get thru the gate. Between the toilet tank taking 30 minutes to fill and not flushing properly, the blinds almost falling off the windows, and the stove missing knobs, and no microwave, I would not stay there again. There was no local info, no info about the unit. NONE! I felt that alone rated the unit lower! Getting the key was a hassle, especially traveling all day to get to Panama. I left a review stating the issues and overall gave the unit a generous 4. AirBnB edited my review, and made it sound like I loved the place. The owner’s response was that her place was significantly less expensive than others and what I expected was not reasonable.
Your assessment of AirBnB is very accurate. The owners have all the rights and the renters are an after thought. Will I try AirBnb again? Maybe, I will research AirBnBs and weigh the options. I collect lots of points and miles and try to make vacations work that way. But as we move into retirement, we plan on going to a warm place for 10-12 weeks each winter. Renting an apartment or small home is probably the only way we can afford to do this Plan B.
But this article in Bloomberg is very disturbing: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-06-15/airbnb-spends-millions-making-nightmares-at-live-anywhere-rentals-go-away
Thanks for this great comment John.
A couple of things you mention shock me. First the Bloomberg article. Wow. Makes anyone think twice about renting on Airbnb right? Actually not just Airbnb, just shows how many truly screwed up/depraved people there are in the world. We sometimes take it for granted that things turn out fine but when you hear stories like this…And yes, we’ve had times when an Airbnb owner tells us to pick up the keys at the corner store. How many people have handled those keys or made copies?
Secondly, you mention that Airbnb edited your review. I haven’t heard of that and if that’s the case that’s really f’ed up and against all business rules on transparency.
I’m sorry you’ve had these bad Airbnb experiences. My number #1 rule is to always book a Superhost. That title has been diluted down the last few years but the chances are that they have a good track record.
Thanks for sharing this. Still can’t get over that Bloomberg article..
A suggestion if you are sensitive to noise – as I am – is to check the location of the hotel/apartment on a map with satellite photo mode. Avoid if it’s on a busy, big transit road or on a busy square or pedestrian street, unless there are reviews specifically saying the place is quiet indoors. My worst experience have generally involved heavy noise from traffic or drunk passers by and since a lot of people don’t care about this it’s not always mentioned in the reviews.
I fully concur with your sum up in my experience also traveling semi permanently
Arbnb needs to work out what it is, again. Currently it’s living a lie in that the brand positioning BS is all about ‘experiences’ but the action/ the reality is all about ‘now book these tours’ in city x; off a semi professional inventory/self check in etc. Not that self checkin, in and of itself is an issue, but it’s indicative of the kind of rental the property is really about. Shame really.
But Airbnb is still the only place to rent by the week or month so it fulfils a definite need for some customers.
Just need to be very careful reading through the lines with the reviews these days I think!
As reviews are 2way, I also get a sense that there are rarely any negs or even constructive neg feedback. Or is that just me?
I agree with both Patti and RJA. Im moving back to Booking.com even for monthly rentals as the prices are beginning to reflect discounts for long stays, IMHO. The plus factor is having free cancellation until sometimes the day before arrival. As far as ratings on Airbnb, RJA is right that 4.3 is horrible and 4.0 is the worst.
As you stated, Booking.com is offering more diverse accommodations. It is my #1 source for booking stays. I won’t book anything with less than a rating of 8 or 9, and I never choose a property that doesn’t have free cancellation and no prepayment. Also, if we arrive at a hotel and for whatever reason it doesn’t work for us, we have the option to check out and move on. You can’t do that with Airbnb. You’re stuck because they have your money. With that being said, I just booked a two-week apartment stay using Booking.com, months ahead of our travel dates and I didn’t spend a dime.
My biggest grief with Airbnb is how much money they expect up front. Even when you’re not traveling for months to come, your money is in their hands. That doesn’t work for us. It’s a catch-22 as well because so many locals can no longer afford to live in the city they call home, they’re being forced out as developers buy apartments and transition them to Airbnb rental.
Either way… the key to a successful stay is to read the reviews, and not just the first few, scan at least 50% of the reviews posted, you’re bound to find what you’re looking i.e. great place but if quiet is what you’re looking for, don’t stay here, or the place wreaked of cigarettes, or there is a barking dog next door… you get the gist.
Hope all is well. Safe travels.
My main problem with Airbnb is the crappy rating system and how it’s being misused. I’ve had some terrible Airbnb experiences where the host had a rating of 4,6 or so. I’ve come to realise that the scale really goes from 4,3 to 5 and not from 1 to 5. 4,3 is terrible, 5 is great. Airbnb should fix this because it’s misleading. Also reading the reviews is seldom helpful as the critical people leave no reviews out of fear of appearing like difficult guests. I’ve also heard that the host can remove critical reviews.
Hotels are easier to judge on beforehand. But in general I agree with your assessment of the pros and cons of these options.
Yes, I agree with you on the rating system RJA. On top of your points, I think people rig it. The guy we had in Armenia for example had excellent reviews. The apartment was an absolute mess and didn’t look like anyone had EVER stayed there. Looking at it in detail after, I realized that all the reviews were by other Armenians. So what? Get your friends to make a booking, leave a great recommendation, and pay them back for their trouble?
No, they can’t remove critical reviews. But they can complain to Airbnb and if a comment is judged “factually incorrect” Airbnb will take it down. We had an example many years ago in Italy – lots of things with the apartment including no wifi as listed. The review was taken down because according to Airbnb there WAS wifi (says who? Did they go inspect?). We had left the apartment the day before so there was definitely NO wifi. But Airbnb took down my comment as being factually incorrect…the wifi was only one detail in a pretty harsh review. When I appealed they said they can’t edit a part of the review out, they take the whole thing down. My feeling is that Airbnb does side with the hosts in disputes like that (I guess they figure that it’s the hosts that bring in the money…). And the Superhost status has been watered down, some superhosts shouldn’t be superhosts. You’re right that they should review everything.
But yeah, take it all with a grain of salt. You have to really examine the reviews in depth, if you do you can really see the hosts who do stand out.