Skift Take
Staying at Airbnbs can certainly be a deal for the millions of travelers who are focused on price. But it also depends on what a guest is looking for, where and when?
Are Airbnbs cheaper than hotels? Airbnb said recently that its global average daily rate in March for a one-bedroom was $114 while CoStar reported that the equivalent rate for a hotel room was $140.16.
On that basis, Airbnbs were clearly cheaper.
That is important to Airbnb: After all its original tagline, according to co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky, was "a cheap, affordable alternative to a hotel."
But let's unpack some of the ways those numbers.
First, the lower price advantage goes to Airbnb because its average daily rate is the total price, including cleaning fees, before taxes. The hotel average daily rate does not include fees, including resort fees. In addition, CoStar includes hotel data from China, and Airbnb withdrew from domestic China in 2022. Guests who book Airbnbs and hotels often travel in groups, and affordability probably skews in Airbnb's favor there because you can generally accommodate more people in one listing. These numbers are averages of all rooms, from luxury to economy. If you're not interested in spending a lot, it's more useful to compare within categories."If somebody