If you like to travel for extended periods of time, you may be familiar with the room-sharing platform known as Airbnb. They have been around for 15 years and pretty much created the idea of short term shared rentals.
They started small when the founders had the idea of renting an inflatable mattress in their very expensive apartment in the very expensive city of San Francisco. The name Airbnb is a condensed version of “Air Bed & Breakfast,” which was the original name. With a seed investment of $30,000, the company dominated the rental market and generated $8.4 billion in 2022.
My wife and I have been traveling the world full-time since 2019 and have since lived in 37 countries. I calculated that the number of Airbnb rooms we’ve stayed in comes to 130. Add in a similar number of hotels and hostels over the years, and we have a pretty good understanding of what makes a good room versus a bad. When I lived in Costa Mesa before moving, I rented my second bedroom on Airbnb, so I know the market from both sides as a guest and host.
Around the world, there are several different rating systems for hotels, and many chains have their own criteria, but they generally range from one star to five stars. Keep in mind that there is a difference between what a tourist is looking for and what a traveler needs.
For short stays of a few nights to several weeks, some people need a full complement of services, such as a concierge, housekeeping, room service, valets, etc. But travelers like us (and there are thousands of them around the world) don’t need bells. and whistles. In reality, we only need the bare essentials.
Here is our list, which is very personal, but many would use a similar rating system:
Good location: This means many things to different people, but in our case it means not being on a busy street, not near a loud nightclub, and close to things we love, including restaurants and cafes. As we are water lovers, we prefer something close to beaches, but also lakes and rivers. We try to avoid places on hills that are difficult to climb with races and rooms that require climbing too many floors.
Good price: Again, this is very relative, but since our lives are always on the road, our room price is a major factor. We normally stay “long term”, which allows for a discounted price, and because we avoid cosmopolitan and expensive areas, we can usually stay in most countries for less than $1,000 per month. Airbnb charges a service fee and the host charges a cleaning fee, and often they can be unreasonable, killing a good deal.
Private bathroom: We stayed in shared bathroom areas and they are suitable for a short time, but not for longer periods. An important factor is the number of people sharing a bath. In Europe there are a lot of apartments, where four bedrooms share two bathrooms and usually a shared kitchen and living room. A private bathroom costs a little more but is usually worth it for us. On top of that, a shower with good pressure and hot water is always a treat!
A kitchen: For a short period of just a few days, you can do without cooking, provided you have a refrigerator. Outside of the US, food is much cheaper, so unless we’re staying somewhere for a longer duration, we usually dine out, but I like to have yogurt or fruit available in the morning and a place to put light food, and maybe a place. to preserve leftovers.
Good light/lighting: Nothing is worse than a dark room with no windows, but we’ve had a few. I thrive on sunlight and we like to have good lighting in the room, which includes side lights next to the bed if possible. Some rooms have a single light on the ceiling that shines like a prison cell. It does not work!
A good bed and pillows: Different strokes for different people, and some like them soft and some like them firm. We’ve all had them, but they have to be clean and not moldy.
Good Internet: an essential!
Other miscellaneous items: They would include hooks for hanging things, good secure doors, windows that can be opened, air conditioning (most of the time), storage space for bathing supplies, good towels, and hopefully a balcony whenever we find one.
Airbnb is just one platform for finding rooms, and if we’re only staying a night or two, we like Bookings.com because they have no resort fees or cleaning fees, and offer sometimes breakfast.
We have also stayed in many hostels, which go by different names abroad, including guesthouses, and found some great ones in Turkey. They’ve come a long way from what they were decades ago, and while we think they’re made for millennial backpackers, we’ve encountered plenty of travelers of all ages at hostels.
For those of you who have a dream or desire to “travel the world,” I encourage you to pursue that dream.
We left Orange County when I was 64 and my wife was 65, and I knew that if we didn’t do it NOW, in time it would be too late. I encourage people to dip their toes in the water and travel for as long as possible, whether that’s two weeks or several months. In our case, we had no real estate to sell, no elderly parents to worry about, and no children or pets to keep us housebound. Take enough time to get to know a region, its people and its customs, and your world will open up.
If you have any questions or need advice on any of these ideas, please let us know!
Norm Bour has been a writer for 20 years and wrote for the Newport Beach Independent from 2013 until he left Orange County in 2019 to live on the road. He recently wrote the book “Nomadic Travel for All Ages” (available on Amazon) which documents his journey from the beginning and shares his experiences and life lessons on the road. Even at 69, he and his wife Kat, 70, travel like the younger generation and share their experiences on their website and Facebook blog called TravelYounger.com. He is a motorcycle enthusiast and has just completed a three-month trip through the Balkan region of Europe. Contact him at (email protected) for information.
