The Great Accommodation Debate: Hotels vs. Homestays

To stay at a hotel or to homestay, this age-old question is something that travelers have been debating over for decades. Not to mention that each has a unique experience, serving a variety of appetites, budgets and styles of travel. There's no right answer, rather it's what each person wants to get out of their travels.

1. Advantages of Hotels

Hotels have always been the go-to for travelers, and with good reason. They offer a predictable experience. From the moment you step into a fancy lobby, professionalism takes over. It is nice to know what to expect: a reliably clean room, fresh linens that are changed daily, a gym or a pool or a 24-hour front desk. For the business travelers, or even the run-and-gun sightseers, nothing beats the convenience of a hotel. The inclusion of the concierge to make tour bookings and living in a secure building are worth more than you can put a number to. What's more, hotels are typically located in useful, central positions, providing easy access to other top sights. For others, a hotel is a respite of known comfort in an unknown place, a place where they can hole away at the end of a long day of sightseeing.

2. Disadvantages of Hotels

On the other hand, this wackiest-of-them-all-ness can also be a drawback. Hotels are often criticized by their foes as the impersonal and generic. A chain hotel in Paris can feel remarkably like a chain hotel in Tokyo, with scant “sense of place.” The experience can be a little sterile, separating the guest from the local culture instead of plunging them into it. It's transactional: the relationship is kind of sterile, the environment is comfortable but impersonal, and so on.

3. Advantages of Homestays

This is exactly where homestays, or vacation rentals come into the picture. Companies like Airbnb are disrupting the travel industry with a quest to enable access to a more localized, realer experience. When you stay in a homestay, you tend to live in a real neighborhood, not the sort of part of town that caters to tourists. Even doing something as simple as going shopping in the local market or grabbing a coffee in a bakery where locals would frequent all helps add a more real layer to the visit. The space is an added plus as well. Instead of a single room, travelers tend to get an entire apartment or house, including a living area and a usable kitchen. This is not only roomier, and cheaper for families or a group to. For me, cooking a meal could save money and bring memorable encounters of the local food culture.

And, not only that, the host is the heart of the homestay experience. A good host can make a trip, providing insight, recommendations and personal anecdotes that no guidebook can match. That human element makes you feel like a temporary local rather than a tourist.

4. Disadvantages of Homestays

But with such recognition, however, inevitably there are traces of doubt. This lack of standardization means there is the spectrum of everything from a delightfully quirky charming attic to a shabby, poorly-maintained flat. There's no 24-hour front desk to call when there's a problem with the WIFI, or a pipe leaks, at midnight. It is up to the guest to contact their host, and that can be difficult. Checking in can also be more complicated than grabbing a key at the front desk.

In the end, the debate between hotels and homestays isn't about which is better, but which is more suitable for you on this particular trip. If you're looking for convenient, reliable and broad spectrum service, then a hotel will probably best suit your needs. If, on the other hand, you're looking for an experience that's authentic, you value space and get the most out of something a bit more personally and culturally immersive, you're likely to benefit more from staying with a family.