Hotel vs. Vacation Rental: What's Your Tipping Point?

My tipping point is three nights - longer than that and I will choose an appartment. But it is more of a Rule-of-Thumb than a hard limit.

Important points are things like:

• Washing machine - We never carry clothes for more than 6 days.
• Kitchen/living room for breakfast - We like to sit several hours over breakfast (Reading news online and reading RS Travel Forum)
• We have different "rythm"; My wife raises around 04:30 and makes a cup of coffee, while I sleep until around 07:00, so a living room with a closed door to the bed room is important.

We are currently staying in an appartment i Covent Garden area (side street to St Martins Lane) which is nice and central and - even on Friday and Saturday nights - not noisy. Two negative points:

• there are 103 steps from street to door :-)
• The shops around here are VERY touristy: more sandwiches than bread, more sweets than fruit

And it is still very hard to find non-alcoholic wine :-(

I don’t have any set of requirements for either. Each trip is different. Like right now in Greenland we have had an apt most of the time but last night we were in a hotel as it was a one night stay and there are no rentals where we are. The town is only 800 people. We go back this evening and will have the apt for a few more days.

We like apts if we are doing a lot of activities so we can spread out a bit and then let gear dry etc.

We tend to cook easy meals in an apt, but mostly it’s nice to have a kitchen to make our own simple breakfasts.

It also depends on how much advice I think we will need. Hotels are better for that.

Have you been in London over Christmas before? You might find cooking facilities useful, given the fact that a lot of restaurants close on Christmas Day. That would lean me towards an apartment - I’d go to M&S and buy a lot of delicious prepared Christmas food and do my own Christmas feast.

Although I’m sure the Montague’s restaurant will be in operation.

l.p.enersen- I recommend you check out Club Soda on Drury Lane- it has what you are looking for!

I'm a little different. I always book hotels. However, for longer stays, I look for aparthotels/extended stay hotels. They offer apartment amenities but are actually hotels. There is a recepetion desk usually manned 24/7. No need to try to track down an owner. I get housekeeping and the basic supplies offered by hotels are restocked. If there are any noise issues or problems with neighboring rooms, the hotel will move me. Not so easily done in an apartment.

Since some are part of big chains, I may also get points towards future stays.

These type of hotels are one of the fastest growing segments in the hotel industry. It's a way to compete with AirBnb.

The other consideration is can I find a reputable apartment booking agency or a nice apartment hotel. And no, I don’t consider Airbnb reputable in anyway so that’s not an option.

That does mean in some small towns my only option is a hotel. That’s fine.

I'm with Frank, and have a preference for aparthotels - I like the apartment amenities in the hotel setting. When I travel hotels and transportation hubs are ideally located in the commerce/tourist/arts/museum districts that I want to be in. And locals do not deserve having their residential areas clogged up with tourists. I won't use Airbnb, and the last thing I want to deal with are flighty part-time hosts merely operating a side hustle.

I’m a hotel person so just will comment on Montague at the Gardens, as my wife and I have stayed there twice recently, once for four nights and the other time for a week. It is very nice, with excellent service. Great location right across from the British Museum and many restaurants nearby. The hotel restaurant (your post mentions restaurants, but there is only one) is good, based upon the one dinner we had there, which was prompted by a 50 pound food credit I got as part of our room deal. It is not inexpensive, but nothing at an upscale London hotel will be. There is also a bar, with (oddly) a leopard skin decor, but that is kind of fun. If you want a “007 martini” garnished with a (fake) bullet, that is the place for that! The reception areas are fine. Some of the rooms are on the small side, but again, that is typical for London. They have no cooking or food storage facilities other than a tea/coffee kettle with supplies for that, but we found the space perfectly adequate for the kind of in room dinner we sometimes have while traveling, which is an assortment of wine, bread, cheese, stuff like that, or breakfast with a take away pastry and the in room coffee. There is a good Waitrose supermarket 5-10 minutes walk away across Russell Square, in a little shopping arcade just past the Russell Square tube station.

Since our visits are usually a week or longer we like to rent an apartment central to the places we want to visit. And, since these areas are usually in older sections of cities, hotel choices tend to be meagre. Renting an apartment is also more culturally immersive.

Renting an apartment is also more culturally immersive.

How so, and what exactly is one immersing themselves into?

No rentals for me, not even for long-ish stays. Hotels only...and yes to aparthotels.

Been burned by AirBnB and its equivalents a couple of times, never again.

• Number of nights: 4 or fewer hotel, as a guideline, 5 or more, apartment or Aparthotel.
• Kitchen and laundry are huge draws for longer stays as we get “restaurant fatigue” especially on a long trip and we pack light.
• Like i.p. enersen, we get up at vastly different times: me about 4:30 and hubby about 6:00, so having a separate space is nice, and somewhere to sit other than on the bed. Plus we like to hang out “at home” after a busy day and especially if we’ve dined in.
• We’ve spent Christmas in London and Rome in apartments as well one Christmas in the Dolomites with half-pension in a resort hotel. The half-pension in the mountains was a divine treat and festive, and we had a mini-suite so some space. I’d lean toward an apartment if it wasn’t half-pension.

We did choose hotel over apartment for an extended stay in Rome last year as the reason for being there was to eat and we knew we would not be cooking. We got a room with a seating area so there was a place to sit other than on the bed.

We usually rent apartments for stays of three days of more and stay in hotels for shorter stays. Recently though we were in Padua, Italy for two nights and stayed in an apartment. There must have been something going on in town because a hotels were twice as expensive as the well located apartment we rented. The owner allowed us to leave our luggage early which can be a disadvantage of an apartment.

In the Dolomites we rented an apartment which was part of a hotel. We even had breakfast a few days! The apartment had been two hotel rooms-we had two bathrooms which was really nice.

And I do like to have a kitchen as we do some cooking. I get tired quickly of eating out every night.

When we were in London a few years ago we stayed 5 nights in a hotel before moving to Bath where we had an apartment. I must admit we were so happy to have more space.

We try to have a washing machine every other move, especially if traveling in a damp climate where clothes do not dry easily.

We only stay in hotels for many of the reasons noted above. We would never book through airb&b.
But, we will look into the aparthotels for future trips.

If I am traveling by myself, it is a hotel. Traveling with others, an apartment becomes an option. I don’t stay in one place longer than 4-5 days.

I'm another one with no rhyme or reason for booking where I do. And the length of the stay doesn't matter to me. I've stayed in apartments for only 2 nights, and stayed in hotels for as long as 10 nights. Generally I like hotels, especially if they serve breakfast, as it's easy and and I like the convenience of housekeeping. I'm also a fan of aparthotels, and have stayed in a number of them that were very nice, and allowed me to fix meals in the room so I didn't have to eat out as often.

But I've also stayed in apartments, and they have an advantage as well. The biggest advantage is having a washer, and if I'm going to rent an apartment, that is something I look for. I'm heading to Romania next month for about 3 weeks (plus a week in Budapest) and will be staying in 3 different hotels (including an airport hotel) and 2 apartments. No real reason for booking the apartments, but there were many that were available and I liked the idea of being able to wash my clothes at several different points during my stay.

I am more inclined to stay in apartments in smaller towns, but again, have no real reason for doing so. However, if I had my preference, I would book an aparthotel over a hotel or apartment, as it has the best of both worlds.

I'm almost totally a hotel person and don't even consider an apartment in Europe. We never travel for more than 3 weeks, usually about 18 days. We have no interest in cooking on vacation, so a kitchen isn't appealing.
We did an apartment once in Paris thinking that the extra space would be nice but the furniture wasn't comfortable. We also realized that we like having a front desk in case there are issues and don't want the hassle of meeting someone to get/return a key.
I also worry about vacation rentals contributing to locals being pushed out of living in their cities.

I prefer a hotel for a one night stay. I also prefer to stay at a hotel with 24 hour front desk when I arrive after a long flight. It's comforting to know that I won't have to hassle with finding entry and the airline will be able to deliver my bag if it's lost!

We never book ONE place to stay on a trip. We want to see the sights and not just relax in one place.

Since we do move around on a trip, we usually take group tours, but when we don't, we prefer B&Bs or small hotels LOCATED near the sights we want to see.
I routinely compare renting an apartment against B&Bs and generally find that apartments are usually farther away from the sights we wish to see, which adds that we have to take public transport and spend more on that and more time traveling, not seeing.

I'm AirBnB by default. I usually travel with my teenage son, my sister and/or a friend, so we like to have some space. And I snore, so they like to have a wall between us. I won't use AirBnB (or VRBO, which I gave up on a long time ago, or the like) in cities where I know (or suspect) there has been a negative impact on the local housing market (e.g., Dublin, Amsterdam, Barcelona). For my last stay in Dublin, I chose a purpose-built aparthotel for this reason.
In the rare event of a one-night stay or an airport stay, I would choose a hotel.

I'm almost always a hotel person. On more than one occasion, we've booked through one of the main platforms and had a serious issue with the place. There is no front desk, manager, or other room to move you into so your vacation can continue as planned. Even if you get your money back afterwards, your vacation has taken a hit and you've wasted hours or days addressing where to stay. Also, as others have said, I don't want to cook on vacation, and I am fine with using a Laundromat rather than someone's personal machine.

Increasingly, I find the ethical dilemma against home rentals to be compelling. Same for Uber/Lyft, actually. When it all goes right, you are saving money, but when it goes wrong, you are on your own with minimal regulation to help.

In response to VAP, I understand the reluctance to contribute to rentals that operate at the expense of residents. The apartments we rent are owned by people who live in the building. We have become good friends with them and with the local residents who live in the building through the years through our repeated visits. We support the neighborhood economies by eating at the same local restaurants and shopping at the same local stores as they do. That is what I mean by cultural immersion.

Thank you! I love reading all of the viewpoints.

l.p.enersen, would you share your rental by chance?

If I could find a charming apartment, I would choose it for a stay of 8 nights. This trip was planned a bit late in the game, and I cannot seem to find that is cute and reasonable.

I did find Chancery Quarters but wondering if it is off the beaten path too much for the holidays: not really in shopping district, offices may be closed around Temple and workers OOO for Christmas Week. Not that London can feel desolate but Chancery Quarters doesn't feel like a neighborhood. Any thoughts?

https://chanceryquarters.com/

Always hotels, a small one, a B&B, or a big one, those of a hotel chain, Motel One, Ibis, Intercity, Mercure, Austria Trend, depending on the price.

In the past the choices were mainly between small hotels and Pensionen. Vacation rentals, apts. AirB&B were/are never options.

With 4 of us (all have different sleeping and waking patterns, not to mention the snoring) we really appreciate the space of an apartment. We are currently staying in a flat in the Tooting Broadway section of London and enjoy having a kitchen and washing machine. The teenagers love their parents, but need their own space. This flat is owned by a couple and maintained by a family member who lives close by. For more than 2 people and more than 2 nights-I go for the apartment.

I've never traveled with more than one other person. It's generally hotels for us all the way, for the reasons others have mentioned above. I do like having a fridge in the room, but have no intention of cooking on vacation so no need for a kitchen. There's is one place where we visit each time to see friends, and we stay in an apartment there because it was the best option near restaurants and transport.

Re: having a washer in the apartment, I really don't care because I seriously dislike European washing machines. We have developed a completely sink washable, quick dry travel wardrobe (which by the way, ends up packing much smaller, even with some dressier pieces included). I am happy to sink wash vs. enduring the European washing machine torture. It takes forever and wrinkles even the clothes that can be stuffed into a suitcase and emerge wrinkle free. And the dryers are even worse. End of rant...

The tipping point for an apartment (bed, small kitchen, two rooms with door for early risers, if lucky washing machine and if luckier outdoor space) is 3 nights. At this point the hassle of finding and getting into the apartment is worth it. We use booking.com to find a place to stay. They are rated by actual people who stayed there with comments, lists prices and extra expenses and a way to contact a person. We pay the few extra dollars for free cancellation . Got to read carefully the cancellation dates as they can be a week or a day. Unfortunately, we never see a real person at some places. a hotel is usually better for the short stays with a front desk with helpful people and easier to find. We look for all places close to local transportation.

I’m just in the midst of booking accommodation for a 10 week trip in Europe next year. We generally book apartments/holiday cottages because we quickly tire of eating out at night and usually stay for 4-7 nights in one place. We mainly choose to stay in smaller towns and they don’t always have a broad range of restaurants.
The exceptions are if we’re staying for one night in transit or sometimes in cities. And on this trip I’m booking a country inn in Dorset just for the experience.
Generally it’s worked well for us in the past, although I admit that there have been occasions when we missed having access to hotel staff - for example booking a taxi in a town where the only way was by phone and we didn’t speak the language, although a kind staff member at the tourist office did it for us.

musicmoll1, I'd say that your immersion is familiarity born of return visits to the same place. Not a matter of apartments vs hotels.

While being concerned about the impact of short-term rentals is an admirable thing, you should worry as much about hotels doing the same when apartment blocks are torn down to make room for them. But alas we don’t because its not a concern that is in vogue. Complicated. Better to trust that the locals are self-regulating to their best interest through their democratic processes, despite what outsiders may think about their decisions.

Personally I am a spoiled brat and prefer a hotel with lots of service. But I get the other point of view as well. Each to their own. Choose what will enhance the quality of your holiday, no matter what that choice is.

Calimom: https://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/hausd-covent-garden.da.html?aid=304142&label=gen173nr-10CAEoggI46AdIM1gEaFCIAQGYATO4ARfIAQzYAQPoAQH4AQGIAgGoAgG4AuOAlsUGwAIB0gIkN2RhYzJlNGMtMDIzZi00ZmU5LWIzMjItZjJlMjlmMzUyYmVk2AIB4AIB&sid=4c0764b13c0a9c4d63cfe27546d147d3&all_sr_blocks=671306311_275874051_0_0_0&checkin=2026-01-26&checkout=2026-01-30&dest_id=-2601889&dest_type=city&dist=0&group_adults=2&group_children=0&hapos=1&highlighted_blocks=671306311_275874051_0_0_0&hpos=1&matching_block_id=671306311_275874051_0_0_0&nflt=privacy_type%3D3%3Bprivacy_type_no_date%3D3&no_rooms=1&req_adults=2&req_children=0&room1=A%2CA&sb_entire_place=1&sb_price_type=total&sr_order=upsort_bh&sr_pri_blocks=671306311_275874051_0_0_0__59450&srepoch=1755676807&srpvid=127e383bee011630&type=total&ucfs=1&

We are in one of two top floor appartments. I recommend you check number of steps before renting :-)

We are in Greenland right now and had an apt for the first two days, then went to another town and the only lodging was a hotel. We are back in the first town and got the same apartment as earlier. We got in late and our host was out sailing so he left it unlocked for us and the keys were inside. We can call or WhatsApp him anytime.

When traveling solo, I always choose a small hotel or B&B, if possible. I did stay one night in a rental in Martina Franca because there wasn’t a B&B in the center of the city.

When my husband & I stayed in southern Spain for a few weeks in Feb 2024, we had two rentals and a couple of hotels. The tipping point for us was 5 days plus the convenience to have a washing machine a couple of times. One rental was five nights; one was one week.

Something that greatly affected my choice was whether I/we could leave off our luggage early. I’ve never had a B&B or small hotel turn down my request sent ahead of time to ask permission to leave off our luggage. When we had to wait until 3pm at the rentals to activate the key to leave off luggage, it played into my choices for future planning. I also very much prefer a place where I am greeted by a person vs. a set of instructions that hopefully work…

If I was making reservations in your situation, I would be leaning towards a rental because you’re there over Christmas and restaurants may either be packed or not open.

For those traveling with other people: we (husband and I) had a friend join us on our trip to Italy and had great 2BR/2Bath apartments in Rome and Florence. At the risk of sounding like a b$**ch , I have to admit that I sometimes wished that we'd had separate hotel rooms because I was annoyed that he was always in the living room with us! Just something to think about!

The destination often dictates our decision on where to stay. If we are staying 3 nights or more we will definitely stay in an apartment. Since I try to save money on accommodations, I start with which choice is easier on the budget. In Greece, where we are going in October, hotels are often much cheaper than apartments. When in Belgium and the Netherlands last year, it seemed the opposite.
London will have more options than many cities, most of them pretty pricey. When you factor in your travel style and plans while there, one option will probably emerge as the right choice.
My wife and I attempt to 'live like locals' as much as possible, so we mostly stay in apartments. We like to buy local food and herbs in the local markets and prepare it ourselves for some meals. This also helps avoid restaurant fatigue.
I have been amazed at the quality of rental apartments that I have found across Europe. The space, amenities, locations and views have exceeded what was available in most hotels where we traveled. Last year we had 3 of our 5 AirBnbs cancel our reservation within a month of our arrival. This was disturbing and stressful. The bright side was that we ended up finding other apartments that were better than what we originally picked! I am a planner and like some certainty when traveling, but I have learned that flexibility is my friend. Sometimes the universe has a better plan in mind for me than I could come up with on my own.
I am planning a future trip to include London and would love to here what you decide to do.

Last year we had 3 of our 5 AirBnbs cancel our reservation within a month of our arrival.

I have had AirBnB cancellations within a day of arrival.

Never again...

We've never had any AirBnB cancel on us. I have had hotels fail to honor reservations (very infrequently).

In general we don't use hotels except in special circumstances. The comfort and flexibility offered by apartments and houses is too great unless it's a very short stay.

I have enjoyed reading all the responses. We do use Airbnb occasionally, but only here in the US. We have used it approximately 12 times and never had a problem or been disappointed. In Europe, we move around and like hotels or aparthotels. We recently booked an apartment in Rome at Hotel Smeraldo. It looks very nice. It was not inexpensive for a 2 week stay. But, we have never been to Rome and might need the guidance of a hotel staff. We find as we have gotten older, we need our creature comforts.

I use booking.com for apartments and only had one (out of maybe 20 bookings) cancellation about 10 days before our reservation. Booking.com offered a 'suitable' alternative or I could pick my own.

We recently booked an apartment in Rome at Hotel Smeraldo. It looks very nice. It was not inexpensive for a 2 week stay. But, we have never been to Rome and might need the guidance of a hotel staff. We find as we have gotten older, we need our creature comforts.

Tammy, we stayed at the Smeraldo last October and enjoyed it very much. We had a large room in their annex, not the apartment, but that looks great! Very nice staff, good breakfast.

I book a hotel for my first night or two after a long flight to Europe from the West Coast of Canada.
That is for safety as a usually solo female.
Then after that I move to an apartment when I am well rested,more alert, and more aware of people and surroundings.
I like to be totally with-it when arriving at a rental, meeting a host etc.
I’m done with AirBNB for political reasons, though only had one problem after many rentals through them, and that was a weird host, not the company itself.
I generally rent apartments through booking.com, with great success for over twenty years.
I’m not a foodie, neither are any friends who sometimes join me on trips, so I like to have a kitchen and dining table.
As I pack light a washing machine is essential, though sometimes like a real puzzle to figure out how European ones work.
This next trip I have 8 nights in three hotels, which is unusual for me.

I love all of the opinions and feedback. Great "food for thought"!

Typically, we like to live like locals as well and rent vacation apartments -- some through agencies and some through AirBnb or VRBO.

We spent 3 weeks in Sevilla over Christmas in 2023 in a lovely apartment. On Christmas Day, we went to a Flamenco show and then to dinner. There were several restaurants open -- it was not a problem. We will be having. Christmas Dinner with friends in London so we're not worried about restaurants. :)

My husband wants to stay in a hotel for this trip so I am deciding between the Montague, the Hoxton or Radisson Blu Bloomsbury. Would love more opinions on hotels in the Holborn / Covent Garden / Bloomsbury neighborhoods.

With our daughter living in London now, we will figure out the apartment landscape for next trip.

One of the things I especially like about AirBnB is that its app organizes one's lodgings in a "trips" tab. When one is gone for a long time, that tab is very helpful in keeping track of one's schedule.

While I am not a big fan of staying in short-term rentals (just life style on holiday no other reason), I once owned a couple in Europe. One way to improve the chances of a good outcome is to check out the "Hosts". Hosts are not always the owners. Often they are the managment company. So if you check a Host they may be the Host of a dozen apartments. Again, not owner, manager. Managers are professionals. They arent Zoltan renting out dead aunt Zsofia's flat to make extra beer money. Professionals are more likely to ensure a better experience as they do the job to feed their families. If all of their apartments get good reviews then they are doing their job well.

I almost always choose an Air BnB or apartment hotel for three nights or more. I have been trying to choose apartment hotels more often, but I will choose an Air BnB with multiple high ratings.
I am looking at Air BnB vs aparthotels in Barcelona for February and leaning toward an aparthotel. There are plenty of AirBnBs but the ratings are generally lower than I'm comfortable with.

Knock on wood, I have yet to have a bad AirBnB experience out of several dozen stays.

I travel solo most often, so I rarely want to go sit in a restaurant and be waited on. I would rather eat and move on. So I like an apartment with cooking facilities so I can make my own breakfast (Rick's guidebooks say eat a pastry and coffee for breakfast, but that would never work for me), I eat lunch out, sometimes a sitdown meal, sometimes not. By dinner time I am usually ready to be done for the day, so I cook a simple meal in my apartment. Sometimes I just want a salad for dinner, or cheese, crackers, and fruit.

I also appreciate laundry facilities because I am a carryon only traveler. And I want a place where there is somewhere to sit besides the bed.

For a one or two night stay, I stay in a hotel.

Given the backlash against short term rentals in many if not most European destinations, a few years back I just decided I’d vote with my wallet on the side of the folks trying to preserve city centers. My wife would however occasionally find a rental when we were in a group.

Happy travels!

Well, this is a zombie thread, but the timing is fitting. I have no problem with legal rentals. I figure the locals should be seen with respect. That means assuming that they are big adults and can do for themselves what they feel to be in their best interests. Even if I don’t understand or if I disagree.

But while I have no problem with legal short-term rentals, I also have no interest in staying in one. I have on very few occasions when money was short; but that was a lifetime ago. Short-term rentals do help empower the lower wage earners to see more of the world and that’s a good thing. Which is maybe in part why they get so trashed by the public. It’s like the cheap airlines that the working class can afford, they get trashed lot too. Oh, and Uber for that matter. Oh, and KFC! And Walmart! For some reason everything that helps to empower the lower wage earners is trashed by our society. Sad.

But for the most part, I prefer the spoiled atmosphere of a good 4 or 5 star hotel. Even if I had a kitchen what am I going to do with it? It would just mean that I must arrange a cook to come in a few times each day. That’s a lot of bother. Oh, a cook and a maid, I guess. Again a lot of bother when it comes free in the hotel.

My only extended stay in a hotel was last year. Six nights at The Coach and Horses in Kew. Lovely staff, a quiet, decent room, but I was itching to leave after a couple of nights.

London, Rome and Alexandria (VA) are the only cities I've rented in. Otherwise, small towns and villages. Some better than others, but no duds. I've had no problem with VRBO, Traumfewo, and many local tourist boards.

Never gave cultural immersion a thought, apart from drinking ale in Britsh pubs (and I'm a mushy pea aficionado). I know quite a few words and phrases in a few languages, but not enough to hold a good conversation. Waitstaff and cashiers get nearly all my attention.

"Last year we had 3 of our 5 AirBnbs cancel our reservation within a month of our arrival." - This happened to us a couple of times many years ago.

The big stink on the recent Naples thread is about apartments being bought and used as vacation rentals. Mr Ê makes a valid point about using a reputable management company, but there are still very many landlords on Airbnb who actually live in their apartments and rent them out occasionally for extra income. You rent an apartment from Gianni, and Gianni moves in with his boyfriend Franco for the week. Gianni falls out with Franco a week before you arrive, you're left with no apartment. In both my Airbnb cancellation cases the landlord had great reviews.

Zombie thread, maybe, but I missed it the first time 'round.

I was booking private vacation rentals long, long before Air BnB existed. With 3 kids, it was much more affordable and comfortable for us to stay in a rental vs a hotel, especially as our kids got a little older. We travelled mainly in Canada and the US in those days, and we often rented cottages or stayed in university student apartments (offered to tourists during the summer). When we went to Hong Kong, two of our kids, then teenagers, came with us, but hotel rooms that sleep 4 aren't as common in Hong Kong, so we rented an apartment there. When we went to Paris, all of our kids (teens and young adults) came with us, so, again, an apartment worked a lot better for us. All of this was pre Air BnB.

So, I developed a preference for rentals vs hotels. There's more space, including sofas where we can sit and relax in the evening after a busy day. (Sometimes hotel rooms have only the beds and perhaps a chair or two.) Apartments have fridges for storing cold drinks, snacks, and leftovers. More and more, hotels have these now, too, but at one point, they were usually minibars rather than guest fridges. We don't do any major cooking on vacation, but we also don't want to have to go out for every single snack, and it's nice to be able to have a quick meal or use up leftovers, on occasion. Also, since 2020, I try to avoid removing my mask in indoor public spaces, so if the weather isn't conducive to outdoor eating, then we can have take out or a quick-heat meal in our own place. On longer trips, a washer (or washer/dryer) does come in handy. I don't want to waste time at a laundromat, and having the hotel launder our stuff can be inconvenient, depending on when we'll be changing locations. We do sink wash when we're in hotels, but a washer with a spin dry cycle is easier.

When we visit our daughter in Toronto, there are no hotels near her place, but there is a rental we regularly use.

As an introvert, I much prefer the relative privacy of a rental. I don't want housekeeping. I want to know if I need a rest, I won't be interrupted. (Yes, I can put up the Do Not Disturb sign, but I have still been interrupted, on occasion.) I don't necessarily want to chat with front desk staff, and we hardly ever need their services. We are pretty independent travellers, and we like it that way.

Only twice have I had a problem with a rental. Once, we had a rental cancelled on us (Budapest), but it was in plenty of time to make other arrangements. Another time, the place was not clean and not safe. We contacted Air BnB, who looked at our photos and agreed with us, allowing us to move and refunding our money. Other than that, we've been more than pleased with our rental experiences, and a few have been exceptional.

Apartment hotels are the best of both worlds, of course, and I do book those fairly often these days. We now usually stay in a mix of hotels, apartment hotels, and rentals, depending on the trip. For instance, on our trip in June to New Zealand and Australia, we had a fabulous private rental in Auckland, an apartment hotel in Sydney, Uluru, and Port Douglas, a private rental suite in a house in Newport (walking distance to the airstrip where we caught our very early a.m., small plane to Lady Elliot Island), a hotel/cabin without kitchen on LEI, and a hotel in Brisbane and overnight back in Auckland.

I do understand that short-term rentals are causing problems in a lot of places, now that they are so much more popular than when I started using them. It's another aspect of travel that has become a victim of its own popularity, unfortunately.

I look for aparthotels/extended stay hotels. They offer apartment amenities but are actually hotels.

Totally agree. Best of both worlds. As mentioned by another, sometimes eating out just gets old especially on very long trips. Nice to stop at a market and get some fresh food. Super nice picnic in the room is great!!!

If it's a short stay or a big city like London, I prefer hotels. If I'm somewhere for a week or more, I choose apartments

My point is pretty much permanently tipped because I hate hotels, only tolerating them for a night before an early morning flight. I admit that my dislike is only partly rational....

We mostly look for economical, and in Europe, apartments tend to be more economical than hotels. Apartments give us more space to chill between or after daily adventures. And try to find apartments with a washer about one a week. In addition we can make coffee, and have breakfast and lunch food in the fridge. While we typically don’t cook meals, ready made food from a gracoery store can be a nice change from eating every meal out.

But one night stays before or after train or air travel tend to be hotels. In our 7 week trip this last spring we had 7 nights in hotels (4 at a ski resort), and 4 nights with friends. I exclusively book through booking.com, read reviews to look for negative common denominators (bar noise, not clean, uncomfortable bed) and filter on refundable, 8+ rating. Location is always a priority.

The only time we had a cancel was after a torrential downpour in Venice the night before arrival, and due construction and noise to repair the leaking roof, the host had to cancel.

Having lived in a building that had airbnbs and hated it. It’s bad for the other tenants and sooner or later people just buy an entire building and turn it into rentals.

That sadi, when I’m traveling alone I will try to go for an apartment hotel. My last stay in Berlin at the Adina was wonderful because I could cook on the hob and make lunches and coffee. But there was always a front desk and maids to clean. I’m on vacation and don’t want to take out garbage, remove bed linens etc.

For laundry I usually just put it in my carryon and go to a laundromat. The one in Berlin was clean modern and pay by card. And met many travelers. Right now hotel costs are probably cheaper than most Airbnbs.

I live in a building that for many years has had 5% to 10% of the units being short-term rentals. The building is on a street where every building had 5% to 10% short-term rentals. To be honest, I never noticed the tourists. They get up early and go sight seeing and come home about the same time everyone else comes home. Just has never been an issue.

I live in a country where more than 90% of the population lives in a house owned by one of the occupants of the house; so the rental pressure isnt the same as in most of Western Europe. The only significant inventory issue has been large corporations coming in and buying up the entire buidling and converting it to a hotel where 100% of the units are lost forever as is the character of the neighborhood.

When I travel I prefer hotels. I like to be spoiled.

20, 30 years ago when short term rentals, AirBNBs etc started to replace small B & Bs and vastly expanded in volume, I don’t think many had the foresight to see what it could do to the character of neighborhoods. I certainly didn’t.

The reaction in many places to restrict, curtail, tax, regulate their success is pretty widespread now.

My tipping point is really this: if my wife decides for whatever reason we’re joining some group of friends or relatives, I smile and go. If it’s my choice, I always pick a hotel— or hotel style apartment.

Happy travels!

In 1990 there were between 5,000 and 8,000 b&b's in the US. By 2015 that number was approximately 17,000 indicating that the number of Bed and Breakfasts doubled independently of what was going on with short term rentals.

https://blog.ricksteves.com/cameron/2023/07/bb-endangered#:~:text=Things%20have%20changed%20rapidly.,to%20how%20they%20did%20things.

A

re Classic B&Bs an Endangered Species?

One of the great joys of traveling in Great Britain and Ireland is its
wonderful, “homely,” friendly B&Bs. And, while several of these are
still thriving, I’m sorry to report that the classic B&B experience is
becoming increasingly rare. Even just a few years ago, every town or
city in the British Isles had at least one tidy little cluster of
well-run B&Bs, eager to host travelers for a fraction the price of a
big hotel. My favorite thing about updating our Rick Steves’ Europe
guidebooks was checking in with each one to re-inspect their rooms and
update their information…which, more often than not, turned into a
spirited chat. Things have changed rapidly. The rise of Airbnb has
made it harder for a full-service B&B to remain both profitable and
competitively priced. And then came COVID. These days, those classic
B&Bs are becoming an endangered species. Fortunately, quite a few gems
survive. For example, Susan and Paul at Barony House in Edinburgh —
pictured below — give me hope for the future: The next generation
that’s keeping at least some great B&Bs going strong…still with a
personal greeting and an excellent cooked breakfast. (Susan is a great
cook.)