In this post we will cover 8 ways to find travel accommodations for your family.
Traveling as a family is difficult. Between hotels that don’t accept children and “family resorts” that are overpriced and touristy, it can be hard to find the type of accommodation you need. Luckily, your options today are more diversified than ever. In this article, we’ll be going over 7 different types of travel accommodation, and who they may be good for. Read on to find out more about staying in:
- Hotels
- Hostels
- All-inclusive resorts
- Holiday rentals
- A swapped house
- A house you’re “sitting”
- A volunteer project or on someone’s couch
8 Ways to Find Travel Accommodations for Your Family
1. Hotels
Hotels are the most basic option for travel accommodation. You may already have some preconceptions about staying in a hostel with your family:
- It’ll be expensive
- We’ll have to be cramped in a small room
- Staff will get annoyed with our children running up and down the corridors
While some of those are true, hotels are now a lot more diverse than they were just a few years back. And some even specialize in hosting families with children.
To find a good hostel to stay with your family, you can use websites like Expedia, Booking or Agoda. You’ll be able to sort through thousands of hotels in any given location to find ones with all the amenities you need. And with star ratings, these websites are making it less likely for you to have a “nightmare experience” in one of them.
As for hotels being expensive, it depends on where you are going. It’s true that with hotels, what you pay for is often what you get. But the most thrifty families out there have become experts in the art of finding hotel discounts. Sites like Booking can point you to dates where hotels are heavily discounted…and you just might find yourself staying at the Hilton for just under a hundred dollars!
2. Hostels
Many of us forget all about hostels when we reach our 30s and leave the “broke backpacker” stage of our lives. But hostels actually offer some of the best options for cheap family accommodation.
Many hostels have at least one large-sized family room, alongside their usual offering of overcrowded dorm rooms. Some types of hostels like members of the YHA (Youth Hostels Association) offer family-friendly accommodation in almost all of their locations.
Of course, some other types of hostels (party hostels or traditional backpackers) won’t be the best choice for your family.
Using platforms like Hostels.com or Hostelworld can help you sort through your options, and find places with the best ratings that also accept families.
3. All-inclusive resorts
All-inclusive resorts are not for everyone, but some families can’t imagine themselves spending their holiday time anywhere else. There are some definite advantages to staying in a resort.
For starters, all-inclusive resorts can be the closest thing to a “real break” you’ll get to experience. No need to arrange child care, activities, trips, excursions, food, relaxation…Everything is taken care of for you.
All-inclusive resorts like Club Med can be great for families with children because they’ll organize activities that are appropriate for the whole family. Your youngest children can enjoy fun games with kids their age. The older ones can go on little excursions, play sports or learn some new skills. And of course, you as the parents get to have as much relaxation time as you want, go on day trips, or have a little spa day.
Of course, all of this comes at a price. If you like to be thrifty when traveling, paying for an all-inclusive resort can be rather stressful: you don’t get to decide what your money is going toward. But if you can afford an all-inclusive resort and don’t enjoy having to do your own planning, then they can be a great way to have a fun holiday as a family.
4. Holiday Rentals
Holiday rentals tick almost all the boxes when it comes to finding a place to stay with your family. In terms of value, they’re hard to beat. When you find a house or apartment on Airbnb, it’s not rare to get two or more rooms for the same price as a family hotel room.
And in many cases, Airbnbs can be a lot more comfortable than hotels. Though they likely won’t have the spotless cleanliness of a high-end hotel, they tend to be tidy and clean with a homely feel. If you’re planning on spending more than a few days in a city, they’re a great place to take your ease, unpack your suitcases, and feel like you have a home away from home.
For families, holiday rentals are some of the places that are the most accepting of children. As long as you promise to keep the place clean, most of them don’t have any issue with hosting your kids, no matter how noisy and rowdy they may be. And because they often have quite a few different rooms, they offer you some peace from your children too.
Finally, holiday rentals can be ideal for thrifty travelers because they allow you to use a kitchen and do your own cooking. When you’re on holiday in a foreign country, it can be disheartening to see all the money you’ve saved up go toward restaurant lunches and dinners. Not only that, you can also get tired of the local cuisine after a while. We highly recommend choosing holiday rentals that have a kitchen you can use (that will be almost all of them) and taking full advantage of it.
So how do you find a good holiday rental? The boom of Airbnb has made the range of options wider than ever. You can now find house rentals, apartments, treehouses, caravans, trailers… and everything in-between. From eccentric accommodation to the most basic city apartment, you can find just what your family needs. However, we recommend booking your holiday rental ahead of time: it’s not rare to see the best Airbnbs booked up for up to 3 months.
And did you know that Airbnb wasn’t your only option? Some other great places to find a holiday rental include platforms like Expedia and TripAdvisor.
Try Airbnb with this link for $55 credit towards your stay.
5. House Exchange
What if you could get a holiday rental…without the rent? If you have a nice house in your home city, you might be able to exchange it for the space of a few days, weeks, or even months. Platforms like Houseexchange.com or Lovehomeswap.com have over 50,000 listings each for houses in every part of the world. From 10-bedroom villas to smaller condos, you can browse through endless lists and find a place that’ll be perfect for your family to stay in.
Usually, these platforms work with a yearly membership that can be a bit costly. But if you travel regularly and don’t want to sublet your home, it can be a great way to see another part of the world… almost for free!
For children, staying in a swapped house has a lot of the same advantages as staying in an Airbnb. This option offers you:
- Homely comfort
- Several rooms and private space for different family members
- Room for your children to run around and play
- The possibility to cook all your own meals
And did you know that swapping houses could even win you some new friends? Sites like Homeexchange.com encourage members to message each other directly to discuss swapping houses. Often, they end up sharing more than just their house. They share tips on the best places to visit in the area, their favorite restaurants and hiking routes… And it’s not rare for these messages to turn into a lifelong connection with a family from the other side of the globe.
6. House Sitting
House sitting is one of the best ways to travel with your family for free. Platforms like Trustedhousesitters.com offer you a chance to live in somebody’s house in exchange for a few services. Those usually involve things like watering their plants, looking after the garden, and more often than not looking after animals like cats and dogs.
This is not an option for everyone: using house sitting platforms, you’re less likely to find accommodation in an area that’s popular with tourists. You also won’t be as free as you might like to. For example, you might have a dog to walk three times a day or some cleaning to do each week.
But if you don’t mind a bit of extra work, house sitting can be a great way to really “live like locals” with your family. You probably will find yourself in a more residential area where it’s easier to meet locals. Not staying in a hostel might encourage you to venture out of your comfort zone a bit more. And of course, it’s a great way to find much nicer accommodation than what you could otherwise afford.
Couchsurfing and Volunteering
I’ve included this option at the very bottom of our list because they’re not the easiest one when traveling with kids. That being said, adventurous families in search of an alternative lifestyle may find that they work perfectly for them. Let’s take a closer look:
7. Couchsurfing
Couchsurfing is a platform where travelers (usually singles or couples) can find a couch to sleep on in a local’s house or apartment. Ever since the website (now also an app) launched in 2003, it’s been rapidly growing in popularity. Today, there are thousands of listings in all four corners of the world. Some offer just a piece of sofa, others will give you a private bedroom with en-suite. Among them, you’ll occasionally find a few that accept families with children.
Couchsurfing as a family can be a bit like visiting friends or family… except you’re meeting the people for the first time. If you manage to find a host who shares the same values or has similar interests, it could also be a great opportunity to make new friends.
Couch surfing is free, except for a onetime membership fee that you’ll have to pay to use the platform. However, your accommodation is far from being guaranteed. It can sometimes take a few trials before you find someone who accepts to host you. If you’re traveling with children, make sure to start sending requests way ahead of time—and have a plan B ready in case couchsurfing doesn’t work out!
8. Volunteering and work exchange
For the most adventurous among us, volunteering with your whole family can be a great way to have a meaningful holiday—and get some cheap accommodation along the way.
There are a couple of different ways you could do that. The most popular one is to use platforms like Workaway, WWOOF, or WorldPackers. You’ll be able to see thousands of listings on their websites and filter for ones that accept families. From then on, your options are pretty much limitless: volunteer on a farm, in a language school abroad or in an ecological community. And of course, with programs such as these, your children aren’t expected to do any work.
Final Words
When it comes to finding travel accommodation for your family, you have a lot of options. You can stay:
- In a hotel
- At a hostel
- In a resort
- In a holiday rental
- At a house you’ve exchanged with your home
- At a house you’re sitting
- With another family
- At a volunteer project
Every choice will give you a completely different experience. Do you prefer to travel like a local? Or to have someone do your planning for you? Are you willing to spend a bit more on accommodation? Or do you want to spend less money on accommodation so you can travel for longer?
We hope our little guide on how to find travel accommodations for your family has helped you make sense of all your options. And remember, to find the very best travel accommodation, you sometimes have to think outside the box a bit!
