Hotels only.
Zero desire to stay in anyone's home while on vacation - Ever.

For a family, it works for the wallet but not the mother.

I often travel alone and like the safety of a hotel, the knowledge that someone will be there if I have questions about the area, get locked out, etc.

I agree with many of the previous posters -- this is a personal preference thing.

It'll depend on the destination, but for longer (more than 3 nights?) stays I nearly always prefer airbnbs for my family. Eating out for every meal makes me feel ill, doing dishes (for, primarily, breakfast) is a super minor thing, and I just generally prefer to feel like I'm "in charge" of my space. I don't use housekeeping at hotels and I don't like the cramped feeling of us all sharing a room.

The location of the airbnb/condo is also something that can give them a leg up over hotels, IMO. Hotels are often in specific districts in a city, like around major attractions or downtown, but airbnbs can be found anywhere. And, some of the most amazing ones I've ever stayed at have been fantastic cabins well off the beaten path, which I wouldn't have been able to experience if I stuck to hotels.

I enjoy making myself a cup of coffee and sitting on my airbnb porch, gazing out over the water or at the mountains and listening to the birds, before the kids wake up. And, I enjoy tossing a frozen pizza in the oven while we make some popcorn to watch a movie. Just because I have to wash the cup later doesn't make it feel less like a vacation to me.

(We generally do laundry on longer trips just because I hate packing too many clothes and wasting all that valuable suitcase space on shirts, when I should be filling it up with fun things to bring home).

Anonymous wrote:Once you've been burned by a bad host, you will never go back to rentals.

I had a host mowing the lawn the day after everyone drove in from long distances. No notice. "That was the schedule". She berated us via email for not putting kitchen items in their assigned cabinets. This was after spending hours cleaning, and paying a huge cleaning fee.

Pass. I'll stay in a hotel or suite and not worry about nonsense. Thanks.

And the last hotel I stayed in had a family reunion on my flor so was woken up by people talking loudly at midnight and going from room to room.
Hotels are not all wonderful either. I hate sharing a hallway.

Once you've been burned by a bad host, you will never go back to rentals.

I had a host mowing the lawn the day after everyone drove in from long distances. No notice. "That was the schedule". She berated us via email for not putting kitchen items in their assigned cabinets. This was after spending hours cleaning, and paying a huge cleaning fee.

Pass. I'll stay in a hotel or suite and not worry about nonsense. Thanks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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!

Would rather cook every meal on vacation and do all the dishes every day by hand than go on a cruise. But hey to each their own.

+1

I think the only way I’d ever do a cruise is if a family member wheeled me onto a cruise ship….against my will.

My view: How can having a kitchen and a laundry room while on vacation be anything but a benefit?? No one is forcing you to use them. They give you OPTIONS, ones that you do not have with a hotel room.

The only thing hotels offer that AirBnbs do not is housekeeping (which some no longer offer daily). I will trade that for my own kitchen, laundry, and most importantly, SPACE, every time.

(I realize resort hotels offer resort-type amenities such as huge pools, but most of our vacations are city vacations.)

We don't care about gyms. That is something I do NOT want to do on vacation.

My family just returned from a 20-day trip to Europe. Stayed in AirBnbs almost the entire time. We had four times as much room as we would have had in hotels. We never once at lunch or dinner at them, never touched the stoves. Again, NO ONE IS FORCING YOU TO COOK. What we did do is take advantage of having large refrigerators to store wine, beer, cheese and chocolate. Being able to do our own laundry was a lifesaver. I simply do not see how having that OPTION can be viewed as anything but a benefit.

We prefer Airbnb/vrbo/condo to give everyone space. I seriously hate everyone sleeping in one big room. It’s a nightmare for kids and parents! When my kids are older, we may do two rooms. Some hotel suites can be okay but don’t have great separation so that parents can stay up when kids go to sleep.

We do not cook a lot, even if we have a kitchen. We eat out a lot or do pickup. My kids are young so I like the laundry option though will avoid if I can.

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.

My family thinks I’m OTT for bringing bleach wipes on vacation and cleaning all bathroom surfaces/ door handles, remote, light switches, bedside table, etc with wipes when we arrive. I have to remind them of the time we all had the stomach bug on vacation and how much vomit happened in that one hotel bathroom. Then I ask them if they think the overworked hotel maids cleaned thoroughly with bleach or not after we left or if they just did a few cursory wipes.

We like to have a hot breakfast, make a dinner with local fish sometimes, and have the chance to wash clothes so we dont need to pack as many outfits. Doing dishes isn't hard and we still eat out about half the time.

I dont go to any of the rentals that make you clean the place before you check out.

If traveling in driving distance, I also like to bring the dog (and choose a rental that allows that). Trips with the dog are the only time I vacuum a rental.

Anonymous wrote: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!

Would rather cook every meal on vacation and do all the dishes every day by hand than go on a cruise. But hey to each their own.

Because eating out three meals a day for a week literally makes me sick. Like my feet swell from all the salt.

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.

Can you elaborate on the nasty cleaning? What do you mean?

You nailed it OP. It's like being at home, but in another city in an unfamiliar house. Give me a hotel every time. No, we don't put 4 in a room and sit on our beds or the two supplied chairs, we get a suite.

Anonymous wrote: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!

I agree with the suggestion on cruising. It's usually cost effective, and it feels like a real vacation because everything is taken care of. I know DCUM likes to snub their nose at cruises and some day I too will prefer European vacations but cruises are super easy with kids and mine enjoy the kids club.