Hotels, hostels, B&B, hostels, hostels, apartments, Airbnb … What is the best accommodation for you? 

Today there are almost as many types of accommodation as there are types of travelers. There are them expensive, cheap, with character, classy, ​​boring, with breakfast included or not, with many facilities or rather few. Tell us how you are and we will tell you what your ideal type of accommodation is, or better yet, we will tell you what the accommodation is like and what to expect from them. You only decide which one is best for you. Treatment?

1. Hotels

We call hotels the “hotels of a lifetime”, the hospitality establishments prepared to accommodate guests with (much) comfort. In other words, we call hotels those establishments for overnight stays whose facilities comply with the relevant regulations and quality controls of the country in which they are located and which grant them the title of hotel .

Advantages of hotels? Hotels are a legal business with guarantees, they usually offer a wide range of services and you can get a clear idea of ​​what quality to expect from them depending on the stars they have. More stars, better facilities and services. If they can be paid for, hotels can offer a luxury that few other establishments can compete against. Some have become attractions and experiences in their own right. When paying, hotels usually accept both cash and cards.

Disadvantages of hotels? Hotels are generally the most expensive type of accommodation and allow little insight into the local culture.

2. Hostels

Hostels are hotel establishments of a category lower than that of a hotel. However, the facilities of a hostel are also properly prepared to accommodate people and are subject to quality controls and compliance with the standards of the country in which they are located.

Advantages of hostels? Like hotels, hostels are a legal business with guarantees, but at a cheaper price . Depending on the hostel, it can be more homely and have more or less charm. They almost always have a private bathroom in the room.

Disadvantages of hostels? In general, they offer fewer services and amenities than hotels **, they are not usually as large facilities (fewer beds available) and some – not all by far – have become outdated or are too simple .

3. ‘Bed and Breakfast’ (B&B)

‘Bed & Breakfast’ literally means bed and breakfast, in English. With this name, these places are baptized that can be from private houses (in the plan, a room for guests in the house that a family inhabits) to buildings enabled for this purpose that offers rooms and breakfast to travelers.

Advantages of ‘Bed & Breakfast’? The ‘Bed & Breakfasts’ have to pass certain quality controls to be able to host tourists, they are cheaper than other types of accommodation (such as hotels), some are very picturesque and allow some interaction with the local culture. They can also be very quiet.

Disadvantages of the ‘Bed & Breakfast’? In general, the rooms of the ‘Bed & Breakfast’ do not have a bathroom and the bathroom has to be shared with other people (although there are exceptions), they can be very basic since they are designed only for sleeping and the services they offer are much more reduced than hotels and many hostels. Sometimes they are in very remote places, which can sometimes be a point in their favor.

4. Hostels or hostels

Shelters or hostels are facilities where you can rent a bed in a room where there are many other beds or a private room with many beds that you share with people you are traveling (family, friends, etc. .). The bathroom may or may not be shared, and there may or may not be the possibility of having breakfast. It depends on the hostel .

Advantages of a hostel or hostel ? In general, hostels or hostels are much cheaper than the rest of the accommodations on this list and make the trip very affordable, especially for tourists who travel alone. Despite the price, hostels can offer a considerable amount of services, as well as organize activities for their guests. In general, hostels and hostels are places with spaces to socialize and frequented by young people . They can be a lot of fun.

Disadvantages of a hostel or hostel ? Although they are businesses with guarantees that have to comply with the regulations and quality standards of the country in which they are located, the quality of many hostels is worse than that of hotels . Privacy – unless you book a private room – is much reduced and you almost always have to share the facilities (kitchen, bathroom, etc.). 

Likewise, many do not accept families and, for the traveler seeking relaxation, they can sometimes be uncomfortable, either because he has to sleep near a person who snores, does not smell too good, or arrives at to party at midnight (or late at night). three at a time). The dormitories of a hostel yes they are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you will get!

5. Boutique hostels

The hostels boutique are the elegant evolution of the shelters or hostels . The hostels boutique are catering establishments ready to welcome people who retain the essence of the hostel or hostel (shared rooms, common areas for socializing, etc.), but with extra comfort and luxury (luxury backpacker style in the form of avant – garde decorations or hipsters , smaller rooms with fewer and more comfortable beds, etc.).

Advantages of a boutique hostel ? The facilities are usually newer and more comfortable than in hostels . Probably, the boutique hostel is the ideal accommodation for those people who were backpackers in their youth and who, 10 or 20 years later, want to keep the social part of backpacking , but not the uncomfortable part (sleeping in very small rooms, with many people , no windows, etc.)

Disadvantages of a boutique hostel ? They are more expensive than normal hostels and hostels . In fact, they can be as expensive as many hotels!

6. Apartments

By apartments, we understand lifelong apartments, those private houses that are rented to tourists for days, weeks, or months, and whose benefits are subject to the payment of taxes that this activity requires in the country where it is carried out.

Advantages of the apartments? The apartments are rented by units, that is, the entire apartment. You don’t have to share your facilities with anyone. The privacy is a lot and the guests who stay there, as many as you agree with the owner, without the price increasing. They also allow you to save a lot of money since you can cook in your apartment and, with it, save having to pay for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners there.

Disadvantages of the apartments? Private apartments do not have to meet any quality standards. Each apartment is different and you can find anything. If you have a problem, it will probably take longer to fix it than if you were in another type of accommodation (or not, it depends), since there is no reception you can go to at any time.

7. Aparthotels

In general, aparthotels are apartments that depend on hotels, so they have good and bad things about both systems (that of apartments and those of hotels).

Advantages of an aparthotel? The facilities of the aparthotel are prepared to accommodate people, which is certified by compliance with the regulations for this purpose and the passage of the relevant quality controls. 

Likewise, they can be shared by a large group of people (such as, for example, a large family or group of friends) and, in this way, be cheaper than hotels where rooms would have to be rented based on the number of people. The aparthotel guarantees high levels of independence and privacy, as well as certain extra services that may vary (such as laundry, cleaning, etc.).

Disadvantages of an aparthotel? When carrying the hotel part, they are usually more expensive than an apartment without more.

8. Rental of private houses

This form of accommodation has burst into the world of tourism and there are already several platforms for renting houses or rooms between individuals that allow a private user (the host) to rent a room in their house to a traveler (the guest) during a certain time. 

And whoever says a room accommodation says the whole house and says that the host may or may not be in the house (in the case that only one room is rented). All the information about the services offered by a host is detailed in the accommodation file, as well as the opinions of other users who have previously stayed in said apartment or room.

Advantage? Combine the economics of a hostel or hostel with the intimacy of a private room in a hotel, a hostel or a ‘B&B’. The accommodations can be very curious and the hosts very friendly and give you good advice (on where to go, where to eat, how to move, etc.). 

In case the host is at home and the house is really their own home, they allow a very wide degree of contact with the local culture, to see what it is like and how people live in that place. The quality control system is relatively good but amateurish , it allows host and guest to rate each other after the stay, and the system does not allow either one to eliminate negative reviews.

Disadvantages? One of the big problems is that it is not subject (or is very little) to the quality controls and the lodging regulations of the country where its activity is carried out, so technically, one can find anything when it arrives at its accommodation. Cannot offer official quality guarantees since there is no authority that controls it (beware, this does not mean that one can find absolutely wonderful accommodations). 

Along the same lines, one sometimes does not know very well if accommodations pay taxes or, if they do, where they do it and how. Sometimes, until you get to the apartment, you don’t know if that room or house is rented to you by a person with a spare room or that second home that you do not use to have an extra income, or if it is a private agency that rents real estate to tourists in a professional way. 

Likewise, it should be noted that the boom in this type of accommodation is causing some problems in the centers of some tourist cities, where more and more landlords prefer to rent their property for days or weeks than to a permanent tenant. In some cities, measures are being implemented to regulate this type of accommodation.

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