You’ve set your dates, scoped out the sights, and scored a flight deal. But now comes one of the trickiest of travel calls: Do you go with an Airbnb or a hotel?
To ease your indecision, we compared global lodging prices and analyzed five other critical factors to consider before booking: perks, reliability, safety, experience, and ethics.
Here’s how each option stacks up — plus tips to help you get the most from whichever you choose.
Price — Winner: Airbnb
We compared prices for two-night, one-week, and one-month stays in accommodations with one, two, and three bedrooms across eight of the most popular global tourism destinations: Bangkok, Buenos Aires, London, Los Angeles, Marrakesh, New York City, and Sydney.
Airbnb was cheaper in 71% of matchups we tested.
Its pricing advantage was even more widespread for bookings with at least three bedrooms and stays of at least one month. In those cases, it was cheaper than hotels in 83% and 88% of matchups, respectively.
Aside from having lower average nightly rates, a good Airbnb can help you save money you’d otherwise spend staying in a hotel if it includes amenities like:
- A kitchen, allowing you to prepare your food rather than repeatedly dine out
- Washing machine and dryer, letting you skip laundromat fees
- Parking, which can cost at least $10 daily at budget hotels and over $100 daily at luxury hotels
That said, hotels may be comparably priced or cheaper than Airbnbs in certain scenarios.
- Short stays: Airbnb’s cleaning and admin fees can be disproportionately high for brief trips, often inflating their price above what you’d pay for a similar hotel stay. And an Airbnb’s amenities are less valuable if you don’t have time to use them repeatedly.
- Specific markets: Cities like Bangkok, Istanbul, and London have a high number of hotels per capita and legal restrictions limiting Airbnb’s growth, creating pricing parity between hotels and local Airbnbs.
Travel tip
Because prices vary so much, budget-conscious travelers should start their accommodation search with Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms, but also compare nearby hotel rates.
Loyalty Perks — Winner: Hotels
Major hotel companies give you loyalty points for staying at their properties and using their credit cards. Points can then be redeemed for free nights at hotels within the company’s network.
Frequent guests and savvy rewards strategists may also qualify for hotel elite status, which, depending on the hotel company and your status level, can include benefits like flexible check-in and checkout, room upgrades, or free breakfast.
Opportunities for earning rewards on Airbnb spending are comparatively limited, as Airbnb doesn’t issue its own rewards points, elite status, or credit card.
Airbnb has some airline partnerships, allowing you to earn air miles for your Airbnb bookings. But these miles are earned at relatively low rates.
Travel tip
Always sign up for a hotel’s loyalty program if you plan to stay at one of its properties. Signing up is free, and hotels’ generous rewards rates will probably help you earn enough points for a free night after only a few stays.
When your budget or travel plans require an Airbnb, book the property through one of Airbnb’s partner airlines, like Delta or British Airways. It’s an easy step that helps you earn miles for free flights faster.
Reliability — Winner: Hotels
Hotels aren’t immune to problems like broken amenities, overbooking, safety concerns, last-minute room cancellations, or excessive noise from neighbors.
But when a hotel experience goes south, you usually have immediate access to on-site staff. And if a problem with your room takes a while to fix, there’s a good chance you can be moved to another room in the same hotel.
Airbnb hosts, however, aren’t required to stay close to their properties or respond promptly to guests’ messages outside daytime hours.
And while Airbnb will attempt to rebook you at an alternate property if your host cancels before check-in or there’s an unresolvable issue with your stay, there’s no guarantee the alternate accommodation will be conveniently located or offer amenities you expected from your original booking.
Travel tip
When booking an Airbnb, try to stick with properties run by “Superhosts.” They maintain an average guest rating of at least 4.8, cancel fewer than 1% of reservations, and respond to 90% of messages within 24 hours.
In a disappointing move, Airbnb scrapped its Superhost search filter, complicating the search for standout hosts. But you can identify them by their badge near the top of a listing’s main booking page.
Safety — Winner: Hotels
Hotels are more likely than Airbnbs to have features like 24/7 front desk staff, security personnel, clearly identified emergency exits, secondary locking mechanisms on guest room doors, and surveillance cameras in common areas and at building entrances.
Large hotel companies are also more likely to perform employee background checks, whereas most Airbnb hosts aren’t vetted for criminal history.
Furthermore, Airbnb makes it hard for travelers to find listings in its database that are comprehensively safe. Although hosts can list a variety of security features in their property profiles, only two — smoke and carbon monoxide alarms — can be used to filter search results.
And there’s no dedicated badge for properties that meet elevated safety standards.
These limitations are worrisome for listings with heightened safety concerns, like shared accommodations or properties in cities with high crime rates.
Travel tip
Solo female travelers, senior citizens, LGBTQ+ folks, and those traveling in high-crime areas may feel safer in hotels. If you’re concerned about safety but your budget limits you to Airbnbs, try to:
- Stick with female Superhosts who use inclusive language or symbols in their profiles.
- Prioritize listings with added safety features, like exterior security cameras and lit guest entrance paths.
- Bring a portable door lock.
Special Experiences — Winner: Airbnb
For travelers seeking something out of the ordinary, Airbnb has many unconventional properties in locales where hoteliers daren’t venture.
For example, the hotels in Puerto Maldonado, Peru, offer an urban base for jungle day trips, but serious thrillseekers can go a step further by staying in a deep-rainforest Airbnb treehouse, where you can swim in an Amazon River tributary, harvest Brazil nuts with indigenous Machiguenga neighbors, and marvel at howler monkeys and macaws.
If the jungle isn’t your jam, Airbnb also offers Cappadocian cave houses, Saharan tents, and myriad other gems that make hotels, no matter how luxurious, seem pedestrian.
Travel tip
If you’re seeking a middle ground between ho-hum hotel chains and a hammock in the woods, use alternative booking platforms to find properties with hotel-style amenities and a strong sense of place.
For example, Expedia has diverse search filters, like “riad” (Moroccan guesthouses with elegant courtyards and rooftop terraces) and “ryokan” (Japanese inns with straw mat flooring and traditional robes for guests).
Ethical Tourism — Winner: Hotels
Airbnb’s low prices make travel accessible to folks of all financial backgrounds, increasing tourism and providing homeowners with extra income.
But it isn’t a win for everyone.
Research indicates that Airbnb can reduce a neighborhood’s long-term housing supply and increase rent prices, displacing low-income families.
Fast guest turnover via short-term rentals also strains environmental resources. And as multigenerational residents are replaced by higher-income newcomers and tourists, local food, language, and customs adapt to foreigners, eroding a destination’s formerly distinct character.
Hotels aren’t entirely benign, either. But they’re less disruptive to housing than Airbnb, and they’re trending away from overconsumption.
Hilton, Marriott, and Choice Hotels have pledged to reduce their reliance on single-use plastic, and water use is dipping year over year across the hotel industry.
And because they’re intentionally built for short-term accommodation and often barred from development in residential zones, hotels are less disruptive to housing stock and community cohesion than Airbnb.
Travel tip
Narrow your hotel search results to properties that align with your values by using sustainability filters on sites like Booking.com.
For example, this Italian hotel’s certification is recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, indicating it implements sustainability planning, maximizes social and economic community benefits, and minimizes negative impacts to cultural heritage and the environment.
If hotels are beyond your budget, keep your tourism impact net positive by renting a shared Airbnb with on-site hosts and environmentally friendly amenities.
Renting a room in a host’s primary residence is less likely to displace long-term tenants than renting an entire property.
And features like solar panels, energy-efficient appliances, and water-saving devices minimize consumption and waste.
Limiting your Airbnb search results to shared accommodations is easy:
But Airbnb doesn’t provide filters for on-site hosts or sustainability features, so you’ll need to review each listing’s profile page to find properties meeting those criteria.
Yes, these extra steps are time-consuming. But the more effort you put into your accommodation search, the more your travel benefits, rather than burdens, local communities and the planet.
FAQs
What’s the difference between Airbnb and hotels?
Airbnb is usually cheaper and offers a wider variety of properties than hotels. But unlike major hotel companies, Airbnb doesn’t have its own in-house rewards program.
Hotels are also generally safer, more reliable, and better for locals than Airbnb.
Why are hotels so expensive?
Hotels are expensive because they have high operating costs, including:
- Cleaning: Guests typically stay for two nights or less, so hotels constantly reclean rooms.
- Taxes: Commercial property taxes are often more than double residential property taxes in cities like Boston and Washington, D.C.
- Franchise fees: Most hotels affiliated with companies like Hilton or Marriott are franchised. They may divert over 10% of revenue for the right to use their franchisors’ trademarks and technology.
Those high operating costs are then passed on to customers in the form of higher room rates or hidden fees, like resort fees.
What’s the best credit card for Airbnb?
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the best credit card for Airbnb and one of the best travel credit cards overall.
It earns two flexible Chase Ultimate Rewards® points per $1 spent on Airbnb and other eligible travel purchases.
Those points can then be redeemed for one cent each against your card statement or converted into loyalty points used by 14 travel rewards programs, including three major hotel programs — Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One Rewards Club, and World of Hyatt.
TL;DR: Is It Better to Stay in a Hotel or Airbnb?
Airbnb’s pricing, homey amenities, and diverse properties make it a good choice for budget travelers, families, digital nomads, and adventurers.
Hotels’ lighter tourism footprint, reliability, and security measures are better for socially conscious folks, businesspeople, and travelers facing higher safety risks.
Whether you ultimately choose a hotel or an Airbnb, you can always find ways to save money, earn rewards, enhance your stay, and contribute positively to your host community.
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Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
