Airbnb vs Hotels: How to Choose the Right Stay for Your Europe Trip

One of the questions that comes up most frequently from people planning a trip to Europe is “Should I stay in a hotel or book an Airbnb?”  As is so often the case the answer is not a clear cut one or the other but there are important points to consider when making your choice.

What is an Airbnb?

One of the important things to make clear up front is what is actually meant by “an Airbnb”.

Airbnb is a website/app founded in San Francisco in 2008 by three tech friends as a way to rent out spare rooms and air mattresses to travellers. It quickly grew into a global platform for short-term rentals, now hosting millions of listings ranging from city apartments to countryside cottages.  It was not started by people with a background in hospitality; it does not own any of the properties on its site; it does not carry out inspections.  These are important points for my later discussions.

So when people talk about booking “an Airbnb” they generally mean one of two things.  Either, as was the originally intention of the site, a room in someone’s house or a self catering accommodation of some sort.  In cities it is generally taken to mean an individual apartment.

Self-catering existed before Airbnb

There is nothing 21^st century about renting out accommodation to travellers.  Long before Airbnb existed, travellers were renting cottages, chalets, cabins, gîtes in France, agriturismos in Italy, and holiday lets in the UK or Scandinavia.  In fact, the tradition of self-catering accommodation goes back centuries, especially in rural Europe where farmers or landowners supplemented their income by renting out spare cottages or converted barns to visitors.

Airbnb didn’t invent self-catering, it just made the booking process digital and global.  Other sites in various niches existed before, and still do, but the Airbnb site and their interactive map made choosing and booking properties far easier than it ever was before.  This in turn led to its popularity with travellers and investors.

And “an Airbnb” has become the term people use for any short-term or holiday rental property.

So, whilst, for the sake of this article, I will continue to use the term “Airbnb” to mean a self-catering apartment or property, most of what I have to say counts for any of the properties no matter which platform, booking.com, VRBO etc,  they were booked on.

Choice between Airbnb and hotel, what factors to consider.

Price

This is frequently the first thing people think of when considering their accommodation options.  The preconceived idea is that an Airbnb is going to be cheaper than a hotel.  That may have been the case once upon a time but these days, once cleaning fees and other charges are taken into account, it is no longer true.

A recent search in London for example, for two nights near Covent Garden for the dates I was looking for in September revealed a decidedly ordinary, one bedroom apartment for £570 (for an apartment that only has 3 reviews). For the same dates I could stay around the corner at the 4* Strand Palace hotel (which has over 15000 reviews) for £431.  Similarly a search for the Gothic quarter in Barcelona reveals a Studio for 448€ while a nearby 3* Bypillow hotel is 410€.

I’m not saying that you can never find an Airbnb cheaper than a hotel, merely that the automatic assumption that it would be more expensive to stay in a hotel is no longer valid.

More space/beds for the money

This is where Airbnbs often have an advantage over a hotel.  Rather than just a room, you get space to stretch out.  Sometimes with the option of an extra bed in the form of a sofa. (We’ll talk about multi-bedroom rentals later).

Although this often isn’t as clearcut as it seems.  Airbnbs do not often advertise the square footage of the property you are renting, so even though you are renting an apartment or a studio you can often find yourself in cramped accommodation.  It’s easy when doing this mental calculation to forget about the common areas in a hotel.  You would be eating your breakfast in a dining room rather than your bedroom, there is often a bar or a lounge area.  You might even have a pool or roof terrace.

Self-catering option

Another reason people often consider an Airbnb is the ability to self-cater.  Sometimes this comes back down to price; it is often cheaper to buy the ingredients for dinner than to eat at a restaurant.  And sometimes it is down to the desire to prepare your own food, either for culinary reasons or dietary restrictions.

On the face of it, this makes sense.  Certainly, if you are staying in one place for a week or two, then doing a grocery shop can be a great way to make your budget go further, and to enjoy the local delicacies.  However, if you are only staying a couple of nights then the chances are that you won’t want to be spending your time looking for a grocery store.   

The idea of cooking whilst on holiday is often more appealing in imagination then in reality.  Airbnb kitchens are not infrequently badly stocked, with blunt knives and tiny mugs, and no oven.  If cooking is important to you then be careful to read the small print and the reviews to see if it really is going to be possible.

Living like a local

One of the selling points of Airbnb, and other platforms, is that you can live like a local when travelling rather than a tourist.  The irony of course is that an Airbnb is so lucrative to landlords that locals can no longer afford to live in the popular areas.  So rather than living alongside locals you are just as likely to be living alongside other travellers who know no more about the city than you do.

Other things to bear in mind when choosing between a hotel and an Airbnb

Check-in/out

It used to be that when you rented an Airbnb the owner would meet you with the key, show you around and explain how everything works.  Those days are long gone.  Now, more often than not, you are given the location of a key safe.  You then have to grapple with the combination lock, sometimes in the dark, with your fingers crossed that the key will in fact be there.  More than once I have struggled with a key safe, had to contact the owner and got no reply.  This is a stress that I prefer to avoid when travelling.  The last time this happened to me it took 15 minutes to get the key safe open, only to have to spend another 5 minutes trying to get the key in the door lock.

Some city councils are now routinely removing lock boxes from public spaces, so no doubt there will be some confused travellers looking for an Airbnb key safe that no longer exists.

Arriving at a hotel with a receptionist, who will almost always speak some English, and being given my room key is so much more relaxing.  Added to that a hotel will usually look after your bags for your if your room isn’t ready yet.

Fire Safety concerns

Hotels are tightly regulated, particularly for fire risk.  In many places, Airbnbs are not regulated.  There are huge differences between countries.  According to a Which? Travel investigation only 14% of Airbnb listings in Italy report having a smoke alarm, compared to 90% for the UK.  Note that this is properties reporting to have them, it is not an investigation as to whether they were actually present and working.

Other safety concerns

When you rent an Airbnb you are renting a property where hundreds of other people have had access to the key.  You have no way of knowing who could have access to the property while you are out, or even worse while you are sleeping.  There are multiple reports of people having their property stolen while staying at an Airbnb.  Obviously, this can happen at a hotel, but a hotel will have staff on duty overnight, many have CCTV in public areas, and there are often safes in the room.  Key cards are typically changed for each customer.

Cameras

Speaking of cameras, there has been an alarming number of people saying they have found cameras hidden in their bedrooms and bathrooms in Airbnbs. 

Air conditioning/heating

This is a subject that comes up again and again.  Airbnbs often have no air conditioning or ventilation, or when air conditioning is available it is inadequate.  Heating can also be a problem, especially in areas that are normally considered to be warm countries.  The shoulder seasons can be chilly, but Airbnbs are often set up for the summer season so sometimes provide little or no heating and inadequate warm bedding.

Cleaning

The cleaning fees charged by Airbnb properties are extremely unpopular.  When you are paying to stay in a hotel it is understood that you will find the room clean, and that you don’t need to clean in when you leave.  In fact, it is normally cleaned for you on a daily basis.  So, the idea that you have to pay extra to have your Airbnb cleaned is seen by many as unreasonable.  Added to that you are often expected to carry out basic cleaning tasks on top of that such as wiping surfaces, stripping beds and taking out the trash. The latter in particular can be a problem in areas where you don’t understand the rules, don’t know where to put the trash, and are leaving early for a flight/train.  I have yet to stay in a hotel where they ask me to take out the trash.

Neighbours

When you stay in an Airbnb you are often sharing the building or street with local residents and this can cause conflict in several ways.  Many residents are, understandably, upset at tourists being in their building, meaning the entry code is not secure, and noise levels both from people arriving and leaving at all hours with their suitcases, trying their keys in the wrong door, and the sometimes unacceptable level of noise within a residential building.  On the other hand Airbnb guests complain about everyday noise from the residents, be it dogs barking, children crying or people doing renovations. 

When staying at a hotel you are staying in a purpose built building which is shared only by travellers which eliminates most of this conflict.

Locals fight against Airbnb rentals

Many locals are fighting back against the tide of Airbnbs saying that it has priced them out of their own neighbourhoods, removing the very authenticity that travellers are hoping to find.  In response to this some city councils are passing stricter laws about who can rent their apartments on Airbnb and for how long.  Paris now restricts homeowners to just 90 days a year, Barcelona is going even further with a plan to ban Airbnbs in the city by 2028.

Not being as advertised

This is a common complaint.  That the Airbnb photos do not reflect reality, that the amenities promised are absent or not working.

Sometimes the problem is a location one.  Unlike a hotel, you don’t know the address of the property until you have booked, and often not until a few days before you arrive.  This can lead to unpleasant surprises when the “on a quiet road” turns out to be the main trunk road into town, or the “convenient for local services” ends up being above an all-night bar, both of which have happened to me.  When you book a hotel you know the address up front, you can check out online, and you can make a decision as to whether or not it is acceptable for you.

Airbnb vs Hotels when travelling with a family

I know the struggle trying to find accommodation for a family, especially with three children.  An Airbnb means you can all be together, that the adults have somewhere to go once the children are in bed.  This is where hotels lag seriously behind the Airbnb model.  There are changes coming gradually, more and more hotels offer connecting rooms, and the aparthotel is becoming more common across Europe, but for now renting an apartment is often the only real choice for families, and that is a shame.

Airbnb vs Hotels in the Countryside

As I said at the beginning, the tradition of farmers renting out buildings for travellers is an old one, and it worked well for all concerned.  Nowadays, country properties often come with private pools and other luxuries.  They can provide a great option for a vacation, particularly for large groups travelling together.  Although some of the concerns stated above are still valid for country properties there are ways of mitigating the risks.  Many tourist boards inspect properties and provide a rating system giving you some peace of mind.  The are also many villa / gite / agrotourism companies that vet their properties, provide rep service, and ensure that the properties are as advertised.  I highly recommend using them rather than generic rental sites like Airbnb.  They are often country or region specific so contact me if you would like some recommendations.

Airbnb or Hotels in Europe – my opinion.

If you’ve read this far then I suspect that my opinion won’t be a surprise.  For the vast majority of people travelling to cities in Europe I recommend staying in a hotel rather than an Airbnb. For the few days that you are staying I cannot see any real benefit of taking the risk on an Airbnb, and I do consider it to be a risk.  When planning itineraries, I will suggest hotels unless expressly asked by a client for an apartment and if I am asked for apartments, then I will make every effort to find those that have been professionally vetted.

Countryside stays are different, and I will often recommend a villa or gite, but again I look to properties that have been officially graded, or professional companies that I have trust in.

I am aware that there are many fabulous properties that advertise on Airbnb and that there are many people running holiday properties in a professional manner (I used to be one myself) but the huge influx of amateurs and investors coming into the field with little knowledge of, or even interest in, hospitality means that I consider a hotel to be a much safer bet.

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