How addicted are you to Egyptian cotton sheets and fluffy towels? Does room service and a mini bar m

Save on your stay: 10 cheap family accommodation alternatives Home Explore Best Of Adventure Ideas Talking Points Inspiring Talks Partnering About Contact Family Adventure national rental cars emerald club Project Ideas and inspiration to make family life active, national rental cars emerald club adventurous and interesting Ideas Adventure Ideas Adventure Vacations Arts Culture Attractions Big Adventures Cities Conservation Customs Culture Days Out Everyday Adventures Food Have a Go Learning Mini Adventures Museums Music Nature Wildlife Places national rental cars emerald club to Stay Road Trip Activities national rental cars emerald club Gear Biking Climbing Hiking Paddling national rental cars emerald club Riding Sailing Gear Destinations Australasia Pacific Independent Samoa New Zealand North America Canada USA South America Argentina Chile Ecuador Eastern Europe Estonia Hungary Latvia Lithuania Poland Slovakia Western national rental cars emerald club Europe Aland Austria Denmark national rental cars emerald club England Faroe Islands Finland France Germany Holland Iceland Italy Northern Ireland Scotland Spain Philosophy Adventure Parenting Education Journeying Parenting Risk Seasons Adventure Islands Accessible Germany national rental cars emerald club Algarve Adventure Berlin Stories Costa Brava Family Adventure Capital Iceland Reykjavik Jubilympics Liverpool Wonderland Orlando Theme Parks Sleepover Season national rental cars emerald club Titanic Twin Theme Parks Journeys The Big Trip Blue Danube Beyond Baltic Madness Camino de Santiago Coast to Coast The Italian Job Lands End John O Groats South American Honeymoon Featured , Places to Stay October 11, 2013 Cheap ways to stay: Top 10 alternatives to a hotel Yurt in forest Homestay national rental cars emerald club New Zealand Homestay New Zealand Eco Pod Camping Bracondale Guest House Blackpool
How addicted national rental cars emerald club are you to Egyptian cotton national rental cars emerald club sheets and fluffy towels? Does room service and a mini bar make you feel secure? Or are you tired of paying through the nose for a hotel room with the personality, human warmth and value for money of a bedpost? I ve written before about tips for saving national rental cars emerald club cash while travelling , but here s something more specific: our recommendations national rental cars emerald club for cheap family accommodation, ways to stay  that offer something a little different… 1 The Guest House (or B B)
I've always been a bit snobby about Bed Breakfast (B Bs). Living in the English Lake District I've driven past countless chintz curtains with imaginary landladies frowning behind them. But the rise of the boutique (or sometimes just better) B has made my ideas outdated; down the road from me in Arnside, No 43 has swept the board with awards and with recommendations from national newspapers based on high standards of service, design and view.
The obvious advantage of a B B over a hotel is the personal touch of the owner. And some have more of a personal touch than others. On a recent stay at Bracondale Guest House in Blackpool, owners Keith and Neil gave us welcome drinks, organised a game of roulette for the kids, invited us to bring our fish and chips in rather than sitting on the prom in the cold, and sat up drinking wine with us for most of the night. (At the kind of price you pay for a bottle of wine in a supermarket.) They even had a hot tub.  And they topped it off with a gigantic breakfast. There are millions of Keith and Neil's across the world. Check them out before you make the kind of judgement I did.
Any family with more than two children will know how expensive a hotel can be; especially in a city. And especially in the UK, where I have found them less willing than other European countries to provide family rooms where you all squash in and share beds. Renting a whole apartment can be a much cheaper alternative. And if you are reluctant to lose the concierge service and the free map on arrival, you should check out one of a handful of sites that offer hosted apartments. There are several benefits to booking a hosted national rental cars emerald club apartment. You are renting it from a real person so you have the help of someone on the ground national rental cars emerald club who really knows the area.
Yet once you have gleaned the information you need, then they disappear, leaving you to enjoy their home. (Or in many cases 2 nd home.) And it's a real home, equipped with the things you actually need when travelling as a family. Like scissors for cutting the rind off bacon, snipping at a roll of sticking plasters or removing the price from emergency socks. Like kitchen roll for cleaning bike chains and sorting out wine spills and sick. Like a washing machine for purging the baby's bib. As eating out is one of the big expenses of travel there's a clear financial advantage national rental cars emerald club to having a kitchen. And catering for the fussy eaters becomes less stressful. You also won't have to fight other families for a high chair or worry about the mess. There is room and privacy to discipline anyone national rental cars emerald club who misbehaves, (our toddlers were disappointed to discover apartments in New Zealand had a naughty stair too) and you won't need to fret about tantrums disturbing anyone in adjacent rooms.
You are usually able to communicate with your host directly, in advance, which is useful for sorting out logistics and itineraries. As well as a comfortable night's stay, our various hosts have helped us out with booking vans, storing bikes, finding embassies and family friendly cafes, and parking the car for a whole month for free. The facilities available on the premises are clearly listed on the booking sites, with an option to search for what you actually need. (We always instantly rule out anywhere without internet access.) And you can also find yourself in some extraordinary locations. national rental cars emerald club This summer we rented an apartment formerly owned by a former ballerina and papal secretary, overlooking national rental cars emerald club Heroes Square in Budapest. We could never have afforded a hotel in this location.
There are several search sites that offer a comprehensive range of destinations and accommodation. HomeAway is a big player in the market and has been going since 1996, with over 500,000 customer reviews under its belt.  Airbnb , invented by two young San Franciscan residents who began by putting up guests on lilos on their apartment floor, now has a foot in the door of homes in 34,000 cities. (Who knew that many cities even existed?) You can rent anything from one room to a whole island through this online site.
If you are planning to visit Europe with your family, one booking site worth checking out is HouseTrip . It has over 200,000 rental properties and a substantial percentage national rental cars emerald club of those are whole houses or apartments. "Our site was started by people with experience in the hospitality industry instead of high tech entrepreneurs, says Ryan Levitt, Global PR Director for HouseTrip, "And this makes a difference. We have a hospitality training centre for hosts and a loyalty programme for customers if you book 10 nights national rental cars emerald club you get one free."
An article in The Guardian voted Housetrip the best online apartment national rental cars emerald club rental site for families . (Airbnb was also recommended.) I ask Ryan if he can recommend a good deal for my family; "Budapest national rental cars emerald club is one of the most affordable cities for a family break. And if you're looking for somewhere to go this New Year, then Barcelona is great value," he says. Even at the magic hour on New Year's Eve this Spanish city can beat other destinations for affordability. "At the stroke of midnight, they eat 12 grapes."
While admittedly its nice to take over someone s apartment while they re not there, don t rule out a family room in a shared house. If you are a large family you might balk at getting your children to behave at someone national rental cars emerald club else s breakfast table but if you do your homework first, and check they are happy to have five kids and a toy puppy rampaging up and down the stairs, then you might find you really do feel at home. We are still in touch with our New Zealand hosts from eight years ago who made us delicious apple pie and got us a slot on local TV. And we had the most memorable Christmas dinner in the home of a Finnish family. Yes the children hated the salted fish. But the hot tub afterwards more than made up for it.
The best thing about a house exchange is it is free. It also provides peace of mind that your house is occupied while you are away. Did you see the film The Holiday starring national rental cars emerald club Cameron Diaz? She did a house swap with Kate Winslet. There were clear added benefits to that one; ie Jude Law. You are probably not going to get Jude Law thrown in with your deal. Unless you house swap with Jude Law s wife or Mum. And even then ! But putting Jude law aside, exchanging national rental cars emerald club your home with another family ensures you get a fully functioning family home. It s can be a bit of a lottery, but if you choose carefully and read the small print then you might strike holiday gold. Choosing the right search engine for you will help; if you re a broadsheet reader then using The Guardian site may enable you to hook up with another broadsheet reader.
Obviously a certain amount national rental cars emerald club of trust is required national rental cars emerald club between the two parties national rental cars emerald club doing the swap. But sometimes it is good to trust the universe. And some of those it works for are quite angelic about the initiative  calling it a life swap. Let s hope not a wife swap though. Anyway there are loads of sites offering to match-make on the house front; try HomeExchange.com  or Love Home Swap which has 46,000 national rental cars emerald club properties on its books. Or download The Holiday for inspiration. 4 Farmstay
This isn't a bed for the night, it's an education. There are just two drawbacks; one night is never enough, and farmstays can be more expensive than a B B. On our last farmstay , at Posestvo Trnulja on the Ljubljana marshes in Slovenia, we hung out with the donkeys and goats, learnt about hemp farming and ate a five star organic breakfast (which wierdly included donkey salami.) It was well worth the cost. If you're in the UK check out www.farmstay.co.uk
There's nothing national rental cars emerald club like falling asleep to water lapping under your bed. Not literally! I mean under the boat. And it's easier to book a boat than you might think. national rental cars emerald club There are plenty of websites that can hook you up with a narrow boat holiday, like WaterwaysHolidays.com .  Or you can deal directly with the owner yourself. My sister in law has a narrowboat rental business , and it