Why We’re Still Using Airbnb

Despite the recent (warranted) backlash against hosts, we still have opted to stay in Airbnbs for our upcoming visit to Mexcio.

At first, I wanted to book our first stay and just go with the flow, moving around when we were done with a location and book our next accommodation as we went. However, with all of the uncertainty around travel still present, we didn’t want to jeopardize the fluctuations of cost going too high by waiting.

What about hostels?

Booking a bunk in a hostel is usually someone’s first instinct to save money on accommodation, but we ran into a few snags. The first was that we wanted a private room which ended up being just shy of the price we found with Airbnbs. There was plenty to justify the extra couple dollars after that – better beds, more space, more access to reviews, and a kitchen with a fridge. The latter reason was huge as it would offer us a place to cook more (which saves money on food) and a place to store my insulin (two months means I’ll have to bring a few backup pens that I’ll switch to about halfway through. Insulin has to stay at fridge temperature until you use it or it will start decaying.)

We found plenty of options that were affordable and had stellar reviews about the home itself and its surrounding neighborhood.

Here’s some of our filters we used when looking for places:

We’re very aware of Airbnbs tendency to push locals out of their homes due to the rising prices from investors purchasing up short-term rental units so we wanted to use this as a criteria in our search. After finding a few good options for a stay, we browsed the host’s profile. Some of it was to see reviews of them as a host, but also to see how many other units they rented. If it was clear that they had a broad portfolio of units being rented out, we skipped them, opting for the people who it actually seemed to be renting out part of their home.

With the price just above that of a hostel and more benefits, this is why we’ve decided to stick with Airbnb for our upcoming trip to Mexico.

What are your thoughts? What kind of accommodation do you normally go for? Let me know in the comments.