I’m a light sleeper. Years ago I visited my sister’s town (which is a vacation destination) with my family and the tiny room was about $300 / night, the air conditioner was right next to the bed, and I heard people coming and going all night. Since then I’ve rented a 3 bedroom condo about a mile outside of town and it’s quiet, the complex has a pool, and it’s about $330 / night. My husband typically doesn’t come for that trip. My kids are 8 and 12 and this will be my 3rd summer doing this alone. They can have their cousins for sleepovers and I can get good sleep. I don’t vacuum / sweep unless we spill. I don’t worry about making beds. Breakfast is typically go to a bakery, go to my sister’s for bagels, or do bagels in our condo. (Or cereal). Lunch we’re usually hiking or at the lake or at the pool - we can pack picnics before hand or run indoors for peanut butter and jelly and fruit. Eveyone rinses their dishes and puts them in the dishwasher. There’s a small washing machine and only so many clothes so if I choose to do laundry it’s easier to manage than at home, but I also pack enough to skip laundry. Basically, if you wouldn’t cook or do laundry in a hotel why do you need to do that in a condo? Last year I had a really early flight and my sister came over and helped me take the trash out and load up the luggage which I really appreciated, but it wasn’t hard.

We have a big family so need at least four rooms. Therefore airbnbs are attractive for more space. I hear you on the cooking though.
To minimize, I do:
1. grocery pick up orders when we arrive for the bulk of the stuff. I have had terrible experiences with ordering for delivery with instacart, and pick up has worked much better for me.
2. we usually do simple breakfasts and lunches.
3. take out or go out for dinner.
4. paper plates
5. chore list for family members - my 7 year old can be in charge of recycling, for example. My 11 year old can be the trash guy. my husband helps if I tell him clearly what to do. Older kids can do dishes. I am very clear that mom is on vacation too!

Everyone is different. We are a camping family and nothing feels better to us than sleeping in our own trailer with our own bedding and cooking what we like. We camp near whatever attraction we want to experience. We went to Acadia for practically nothing.
I went to an all-incusive for a girls trip and it felt weird to me to have absolutely nothing to do. It was almost unsettling. But the others were raving about how relaxing it was. We couldn't even leave the resort! Like a beautiful zoo.

Anonymous wrote:My kid has food issues, so there are really advantages for us to staying somewhere with a kitchen. When she gets stressed, she can get extremely picky and restrictive, so on vacation if she's jet lagged or overstimulated, it is really nice to be able to be able to keep familiar breakfast foods on hand and have the option of making her some Mac and cheese or a sandwich if she just cannot do another restaurant meal.

Having separate rooms to sleep in is also huge. I feel like it used to be easier to find hotel suites with actual separate sleeping areas. I always look but it's not always possible. We'll do a double room sometimes, but our ideal set up is two bedrooms or one bedroom and some outdoor space, so DD can go to bed earlier and get a solid night's sleep, and DH and I can stay up and chat or watch a movie or something. That separation is really helpful.

Wow I actually thought I wrote this for a second. Same all around, except I have two kids and they sleep much better in separate rooms. It’s not a vacation if even one person is exhausted and whining every day.

Anonymous wrote:This comes down to personal preference. Do what makes you happy when on vacation.

We do both hotels and air bnbs. Hotels tend to be for our shorter stays. We do prefer ones with free breakfasts. For longer stays, or larger group, we tend to go air BnB. We like the larger amount of space. Doing small load of laundry once a week, running dishwasher every (or every other) day and cooking isn’t a big deal for us. Sometimes having dinner in is much more enjoyable than dinner out.

Same here. We like more space, multiple bathrooms, that sort of thing. It works for us, but it’s fine if it doesn’t for you.

We tend to rent condos at the beach or mountains and prefer centrally located hotels when visiting cities and hotels/resorts when visiting islands (ideally smaller boutique resorts).

When staying at a condo at the beach, we hit the grocery store but we don’t overdo it. We keep some staples on hand, but we still get our coffee (and baked goods) from a cafe and typically eat dinner at restaurants or bring in food. So, I don’t really cook at the beach.

We usually do laundry at the condo to stay on top of towels. But laundry isn’t hard, and everyone knows how to do laundry (including my husband and kids).

Everyone pitches in to keep the condo clean throughout the week. There’s a cleaning service, so I don’t scrub anything. It’s NBD.

If you haven’t cruised yet, you should try it. No cooking or cleaning. No laundry. They clean your cabin twice a day and provide turn down service. Room service is included. It’s the most relaxing vacations for moms. There’s really nothing else like it. You can send your DH off with the kids while you lay in the sun with a drink in your hand. Bliss!

My kid has food issues, so there are really advantages for us to staying somewhere with a kitchen. When she gets stressed, she can get extremely picky and restrictive, so on vacation if she's jet lagged or overstimulated, it is really nice to be able to be able to keep familiar breakfast foods on hand and have the option of making her some Mac and cheese or a sandwich if she just cannot do another restaurant meal.

Having separate rooms to sleep in is also huge. I feel like it used to be easier to find hotel suites with actual separate sleeping areas. I always look but it's not always possible. We'll do a double room sometimes, but our ideal set up is two bedrooms or one bedroom and some outdoor space, so DD can go to bed earlier and get a solid night's sleep, and DH and I can stay up and chat or watch a movie or something. That separation is really helpful.

But you don't have to have every meal out and can put groceries in a refrigerator. It's my favorite way to travel, especially abroad. I can have my morning coffee and breakfast at my pace in the room instead of having to go to the lobby for it. That alone makes it worth it to me and spouse. Kids can have a real meal occasionally.

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why you can't act like you're in a hotel when you've rented a condo???

Don't want to cook or do dishes? Buy paper plates and eat at restaurants or whatever you would do if you were in a hotel.

Don't want to do laundry? Pack a ton of clothes the same way you would for a hotel.

The main difference I see is the housekeeping, but unless you totally trash the place, it's not hard to straighten up before you leave. We never do more than a quick pass because there are cleaners between rentals.

This!

I think it depend on where you are going and what you are doing. I hate all being crammed into a hotel room for a week. A few nights sure, but not a full week vacation especially on a ski or beach vacation where you have a lot of gear.

I also hate having to go our for or figure out meals like breakfast. We typically eat dinner out most nights but some night the kids are tired so I make something simple. I like being able to make something quick and don't see it as a huge chore and even if we get take-out I like having a table to sit at to eat.

I also don't see throwing in a few load of laundry as a chore as it means we have to pack less/not lug 10 bags through the airport.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We usually stay in hotels if it is less than 10 days.

More than 10 days, we absolutely stay at AirBnB, and we make breakfast at home and most other meals from outside. We also explore local farmers markets, get takeouts and I have zero problems making quick sides of veggies, soups, salads, rice etc to round off the meal.

My family has no issues with dishwashing, laundry, cleaning and making our own beds. It hardly takes 10-15 minutes. Even in a hotel, we are in the habit of straightening our beds and keeping the rooms clean.

BTW - I have worked for a big hotel company (rhymes with chariot) and I will alway, always, clean my hotel room surfaces, check beds for bedbugs and body fluids, and wash all the mugs, cups, spoon and glasses in a hotel room with dish soap that I carry. The way housekeeping cleans is NASTY.

AirBnBs have nasty cleaning practices too, or expect you to do it. I have put all that behind me after hearing too many horror stories. Many hotels have moved over to disposable cups and cutlery. I don't touch the other stuff. Or the coffee maker anywhere. anywhere.

Of course. Especially, if the owner is dialing in the cleaning remotely. We had a not great experience in Hawaii. Owner was sitting in NYC. The condo was lovely and the location was superb. But the cleaning crew was horrible. I had to actually clean everything once we were there so that I felt ok.

Does any place really clean any more? Maybe hospitals? I think either we used to have higher standards, or modern american equality means we can't tell people they are doing a bad/lazy cleaning job.

We always do hotels. Don't want to cook and clean on vacation. We have only one kid so space is less of an issue.

Dishes & Cooking: We don't cook a lot. We do breakfast in the rental but it's not stuff that requires tons of effort or dishes -- avocado toast, fried eggs, bagels. To me this is more relaxed than a hotel -- we can eat when we want in the morning, take our time with showers, if someone wants to sleep in a bit, they can. We usually eat lunch out. Dinner is also either out, or we get takeout or order pizza. If we do lunch or dinner in the rental, it's just assembly or heating something up, not real cooking.

Laundry: We pack so we don't have to do laundry, but then I usually do a couple loads just because it's nice not to have the dirty laundry building up or to take home suitcases full of dirty clothes. But I'm not washing sheets, I don't feel pressure to do laundry. To me having laundry on hand is a benefit, not a burden.

We do hotels when they have amenities that make it worth it. A really great breakfast, a gym, terrific pools, beach access. Otherwise I prefer the ease of a rental where we can spread out a bit more and we have more creature comforts like laundry and a kitchen.

For us, it’s laundry and extra bathrooms. Other than that, I completely agree with OP.

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why you can't act like you're in a hotel when you've rented a condo???

Don't want to cook or do dishes? Buy paper plates and eat at restaurants or whatever you would do if you were in a hotel.

Don't want to do laundry? Pack a ton of clothes the same way you would for a hotel.

The main difference I see is the housekeeping, but unless you totally trash the place, it's not hard to straighten up before you leave. We never do more than a quick pass because there are cleaners between rentals.

Same. Also it's not like all hotels service rooms daily anymore.

I like having the ability to do laundry when the trip is a week or longer because my kids are messy and I'd rather be nimble and wash clothes halfway through than lug around huge suitcases.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We usually stay in hotels if it is less than 10 days.

More than 10 days, we absolutely stay at AirBnB, and we make breakfast at home and most other meals from outside. We also explore local farmers markets, get takeouts and I have zero problems making quick sides of veggies, soups, salads, rice etc to round off the meal.

My family has no issues with dishwashing, laundry, cleaning and making our own beds. It hardly takes 10-15 minutes. Even in a hotel, we are in the habit of straightening our beds and keeping the rooms clean.

BTW - I have worked for a big hotel company (rhymes with chariot) and I will alway, always, clean my hotel room surfaces, check beds for bedbugs and body fluids, and wash all the mugs, cups, spoon and glasses in a hotel room with dish soap that I carry. The way housekeeping cleans is NASTY.

AirBnBs have nasty cleaning practices too, or expect you to do it. I have put all that behind me after hearing too many horror stories. Many hotels have moved over to disposable cups and cutlery. I don't touch the other stuff. Or the coffee maker anywhere. anywhere.

Of course. Especially, if the owner is dialing in the cleaning remotely. We had a not great experience in Hawaii. Owner was sitting in NYC. The condo was lovely and the location was superb. But the cleaning crew was horrible. I had to actually clean everything once we were there so that I felt ok.