Money (still) isn’t everything.
Really Experience a New Culture
It’s one thing to travel somewhere new, visit the sites, explore during the day, eat local foods, be immersed in local language, and then head back to your average hotel to sleep for the night. It’s entirely another to head back to a home with a host, stay as a guest, and experience how they truly live.
During all of my stays in Airbnbs, I’ve had the opportunity to meet and interact with the host and learn about their lives and their culture. During our stay in Mexico City, we spent hours talking to our host about the local culture and things going on. It was a culture shock, wandering through the small inner courtyard of the apartment complex and watching kids play soccer, using a kitchen the size of my walk in closet, and really seeing exactly how people live. A generic cookie-cutter hotel will never immerse you in the culture in the same way.
Develop Communication Skills
Good hosts all want you to have the best stay possible, and will bend over backwards to make sure you are comfortable in their home. As a guest, it’s a great opportunity to practice kindness and patience if something isn’t what you expected. Should issues arise, these are good opportunities to practice conflict resolution.
Human Presence
When you are traveling alone, then sometimes it’s nice to have other bodies under the same roof, regardless of whether or not you know them. It can make you feel a little less alone in the world. It’s a different feeling, having a host verses having a hotel staff.
There are risks...
... but there are far greater rewards.