About the Hotel vs Vacation Rental Calculator
This hotel vs vacation rental calculator compares the total cost of a trip in a hotel against a vacation rental such as an Airbnb or Vrbo home. Nightly rates rarely tell the full story: rentals add cleaning and service fees, hotels add resort fees and parking, both add lodging taxes, and having a kitchen changes how much you spend on food. Enter the numbers for both options and see which is cheaper overall, per night and per person.
It suits families and groups who would need more than one hotel room, travellers weighing a short city break against a longer stay, and anyone comparing a listing’s headline price with a hotel quote. The calculator also finds the break-even trip length: because a rental’s cleaning fee is charged once, rentals usually get relatively cheaper the longer you stay.
Taxes are applied to the room rate plus any resort fee for the hotel, and to the nightly total plus cleaning fee for the rental; the rental service fee is a percentage of the same subtotal. Fee and tax rules vary by city and platform, so use the figures shown on your actual quotes.
With the default inputs, the you save with the cheaper option is $474.60. Change any value above to recalculate instantly.
How to use the hotel vs vacation rental calculator
- 1Enter the number of nights and guests.
- 2Fill in the hotel rate, how many rooms your group needs, any resort fee, tax and parking.
- 3Fill in the rental’s nightly rate, cleaning fee, service fee and tax from the listing’s price breakdown.
- 4Estimate daily food spending for each option — usually lower when you have a kitchen.
- 5Compare the totals, per-guest cost and break-even trip length.
Formula and method
The hotel cost multiplies the nightly room rate H plus any resort fee r by the number of rooms k and nights N, then adds lodging tax tₕ. Parking is charged per night and food per guest per day. The rental cost starts from the nightly total N·V plus the one-time cleaning fee C, then adds the platform service fee s and lodging tax tᵥ as percentages of that subtotal, plus parking and food.
Because the cleaning fee is paid once, a rental’s cost per night falls the longer you stay. The break-even length is the rental’s fixed cost C(1 + s + tᵥ) divided by how much more the hotel costs per night than the rental. If the hotel is cheaper per night, it stays cheaper however long the trip.
- N, G, k
- Nights, guests and hotel rooms
- H, r, tₕ
- Hotel nightly rate, resort fee and tax rate
- V, C
- Rental nightly rate and cleaning fee
- s, tᵥ
- Rental service fee and tax rate
- P, F
- Parking per night and food per guest per day
Worked examples
Family of four, 5 nights: two hotel rooms vs a 2-bed rental
Two rooms at $189 for 5 nights is $1,890, plus 14% tax ($264.60), $125 parking and $1,100 food: $3,379.60. The rental is $1,600 plus a $150 cleaning fee, with 14% service fee and 12% tax on $1,750 ($455) and $700 food: $2,905. The rental saves $474.60.
Couple, 2 nights: one hotel room vs a studio rental
The hotel is 2 × $160 × 1.14 = $364.80 plus $50 parking and $200 food: $614.80. The rental is ($240 + $90) × 1.26 = $415.80 plus $180 food: $595.80, only $19 cheaper. The $90 cleaning fee (with fees and tax, $113.40) is recovered after about 1.7 nights, so a one-night stay would favour the hotel.
Week-long stay with a resort fee
Seven nights at $220 plus a $35 resort fee is $1,785; with 14% tax that is $2,034.90, plus $210 parking and $840 food for $3,084.90. The rental is $1,680 plus $120 cleaning, with 14% service fee and 12% tax on $1,800 ($2,268), plus $560 food for $2,828 — $256.90 less than the hotel.
Frequently asked questions
Is Airbnb cheaper than a hotel?+
It depends on group size and trip length. For groups that would need two or more hotel rooms, and for stays of several nights where the one-time cleaning fee is spread out, a rental is often cheaper. For one or two people on a short stay, a hotel frequently wins once rental fees are added.
What fees do vacation rentals charge?+
Typical extras are a one-time cleaning fee, a guest service fee charged by the platform, and local occupancy or tourist taxes. Some hosts also add pet fees or charges for extra guests. Look at the full price breakdown before booking, not just the nightly rate.
What is a hotel resort fee?+
A resort or destination fee is a mandatory nightly charge added on top of the room rate, often covering Wi-Fi, a gym or pool access. It is usually taxed like the room rate. Enter it per room per night to compare honestly with a rental.
How much can I save by cooking in a rental?+
Having a kitchen lets you make breakfast and some dinners, which can cut daily food costs noticeably compared with eating every meal out. Enter your own realistic daily food budgets for each option; the calculator shows how much of the difference comes from food.
Why does the break-even length matter?+
A rental’s cleaning fee is fixed, so its cost per night falls as the stay gets longer while a hotel’s stays roughly flat. The break-even number of nights tells you the minimum stay at which the rental becomes the better deal.