Hey there, fellow travelers! Today, we’re answering some reader questions about our travels. While there are pros and cons of Airbnb, we prefer apartment rentals, as they allow us more flexibility when traveling with the kids. A lot of our readers ask us how we choose our Airbnb apartments, so today we’re sharing some tips for choosing a good vacation rental.
#1: Set a Budget
The first thing you have to do when looking at vacation rentals is to determine your budget. It’s really important to be realistic about prices in each city you are visiting. For example, on a recent trip, we stayed in Wales for a bit before moving on to London. We got a two-bedroom house in Wales for less than a one-bedroom apartment in London.
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#2 Location
Your location preferences will vary for each trip. Your budget will also impact your choices of location. The nearer you want to be to the city center, the more you will need to spend. However, if you’re in a city with good public transportation, carefully choosing your location may mean you don’t need to spend money on a rental car. In Paris, we have a great apartment that we rent. It’s not in a popular tourist area, so we get a great price for a two-bedroom apartment. For the same price close to the center, we’d only get an efficiency apartment. Because the Metro in Paris is so easy to use, it’s not an inconvenience to stay a bit farther out.
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If you’re not visiting a city, but doing a road-trip vacation instead, then location is less important as you’ll already have a car. Wales, Ireland, and Scotland are all great destinations for a family road trip, and it’s easy to find cozy cottages scattered around the countryside. If you are near a larger city, you may need to ensure you have a parking space available for your rental car. If you have to pay for parking, make sure you take this into account when comparing vacation rentals.
#3 Amenities
After setting a budget and choosing a location, your next priority should be the amenities that come with the rental. Make sure you read the fine print; if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is. Some sites like Airbnb let you rent a single room in a home with others. That may or may not work for you. As a traveling family of four, we prefer to have our own space. We prefer a rental with a kitchen so we can prepare meals at home rather than eating out three meals per day. We typically have breakfast at home, eat lunch on the go, and then make a nice dinner at home to end our day. We like to find rentals that include a washer and dryer so we can do laundry. This means we can pack lighter and recycle our clothes throughout a trip.
#4 Airbnb Rating & Guest Reviews
Of course, you want to read the Airbnb host reviews, but you also have to read between the lines a bit. Good Airbnb reviews don’t always translate to a good fit for us. We’ve had some interesting experiences with Airbnb apartment. One place had several reviews mentioning “attentive hosts” but we found that meant they liked to peer through the windows at us. I look for specific keywords, like “clean, good communication, good for families or children.” I also may give more weight to reviews from families who stayed on the property with children. I look for reviews mentioning noise levels. If accessibility is important to you, then you may even want to reach out to the host ahead of time to make sure the rental is right for you.
Along with the Airbnb guest reviews, make sure you look through the photos. Don’t just look at the photos posted by the host, but check out the photos posted by other guests. If there are any issues with cleanliness or broken items, you’ll find them in the pictures.
#5 Go With Your Gut
Sometimes, you just have to go with your gut. After traveling for a long time with our kids, I usually have a pretty good gut feeling about choosing our Airbnb rentals. The more you do it, the more you learn, and the better you get. We’ve certainly had some challenges, but the rewards outweigh the risks for us as we’re much more comfortable in a home or a flat than we are in a hotel room.
Airbnb apartments are a great way to save money when traveling, but it also gives you a more “local” experience. These tips apply to Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway, Couchsurfing, or any home-sharing website. Communication is key! For more tips on family travel, check out some of our other blog posts: