Vacation Rentals or Hotels: Which Option is Right for You?

By Jasmin DiazApril 29th, 2024

So you’re taking that long-awaited vacation. Perhaps you’re finally skiing in Aspen, hitting up the Smoky Mountains during Christmastime, or even jetting off to see Hobbiton in New Zealand. You’re jazzed, and you want the trip to be perfect. However, there’s always that looming uncertainty. Are vacation rentals or hotels right for you? In today’s post, we’ll tackle that question by taking a look at the main differences between the two, the costs associated with each, and the best time to go for one or the other.

Vacation Rentals vs. Hotels: What’s the Difference?

A vacation rental is a room, apartment, or home that you rent from a private owner. These are available across the world, most commonly through large platforms such as VRBO and Airbnb. Vacation rentals often come with full kitchens, multiple bathrooms, bedrooms, extra sleeping areas, and yards.

Hotels are single rooms or suites in large buildings. When spread out around a parking lot and one or two stories high, they are usually called motels (“motor hotels”), but the model is the same. Hotel rooms sometimes have doors between them on the inside, making it easier for families or groups to travel together with conveniences.

Price Differences

There are so many factors that go into the price of a rental or hotel room that it’s nearly impossible to compare the two. Renting a small studio in the Bulgarian backwater, for instance, is going to be much cheaper than a hotel room at Disneyland.

There are big differences right in the same area, too. For instance, renting a little cottage through VRBO out in the Smoky Mountains countryside during the spring rainy season is bound to be pretty affordable, whereas staying in a popular hotel in Pigeon Forge over Christmas is likely to represent a significant trip expense.

In general, here are the main differences:

Vacation Rentals

The price of a vacation rental goes down per person the more people you add to your group. For instance, you can rent a home for 10 people for about $600-$800 a night, including cleaning fees. You can also spend much more, though you’re unlikely to find many reputable nice places for less.

Note that when you’re searching for places on rental websites, the cost of one night’s stay is usually listed before other fees, including those for pets, taxes, and cleaning.

Hotels

Hotel rooms are often easier to search and their costs are more straightforward. However, the price of a hotel room can fluctuate pretty hugely depending on the time of year, and they too may have some hidden fees. Hotels also don’t give discounts, typically; the more people in your group, the more rooms you need, with no price break.

The best way to know how much you need to budget for a hotel is to check consistently over a several-week period. Not only will this give you an average price breakdown for the time of year you want to travel, but it will allow you to snag any deals that pop up.

The Best Time for a Rental Vs. a Room

So when should you go for each? Let’s take a look:

Vacation Rentals

Choose a vacation rental when you:

Want a spacious experience with home-like amenities, such as a kitchen and full fridge
Need lots of room for kids to run around
Are traveling with pets
Want to sleep in without bustling hotel noises

Hotels

Hotels are great for when you:

Are only staying somewhere one night
Have to be up early
Need everything to go “just right,” without unplanned events like downed WiFi or hard-to-reach owners
Want to be within easy reach of popular attractions

Pro Tips for Booking Rentals

When booking rentals, here are a few ground rules that will help you choose lodging correctly. Specifically, you should:

Double-check that there are enough beds. While many rentals on Airbnb advertise that the home or apartment “sleeps X number of people,” this can mean couches, cots, floor cushions, or any number of other substitutes. While these types of arrangements are just fine for 10-year-old Muhammed, they’re definitely not going to work for Grandma Jasmyn. Do your research.
Look at the map carefully. Some rentals advertise that they are “conveniently located” vis-à-vis the main attractions in the area, and then you discover that this involves a few taxis, a brief train ride, and maybe a rickshaw or two. Always map out your daily treks before you book.
Ask about the kitchen. One of the main reasons folks prefer vacation rentals is the cost-saving potential of cooking your own meals. Sadly, some rentals majorly oversell their culinary potential. Never be afraid to send a message beforehand asking about certain amenities.
Scope the bathroom situation. No matter how close your family is, one bathroom for eight people is a recipe for disaster. Don’t be blinded by the number of bedrooms and forget to check lavatories!

If you do this, you should be fine with most vacation rentals. Now, onto hotels!

Pro Tips for Booking Hotels

The one thing you can say for all hotels is, they were made for travelers. If you know a hotel is right for you and your crowd, then all you have to do is:

Make sure it’s family-friendly. If you have kids, then you should book a hotel that has a few amusements on site. Pools, grounds, or kid-friendly restaurants are key, especially since you never know when a plan will get canceled or weather will pin you in place.
Search in incognito mode. The internet tracks your movements and will note when you’re interested in traveling to a particular area. If you search incognito, you can prevent your browser from saving cookies which may raise the prices of your search results.
Check the cancellation policy. Hotels often have stricter cancellation policies than rentals, so do your due diligence before completing the transaction.