Originally Posted by
iahphx
Elliott then goes on to tackle the rising cost of hotel rooms (a genuine concern). He cites one unnamed study that says the cost of an "economy " hotel room is now $164. That seems incredibly wrong. But then instead of just recommending websites like priceline, he offers this suggestion:
"Travelers are attacking this kind of vacation inflation by choosing alternative accommodations, like camping, staying with friends, or short-term rentals. New online sites such as Homeaway.com and Forgetaway.com are connecting travelers to some of these non-hotel options. One of the biggest shifts, though, is happening in the minds of travelers, as they begin to treat a room as nothing more than a bed to sleep in."
Huh? There's certainly something to be said for camping, but I know few people who do it as an alternative to staying in a hotel. And there's much to recommend a vacation rental, but cost isn't the primary consideration (space to spread out would be). I also see no evidence that consumers are suddenly flocking to "no frills" downmarket hotels to save money. To the contrary, it seems that a more affluent America is becoming even fussier with their hotel selections.
In short, this stuff is as full of holes as swiss cheese. Surely they can find someone who would be more helpful to their readers.
I guess it depends on what kind of travelling you do and what circles you run in.
My standard family of four travelled through Europe the last two summers with a mix of camping, nice hotels and budget hotels. I'd say that the camping we'd done in the past had no financial basis. We just wanted to camp for camping's sake. The last few years have had the budget as a motivating factor.
I either pack or buy a cheap tent upon arrival. We camp out of the car only when other accommodations are unavailable or budget wreckers or if the area is a place we really want to camp anyway. Out of 38 days last summer, we camped about 5 nights. We spent the rest of the time either at IC hotels, nice non-chain hotels, or at French budget motel chains.
We came to this mix through experience, but primarily because we've seen hotel prices rise exorbitantly over the last 4-5 years. The only way we could continue the type of travelling we do is to use some form of the mix we have to keep the budget in line, because simple bargainhunting is not enough. Furthermore, if you do book everything ahead of time, you sometimes trap yourself.
The savings can be dramatic and when there's no room at the inn for a family of 4, the tent in the trunk is a real comfort zone.
I'd figure the tent saved us from $500-$1000. Sometimes they want to sell two rooms for a family of four. Avoiding those situations is really nice and the camping is usually more memorable anyway.