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Comment by threemux | Hacker News Reader

This is only true if you're traveling solo or with one other person to city centers. Airbnb is far superior for:

* Traveling with young children * Traveling to visit family in rural areas * Traveling for pleasure in rural areas

For example, I can get a house on Airbnb near my extended family in a rural area that has 2-3 bedrooms for a similar price as the 2 rooms that would be required when traveling with my immediate family.

Cross-shopping hotels is useful in some situations, but don't pretend Airbnb has no advantages.

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My experience travelling with kids heavily favours hotels, TBH. Especially brands hotels. They're generally:

  - secure,
  - clean,
  - *fire-safe*,
  - always have my rooms ready,
  - have working WiFi,
  - don't have things like unsecured bottles of bleach in bathrooms,
  - don't have stray dogs hanging around,
  - don't have inappropriate art, books, TV-stations, etc.

Admittedly I'm less price-sensitive than some, but I also don't find hotels massively more expensive.

I mean, even if cheaper you will always be giving away certain securities and perks that you have in a hotel.

Not even considering the amount of horror stories I usually hear about related to Airbnbs.

> * Traveling with young children

You have never gotten screwed by a host.

If you are, going with young kids sucks beyond imagination.

Hotels are a lot more reliable in my experience. Or, in Europe at least, Booking.com.

Don't use booking.com they use the same predatory tactics and fuck over both guests and hotels wherever they get a foothold.

I know, but I've compared them with Airbnb and in my experience (tens of stays across the world), Booking.com is better.

As long as you're careful about the reviews and double check all charges to not get overcharged, they're actually good at protecting you as a guest against the property afterwards.

Yes, in an ideal world you'd get accommodation directly from the provider but that is a TON of work and it adds extra risks.

> As long as you're careful about the reviews and double check all charges to not get overcharged, they're actually good at protecting you as a guest against the property afterwards.

This is how it always starts.

Booking.com was founded in 1996.

How can you compare two things when one of them is not available?

It's implied that both Airbnb and hotel must be available to make a comparison. When that's the case most of the time hotels are better.

That being said, if there are no hotels available of course any other alternative would be better.

If you've a large family with multiple children yes, Airbnb may be better

> How can you compare two things when one of them is not available?

The example I gave is explicitly where they are both available. A hotel near my extended family, or a detached house from Airbnb that has bedrooms for my kids and a full kitchen for a similar price as two rooms in that hotel.

> most of the time hotels are better

That which can be claimed without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

> a large family with multiple children

I'd posit it's better with any amount of children, especially if they're under, say, 5 years old.

Don't forget about long term stays

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