Wednesday 21 February 2018

What are your considerations when it comes to choosing accommodations for your travels?


When travelling, accommodation is one of the main make-or-break deals for me and my husband - a good accommodation will enhance the whole trip experience and a bad one will just well, make the whole trip feel bad! There are so many accommodation options to choose from nowadays - from the more popular ones like hotels, hostels, motels, service apartments, Airbnb, bed and breakfast, couch-surfing or camps to the less conventional ones like castles, igloo, ice hotels, yacht, farmhouses or even capsule hotels etc. Even with so many accommodation options available, many other different selections of accommodation styles are still being established with each passing minute worldwide.

Personally, we have tried many different types of accommodations during our travels but the two main ones that we always go back to are hotels and Airbnb - and this post will be focused on these two types of accommodation. However, we would like it to be known that we are in no way affiliated with Airbnb or any hotels and neither are we sponsored by them in any way. This post is written entirely based on our experience and viewpoint as a customer.

There has been many articles on the impact on the hotel industry since Airbnb’s introduction in 2008. Now, a decade later, Airbnb is still one of the more popular accommodation option alongside hotels! So, what are our reasons for choosing hotels over Airbnb accommodations and vice verse? The three Cs (cost, convenience and comfort) are the main drivers for the final decision on our accommodation choice.

Cost
As travelling is not cheap, my husband and I tend to be more prudent when it comes to accommodation budget and we would usually think through carefully about a budget that we are comfortable to work with.

Some questions that we usually ask ourselves when deciding on the accommodation budget would include:
-How much can we afford to spend on this trip?
-How much of our travelling budget can we allocate for accomodation? (After taking into considerations the budget for food, transportation and visits to the touristic sites)
-Will we spend a lot of time in the accommodation or will we be out for most of the time?
-What are some of the hidden cost of the accommodation that has to be factored in (e.g. cleaning charges, internet charges, city taxes etc)?

These questions help us to make better decision by allowing us to sieve out hotel or Airbnb options with rates that are closer to our projected budget. Furthermore, it would serve as a good reminder for us to not just look at the advertised price because sometimes when the hidden charges are added in, it might not be as value-for-money as we had initially thought so. Also, personally, if we were to be out for most of the time, it would not make sense to us to spend a huge portion of our travelling budget on a place which we will only occupy to rest for the night.

Based on our travelling experience, we also realized that for places with a higher standard of living, usually the cost of staying in a hotel is much higher than what it would cost to stay in an Airbnb accommodation. Hence, in such situations, our preference for the Airbnb option would be stronger. However, for places where the cost of staying in either types of accommodation is similar, the following two Cs would have a stronger influence on our final accommodation choice.

Convenience
When it comes to convenience, we would usually rank the selected accommodation options according to their ease of convenience of getting to the main touristic sites (usually it would be the city center). The main reasons for doing so is that if the accommodation is nearer to the places that we want to explore, we can most probably save on transportation cost and we could also stay out till slightly later without worrying about the last bus/train back to our accommodation. In this way, we would be maximizing our budget and time to explore this foreign wonderland!

In cases of longer trips, other than transportation convenience, we would also ask ourselves a few more questions:
-Does the accommodation provide the facilities for us to store our groceries or to cook our own meals?
-Does the accommodation have a washing machine for us to do our own laundry?
-Would there be any need for immediate assistance from the accommodation provider (such as house-keeping, recommendations on where to go or where to eat, making a dinner reservation or calling for a cab)?

Again, these questions would help us to determine if certain facilities are really required. For example, in a country where there are many economical eating-out options, an accommodation with a kitchen will not appear more appealing than one that does not have. Similarly, in a country where there is an abundance of affordable laundromats, having a washing machine in the accommodation will no longer be an enticement. On the other hand, if we are in a country where language barrier is of a great concern to us, we would usually opt to stay in a hotel whereby we can easily get assistance from the conceirge when the needs arises. Hence, the convenience in this aspect is usually destination-specific and would constitute different considerations in different destinations.

Comfort
An accommodation has to be comfortable to stay in for it to enhance a trip further. My definition of a comfortable stay is not some extravagant or luxurious stay but one that allows the travelers to rest their tired feet, to have a good sleep and a good shower. Hence, any selected accommodation options that provides more than these basic comforts will be without a doubt ranked higher up in preference.

Some questions pertaining to comfort that we will usually ask ourselves include:
-Are there air-conditioners (during summer) / heater (during winter) provided?
-Can we sleep in or do we have to vacate the room for house-keeping?
-Would we want a restaurant located in the same building?
-Will we need to sacrifice some of our privacy (for accommodations with hosts staying in the same apartment/building or when the communal areas are shared between guests)?

There were times when we took it for granted that the accommodation would provide the comfort that we very much needed for our travels and needless to say, we did not have a very pleasant trip. The most unforgettable experience was this particular trip to Malta in summer, where we did not give it much thought on whether there were air-conditioners available in the accommodation. We ended up not getting much sleep for the whole week that we were there as the whole apartment felt like an oven in those warm summer nights. Naturally, we did not enjoy that trip as we were too sleep deprived to enjoy the beautiful sights of Malta. Also, we feel that having the privacy in our own space is essential for a comfortable stay. We can truly make ourselves comfortable only when we are certain that we would not have to be subjected to fears of housekeeping staff barging into our room or be under the constant watchful survillence of the accommodation hosts. To us, the accommodation is usually a place where we would find rest after a whole day out, thus, a comfortable bed, a nice showering facility or even a restaurant in the near vicinity would be more crucial to us than the selection of television channels or the availability of other entertainment or even gym facilities in the accommodation.

Of course, comfort has different meanings to different individual and as long as you think through what really matters to you to ensure a comfortable stay in the accommodation, the accommodation that can meet your comfort needs will certainly enhance your trip experience.

These three Cs considerations serve as a good starting point to determine the ideal travel accommodation option and if all else fails, there are still many options to choose from. What is important is that we do not hastily make a decision on our travelling accommodation but rather to choose one that best suits our needs for that particular trip!

An accommodation with a view like this would be good!
How about you? What are your considerations when it comes to choosing accommodations for your travels?

27 comments:

  1. A really interesting post! I'd definitely think about cost first when travelling, we haven't travelled abroad in over a year now!

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    1. Hi Lourie, thanks for reading! Cheers to future travel opportunities :)

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  2. Thanks for the information.
    It's going to be very he soon!

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    1. Hi Joy, thanks for reading and glad that this post is helpful to you. Happy travelling! :)
      Cheers!

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  3. Thanks for this important and valuable information! These are things that are of more concern to us when we are planning trips.

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  4. This is such a great post! It was so valuable for me as I am planning traveling soon. Thank you 😊

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    1. Hi! Thanks for reading and I am glad that this post is of some use to you :) Happy travelling!
      Cheers!

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  5. With 2 kids, cost is a major factor for us. Great info and I cannot wait to plan our next vacation!

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    1. Hi Raina, thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughts on this topic :)
      Yep, I guess there is a lot more to consider when traveling with kids. Nonetheless, hope that you and your family will have a wonderful time in your next vacation trip :D
      Cheers!

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  6. I love these tips! They're pretty much the same thoughts that go through my head when I'm planning a trip!

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    1. Hi Janet, thanks for reading and I am glad that there are others (like you :) ) who share the same thoughts as I do when planning for a trip! Will try to write more of such posts in the future to share with everyone...stay tune :)
      Cheers!

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  7. Frankly speaking, I am more of a comfort guy than cost conscious. I have tried staying in budget accommodation, but would prefer comfort above that by spending a few extra bucks. However, at times, I have discovered an accommodation which are both, budget friendly and comfortable, which is perfect!

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    1. Hi Umang, thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughts on this topic! Of course, everyone has different preferences when it comes to accommodations and what matters is to be able to find one that suits your needs! :)
      Cheers!

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  8. I'm quite cost conscious when it comes to travel as well. I usually prefer homestays for the immersive cultural experience they offer. Hostels, as long as they offer private rooms is the second preference we go for if we can't find economical homestays. But everybody has their own preferences and priorities.

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    1. Hi Denny, thanks for sharing your thoughts on this subject! I totally agree with you in that everyone have their own unique preferences and priorities! Having said that, homestay sounds like an awesome idea! Maybe I will try it out soon! ;)
      Cheers!

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  9. My sentiments exactly! Being a very adventurous person who will spend almost the entire time exploring the area and visiting attractions, I normally choose more inexpensive accommodation options since I'm going to be out most of the time anyway and need not have fancy pansy amenities. Just need a comfortable bed to rest for the next day of adventure! :)

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    1. Hi Nathan, thanks for reading as well as for sharing your thoughts on this topic! Yup, I certainly agree with you that there is no need for a super luxurious accommodation if we do not even have time to enjoy the amenities! :)

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  10. I look for good views from the balcony, a clean bathroom and little off the town location when narrowing down on a hotel. This post however provides some great information and tips. Will help me a lot planning my upcoming trips. Thanks for sharing

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    1. Hi! Thanks for reading and am glad that my post has been helpful to your trip planning :) A clean bathroom or for that matter, a clean room is a definite must for me as well! :)

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  11. Indeed the quality of accommodation does make or mar a trip. We too are pretty finicky when it comes to choosing our accommodation and spend a lot of time deciding on the where we are going to stay. We too stick to hotels and a couple of times have gone for independent villas through AirBnB.

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    1. Hi Voyager Diaries, thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughts on this topic. We certainly cannot make hasty decisions on things that are crucial to a good trip! Having said that, I have yet to try out the villas through AirBnB...hope to be able to do that some day :)
      Cheers!

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  12. A very thoughtfully written post this is Claire. Your 3C formula would pretty much help in choosing the best accommodation in terms of both budget and easy of access. I shall definitely keep in mind the questions you listed here when I plan my next trip.

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    1. Hi Sindhu, thanks for reading and I am glad that you found the questions useful :) Will try to post more of such posts in future...stay tune :)
      Cheers!

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  13. I look first at location of the accommodation. As I have some arthritis I want a hotel that is best located to be great for sightseeing, local public transport and great eating options for the evening close by to the hotel. Then I look at room amenities (I want a large king bed not a regular double, for example, and a good ensuite bathroom), hotel facilities (like pool if we'll have time to make use of one) and the overall style and design of the place. Of course cost plays a part.

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    1. Hi Kavey, thanks for reading and for sharing your considerations when choosing your accommodation for your travels :) A large and comfortable bed is a huge draw for me too.. ;P

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  14. I did a lot of hostels when I was in college. But now that I can afford a little more privacy I find that I usually end up with AirBnB's. Though you make a great point to make sure it has important basic ammenties like AC!

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    1. Hi Hayley, thanks for reading :) Yep, I have come to realize the importance of AC, especially after traveling in Europe during the hot summer season ;P

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