Thrifty Accommodation- How We Saved With Airbnb

Last updated on April 9th, 2015 at 05:24 am

We think of ourselves as budget travelers so we  wanted to find the best price for flights when we were ready to commit to leaving to travel. Rob searched the internet for days and months before he found the cheapest prices. He booked our tickets with West Jet, Calgary to Miami where we thought we would spend a week or so in Miami Beach and then carry on from Fort Lauderdale to Cartagena. The flights, all told came to less than $1000 Canadian! Such a great deal.

We would need a weeks accommodation in South Beach and a couple of nights in Fort Lauderdale.

Hmmmmmmmm

Sounds expensive……..

And it definitely could have been but we decided to book with Airbnb and that saved us a bundle.

We stayed with 2 hosts,  1 in Miami Beach and 1 in Dania beach Fort Lauderdale. Both experiences were great, both places were as advertised or better and the locations were close to things we wanted to see for a fraction of a hotel stay. What I really enjoy about Airbnb is you get to experience a place in a local environment which helps you get to know a place better and saves you money in the process. Here are some of the details from our stay in Dania Beach:

Albert stayed in a small trailer he has at the back of his property so we had the entire cottage to ourselves. He checked in to introduce himself and welcome us. He was such a gracious host and ensured we had everything we needed to enjoy our stay letting us know there was breakfast fixings in the fridge for us in the morning. We were truly blown away by the awesome accommodation and his generosity. Albert even invited us to come for an ice cream at his second job at Jaxson’s in Dania Beach where he graciously took care of our bill and treated us to a great American experience at an iconic ice cream parlor

Albert’s place was definitely better than advertised so we took lots of pictures as soon as we arrived. We didn’t photograph Ni’s place in Miami Beach but is was exactly what we wanted, a small apartment with everything we needed to be comfortable. All and all Airbnb is a great way to get a place to stay with more room and cooking options than a hotel stay for a lot less money. You can choose to book longer time frames on Air BnB and this improves the cost per night even more.

We will continue to use Airbnb and on a personal note, in Albert’s case, having the opportunity to get to know someone in Dania Beach made our time there so much more memorable.

Thanks Albert.