Based on my own experience, booking a cheap (and/or refundable) hotel for the first night is definitely the easier route.

You don't actually have to stay there a single night if you do a proper PSB registration (in my case, that was easy and done in a few minutes online through their app), but if you're planning on staying with your friends/relatives without PSB registration, I'd suggest you stay the first night at an hotel for real, so they'll have a record of you registrating somewhere.