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| Our Toby (2020) |
Since our early retirement in August 2020, my wife and I have been traveling about 8 months out of the year, and just about every time, we chose AirBnB as our default choice for our month or longer stays. It worked out great, as we were initially traveling during the peak of the pandemic when not many people were traveling.
This allowed us to get reasonably priced rentals using AirBnB. Our first month long stay was in Ocean City Maryland, where we paid $865 for a small one bedroom, 3rd floor walk up unit, about 2 blocks from the famous Ocean City boardwalk.
We didn’t initially like the unit as it reeked of smoke, wasn’t very clean, and the shower was sized like a college dormitory where it was maybe about 4 square feet. We kept hitting our elbows and knees each time we took showers. Despite all that, we learned to like it after deep cleaning the place and airing it out. We, of course, liked the price above all else.
Ocean City was followed by a 3 months long stay in Atlantic Beach North Carolina where we paid $1000 per month for a small 1 bedroom unit, 2 blocks from the beach. That was much better in terms of cleanliness, and utility. It had everything we needed including two beds and a larger bathroom, compared to the unit in Ocean City.
By April of 2021, we were staying at a ski resort in Claysburg Pennsylvania for about $1300 for a tiny studio unit with a view of the mountains. This was an interesting experience as we had to cut this trip short due to incredibly noisy neighbor upstairs.
During the summer of that year, we stayed at 3 different AirBnB locations: 1) Ellicottville New York $1200 for a converted 1 bedroom unit above the garage, 2) Indiana Pennsylvania $965 for a 2 bedroom unit, and 3) Altoona Pennsylvania $1000 for a 2 bedroom unit. During the winter (December 2021 until end of February 2022, we stayed at our favorite rental out of all of our AirBnB rentals, in Murrels Inlet South Carolina for $1430 for a very spacious 3 bedroom/2 bathroom unit.
Our pattern of using AirBnB would continue the following year:
- Tupper Lake New York $1315 for an entire lakefront house with an attached garage
- Stratton Maine $1330 for a tiny mountain cabin in a remote Northwestern part of the state
- Canaan Vermont $1711 for a 2 bedroom unit in remote Northern part of the state
By now you should clearly see a pattern with AirBnBs. Prices were slowly creeping up! Whereas during our first year we paid on average about $1000 per stay, by the second year we were paying little over $1300 on average per stay. This is partially due to our fault as we wanted better rentals that had more space, amenities, and/or cleanliness.
As the “revenge travel” got well under way by 2022, we noticed prices were really going through the roof. We had a hard time finding decent units for under $1300 or so. Sure, we could find something somewhere, but by the second year, we were getting a bit more selective with our options.
Our last stay with AirBnB (Canaan Vermont) was the literal last straw that broke the camel’s back. We were questioning why that unit cost more than any other rentals we had stayed in! It was away from major attractions like Stowe and Burlington, and we just couldn’t justify the price.
After that trip in Vermont, we decided to try hotels starting that winter (November 2022), especially during our 2+ months long cross country road trip going from North Carolina to Southern California. We discovered, and in some cases rediscovered, things we really liked about hotels.
After careful analysis and observations, here are our reasons why we no longer use AirBnBs after using it frequently for 2 whole years:
We always thought we could get a better deal on AirBnB. For almost the first 2 years, this was pretty much true. We paid around $1000 the first year on average and around $1300 the second year on average.
By our trip to Vermont, the math changed. At $1700 for our rental there, we were seriously considering looking at alternative lodging options like hotels/motels.
- AirBnB does not offer any loyalty/rewards program
One of the biggest downsides of AirBnB is the lack of loyalty/rewards program, which is bit hard to understand when most companies offer them. When food companies like Chipotle, Popeyes can do them and when hotel chains like Choice Hotels, Wyndham Hotels do them, why can’t AirBnB???
It just seemed like a big waste of money spending thousands per trip without getting anything back as a valued customer. Come on AirBnB, it’s not rocket science to offer a rewards program when almost everyone does it!
- Too many rules to follow during and especially prior to check out…
We totally understand basic rules at any association or private home such as quiet hours after 10 p.m., no parties, or needing parking permit to park our park. But when rules become bit too complicated or too demanding, we’re wondering why we’re paying good money to be treated this way???
In almost all the AirBnB stays, we were told we needed to tidy up the place like how we found it, which to us is fair. What’s not fair, is when we’re cleaning the house, vacuuming the place, putting used towels and linens into the washing machines, etc.
So wait. We’re paying cleaning fees to the owners (range between $50 to as high as $200), and they’re asking us to clean the place anyway? Does this mean owners are keeping our cleaning fees? We feel duped by the process…
As mentioned above, there are too many fees that seem to go up and up. At first we understood the cleaning fee of around $50 as we had our dog with us. We understood it as part of being responsible dog owners.
This seemingly reasonable cleaning fee kept going up though. Whereas it fluctuated under $100 the first year, by the second year, it was higher at around $150-$200 range.
On top of the cleaning fee is the AirBnB service fee which range from 8% to 20% of the booking price. When adding both fees to the original booking price, it could end up costing up to 30% of the initial shown price. Ouch!
Although we were lucky in most of our stays, there were couple of times when we felt unsafe: First one was in a ski resort in Claysburg where we saw police arrest someone the next building over and second one was in Altoona where we were living not more than 1/4 mile from a fuel depot.
We felt unsafe in two different ways. In Claysburg, it was worry that the condominium had some unsavory neighbors who might make things interesting during our stay, and in Altoona, it was worry that the fuel depot might have an accident with us so close by.
Prior to booking our stays, we had no way of knowing any of these just by reading rentals’ reviews. Whether it’s because no one mentions them or it’s because hosts/owners are taking down any negative reviews, we would never know.
The bottom line is this: at times we really felt uneasy.
- Sometimes, the check in process is bit confusing
This isn’t always the case with most of the rentals we’ve been at, but what should be an easy process to get inside can be tricky. Case in point: our first rental in Ocean City had a key locked inside a lock box, the kind you see when you’re selling your home. The problem was, the instructions on how to open that little lock box wasn’t very clear, and on top of that, the lock box itself was old. It simply refused to take the number combinations to unlock the first 10 times or so. Being that Ocean City was our first month long AirBnB stay, we tried contacting our host, but the host wouldn’t answer.
Another case in point: in Maine, the address of our little mountain cabin was really confusing. We passed by it the first time then had to turn around to find it. Google Maps got really confused with the address, and it tried taking us to another place about half mile down the road.
- There were no elevators in all the places we’ve stayed at
You can imagine how many luggage we were carrying for a month long (sometimes longer) trips where we’re cooking our own foods. We had easily over 15 bags of varying sizes and in many occasions, we had to carry them to either to the second floor or to the third floor!
Ocean City was by far the worst as it was on the third floor of a house with incredibly narrow staircase. I couldn’t lift it by myself as it was not more than 3 feet wide, and it required two of us to carry the larger suitcases. We got a heck of a workout by the time we were done moving these upstairs.
In Claysburg, our rental was a second floor condominium unit, but to get to the building, we had to walk up the stairs (probably 50 steps on an incline just to get to the building itself). It felt like walking up three floors rather than two. We had a similar situation in Indiana (PA), where we had to carry everything to the second floor from the parking lot in the back.
Bottom line: you’ll do some heavy lifting in many rentals unless you’re renting the entire home like we did in Tupper Lake. There, we had an attached garage which made moving our stuff so much easier. Otherwise, expect no elevators.
So, what have we been using as an alternative to AirBnB? Hotels for the most part. Here are all the good reasons why hotels are better, at least these days for us. Like everything in life, things change and we’ll see what happens:
- Prices are higher compared to a monthly AirBnB rental but…
As AirBnB prices kept creeping up, we couldn’t help but wonder if hotels can actually work for us. So we tried it out after realizing there weren’t any reasonably priced rentals via AirBnB during our cross country road trip.
We couldn’t justify paying roughly $70 per night for a lousy tent near a national park, or some exorbitant price for something decent with a flushing toilet, and that’s when we tried out hotel booking sites like Booking.com, Hotwire, Priceline.com, Choice Hotels, etc.
During the winter months, hotel prices weren’t bad at all. We paid around $75 per night on average at Choice Hotels, so if you multiply that $75 by 30 nights, that would equal $2250. Although this is more expensive compared to AirBnB rentals, free breakfast certainly has a value which we consider to be around $20 per day (Coffee, orange juice, oatmeal with nuts/raisins, eggs, sausages, and fruits would easily be over $20 at a restaurant. Even if we were to buy groceries for all these items, we know it would not be cheap these days).
On few nights at Choice Hotels, we even brought oatmeal to be eaten as dinner, which is a big money saver. Figure we saved few more dollars for those “dinners” at well.
Bottom line: the monthly hotel price isn’t too far off when compared to AirBnB, especially when considering off-season travel and that awesome breakfast buffet and sometimes light dinner!
- Near desirable attractions
All the hotel stays we had during our winter travels were near major attractions. That was the case whether we were in Page (AZ), Flagstaff (AZ), or Moab (UT).
This was so good considering we’d normally have to drive at least 30 minutes to get to most attractions when we were staying at AirBnB rentals. Of course, had we unlimited lodging budget, then AirBnB can be had with a better location near major attractions, but the same can be said of hotels as well.
Bottom line: Less time to travel equals less money spent on gas, and less time spent on driving equals more time to see attractions.
- We felt safe at all the hotels
With fellow travelers at the hotel and a 24/7 front desk person, we felt safe staying at hotels. Of course we use common sense and never open up our door even when someone knocks, but overall, there wasn’t a time when we felt unsure or worried about our surroundings.
I guess there’s strength in numbers, with people usually right next door or near enough, someone can call 911 when necessary. At AirBnB stays, we’re pretty much by ourselves during off-season travel. We got used to it, but after staying at hotels, we do see the difference…
We didn’t have to track down the host to get a parking permit for our stay, figure out how to open a lockbox, nor how to find our rental when Google Maps gave up. Hotel check in is so much easier. We just have to show up at the front desk and we’re checked in!
Parking is also a breeze at most hotels as long as it’s not inside a major city downtown like it was for us in New Orleans. Once we check in, we’re done! We don’t have to think about whether there’s basic toiletries like soap, shampoo, towels, if the air conditioning/heater is working, or if the internet is working.
If not, we can just get another room. This is not the case with an AirBnB rental where you have to wait for something to be fixed by the host. There were instances where we had to get something fixed during our stays. Here are some examples:
- At Snowshoe (WV), light fixture kept blinking and lightbulb (fluorescent lights on the ceiling) had to be replaced
- In Canaan (VT), there was a leak in the kitchen sink which had to be temporarily patched up
- In Atlantic Beach (NC), we found out we needed to drain the water pan from the heating unit just about every day
- In Ellicottville (NY), internet didn’t work for two weeks. It was magically fixed after we’ve given up trying to use it. We went to the library to borrow books during those two weeks
- Power went out fairly often during our stay in Stratton (ME). We basically sucked it up and waited for power to be back.
- Loyalty/rewards program is available for Choice Hotels!
After our second stay with Sleep Inn during our cross country trip, we decided to sign up for Choice Rewards program which allow us to earn valuable points to redeem free hotel stays or gift cards. We found out after roughly 9-10 stays, we can get a room free.
This certainly goes a long way towards getting our lodging budget under control. With 3 free nights for a 30 days stay, our monthly budget, if we were to stay at Choice Hotels, would work out to be around $2025 ($2250 - $225=$2025), which is really close to the $1700 we paid for our last AirBnB rental in Vermont. When you add in the aforementioned value of free breakfast buffet, the price suddenly looks much better.
We knew we would get most bang for our buck by using strictly Choice Hotels when booking our hotel stays, instead of using multiple hotel chains.
In conclusion:
AirBnB was such a great platform to use for long term stays for the first 2 years of our early retirement journey thanks to its unbeatable combination of price, ability to cook our own foods, and availability of lodging options to stretch out.
Unfortunately like all good things, AirBnB has gotten too big for its own good. It has moved away from its biggest selling point of providing affordable lodging options. These days, there are too many unaffordable, downright expensive options on their platform.
We really wish AirBnB can get their act together and start to appeal to its loyal customers again. Providing great price is one way to do it, but lowering other expenses is another way.
Would we stop using AirBnB completely? We’re not sure right now. At this moment, we do like staying at hotels vs AirBnBs. Like anything in life though, things change and we’ll change with it.
We still think AirBnB can provide a good option for our lifestyle if the prices for monthly rental is more reasonable, at around $1000 - $1300. Anything more than that, hotels can provide a better option. We’ll see how it goes…
Thank you for reading and thank you for continuing to follow our early retirement journey!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
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