Traveling can be quite difficult on the typical college student’s budget. If you’re anything like me, generally when spring break or summer roll around, you want to go somewhere fun and exciting but can’t swing it financially.
Until last spring break, I’d never heard of Airbnb. Now that I know it exists, I don’t think I’ll ever travel using another hotel service again. Airbnb is a company that started up in 2008 as a way for travelers on a budget to find nice, comfortable and affordable accommodations.
Ranging from prices as low as even $50 a night in some major cities, Airbnb has options for just about every budget, and they also accommodate various different group sizes. The “bnb” in the name stems from the fact that when you use Airbnb, you are staying in a host’s home – like traditional bed and breakfasts but with a modern twist. You can choose to stay in a room in their home and interact with them, or you can even rent entire homes for the night and have zero interaction with the host outside of booking.
In addition to being low cost and very accommodating to your specific needs, Airbnb has even more to offer! For one thing, the minimum age to book is 18, so if you’re looking for a place to stay while on a trip during college, check out Airbnb if you’re under 21.
Another bonus about Airbnb is that they have recently worked on developing major non-discriminatory policies in terms of hosts and bookings. Though they had some issues in the past with hosts being discriminatory, the company has really worked to move forward to only have hosts that are accepting and open to all (they recently offered free stays in Airbnb residences to Syrian refugees). Their most recent ad campaigns even feature LGBT couples and families.
While in New York over spring break this year, my girlfriend and I chose to go the Airbnb route. Our host was amazing, the place was in the perfect location and our room was just as pictured and had even more to offer than we knew – multiple game systems, movies and games on hand, food and snacks in the kitchen, and bikes we could use to get around the city if we wanted. The best part? It rang in at only $398 for 5 nights in New York, right outside the city. The cost of most of the low budget hotels we were looking at for this stay was about $800 on average, and that’s without a kitchenette for us to cook and save leftovers in. Talk about saving that money!
If you’re traveling in the near future, I highly recommend giving Airbnb a shot. If you’re nervous to stay in someone else’s house, do like we did and choose only recognized hosts in your search! They’ll usually have tons of reviews on their place and lots of experience as a host.
Why not save some money and feel at home in another city, state, or country? Go for it, and happy travels!