Air b and b negatives I've not thought of ?

[mrssunshinexxx]

Went to Spain this summer for our first holiday abroad it was nice , 4 star all inclusive didn't really leave the resort other than to go to the beach right outside
Food was average and very samey, we were all in one suite2 adults 2 kids was very noisy at nighttime

due another baby soon so was really searching for a 2 bed suite with Swim up pool for next years hol cheapest I found was £7500 for a 1 bed penthouse so not even ticking all the boxes and very expensive!

Decided to look at villas / air b and b what had put me off previously was having to buy/ prep food on hol but actually the all inclusive was very basic so thinking maybe I wouldn't mind so muc.
Will do a super market shop stash freezer with ice lollies find a lovely bakery for breakfast bits and eat out on an evening.
Found a 5 bed bungalow with own pool that's detached for a fraction of the price right on the beach walking distance to shops restaurants. Am I missing something obvious as to why this will be a nightmare with 3 kids 4 and under ?
The place has a high chair and travel cot x

It's also likely that a 5 bed property has a dishwasher.

I’ve been using Airbnb for the last 10 years, both pre-kids and since. We’ve done a lot of traveling in Europe, America and Australia, which are mostly road trips so stay in a few places per trip.

We’ve always had a positive experience with Airbnb and have stayed in some amazing places. Never had any issues with cleaning as we leave the place as clean as we can (as we would if we stayed in a hotel too). As a previous poster mentioned, just a quick wipe over the surfaces, take out bins or tie bags up etc. Some places ask you to take linen off beds but that’s rare in my experience.

For extra reassurance, book a place that has lots of reviews and read through them.

Only once have we had a host cancel our booking. It was only a few days before we were going (big city in the US) but we very easily booked somewhere else.

On a side note - I’ve not used them but there is a site called Baby Friendly Boltholes that list family-friendly villas etc (not just baby-friendly).

It takes a few minutes to hang out and a few to bring back in. I'm not talking about ironing. Being able to chuck pants, t shirts, swimming stuff etc in the machine to keep them fresh as you go along is no hardship at all. You wouldn't do laundry in a hotel - it costs a bomb!

The only booking we have had cancelled were hotel ones via booking.com!
We generally stay in a mix of self catering and hotels booked via a variety of platforms and explore a different country each holiday.
Different types of holiday suit different people so it's finding what works for you and your family at different stages of life. I feel sad that AI somewhere warm seem to be the default aspiration and other options are discounted.

I love putting a wash on, and hanging it out in the sunshine.
when the kids were little it was lovely to put them in bed, then have a glass of wine with hubby, and maybe a night time swim if we had a pool.

I've never had a bad AirBnB experience and before I started using them, I was using villas booked through agencies. All good. Some thoughts:

if you hire a car, you have flexibility where you stay. So first of all, if you want to hire a car and move around a bit, look for a destination/country where car hire isn't crazy expensive. Little local firms will be cheaper than Hertz etc but might be harder to contact. Then, if you feel you can factor the cost of a hire car into your break, you can pretty much pick and choose where you stay. Because getting a villa say, 5 or 10 miles from the coast will be a LOT cheaper than one in a complex with a pool, or one 5 walk minutes from the beach. We never stay close to the coast, abroad or in UK - for us, it's worth driving and finding parking to be somewhere quieter and far better value. Beachside hotels and villa complexes are expensive for a reason!

Consider if you need a pool. Are you happy to drive/travel to the beach (if it's that sort of holiday)? If so, and you have very young kids, perhaps you can get a villa without a pool. These are going to be MUCH cheaper. I think in all our holidays with kids, we've only once got a villa with a pool. It was unfenced - it was located in a sort of courtyard with the wings of the rather nice villa around it (inland Algarve) and I spent most of my nights sleeping poorly, imagining DS2 who has autism, LDs and can't swim, would get up in the middle of the night and drown. He didn't, but on the last day he was running around excitedly and did actually partially fall in. Terrifying. So, no pool for us, and I would never again book one that wasn't securely fenced. (Not that this would stop DS2, now 13 and still a non-swimmer, from getting in...) It really keeps costs down, as well as non-swimmers safe.

Personally I love being out of the way a bit, maybe in a little village with a cafe and bakery, or even in the middle of nowhere. It won't suit everyone and yes, we do end up hoping in the car for everything apart from local walks in the woods. The last few years we've rented a variety of fairly remote cottages in a fairly remote and obscure area of Portugal. It suits us well and it's miles cheaper than a Spanish Costa area.

Book through a reputable villa rental company for more protection

But agree with PP that villas are soooo much better with young kids - and for teens /young adults who don’t want to get up a breakfast time ha ha

If doing Airbnb check that the property is allowed to be one. There are plenty of stories of people who've checked in an an hour or so later the police arrived and chucked them out. One thing that always worries me is that you have no Idea if the person is allowed to let it out. Probably more apartments rather than villas but again plenty of stories of someone renting a flat and then running it as an Airbnb without the owmer's
Permission.

Or just stay at a hotel or resort that isn't AI. Why do people seem to think all resorts are AI. I can't imagine anything worse

I think that sounds like a perfect holiday to me.

We've been staying in self catering apartments and houses for years as I find them much better for DC. You can feed them at 5am or have a drink whenever you want without having to wait for a hotel breakfast. There is lots of space so the DC can be in bed while you relax with a glass of wine on the terrace.

You can eat out whenever you want but can make something quick at 'home' if it gets too much. I can't deal with eating out more than 2-3 nights on the trot, definitely not lunch and dinner on the same day.

If there's another drought and a hose ban the pool will not have any water in it. This caught a lot of people out in Spain and North Tenerife this summer

We have stayed in Gran Canaria in apartments on a complex that you could either self cater or have 1/2 or full board. We chose to self cater and paid to eat in the restaurant one night.
It was ground floor had a large bedroom, bathroom, kitchen with a patio off the kitchen for hanging washing and a living room with a sofa bed and walk out the sliding door right on the poolside.
So they are out there. We looked a complex of bungalows too.

Downsides off the top of my head compared with a hotel:

You have to do all the cleaning and tidying. You want the floor swept of sand, or more loo roll, or beds changed, clean towels? you do it.

You have to do the food shopping, cooking, washing up. Personally I don’t mind this at all - we always get somewhere with a dishwasher, and eat out 1 meal a day. Doing 1 meal out, and breakfast and a simple lunch or dinner at “home” is actually easier and more flexible with kids IME.

Harder for kids to meet others. Don’t underestimate this factor if it’s important to you. We’ve often hoped our kids will make friends at the beach but they haven’t. A shared pool would help, but only if the other villas have kids the right age/language… I am still searching for the holy grail of a self catering villa holiday where kids will still meet others and make friends easily.

No kids club/kids activities/play areas. You’ll need to bring more toys books games etc. We usually hire a car so we can go on outings.

Think about check in and check out day - unlike a hotel there is usually nowhere to leave your bags or change/shower etc if you have an early arrival or late departure flight. So think about this when booking your flights.

Nobody to help in an emergency. If someone gets ill or has an accident you can’t just ask the hotel desk, it’s on you to find a doctor or private clinic etc.

Same for information about anything - local trips, restaurants, you’ll need to do your own planning and booking. Bear in mind restaurants get booked up in advance in some holiday locations. So more planning required.

Of course there are plenty of plus sides to offset these negatives! You just asked for the downsides…

We have done both quite extensively and there are advantages/disadvantages to both .

We have 5 kids so villas still required meal planning ( even if eating out for dinner ) and shopping . Dragging massive trolleys around , looking for food the kids would eat etc. Also you have to keep on top of the cleaning . Not major but I need a tidy space !!

We tend to do AI now the kids are older . They are teens and eat non stop . So that works well for us at the moment .Only top end AI though . Anything less than 5 star tends to be grim....

This sounds like heaven 😇

Enjoy your holiday OP.
I have used AirBnB a number of times and had a great time at a good price.
I have no qualms using them for me in the UK.
Main thing I worry about with Airbnb is lack of protection. Hosts can cancel at late notice and leave you high and dry
Yes. I have unfortunately been cancelled on twice, which was stressful. That would worry me abroad or if I had a booking in a peak period slot or when holidaying with others, relying on the accommodation we originally booked.
It happened to a woman on here a few weeks ago - she kept being reassured that all was well despite her communications being ignored.
You just need to have it in the back of your mind and listen to when your spidey senses are tingling so you have a plan B.

Don't think all of this is correct for all properties. I provide a local guide with restaurant recommendations and let guests message me at any time with Qs about the local area.

Leaving bags though - that's true. I had someone ask to leave a bag a week in advance but obviously we had other guests. Cleaning most give you the option to book extra cleaning if you want it but many people book villas for the privacy.

Our flight back is later in the day and our host is kindly letting us leave in a storage room :)

Oh that’s handy!

The last 3 times I have stayed at the Hilton there have been quite significant cleanliness issues. Smears of blood over the shower curtain, clearly unhoovered floor, sweet wrappers lying around.

Read the reviews!!!!

Read every single one of the reviews.

@soupfiend it's relatively new but all are 5 star z

Sounds good, even if there hundreds of them I read the lot

Im very picky and we use about 6 or 7 airbnb's a year

I travel around on street view around the property and look at local pubs and restaurants.

Biggest bug bear is lack of side tables in bedrooms and the lounge
Biggest bug bear abroad is that they dont tend to use kettles, and I always message before booking to check iron, ironing board and kettle. Vital.