Many hotels are not cleaning daily now but I do understand it's easier for them. But, I've had AirBnB stays that had a $150 cleaning fee. I was visiting my mom who was terminal and we wanted a house where my brother, sister, and nieces could also visit. I also used two places that allowed outside patio smoking because my mom was still smoking. It would have been a lot more difficult for her to go down a hall and possibly stairs at a hotel. I just wanted it to be easy for her. So, there are definite reasons to have a rental like this over a hotel. AirBnB does let you see Total Cost up front now and I believe you can search on it as well. My issue was that the first place required checkout by 10 am (earlier than most hotels). They texted me around 9 pm the night before departure with additional instructions. They wanted me to wash and dry the towels and sheets. They wanted me to collect all trash, take it to the outside cans and then carry those cans to the curb. There were a few other things that I believe the cleaning fee should have covered. To top it off, there was a category 4 hurricane that caused me to cut my trip short.

We had planned on getting one of the MANY cheap hotels in the area for Wed-Sat since half the family was leaving Wednesday. The rental knew this because we had asked about extending because all the hotels were booked due to the storm. I'm not sure that last part would have been any different with a hotel but we certainly wouldn't be trying to get up early to do all this extra stuff. I had planned on getting up when I absolutely needed to because I had a long drive ahead. I ended up texting them saying I did everything except take the bins to the curb because they'd probably be blown away anyway. For story closure, I ended up dropping my mom back at her apartment in Plant City because it had a generator, she lived on the 6th floor, and it was a senior housing complex. My boyfriend and I ended up driving to Chattanooga and working from our hotel room till Saturday and then drove back to St. Louis. We went back a month later.

All that being said, I'm glad I had the option to relax and visit with my mom before she passed away. One of the homes even had a small pool so the kids had fun and my mom felt like they were visiting her while she sat outside. Most other times, a hotel is just easier. The days of hosts actually caring about what they present is gone. Or maybe not gone, but there are a LOT of just pure money makers now.