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Many ways to handle lodging.
I gave up my permanent address, so I spent years living from place to place out of my suitcase.
In 2022 for example, I stayed 309 nights in 50 different Airbnb's; along with 42 nights in 26 hotels, 8 nights with friends and family, 4 nights camping, and 2 nights in the air on overnight flights.
Hotels have usually been reserved just for places where I am spending 1, maybe 2, nights.
Since I tried Airbnb for the first time in 2019; I became more and more reliant on it. When traveling full time, it is important to have things like a kitchen, and laundry. However, like many people, I started to pull back a little in 2023. I started to see the value shift, so, for me, that meant 3 night stays started to become hotels instead of Airbnb. But, stays 4+ days were still all Airbnb.
Camping
Camping through the Pacific Northwest and British Colombia in Canada is a great way to relax and also to save a bit of money on lodging.
I camped for only 4 nights in 2022, but I spent 18 nights camping in 2021.
The limit is that I can only really do this in North America as I don't haul that gear around the world.
Airbnb
So much has been said recently about the diminishing quality of Airbnb stays, and in some ways I would have to agree. As of the end of 2023, I have stayed in over 100 Airbnb's lifetime and have had some wonderful stays, and some that were, frankly, terrible.
However, I often wonder if it is my budget that creates the problem of diminishing quality. I have tried hard to save money, so I have cut my budget allowance for lodging over the years and maybe this reason makes me feel like the quality has gone down.
In 2019, I spent an average of $94.42 per night on Airbnb (including fees); In 2021, I spent an average of $96.81 per night, and despite the post-pandemic increase in costs; in 2022, I reduced my average to $92.27 per night.
Inevitably, if I spend less, I will get less.
But, I still expect the place to be cleaned. At least, take out the previous trash, and exchange the previous towels.
I don't expect that the heat will be turned off, or that a pet fish will be left behind.
I really enjoyed the Airbnb that said it was a fully equipped kitchen, and it had exactly one of everything...spoon, fork, cup, pan.
With all that said, Airbnb is still the best option I have found so far for someone who is traveling 365 days per year.
Some tips on booking Airbnb;
I never book a new listing, no matter how attractive it looks. I need to see at least 5 reviews. If you book a new listing, you have no idea what you are getting, and you are also much more open to scams.
If all of the reviews are short, one sentence reviews, I pass on the listing. Obviously, even if the guests gave 5 stars, they didn't think much of the place if nobody took time to write a real review.
If the place looks even slightly off in the pictures, I avoid the place. Pictures will almost always look better than the actual place.
If the pictures start with pic after pic of things that are not the listing (like area attractions), then I pass. If the host thinks everything outside their listing is nicer than the listing itself, then I don't want to stay there.
I don't book places that are normally people's home but are being listed on Airbnb part time. My experience is that these listings have been the most cluttered and least clean. The sure fire give away on those is having a number of real plants in the place.
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