As an avid nomad with years of traveling experience, I feel dutiful enough to share my opinion on the most intimidating question that has persisted in the nomadic world for so long, and that every new digital nomad is faced with, each time they embark on a journey anew.

Which hospitality service provides the most convenient and comfortable experience? Which one should I choose out of Airbnb, Hotels, and rental rooms?

I understand you, my fellow. As a traveler and consumer myself, I seek value, convenience, and fun to make my overall journey experience a memorable one. Sometimes I prefer hotels over Airbnbs but other times I prefer Airbnbs over hotels. Whatever option we pick, in the end, we need a joyful, commendable, obstacle-free traveling experience that we can always reflect back.

Worry not, for I have got your back, and in this article, I will share with you all the troubles you might face in your lodging experience with each of these options and how to prevent them, and in doing so I will share with you my own experience with every accommodation service option available. So without further ado let’s get to it right away!

Airbnb; A Customized Homestay Experience

Before I start talking about the pros and cons of this one of the most popular accommodation options, let me first give a brief introduction to those who might not have an idea as to what Airbnb is, and also explain how Airbnb’s lodging system works, which would in itself explain a lot about the marketplace of the company helping you get an idea of what you might expect to find.

What is Airbnb?

Airbnb, is essentially a marketplace that is primarily focused on providing short-term homestays. Its business model is very simple, wherein hosts exchange mutually agreed upon rent with the guests. Hosts and guests can find previously published reviews and social media connections in order to ease the application process.

Thus, Airbnb employs a peer-to-peer exchange and does not directly affect the lodging prices set by the hosts. Therefore, hosts can set their own prices for the resources and services they provide which usually include prices for individual nights, weekly stays, cleaning fees, weekend prices, and add-on costs for additional guests.

What Makes Airbnb Suitable For Digital Nomads?

Airbnb has been very popular in that it provides a customized hoteling experience for nomads and tourists, and lets them entertain in a homely environment even though being far away from their own homes.

With the advancement of digital technology, users can affect their future experiences with the help of various online platforms, and therefore hotel companies did not have to wait before they began exploiting the same business model as Airbnb in its essence.

Although the board review systems might not be available directly on all hotel websites, third-party platforms such as Yelp or Expedia provide the same service.

Is Airbnb Easily The Best Lodging Option Out There?

My experience with Airbnb has been good so far even though I do not always look for an Airbnb apartment during my travel journeys. There are a lot of factors and reasons associated with it which I will talk about soon. I will try not to give my subjective take on it alone but also present to you all the opinions

There are a lot of key reasons why people prefer Airbnb over hotels, and Airbnb folks have been fortunate enough to exploit these reasons over time.

To begin with, part of the reason is that Airbnb offers those practical benefits to its consumers that are hard to find with other companies in the business. Typical Airbnb advantages include more space, better amenities, kitchens, lower cost, a washer & dryer, and much more. Let’s talk in more detail.

Affordable

First and foremost, Airbnb is cheap. As a digital nomad myself, I tend to keep tabs on my expenditure and Airbnb is much cheaper than hotels elsewhere.

Aesthetics

One of the major reasons why I prefer Airbnb is because of the ease it offers in finding a household environment to live in. This is especially important for couples, and those who prefer an overall household aesthetic and ambiance instead of an artificial room environment that hotels typically provide.

This is a direct consequence of the fact that Airbnb’s market is teeming with hosts who are willing to share their own home space with those looking for short-term stays.

Resources

If you happen to be lucky rental properties sometimes offer resources that are unavailable at hotels or come at a considerably high price—such as bicycles, hammocks, kayaks, convenient and free parking, better entertainment services (a good TV, sound system), private pool or spa, games (pool table, foosball), and more.

Secure

Despite all the fuss about people being conscious of the security risks involved while choosing a place to stay through Airbnb, it is actually safe due to its extensive verification process for the individuals that rent out their places. People must verify their identity before they are allowed to rent out through Airbnb.

In addition, you can find plenty of reviews about the host and the renting place to get an idea of what is in the store for you and what you can expect to find, making the renting experience much more trustable.

However, the Airbnb marketplace provides an enormous range to choose from, which while being the strong motivator in its favor is by far its greatest downside as well. This overwhelming plethora of options means you would require to spend hours if not days browsing, searching, choosing, and grinding before you find an optimum place for your stay that meets your demands at a reasonable price.

This is inefficient when traveling, as I myself hardly have enough time to waste on my digital gadgets.

Hotels; Your Trustworthy Hospitality Services

Hotels have been the traditional go-to lodging options that have stood the test of time and are still running because of how simple and straightforward their methods are. This should be kept in mind that by most definitions, the hotel industry refers not only to hotels but also to many other forms of overnight accommodation, including hostels, motels, inns, and guest houses.

In short, it does not usually include long-term or permanent forms of accommodation. Therefore, I’d be referring to all of these options when I use the term ‘hotels’ as is the common practice in the nomad world. Assuming that you would have pretty good experience with how hotels work, let me get straight on discussing why you should or should not prefer hotels.

Should you choose Hotels over any other service of their kind?

Quality

The first and foremost benefit of choosing hotels is that you can always be fairly confident about the quality across all brands. No matter where I went, I always had a pretty good idea of what to

expect when choosing to stay at Residence Inn, Super 8, or Four Seasons—whether in Santa Fe, Missoula, or Helsinki.

In this digital age, you can surf your way through online websites, rapidly and efficiently, sorting filters, and reading reviews to view hotels meeting certain prices, ratings (quality), or other criteria (distance, size, brand, etc.).

Smooth Reservations

Usually and mostly the reservations you will make with the hotels, especially with the official supplier of a hotel chain, are immediate, trustable, and binding, which means you would not have to worry about in most cases your reservations being canceled prematurely and uninformed. Whereas this might be a headache when booking through Airbnb.

Most Airbnb bookings require sending requests to property owners and waiting for their approval, and then booking the property, which might be intimidating when you need a residence urgently.

In my traveling experience, I have read plenty of reviews where the reservation was canceled by the owner within a month of the check-in date. I certainly would not want to end up in that stressful of a situation.

Better Refund Policy

The next issue is one of great importance. The refund policy. The hotel refund process is usually better than Airbnb’s refund policy. In most cases, you can cancel or alter your hotel reservation up to the date of arrival or maybe 24 hours prior but for Airbnb usually is not the case.

Once you are booked into a reservation, you are locked into their itinerary once it is booked. Although, it might be needed to mention that several times I have managed to cancel my Airbnb bookings and get full payment back.

Time Efficient

Last but not the least, after years of planning travels and trips, I have developed refined processes for hotel and Airbnb searches. Because of the unique nature of the Airbnb business and its marketplace, I remember investing hours in researching possibilities, narrowing down choices, contacting owners, and making a decision.

This is simply not the case with hotels, even though you might still spend time browsing for a good place to stay at the end of the day it is always easier since you can always be confident as to what might a company offer to which you are a consistent customer. So, strictly in terms of finding a place to stay, the time spent searching is one of the hotel’s advantages over Airbnb.

Homestay Rentals; the most homely experience

Although I understand the appeal of the well-furnished apartments that hotels and Airbnb offer, we just can not overlook the unique staying experience home rentals can provide sometimes. To differentiate, a homestay rental is a fully furnished apartment or a residence that you can rent for a duration of your choice ranging from a few days to several months.

This option has long remained disdainful among nomads but bear with me for I have got reasons that actually compete with Airbnb and hotel options. Meanwhile, a lot of digital nomads have embraced this option, while many remain undecided perhaps because they already have been fed with enough prejudice that they do not opt for a good homestay option over the overly talked hotels and Airbnb.

Of course, as is the case with anything out there, there are plenty of advantages as well as possible disadvantages to staying in a private suite depending on the traveler. However, hopefully, this post will outline some of the major pros and cons of choosing a homestay rental over a hotel or an Airbnb apartment.

What Is The Difference Between Airbnb And Homestay Rentals?

It is imperative to state that although homestay rentals may take precedence over hotels, they offer more or less the same residence options as Airbnb. The only difference is that most of the time in order to book homestay rentals, you would visit the place of residence before even renting it, and can settle a monthly rental with the owner in person.

Most probably, you might be able to have a better discount, unlike in Airbnb where you have to settle everything online which makes it almost impossible to convince the homeowners to set a lower price, not to mention that it might take out the charm of your renting experience, making it rather more of an uncertain and torturous one. You might not get what you had been told or expected to come to.

Whereas in homestay rentals, if you are lucky you might get a house offering an exquisite vantage, one that is extremely difficult to find in either hotels or Airbnb services and might not be available at all.

Don’t Forget To Take These Essentials With You

When traveling, carrying these few items can save you a lot of hassle:

Conclusion

As a digital nomad, sometimes I much rather prefer being treated with a more homely environment and Airbnb makes its case quite strong here, offering cheaper and more flexible options than per say, traditional hotels.

That isn’t to say that hotels are bad by any means. The ease of finding and booking a hotel, as well as the quality of services provided for the money is just unmatched.

In this article, I talked about all the pros of Hotels, Airbnb and Homestays. On your next journey, you’ll be better informed on which options to go with. Thank you for reading.

Travel

Hotels, Airbnb, or Home Rentals?