Forget The Hotel

My Case for the Airbnb

By Angela Parinas

Photo by: Aanya Bhatia

For many, a vacation requires a hotel. One with a spa, a pool, a good restaurant, and a spectacular view. However, recently I’ve been discovering the charms of searching for the homiest Airbnb rather than the most luxurious hotel.

This past summer, I visited Mexico City, a trip I’ve been dying to take. Finally, I got the opportunity to choose what taquerias I wanted to try, which museums to visit, and what streets to explore. However, what kept me unusually stumped was where to stay.

Usually, I’ll look for a nice hotel my parents would enjoy, something credible, or internationally established. Sometimes, I’ll search for a boutique experience, something more special and unique. However, this time, a hotel just didn’t feel right. It felt too detached, too touristy—so I turned to Airbnb.

Home Away From Home

The first thing you look for when choosing a place to stay is probably comfort—a comfortable bed, room service, collectible toiletries, and complimentary chocolate. However, the comfort you get from a home is much different from the delights you may get from a hotel. Originally, I thought that staying in someone else's house would make me feel more like an intruder than a guest. However, what I had experienced in Mexico City was quite the opposite. In a place where the art of the owner is hung up with pride, where worn out books cover the shelves, and where photos display the owner’s adventures, I couldn’t help but feel warm and welcomed. It felt like I was experiencing a city through a different set of eyes, and instead of encroaching on a space, I was invited into a home that gave me an impression of the city before I even stepped outside.

Living like a Local

Stepping outside, you find that living in an Airbnb usually places you in a more residential area of a city. I would wake up each morning and walk outside to see neighbors jogging with their dogs, friends grabbing coffee at the cafe, and people going to work. It was a very different atmosphere from what I was used to seeing in a hotel: guests making their way to the buffet breakfast, room service left in the hallway, and the concierge waiting to give prepared recommendations.

In this quaint neighborhood, amongst those that actually live in the city, I felt more relaxed. I was getting an “inside scoop” into what the city looks like outside the tourist-driven stores and my planned historical tours. Some of my favorite memories came from these small slices of local life: going to that corner coffee shop every morning, walking through the neighborhood with my siblings at night, and getting snacks at the local grocery market down the street.

Living Room for a Lobby

What I particularly liked about having our own “home” on this trip was having a communal space to gather in the morning and at night. You get that privacy to talk, laugh, and enjoy each other's company in a space that’s just yours. It’s true: in a hotel, you have the lobby, the breakfast room, and maybe the hallway? But do you really ever fully relax in these constantly public spaces? More often than not, when traveling in groups larger than two or three, you get rooms that aren’t always near each other. In the Airbnb, you can have those private sofa chats, those late-night kitchen snacks, and rooms close enough to spend time with each other outside of travel-induced arguments and packed itineraries.

So yes, you may not get your bed made every morning, your towels changed every day, or a chocolate on your pillow every night, but what you do get is a home that lets you live in a city instead of just visiting it.

Occasionally, I may still choose a hotel when a pool is promised or if I just can’t live without that breakfast buffet. But the next time I’m really dying to know a place, to see it fully, I’ll skip that spa and spectacular view, and search instead for the homiest place I can find.