Newbury Street Studio, $125/night
Stephanie and I recently rented a furnished apartment in Boston instead of staying in a hotel, and it was a revolutionary experience for us.
We got a very nice one-bedroom apartment three times the size of a hotel room in a great location, with a full kitchen, a washer/dryer in the apartment, fast free internet, and comedy central on TV. On the way to the apartment we bought $50 worth of snacks at a grocery store, and they lasted 10 days, with no insulting minibar or room service fees.
And all of this for half the price of a hotel room!
Here’s a link to the apartment we rented.
Very quickly it felt like home. And for half price, there was no comparison with staying in a hotel room where you also have to pay extra for every little thing.
The downsides were: we had to fill out a 2-page rental application form, which included handing over my social security number and a personal reference (which they did not check), and because we arrived very early (7:30am) the bellman wasn’t on duty, so we had to call maintenance from the airport to make sure they’d be there to give us the keys (they were). For stays longer than a few days, it’s definitely worth it. For just a night or two, it might not make sense.
Renting apartments instead of hotel rooms is one of the things the internet has made dramatically easier. Here are a few of the sites that you can use to find non-hotel accommodations:
- VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner) (venerable, huge)
- HomeAway
- AirBnB (“Travel like a human”)
- Roomorama (“Feel at home”)
- Couchsurfing (“Participate in creating a better world, one couch at a time”)
At one end of the internet housing spectrum you have couchsurfing, which is free and as much about socializing as it is about getting a place to stay. At the other end you have marriott.com.
My friend Rony and I were speculating about a true “distributed hotel” that would rent out your apartment when you’re gone, handling keys, cleaning, payment, maintenance, insurance, emergencies, and other details for you. Maybe it could even help you secure your apartment, removing personal papers and storing them offsite in your absence.
Our apartment was in Boston’s South End, next to a park where people take their dogs to play. Over the course of the week in Boston we got to know the different dogs, and their owners, some of them by name, just listening through our window. Besides all of the convenience and economic benefits, staying in an apartment is a richer experience. For a little while, you get to be a part of a neighborhood and not just a guest in a hotel room.
Photo by mark sebastian
Posted on 10 October 2009
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That looks very nice. I agree that for stays longer than a week it makes sense; when we had a contractor over from Slovenia he stayed in a rental apartment right near our offices.
Unfortunately for my business travel, it’s usually a day here, two there, three someplace else. For leisure travel it’s more of an option. We stayed at a hotel when we were in Cape Town in May, but other friends from Toronto had a rental apartment. I’d definitely do that next time.
I recall that my family rented an apartment when we were in Paris 16 years ago. I wonder how we found it then…
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We did the same this summer when staying in London for 10 days in South Kensington… recommended!
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Re your “distributed hotel” idea: I love it; you could call it living in the cloud.
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Hey Nat! I’m doing basically the same here in Nepal. I’ve rented a room for two weeks that includes a kitchen. I’m on the top floor of a building with great views in the heart of Boudhanath. I especially like the feeling of living in the community here. I’ve met most of my neighbors and share community space with others on my floor. It sure beats heading back to a sterile hotel room at the end of my explorations. I have a better space for less money. Thanks for the links I’ll check them out. Peace!
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Hey! could you please give me details on the apartment you are renting? I am going to staying in Nepal for some months, and I would like to rent an apartment but need to know fare, services provided, experience from other people…etc.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!!
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Craigslist has a housing swap section:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/swp/I’ve used that to go on month-long trips several times. It’s really great.
I definitely agree that staying in houses is where it’s at. It’s a great way to feel like a local and imagine what it would be like to live there. I was just in Paris for a month and the proprietors of the nearby café knew me by name and would smile and wave when I walked by, for example.
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A group of us did something like this at the third GUADEC in Seville. Given the number of people sharing the apartment, it was significantly cheaper than a hotel, and was a great way to get to know the other hackers.
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We hope that this space is going to become more and more accepted and embraced, though there is a sea-change of opinion to affect; articles like this one are great to reassure people that it’s safe, fun etc. Having been using my own site for some time I can honestly say that I will never stay in a hotel again if there is a homestay available.
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Nat, hi. liked your post! i’m now working on a blog post based on your comments about apts. vs. hotels for my USA TODAY hotels blog, which is geared towards road warriors. i’ll publish my piece later today at hotelcheckin.usatoday.com.
cheers, Barbara bdelolli@usatoday.com
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