Accommodations

Aside from hotels and inns there are other options for travel to reduce costs. Airbnb is popular but there are many often cheaper and more reliable.

From the WanderingHartz channel they suggest FlatIO as a cheaper alternative to AirBnB.

From an article in The Telegraph:

Eight of the best alternatives to ‘unaffordable’ Airbnb
By Sophie Dickinson
The Telegraph  August 15, 2022

Our love affair with [Airbnb] may be waning but there are plenty of similar companies to choose from instead – here's our pick of the best.

Many Telegraph readers have shared how disappointing their recent experiences using Airbnb have been. The booking website was once heralded as the future of self-catering holidays, offering accommodation in the homes of real people. This model seemed to work for a few years, with the profit trajectory of the company certainly telling a confident tale of a revolutionised holiday market. In recent years, however, it has become apparent that many hosts have started to charge as much as their hotelier peers – if not more. Extortionate cleaning costs, left off the headline rates, have started to appear on the final bill. And seemingly innocuous parts of a trip, like check-out times, have become immovable, with no reliable customer service in sight. Our love affair with Airbnb may be waning, but there’s plenty of self-catering companies ready to pick up the slack. Below we profile eight alternatives, whether you’re looking for luxury, a last-minute getaway or a spot of glamping.

The best for luxury: Plum Guide

One of the worst parts of trawling through Airbnb is the sheer volume of options. Everything from architectural marvels to cramped back rooms are listed, and while that hidden gem might be out there, it’s going to take at least an evening of scrolling through to find it. Plum Guide removes the bloat: only three per cent of homes submitted are accepted by the site, meaning you’re only viewing the very best rentals in a location.

Even more reassuringly, the properties are vetted by a Plum Guide representative, so someone has actually slept under the duvet and eaten the breakfast. That informs the ‘home truths’ section of the listings, designed specifically for the details an over-enthusiastic homeowner won’t reveal, like low ceiling height or loud local wildlife. Perhaps most impressive is the site itself, as rather than internet-optimised, hyperbolic property names, the homes are given tongue-in-cheek monikers like Fringe Benefit (think lots of frilly lampshades) or the evocative, Lisbon-based Custard Tart. www.plumguide.com

The best for boutique rentals: Kip (UK only)

There’s an emphasis on the boutique here: think tiny cabins and precisely-built cottages, sleeping between two and six people [in the UK only]. Like Plum Guide, Kip only accepts a select handful of properties to list, saving time on trawling through hundreds of mediocre options. It is, however, a membership site, meaning users are required to pay [£19] a year... to use it. Helpfully, though, there aren’t ever booking fees or add-on costs, and there are often personal touches like a bottle of wine or slice of homemade cake awaiting guests. Without becoming a member, the search function still allows the curious punter a cursory browse through the properties and their respective price brackets. Anything more advanced – and, of course, the option to book – is only available with membership. www.kiphideaways.com

The best for glamping*: Canopy and Stars

Attempting a wild escape using Airbnb can be like lighting a barbecue in a storm: not very likely. Luckily, Canopy and Stars offers a little bit of luxury in the great outdoors. The properties are delightfully high quality, but the gimmick-free website itself is as worthy of a mention. With its extremely simple interface, even the most reluctant technophobe can find property descriptions, user reviews, images, prices – which are guaranteed to be the lowest – and available dates. Again, there’s a well of reassurance to be found in the fact that Canopy and Stars staff not only stay in every location but suss out the truly important details, like whether the local pub really is just a minute’s walk away. And unlike the all-encompassing, corporate attitude of Airbnb, Canopy and Stars operates as a charitable trust and is partly employee-owned. www.canopyandstars.co.uk

The best for choice: Vrbo

Tales of rogue owners and disappearing landlords have made some readers wary of trusting Airbnb, especially when travelling overseas. Vrbo, a fast-growing, near-identical rival, has the edge in this respect. If, heaven forbid, there’s no sign of the host on arrival, ‘re-booking specialists’ can immediately find an alternative option nearby. The risk of being thrown into some hastily divided property with multiple other families – as is sometimes the Airbnb way – is also minimised, as Vrbo only rents out full properties. There are also notably fewer of those pesky cleaning fees. www.vrbo.com

The best for longer stays: Sonder

Sonder’s stylish listings are grouped by the neighbourhood they are situated in, making them useful for living like a local (at least for the short term). For travellers who usually spend an extended stretch in an Airbnb, Sonder’s high-quality lets are the ideal pick, as there are discounts after seven, 14 and 30 nights. The fashionable start-up operates as a hotel-rental hybrid: some locations offer housekeeping options, others are simply an apartment with easy self check-in. www.sonder.com

The best for last-minute getaways: Snaptrip (UK only)

The spontaneity of a last-minute escape can be both a thrill and a hindrance [in the UK only]. The buzzily-named Snaptrip works as an aggregator, scraping private rental websites for eleventh hour availability. Helpfully, the ‘holiday inspiration’ tab filters those locations by type – dog-friendly spots, beach breaks and group accommodation included – allowing for customisation. The company claims its price guarantee has saved customers £5 million since its inception, which triumphs over the algorithmic pricing structure Airbnb tends to operate during peak season. www.snaptrip.com

The best for communities: Fairbnb

The name feels like a slight to its much bigger rival (and it seems surprising the billion-dollar business hasn’t become litigious). Regardless, this unassuming site – which is primarily operational in Italy, France, Portugal and Spain – gives half of its platform fee to a community project, although the guest pays the same amount. Presently, this means that while it doesn’t quite work as a total replacement for the larger listings sites, it is worth examining if your trip is likely to include a stay in a typical agriturismo or Tuscan villa or French gite (with the charitable benefit already factored into the price). booking.fairbnb.coop

Fairbnb countries

The best for personality: Homestay

The days of Airbnb as a conduit for slumming it in someone’s spare room are long gone. If you yearn for the simplicity of slotting into someone’s daily life, though, Homestay is the ideal place to search for your next trip away. It essentially operates as what Airbnb was intended to be: homeowners sharing their empty rooms with visitors to their cities. For those worried it might be too intimate an experience, hosts on the site share how hands-on they’re likely to be, so the trip can be tailored by sociability. One enthusiastic proprietor in Japan offers two home-cooked meals a day, language lessons and nail art. Others, however, just leave you to it. www.homestay.com

© Telegraph Media Group Limited 2022

* - Glamping is a British term meaning "a form of camping involving accommodation and facilities more luxurious than those associated with traditional camping." I assume a combination of "glamorous" and "camping"