What is the difference between a Bed & Breakfast and Airbnb?

Nowadays people travel the world on different occasions, and they’re always looking for a place to stay. In today’s article, we’ll talk about two of the most popular options, what they offer and what’s the difference between them.

What is Bed & Breakfast?

Bed and Breakfast are usually small properties that offer overnight accommodation and homemade breakfast. Often they are private family homes, and the hosts themselves live on the estate. For the most part, a B&B is built from charming old houses with a homey atmosphere. If you’re someone that wants a cosy place in a historic building while interacting with new people, a stay in a Bed and Breakfast might just be perfect for you.

The Advantages of Bed & Breakfast

• Delicious homemade Breakfast – as you probably guessed from the name a fresh breakfast is included in the price of the stay every morning. Most times, breakfast is enjoyed by all guests at the same time in a common area or in your room for an additional fee.
• Personalized experience – if you’re someone that doesn’t like the impersonal nature of hotel rooms, a B&B stay is exactly what you need since the innkeepers can provide you with friendly service and individualized suggestions.
• Activity options – most inns offer a variety of scheduled events each day, on the property or nearby attractions. 
• Local insight – if you want to experience the local life, a B&B usually has a built-in tour guide to provide all the local insight that you want when visiting a new place.
• Meeting new people – on an estate such as a B&B you’ll have the unique opportunity to connect with others, and depending on what you’re looking for, this might be a pro or a con.

The Disadvantages of Bed & Breakfast

• Lack of Amenities – even though most B&B offers unique amenities they might lack on the standard ones, which means you either have to be ready to compromise or book another option.
• Scheduled time – mostinns have a strict breakfast time and a specific lineup for the offered activities which can displease someone that doesn’t appreciate a schedule on holiday.
• Lack of privacy – if you want to enjoy some time to yourself or you simply want to stay in your group an inn might not provide you with the need for privacy.

What is Airbnb?

Airbnb is a platform that wants to make travel more inclusive and accessible to everyone. Always working towards achieving more for the millions of hosts and travellers that can list their space and book unique accommodations anywhere in the world. They will verify personal profiles and listings while maintaining an easy communicating system for hosts and guests. Their platform is secure and trusted to collect and transfer payments while a 24/7 support team is making sure things are right with you bookings, refunds, reimbursements etc.

The Advantages of Airbnb

• Large selection – this platform offers a wide variety of properties – apartments, houses, single rooms, suits, houseboats and even castles.
• Free listings – host don’t have to pay to promote their estate on Airbnb, the listing can include written descriptions, photographs with captions so that the guest can further understand and find what they’re looking for.
• Price decisions – Airbnb doesn’t decide the price of each property, the host does, and they can charge as much as they see fit per night, per week, or per month.
• Protection & safety – to ensure a smooth operation the platform holds the guest’s payment for 24 hours after check-in before releasing the funds to the host while having a Guarantee program that will cover property damages for owners.
• Search specifications – since Airbnb is a large platform, they offer different ways to search for properties such as type, amenities, language, price etc.
• Other services – with the company’s growth, they’ve expanded their offerings to include experiences and restaurants to create a full circle.

The Disadvantages of Airbnb

• Added Fees – the platform imposes a number of additional fees for guests between 0% and 20%, to cover the customer support they offer and for hosts 3% to 6% per reservation to cover processing costs.
• Damage – if hosts experience property damage, the Guarantee program might not cover everything, creating a considerable inconvenience.
• Not always objective – just like everything online, some hosts might not be as honest as others, that’s why you should check out the reviews and the experience others have had.
• Legality – in some countries the law forbids you to rent out properties which means you may be required to obtain special permits.

What’s the difference between a Bed & Breakfast and an Airbnb?

• The additional fees – usually inns don’t charge additional fees while Airbnb has service and cleaning fees. They offered properties on their website can have up to 20% fees, which can drive the cost up.
• The license and insurance – B&B properties are well insured and licensed people to operate the estate because the law demands it, wherein Airbnb you can make a reservation online, and the host doesn’t necessarily have formal training. But Airbnb’s Guarantee program makes sure you are insured and that a cancelled reservation can be reimbursed.   
• The Staff – most Airbnb’s don’t have staff on-site, all you have to do is retrieve a key from a lockbox and show yourself in. That’s not the case with a B&B where the staff or the host will greet you, show you around and sometimes escort you to your room.
• The breakfast part – as it is in the name the B&B offers a homemade breakfast that’s included in the price of your stay, where most Airbnb’s will have a kitchen that you can prepare your own meals.
• The personalized service – each B&B offers a very personal experience since most are built on a historic property, and the owner lives on-site. With Airbnb, you might never see your host, but your stay can be just as special depending on your needs.

While there are many benefits to staying in a B&B, some of the elements that certain people would find enduring may be less exciting to a different kind of customer, that’s where Airbnb comes in handy with a large variety of options. In the end, it comes down to the style of hospitality you want, and both will provide you with a unique experience. We would like to hear your opinion on the matter and if you have any more questions, write them in the comments below.