How much do you typically spend on a hotel (or hostel or airbnb) per night?

[Strider]

Obviously will depend on a number of factors like destination, but generally people usually try to stay within a certain range.

Back in the day I'd look for the best hotel I could find for ~$150/night, and if I couldn't find anything good I'd hop onto Hotwire or Priceline. Over the years I've found lifestyle creep has slowly inflated that to the point where I'm currently planning a trip to do the PCH and finding my hotel bookings at $230/night on the low end and $400 on the high end (avg $290) with anywhere up to $70 valet fee (San Francisco) on top.

Starting to feel guilty as I know some well off people who stay at Holiday Inn's everywhere they go, but OTOH someone on here mentioned they spent $20k on their PCH trip.

Curious to see where my fellow ballers stand.

[KPHMPH]

Any hotel we book usually falls within the SPG or Fairmont brands to give us points and gold status. Granted back in the day when I was getting a hotel just to party it would be the cheapest Westin downtown.
Now that I am older though I prefer just to have things I am used to.

[nzwasp]

What's the pch?

[s dime]

Pacific coast highway I think.

[taemo]

We're the type of persons that are off exploring most of the day and just sleep in the room so the cheaper the better.
I try to limit the cost of our hotels to around 100-200 per night.
willing to spend 300-400 per night if it's a beachfront location or a place with a really nice scenic view.

[R154]

Longer term (4+ nights) it is always cheaper to airbnb. I'm not sure about the states, however, in Europe o saved about 2g's by using airbnb over the course of 6 weeks.

It's nice to have things like a kitchen and an unofficial travel advisor (landlord).

I have met some incredible people through airbnb. Like taemo said, if you're the kind of traveller that uses their accommodation for an 8hr sleep and a hot shower, as long as you can tolerate the bed I wouldn't waste money on a swanky hotel. I'd rather use the money saved to blow out on a restaurant or an excursion.

Over the years I found myself remembering the sites and sounds more then the room I slept in. YMMV.

The only thing I get concerned with is room cleanliness. Pictures are deceiving. I've had 1bad airbnb experience. It was in Toronto. Make sure to call the host and get a sense for the neighbourhood before you go.

With that said, it's nice to stay at a really fancy hotel once in a while. Generally, only of the surrounding area isn't very interesting or lively to explore.

[ExtraSlow]

Love AirBNB for family travel because it's easier to get a three bedroom apartment or house than anything similar in a hotel. If I was traveling by myself or just as a couple, and moving every few nights, hotel might be simpler and could be done for cheaper.

Other bonus of AirBNB is discovering local neighborhoods. Hung out in the "Golden Hill" area of San Diego once, and really liked getting the local vibe there.

[max_boost]

Most was $350 a night. I love sleeping in a hotel. I try to look for 3* type hotels with higher ratings.

[msommers]

Originally posted by taemo
We're the type of persons that are off exploring most of the day and just sleep in the room so the cheaper the better.
I try to limit the cost of our hotels to around 100-200 per night.
willing to spend 300-400 per night if it's a beachfront location or a place with a really nice scenic view.

x2.

Given I don't have endless money, I'd much rather find a clean, comfortable hotel and spend more money on doing things.

For folks who favour resorts, I can see why they'd spend more on a hotel.

[Gainsbarre]

I try to keep things under $100 a night, especially if I am travelling alone (as is the case for about 8 weeks a year). Clean 2* hotel (with private bathroom) or better in a decent location is all I need. Only paid more than about $105/night twice...once in Paris, and the other in New York (technically Long Island City in Queens). Stayed in Central London this past June for $100/night. I often book well in advance to keep costs down (e.g. I already have a hotel booked for Tokyo for when I'll be back there in February...) A fancy hotel room is not something I need to impress myself :)

The main reason why I have yet to visit Boston is that I can't find a hotel room there in a central location for under $200/night. I think I need to start looking into Airbnb before I visit Boston...

[My_name_is_Rob]

I typically use VRBO, and generally try to keep it around $50/person/night. That usually allows a reasonable place, and is still cheap enough.

[Neil4Speed]

Originally posted by Gainsbarre
I try to keep things under $100 a night, especially if I am travelling alone (as is the case for about 8 weeks a year). Clean 2* hotel (with private bathroom) or better in a decent location is all I need. Only paid more than about $105/night twice...once in Paris, and the other in New York (technically Long Island City in Queens). Stayed in Central London this past June for $100/night. I often book well in advance to keep costs down (e.g. I already have a hotel booked for Tokyo for when I'll be back there in February...) A fancy hotel room is not something I need to impress myself :)

The main reason why I have yet to visit Boston is that I can't find a hotel room there in a central location for under $200/night. I think I need to start looking into Airbnb before I visit Boston...

Thats really impressive to me, I consider keeping to the ~100 mark to be difficult in most circumstances. I think these days my average would be around $150 (which, with lifestycle creap, seems okay). Sometimes you get caught though, ie, Portland was $300 a night for a hotel which was good but unremarkable.

I will say, in spite of the logic that most of the time, its just used for sleeping - a nice hotel can really amp up an experience. I stayed in a sequence of less nice hotels in Vegas (Palazzo, Hard Rock, then Riviera ) and it made a difference in the perception of how the trip went for sure. In 2010, Palazzo w. airfare for 3 nights was about $550.

I would only do AirBnB for a longer stay, or with a big group.

[flipstah]

Whenever I do backpacking, I hostel and/or AirBnB until the last leg. Then I splurge.

High and low averages to $125-150/night

[Sugarphreak]

,,,

[Gainsbarre]

I've resorted to Hotwire when I see bookings on third party websites (usually Expedia, Trivago, or Booking for me) to be too high. Granted, Hotwire is not always cheaper, and their fees (added to the nightly price you pay) seem to have jumped in the last year or two. Travelling in the USA I also seem way more likely to get certain hotel chains (Extended Stay America and Red Lion are two that have come up many, many times for me on Hotwire). This was a few years ago, but I was able to stay at a Red Lion in Portland for $81/night over the May 2012 long weekend, and also stayed at a Red Lion in Vancouver, Washington in June 2015 (Just before Canada Day) for $85/night (would have been $97/night had I not taken advantage of a Hotwire promotion at the time).

Nowadays I usually use Trivago and Expedia first and might price compare on Hotwire, but I haven't seen substantial savings on Hotwire once all fees are added for some time now.

[bleu]

Just came back from a road trip along the PCH to San Fran. We usually spend around $120-ish CDN on motels. It is usually the Quality or Comfort Inns that we book and have found them for the most part to be clean and have everything we need after about 10 hours in the car.

[austic]

i would say 300-400 on average gets me what i want.


I like to be comfortable when it comes to travel.

[mzdspd]

I used to be in the 100-200 range but after staying in hostels in Thailand I have gotten much cheaper with spending on accommodations.

Now its <100 and always on airbnb/vrbo. I would rather spend money on food and things to do.

[Feruk]

Originally posted by mzdspd
Now its &lt;100 and always on airbnb/vrbo. I would rather spend money on food and things to do.
My thoughts exactly. If I'm going somewhere, it's not to sit in a nice hotel room.

[Xtrema]

Not sure if this works everywhere, I tends to find that whatever internet price is for a room, I can use priceline bid to get the same class or better for about 25% less than internet price.

But long stays or big groups, I prefer AirBnB and VRBO.

[CompletelyNumb]

In North America and Europe, $150/night is my ceiling. The rest of the world, sub $100.

I've splurged on some crazy $1000/night places before while travelling. You can get into some pretty amazing rooms, but at the end of the day I agree with others, just use it for 8 hours a day at night.

I did Europe last year via AirBnB and had some pretty great places for cheap. Pretty sure the landlord robbed us in Paris as someone took cash out of my suitcase while the place was locked and we were out playing tourist. But I'm told that's not uncommon.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by CompletelyNumb
I did Europe last year via AirBnB and had some pretty great places for cheap. Pretty sure the landlord robbed us in Paris as someone took cash out of my suitcase while the place was locked and we were out playing tourist. But I'm told that's not uncommon.

Other than a suitcase of clothes, everything always comes with me when I travel.

[Kloubek]

For me, it really depends on the trip, but in general I'm pretty damn cheap when it comes to hotels.

If I'm just "passing through" to another destination, I'll always find the cheapest hotel that has reasonable reviews. (Don't want a total dive where I'm going to wake up with red bumps everywhere, but I'm more focused on price at this point). I'm likely going to be checking in late, and only using it for sleeping. I generally look for something just under $100.

If the hotel is at my destination, then it depends on how much time I'm going to be actually staying in the room. With that said, if I had a destination then it is likely I'm going to be out of the room for the vast majority of the time. If that's the case, then price certainly plays the biggest factor and I'd generally like to keep it under $150.

If it is a special occasion or I do intend on spending significant time in the room, my budget generally increases to around $200-$250, but that's pretty rare. Even last week we spent some time in Southern BC. We rented a cabin on someone's property (so, it WAS the destination) and only ended up paying $350 for 3 nights. Honestly, I couldn't have had a better time if I spent double or triple that somewhere else. It was -far- more enjoyable than a hotel, yet we paid the same amount we would have for a lower end hotel. Excellent.

I think that with the introduction of sites like Air B&B, it provides travellers a much needed option which can provide potentially better accommodations than a stuffy hotel, and often at a very reasonable price.

[Strider]

Dammit, you guys are making me feel rather extravagant. Never thought I'd see the word motel on here. The Asianness in me is being drawn to deals (which is also screwing the budget)... where I'd be perfectly happy with a $150 Westin in San Diego, I managed to score a $400 room at the Grand Hyatt for under $200 using Hyatt's price match guarantee.

Props to you guys with the <$100/night limit. The only times I've spent less were in SE Asia (booked some sweet 4* rooms for $50-80/night) and a shitty motel for 1 night somewhere in Montana. Gone are my days of using a hotel room to crash for 6-8 hours, this is our first trip with the little one, and she goes to bed at 8:30 so we'll be spending a lot more time in the hotel - using this to somewhat justify better hotels where wife and I can take turns going to the gym/pool/bar.

Totally on board with VRBO for group trips, never really stayed long in one city - we're always on the move.

I've never actually used AirBnb yet, but I'll give it another look. I checked it out to see if I could find some more unique accommodations in the Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur area, but it came out way more expensive than a decent hotel. Didn't really think to use it in big cities like LA and San Diego.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I can't remember the last time I spent more than $100/nt at a hotel in the USA, the bundle discounts with car/flight are often quite significant. The savings can be pretty huge on a decent hotel (Westin, Sheraton, or similar mid-range hotel). It's often way less than $100.

Went to SanFran for 6 days, it was $8XX for direct flights, and Sheraton & Fisherman's Wharf for that time period.

Went to Florida for $8XX for 12 days for flight, hotel, car. Another time I went to Florida (Disney world) and excluding park tickets it was $7XX for flight, car, hotel 5 mins from Disney for 8 days. Nothing special about those deals, just random Expedia bookings. Did SanDiego as well for 8 days and with flight, car (corvette), and hotel it was $8XX again all-in.

For VRBO $150-250/nt is usually the max, depending on season and destination. On top of that you always have to add exchange rate, cleaning fees, vacation tax, local tax, etc. and it ends up being almost double anyways.

On vacation I am only in my room if I'm sleeping so I get zero value from the really high end places. I have had super nice rooms before, and I still don't use them.

[Strider]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
Went to SanFran for 6 days, it was $8XX for direct flights, and Sheraton &amp; Fisherman's Wharf for that time period.

Went to Florida for $8XX for 12 days for flight, hotel, car. Another time I went to Florida (Disney world) and excluding park tickets it was $7XX for flight, car, hotel 5 mins from Disney for 8 days. Nothing special about those deals, just random Expedia bookings. Did SanDiego as well for 8 days and with flight, car (corvette), and hotel it was $8XX again all-in

Damn, those are some insane deals. Are you only considering 1/2 the hotel cost on a double occupancy though? I don't see anything remotely close to that for a single traveller (closeish if I search 2 people, but then you're $8xx or $7xx times 2).

These deals never really work out for me as we almost always do open jaw trips with multiple destinations in between. Vegas is probably the only exception.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by Strider


Damn, those are some insane deals. Are you only considering 1/2 the hotel cost on a double occupancy though? I don't see anything remotely close to that for a single traveller (closeish if I search 2 people, but then you're $8xx or $7xx times 2).

These deals never really work out for me as we almost always do open jaw trips with multiple destinations in between. Vegas is probably the only exception.

Yes all those prices are 2 people, double occupancy, and that is per-person cost not total trip cost (Expedia breaks it out per person and you can even pay separately). Sorry I should have pointed that out. If you're on your own it's going to be more than that for sure. I assumed most people would be traveling at least with one other person. I guess also if you're married you can multiply my quoted costs by two haha since it's probably the same bank account.

The VRBO stuff though is total trip cost, because you can usually have any number of people in there with you.

[taemo]

There's only 5 places so far that I've been willing to spend more than 300+$/night

Moorea: beachfront room
Bora Bora: over the water bungalow, a must if you are going there IMO even if for 1-2 nights
Paris: AirBNB apartment close the subway and Eiffel tower, wasn't worth it but eating breakfast overlooking the tower was pretty sweet.
Tokyo: Park Hyatt hotel, was willing to spend 700$+/night but when I was about to book price went up to 900$+ so I said F that :rofl:
Singapore: Top floor in Marina Sandbay overlooking the city, that way you get access to the pool up top.

other than price, #2 thing to look for IMO is location, how easy is it to get around places or public transportation is nearby.


Originally posted by CompletelyNumb

I did Europe last year via AirBnB and had some pretty great places for cheap. Pretty sure the landlord robbed us in Paris as someone took cash out of my suitcase while the place was locked and we were out playing tourist. But I'm told that's not uncommon.

Doesn't AirBNB have some coverage for their clients?

[Strider]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
Yes all those prices are 2 people, double occupancy, and that is per-person cost not total trip cost.

I think it's implied that when hotel prices per night are discussed, it's total room cost for double occupancy.

So just some quick marth, $8xx (say $850) for SFO minus $400 airfare = $450 per person for the hotel * 2 = $900 / 6 nights = $150/night. Still a wicked deal, but not "<$100 per night".