Airbnb for the holidays

by Sarah

I’m not sure whether I told you about our ‘recent’ (I think it was October) trip down to London… So I thought as I have been immersed in some more Airbnb* searching that I would share it with you now.

So yeah, Jit goes down to London pretty regularly for day visits, conferences and speaking engagements and I try to tag along as many times as I can – you can’t know getting a free stay in a hotel! (well, we do pay for my breakfast) and we decided on our last trip that we would turn it into more of a holiday as it had been sometime since our last camping trip.

Honestly I don’t know how we used to go so long without a holiday or even some time off – well, I do actually, we were constantly ill and stressed, but that is a while other story!

We have a couple of friends who have traveled and stayed in Airbnb properties so we thought we would give it a go.  We have previously done many Holiday Lettings so assumed that they would be pretty similar.

After a tiny search, we found a place that was a great price, in a great location AND had cats (we later found out was one and an amazing one she was too!) – what more could a crazy cat lady want?

We contacted the owners and they got back straight away, explaining that they would  be away when we were going to be visiting.  I then (as you would expect!) jumped at the chance of looking after Emily the cat while they were away – chuffed to bits doesn’t even match how I was feeling.

Everything was absolutely perfect from the location, to the breakfast to the bed, we had an amazing time and Emily kept me busy while I was missing my kitty crew who ere all holidaying with my parents.  Our first experience of Airbnb was FANTASTIC and spurred us on to do more.

So while we have been planning a post Christmas getaway to Scotland, I thought it would be great to try again. Only this time, it has been a bit of a disappointment as one host never responded and another was unavailable even though the calendar hadn’t been updated.  This, unfortunately delayed our booking and the train prices have risen during that time, but not to worry.

On a last ditch attempt, as we watched the Airbnb properties deplete for the time we wanted to visit, I checked out Trivago to see what we might be able to get by means of cheapy B&B or something similar.

To my utter surprise, we found that we could get a waterfront view room in the Hilton for less than an Airbnb flat which is far out of town…who would have thought?!

So once again, our plans have altered and we are now going to stay in a hotel! (woo, look at us!) Although I think it will be fun, I am sure that we will go back to Airbnb/Holiday Lettings for our larger holidays and stick with our camping for the most part as I love to cook and having access to a kitchen or cooking facilities drastically reduces the cost of holidays – meaning we can of course go on many more!

So where am I going with this?  I seem to have lost track!

Oh yeah, when you are looking for holidays, make sure that you do check out Airbnb, but don’t discount a hotel if you are struggling to find somewhere you like for a budget that is suitable.  We could have missed out on a trip to Glasgow has we have stuck with Airbnb, so exploring other options (and compromising a bit) means that we till our holiday AND save a bit of cash for the meals too.

I will be sure to let you know where we find to eat and any hotel-esque dining ideas that I come up with during our trip.

Have you tried Airbnb or Holiday Lettings or similar?  I’d love to hear your recommendations as there can never be too many options for a reduced price holiday in my opinion!

Sarah sig

 

*Just so that I am being open and honest with you, the Airbnb links are an affiliate link which enables me to gain £13 credit towards using Airbnb in the future should you book to stay somewhere.  I thank you in advance for using my link and letting me get a teeny tiny bit of credit for working on my blog 🙂 xXx

You may also like

Leave a Comment