We have a friend ask us why recently we’ve been staying in hotels and guesthouses as opposed to AirBnbs, so I thought we would address that in a blog post. Our first choice on this trip has been AirBnb, but unless it’s a big city in Asia, AirBnb doesn’t seem to be as popular which has lead us to booking more places on Booking.com.
Pros of AirBnb -
Payment. We prefer to have the money withdrawn immediately via credit card. It’s easier and more straight forward. Booking.com is all over the place. The majority of places we have stayed say that you pay upon check in. Most only accept cash—even when some say you can pay with credit card, their reader magically doesn’t work when you get there.
Internet. We have found that most AirBnbs have very reliable internet, because often times it’s someone’s home or they just have a dedicated internet connection to that specific apartment. Booking is primarily for hotels or hostels (they do have some apartments) and you are going to be sharing internet with loads of other people and usually one connection for a whole floor or building.
Feels like home. AirBnb is for apartments/homes, so naturally it is going to have more of a homey feeling. When you’re traveling for as long as we’ve been, it’s good to have places that feel like a real home with real home luxuries.
Pros of Booking.com -
Better search interface. You are able to really drill down on exactly what you want/need when using Booking. Price, location, stars, ratings, amenities, and the list goes on. AirBnb doesn’t allow you to filter based on ratings or number of reviews which I find to be important because I don’t like to stay in places that haven’t had any reviews.
Ability to cancel or amend. We had to change a reservation twice on Booking and cancel once and it was SUPER easy. It was just a click of a button and everything was done. When you are traveling for a long time and need flexibility or just have a bunch of dates in your head, things get confusing and you like to have some flexibility. AirBnb allows the host to choose their own cancellation policy and most are strict.
Ratings. I really enjoy how when you review on Booking there is an option for good stuff and stuff that was not great AND that can be viewed by prospective buyers. AirBnb is just one big paragraph so good and bad stuff is mashed together and you have to dig it out. If you want to just look at some of the negative stuff it’s super simple on Booking.
I pretty much addressed the cons for each site within the pros of the other so no need to list them. We’ve had super good luck on both sites to be honest, but there are some definite distinctions. Booking is going to be a viable option anywhere in the world as long as there are hotels, homestays, and B&Bs, but AirBnb will be hit or miss depending on the city and even sometimes the rules within that city.