Rental Homes Vs Hotels: Which One To Choose?
Making the right accommodation decision when planning your next trip is pivotal in the amount of fun you will have during the actual vacation. If you are planning to travel together with your family or as a group, then you may have to choose between renting a hotel room or going for a vacation rental. That being said, how do rental homes and hotels compare in terms of making your trip a success? Here are a few comparisons that we hope will help you to make the right choice.
Making the right accommodation decision when planning your next trip is pivotal in the amount of fun you will have during the actual vacation. If you are planning to travel together with your family or as a group, then you may have to choose between renting a hotel room or going for a vacation rental.
What ever route you decided to go down, it’s important to consider your lease start vs move-in date which may have a bearing on your decision. There may be additional costs involved with a lease that aren’t a factor with hotel accommodation plus a hotel may be more flexible in terms of lease starting dates.
In most cases, travelers opt for hotels when visiting for short periods or when they wish to have undisturbed schedules. They might also opt for packages from Vacations Made Easy that already includes accommodation and entertainment. For those who are flexible, on the other hand, rental homes become highly ideal. This is because they are in most cases cheaper than hotels, they are convenient for long stays, and they serve large groups better than hotels.
That being said, how do rental homes and hotels compare in terms of making your trip a success? Here are a few comparisons that we hope will help you to make the right choice.
1. Costs
Hotels charge guests on a per-night basis, meaning that every night is independent of the other. The longer you stay, the more nights you will have, and the longer your bill sheet will be. As for vacation rentals, the costs are dependent on how long one stays. The longer you stay, the cheaper the rental gets.
2. Convenience
In a hotel, you will have to eat at the restaurants where foods can be very expensive, especially if you have a large family. And, if the hotel is far from your preferred attraction sites, then you will have to be hiring your mode of transport to and from the sites.
As for the rental homes, you will have a kitchen where you can cook your own meals. That is very convenient and affordable. Plus if you live in a beach rental, for example, you will not have to hire any transportation to the beach. However, there are some rentals which are far from the attraction sites so you may need a rental car for your transportation needs. That means additional costs.
Renting a multi-bedroomed house is also highly convenient as you will have many bathrooms at your disposal, probably a playing field for the kids, some have swimming pools and enough space for you to spread out to. Although you can get the same amenities in a hotel, they probably would come with additional costs.
3. Privacy
A family hotel could be marked as private but its privacy isn’t at all guaranteed. You will have to cope with other families intruding into your private functions and because the rooms are few and small, some of your family members intruding on the privacy of other members.
If you rent a home that is away from the crowded streets and beaches, you will be living just like you do back at home. No tourists will be invading your private space and neither will your kids restrict your couple activities.
4. Making new friends
Living in a hotel will mean many intrusions from other tourists, which can be irritating most of the time. But there is an upside to this: You are able to make many friends, some of whom are international. Such friends come in handy when you will be visiting their home countries as they can serve as your tour guides and, if necessary, they can allow you to crush on their couch. You may not have the chance to make such connections when living in an isolated vacation rental.
5. Home environment
A vacation rental is a home away from home; I mean literally. You have a garden, probably a lawn, a barn, and everything else that you can associate with your home. You will even have the chance to choose a home that has the wall décor of your choice. They also have wall arts and paintings that are beautiful, indulging your nostalgia. As for the hotels, your décor options are limited and because of the huge crowds, you may not feel the “homeliness” of your trip.
6. Interacting with the locals
In a vacation rental that is in the countryside, you will be spending your free time interacting with the locals, trying their cheap food, and playing their games. Get around the place, get an electric bike or a segway and see how the locals spent their usual day, in this way you will get to have a better and in depth experience. Who knows, you can even learn their dialect. Living in a hotel means interacting mostly with tourists and people who belong to your class or higher. You don’t get to interact with the low-class people who are always the majority in all countries of the world.