Both Airbnb and Booking offer accommodation to different groups of people, but each one is focused on a sector.
The fundamental difference between the two is that Booking focuses on hotels and inns, while Airbnb focuses on renting rooms in ordinary people's homes.
But, is that all that should be considered when choosing the best way to stay in Europe? Discover in this article the particularities of each platform and see which is more worthwhile!
Airbnb or Booking: Website
Aesthetically, you can't deny that the Airbnb website is prettier, but it is less and less functional, as it can be a clumsy website that crashes less powerful computers. It's also tricky to filter by travel dates and find other important details.
Beauty is not Booking.com's strong suit, but its intelligence is second to none. The search can be filtered in many ways, such as by neighborhood, type of accommodation, location, price and other things I don't need yet. Everything is easy to use. Hotel maps make it easy to find the best location. He recently received a travel itinerary showing bookings in chronological order.
Airbnb or Booking: Loyalty programs and referrals
On Booking, frequent travelers join the Genius tier, which offers 10% off thousands of hotels around the world. I've been a Genius customer for a while now, and tourist towns almost always have discounted hotels.
More recently, Booking created a referral program where a user provides credit to another user and also receives value when the referred friend travels. Limit one trip per person.
Airbnb does not yet offer a loyalty program for its customers.
airbnb or Booking: Prices, Fees and Free Cancellation
Airbnb and Booking offer different booking policies. Many hotels and hosts do not accept accommodation cancellations. If you book and need to cancel your trip, you could lose 100% of your stay value.
On the other hand, many hotels and hosts accept free cancellation. But you have to pay attention to the date. The closer you are to the check-in date, the less chance you have of free cancellation. For Airbnb, dates are more complicated. I've seen hosts that only accept free cancellation one month before the hosting date.
Another advantage that Booking has over Airbnb is the hosting fees. When making the reservation, the daily rate is the amount you will pay. On Airbnb, most accommodations charge a notorious cleaning fee. Even registered hotels charge for it. And there is also a service fee, which is estimated as a commission for Airbnb.
For all its problems, when it comes to price, Airbnb offers some of the cheapest accommodation in the world. Generally, Airbnb is cheaper in big cities.
Some of the cities where Airbnb offers good accommodation options at lower prices than many hotels include Barcelona, Madrid, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and other large cities in first world countries, especially in the US, Canada and Europe.
In small towns in South America and elsewhere in the world, the most reliable accommodation with the best prices is almost always in hotels and hostels registered on Booking.com.