Affordable Stay Options for Frequent Travelers
One of the major expenses faced by tourists and travelers is accommodations. Typically, it is the lodging expense that takes the biggest chunk out of a budget for vacation. The average cost of a hotel stay for a night is $100 – $200 and can run you even higher depending on the destination, or the quality you’re looking for. Well, why go for those expensive options when there are convenient places to stay in virtually every destination across the world, no matter where you go? Creative and adventurous travelers often look for alternatives to hotels and can not only spend a fraction of the price of typical accommodations, but also have an incredible experience. This is a win-win situation: you save money as well as enjoy a unique time during your holiday stay. What we are talking about is short-term home rentals, farm stays and staying with locals.
Short term home rentals
Short-term home rentals are an ever-growing trend in the travel world. The cross between home-stays and vacation rentals is getting popular. Travelers can rent a room in someone’s house or apartment at very low rates and get a great place to stay as well as a good deal. If you want, you can have the whole house to yourself, depending on your needs and the budget. Trust and word of mouth works here, and you can be sure that you are perfectly safe in your home rental. You can find companies that cater to the specific country you’re looking to visit (such as CasaGo), or you can find a company that caters to worldwide travel. Make sure your booking site is reputable to ensure a safe, and quality trip. Even you can afford to stay at world’s expensive places, like staying in Alps, on Greek islands like Santorini / Mykonos and many more in limited budget. Â
 Staying with locals
One of the most economical ways to travel and save money on lodging is to sleep in someone’s house in their spare bedroom or even on the couch in their living room. You couldn’t ask for a better hospitality exchange and an aesthetic, cultural stay. The best part is, in many places the locals are willing to put you up for free! This is your great chance to meet locals and understand their way of living and culture. One can look for well-established hospitality networks for home-stays. Staying with local is now getting popular among frequent travelers as it allows to see that particular place in most authentic and natural way. You learn the difficulties and goodness of that place in same time. It is a true learning in itself while adjusting with new environment, living and even the local culture and people.Â
Farm Stays
If you love being out with nature, then working on the farm and staying with the local farmers is the right option for you. This type of stay can cover working ranches and cattle farms. Take advantage of those rural stays and enjoy waking up in the farm. You could milk a cow, feed the lambs or give cornmeal to chickens. In many farms, you could even learn how to make cheese or spin wool. While it does require some work, these stays can be long term, and meals are typically included. This is just the perfect idea for a break away from the mad urban life. This is your chance to be a real farmer, even if for a couple of days.Â
Other options
There are other ways to cut down on your lodging expenses while traveling such as swapping houses with another traveler or camping under the stars. Another great option is looking for academic housing offered by many colleges and universities during the summers when the host students go home. Youth hostels are another form of accommodation that is perfect for the budget travelers. Many religious organizations offer affordable lodging in their convents and monasteries as well.
Discover new options in staying and it would be fun to stay in many unique ways. Â
So, till then KEEP TRAVELING……………… KEEP EXPLORING……………………………………………………
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You’re so right about accommodations taking up a big chunk of the travel budget. We’ve started using Airbnb and have had good luck so far. I’m tempted by the homestays and house exchanges but having ventured unto that yet. I forgot all about universities! I remember that my college did that during the summer so I’ll have to look at that option too!
Thanks Annick!
Being a slow and frequent traveler, this post is apt for me. I love staying with locals as it not only works out to be cheap but locals also make you explore hidden gems that you might miss otherwise. I haven’t tried farm stays for safety reasons. But I’ll probably give it a try the next time.
You can try known farm stays or try farm stays close to your home first for first hand experience.
This is so much important. In a trip the price of the places we stay it´s always a big slice. Good ideas!
I really love staying with locals – that’s the best way to get insider knowledge of an area too as well as feeling connected, especially if you are travelling solo. I like the idea of farmstays too – I think that would be quite a memorable way if you staying for some time to give a helping hand on a farm while enjoying a new area. Some great advice!
Yes farm stays with natural surroundings is the best way to spend a holidays and creating a lifetime memories.
Yes accommodation costs constitutes the major chunk of travel costs. I like options of short term rentals and staying with locals the most. We get to learn the local lifestyle a lot. Never tried the academic housing options offered. Will check this out.
I too love the local stays and academic housing also enchances our knowledge while traveling.
Staying with locals are one of the best ways to get to know the culture, customs and traditions
You are absolutely correct, as the actual traveling is to know the place through local’s perspective.
Thanks for sharing! Sometimes, in bigger cities, hotels of large chains are the cheapest option for a hotel stay. Most of them offer good loyalty programs and when you spend a couple of nights in one of them, you may get a free night towards future travel. It’s absolutely worth checking out if you spend in hotels every now and then.
thanks for useful advice!
I like this concept coz it is more convenient and cheap. For group travel with family or friends, this is also the best. I will save this story for my future reference.
These ideas are so good. I have never thought about that but it’s a new way to travel, special for those with low-budget like me. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Wow $100-200 per night is an insane amount; particularly for travelers on a budget. Thanks for sharing some alternative accommodation ideas for travelers to stay at in the Alps. I would love to go there one day, it seems such a beautiful and magical place. We often like to couch-surf as this not only brings down the price of accommodation but we also get to meet locals and learn about the local lifestyle. Thanks for sharing.
These are all fantastic suggestions on ways to creatively save money on accommodation, but not necessarily drop the quality of the stay. Staying with a local is such a great and insightful way to learn more about the place. And so nice to hear about the hospitality! Farm stays sounds like such a delight and and interesting experience. I’d love to try this hopefully one day!
I don’t usually travel alone so I haven’t needed to explore other options beyond hotels and airbnb. I didn’t realize the unique ways to find accommodations when traveling. Thank you for sharing these ideas!
Since all my expenses were always borne by my company I was never really worried.. but when I went for my first solo trip to Myanmar o really understood how much money it takes for hotels.. but hostels were there for my rescue… Thank goodness… I would still love to try the farm stay and staying with locals must fun as well
This contains so many good ideas. I love to travel solo, but like you said it’s incredibly expensive. I always thought AirBnb was my only non-hotel option. I never would have thought of any of these options, so thank you so much for sharing!