We have been planning this trip on the fly. We had our first long-term lodging for October arranged ahead of time through sabbaticalhomes.com, but beyond that, I'm searching as we go. Typically on this European adventure, I make sure we have our lodging locked in at a minimum two weeks in advance, but it does depends on how much time I have and how much decision-making is left.
Even though by now we've largely mapped out what cities we'll be in when so Dave can plan attending his various conventions, we have to find transportation and lodging. Case in point: as I write this blog, we leave in a week for Sicily but I haven't booked accommodation yet!
Here are a few of the travel planning websites I use regularly to plan different aspects of our trip.
Where to Stay
During our extended travels through Europe, we have largely stayed in apartment rentals, using hotels only for times when we want an easy/late check-in or a comfy experience. While each country probably has country specific short term apartment rental sites, most of our planning has been done on the fly. Because of this, we have stuck to large, multi-country short term stay websites for ease of use. It also helps so we don't have an overload of usernames, passwords and sites to to remember.
We've used airbnb.com the most on this trip. It's a platform we personally use to list our own properties and it's easy to search. Unfortunately, I find increasingly hostels, hotels and long-term stay apartments are now listing on the site as well. This is a far cry from AirBnB's origins of people renting their own houses out, like we do! It's quite possible a private room with several beds in a hostel would work, but it seems too much of a chance to take. Either late-night revelers would bother our kids' sleep or our kids' boisterous noise would bother other rooms. It's possible we'll try one yet on this trip, but I doubt it. I search Airbnb when I'm looking for a non-hotel option, so it's frustrating when they're cluttering the listings. Other times the listing feels disingenuous...a listing might be under the guise of being "Marco and Julia's place", but really it's a company managing multiple properties. On this trip, I've come to accept most properties are professionally managed. We've also come to accept that electronic locks are basically not used for most short term stays. In Europe, the majority of the time you have to meet a company at check in, sometimes pay per night local taxes and typically provide a picture of your passport. It's more formal than I'm generally looking for, but it's the experience most of the time nonetheless.
We've used homeaway.com or vrbo.com to find moreofferings sometimes, but the fine print and fees at these sites can be greater (some require you to clean after your stay, for example). HomeAway aggregates apartment listings from multiple sites so you are likely to see the places you just found on Airbnb as well as others.
We used sabbaticalhomes.com in Edinburgh and Seville to find stays of several weeks at houses that are typically lower in price than Airbnb. I find pricing on Airbnbs are geared more for 2-6 night stays. Sabbatical Homes are a great way to get in touch with owners around the world as it is designed primarily for traveling professors. Different from other sites, the specific negotiations and payment methods are left up to you which can be daunting. We had to pay an annual fee of $65 to list our home as available, but there was no fee to be connected to a listing. I also find the reviewing of renters and homes is less enforced and therefore not as useful. Owners' houses may be less prepared for renters when compared to professional Airbnb operations.
If we are looking for hotel rooms, we typically use expedia.com which is what we use in the USA, but in Europe and Marrakesh booking.com seems to be a larger brand. Once I find a place, I will also see if I can book directly with the specific hotels. With direct bookings, it's easier to make changes or adjustments and sometimes they'll offer you other special perks. However, in general we find that prices through the big travel sites can sometimes be cheaper than the direct prices.
We've also used homeexchange.com network which is a different sort of "rental" site. In general, you list your home for Guest Points and then can use these points for staying in other homes. They allow both reciprocal and non-reciprocal home exchanges. Money does not have to change hands, which can make it significantly cheaper to both host and renter. We collected some points from our rental in San Diego to try it out on this trip. We've only been able to use the guest points on one occasion in the south of France where we stayed in someone else's house. In general, we found it much harder to use guest points than we originally anticipated. We'll cover this in more detail in a separate blogpost, dissecting if it is financially worth the complicated process. Roughly, you forgo rental income but skip local hotel taxes, income taxes, and Airbnb fees...and on the other side, you stay for free, avoid having to exchange your money into different currencies, and avoid spending after-tax money.
Tips for scanning reviews: I never, ever, book a place without looking through all the reviews - up to about 30 reviews. If a place has not been reviewed, I leave it for someone else to rent. I search for red flags, notably: excessive noise from street or surrounding apartments or rooms, several complaints of mold or lack of cleanliness, a catty response from the owner after a negative review, how far it is from transportation and the local sights, and whether the kitchen is well stocked. I've started to take note of specifics like ovens and microwaves after living without one or the other for several weeks. In places where we have a car, parking is a must as it has been difficult to park everywhere in Europe. Dryers are also NOT the norm here - but with 4 kids, it helps immensely to have one! Along the way you'll likely also find nuggets about restaurant recommendations from past guests in their reviews...keep track of these because you can use them even if you don't take their apartment and choose another around the corner.
Also, do not be afraid to ask anyone for special rates. AirBnBs, hotels, whatever, especially if it is close to the date of your travel. Dave got us a 33% discount on an AirBnB in the center of Madrid, just by asking twice. The first time, the host offered a 20% discount, but since our target price was much lower we asked again and this time the host agreed.
What are your favorite websites or tips about for places to stay? Feel free to leave your answers in the comments section!
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