shared the results here in my post.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nIf adventure is your goal, than camping is the thing for you! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airbnb and Adventure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n In two of our long road trips, one on the west coast of the U.S., and another on the North Island of New Zealand, we did a combination of campgrounds and Airbnbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These Airbnbs were a welcome reprieve from the lack of comfort of camping but still delivered amazingly<\/strong> on the adventure front. Many Airbnbs are just regular people’s houses in fantastic locations. Locations either not reasonable for a hotel, or prohibitively expensive. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIn New Zealand, we stayed at a little Ranchette Airbnb in Whangarei. The area was so beautiful, and all we had to do was wake up to see it. Just opening the windows we were in the middle of the gorgeous countryside. <\/p>\n\n\n\nSunset, near our Airbnb in Whangarei<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAlthough the price was comparable to a cheap hotel or a motel, <\/strong>the experience of being directly in the countryside and able to see the sunrise and sunset in such an amazing place was priceless.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAnother aspect of adventure with Airbnbs is that you don’t know what you are going to get. Some locations and hosts are eclectic and even sometimes eccentric. We’ve not had a bad experience yet, but some have criticized Airbnb for its lack of consistency. Reading the ratings carefully is extremely important. Just because a bed looks comfortable doesn’t mean the rest of the experience will be positive, so the ratings really help out there. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nLastly, we’ve had some amazing experiences and conversations with our hosts! We’ve stayed in several Airbnbs where we stayed in or in a house directly adjacent to the host’s house. We’ve had several great conversations with these mini-entrepreneurs, and adds to the adventure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes when we travel, we don’t want social interaction–it just depends on our mood. That’s why it’s important to look for self-check-in and private entrances for Airbnbs give you a better chance at privacy if you are not looking to socialize with your hosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not All Camping is Full of Adventure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n In fact, sometimes you feel like you are sleeping in a glorified parking lot. State parks good bets because usually they are protecting some aspect of nature that is worth seeing and experiencing. City campgrounds like KOA campgrounds are not always an amazing sight and are more about saving money than experiencing nature.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThis really depends on the area and the campground. They vary so much that some are going to be a really good experience, while others are more of a meh experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hotels and Motels: Not So Much Adventure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Hotels and motels certainly have their own aspects of adventure in them– you never know if you’re going to get the hotel or motel that you can share stories about later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re into city life, then hotels give you immediate access to the nightlife as well as any city attractions. Again, the lodging itself isn’t the adventure as much as the destination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Motels rarely spark a sense of adventure, their forte, again, is more about convenience than experiencing nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Convenience: Which Lodging Is the Most Convenient? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n In order of convenience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hotel\/Motel<\/li> Airbnb<\/li> KOA Campground<\/li> State Park Camping<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\nConvenience: Planning a Place To Stay<\/h3>\n\n\n\n This is where hotels really shine<\/strong>. Unless there’s a huge convention in town, you can almost always find a place to stay, even last minute. It’s always a good idea to plan ahead for travel, but if you’re not the best planner than hotels are a great fallback. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe same applies to motels. On a road-trip, you often don’t have to plan ahead for what motel you want to stay at–you can just pull over onto the side of the road at a Super-8 or a Red Roof Inn, and again, unless you happen to be trying to find a room during a huge gathering like the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, or SXSW or something like that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While most of the time you’ll be okay, you can be unfortunate enough to time your trip along with a big event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Planning Airbnb Trips: Don’t be Late!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n In contrast, if you are more than a month out for an Airbnb, you may not get the house on the lake shore that you were wanting. To get an ideal location and price, Airbnb requires that you plan ahead.<\/strong> This is because Airbnb locations are unique, and the supply of great location great quality Airbnbs is limited. Unlike a hotel where they have hundreds of rooms of more or less the same quality, an Airbnb is a one-of-a-kind. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThis is less convenient, though, in regards to trip planning. You have to plan months in advance<\/strong> sometimes to get the location you want. <\/p>\n\n\n\nMinimum Night Stay<\/h4>\n\n\n\n Airbnb hosts have to turn a profit by getting tenants that visit for an ideal period of time. The most work is the tenants that are only staying overnight, and the more ideal tenants are those that stay at least a few days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This can make it more complicated to plan<\/strong>, since you are limited to Airbnbs that do not have minimum night stays, or you have to plan your trip around multiple nights as needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPlanning Camping Trips: Don’t Be Forced Into The Expensive Sites<\/h4>\n\n\n\n The same principles that apply to Airbnb are true for campsites. There have been many times where we thought a few weeks out for a particular campsite would be plenty of time, only to find that the campground is booked every weekend for the next 6 months. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nTo get around this, you can either camp in less popular campgrounds<\/strong>, but usually campgrounds are popular for a reason. In our area, particularly, the parks with water features (lakes and rivers) are very popular during the summer as they are great places to swim. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAnother solution is to take off work on Monday and Tuesday so you can go camping during a less popular time.<\/strong> This is our favorite solution as we get to avoid camping crowds. <\/p>\n\n\n\nSometimes there are spots left, but they are the more expensive sites made for RVs with full hookups. If you plan early, you can snag the more desirable campsites that are less expensive.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nConvenience For Families<\/h3>\n\n\n\n One way that hotels and motels are more convenient, is that they are not as fragile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airbnbs sometimes have hosts with eclectic tastes, which is really fun to experience! However, with a family, those fragile decorations can be a little scary with kids. One easy solution is to take a picture and put the fragile decorations in a box right when you arrive, and then put it back when you’re done. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nSummary: Who Wins in Convenience?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Hotels and motels take the thought and planning out of the equation–you just arrive and stay for as little or as long as you need to. They are also in more convenient locations in the city, and don’t require crawling through windy residential areas, or traversing through the countryside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airbnbs are fairly convenient, although they require more planning, and some of them require a bit more work for a family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Time: Which Lodging Is the Most Time-Efficient? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n In order of the most time efficient:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hotels\/Motels<\/strong><\/li>Airbnb<\/strong><\/li>KOA Campground<\/strong><\/li>State Park Parking<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\nHotels and Motels Are The Most Time Efficient<\/h3>\n\n\n\n If you don’t want to fuss with lodging and spending time with where you are staying, then hotels and motels take the least amount of time. They are generally very accessible, and you can get in and out easily and simply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airbnbs sometimes are not as convenient, for example, needing to park around the corner (depending on the situation), and they are usually in residential areas, and depending on what your destination is, may be more out of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Camping Options Take More Time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Camping can take more time… the primary time taken is reaching the camping destination. If your destinations are around civilization, then many camping options are outside the city. For example, many state parks are 5-50 miles away from city centers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A KOA campground or an in-city campground is an exception to this as you can be in the middle of the city and still be close to everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re cooking dinner over a campfire or even with a gas stove, it takes a bit more time than it would with a kitchenette at an inn, and there is a lot more walking back and forth to campground restrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, you have to take the time into consideration of setting up a tent and your sleeping situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Summary: Who Wins in Time-Efficiency?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Hotels and motels win for time efficiency! Camping is the least time-efficient, and the only way to get better at it is practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, Which Lodging Type Wins?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n The answer goes back to the beginning of this article: What is your intention for your trip? <\/strong>If you want adventure, then camping <\/strong>is an incredible way to travel, and Airbnbs is an amazing supplement to experience it all. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIf your goal is comfort and not worrying about lodging, then hotels are a great option. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If your goal is to save money, then motels are a great option, and camping can be an even lower cost with proper planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hopefully, this discussion helps you in your decision making and trip planning! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Which is best? Camping? A hotel? Or an Airbnb? Little more than 10 years ago, there weren’t as many options for accommodation while traveling We had motels, hotels, KOAs, and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":24,"label":"Camping"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/camping-vs-hotels-vs-airbnb.jpg",640,427,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Peter","author_link":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/author\/outsidedecider\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":24,"name":"Camping","slug":"camping","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":24,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":132,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","cat_ID":24,"category_count":132,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Camping","category_nicename":"camping","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4076,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions\/4076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}