By Sam Kemmis | NerdWallet Staying at a beach house with friends can be a lot of fun. Deciding which house to rent via a poorly organized group chat? Not so much. Using vacation rental platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo for group trips makes sense.
In most cases, they’re more affordable than hotels for large groups, according to a 2022 NerdWallet analysis , and they foster group activities like cooking and playing games. So it’s hardly surprising that more than 80% of bookings on Airbnb are for groups, according to data shared by the platform. Yet these benefits come with trade-offs.
There’s the whole shared bathroom issue and the “which-couple-gets-the-much-nicer-bedroom” dilemma. But before check-in, there’s the question of which rental to choose that matches the group’s preferences. In May, Airbnb added features aimed at making group travel easier to plan, including shared wish lists and group messaging with hosts.
These features smooth out some of the logistics of planning a group trip, yet no feature in an app will make herding cats (i.e., your friends and family) easy.
Here are some tips and guidelines to help your group communicate when choosing your next vacation rental. Determining how much everyone is willing to pay is probably the most fundamental question facing your group. It’s also the one most likely to be skirted.
Talking about money can feel uncomfortable or embarrassing, yet failing to do so can lead the group to spend more than everyone is comfo.