Hotel rooms now cheaper than Airbnbs in these Kiwi cities

Is it cheaper to book a hotel or BnB in these cities? Photo / Jason Leung; Maria Ziegler, Unsplash

Airbnb is no longer a budget option, though this might not be a surprise to travellers.

Auckland has been revealed as one of 25 global cities where the average hotel room is now cheaper than a private rental, with the average Airbnb 19 per cent more expensive across these cities.

UK consumer watchdog Which? compared 30 the cost per night for a single traveller in over 300,000 accommodation options across the globe, getting prices from Airbnb and Vrbo over the course of a year.

The study last year found that the average BnB in Tamaki Makaurau was around $56 more expensive than a hotel room, or roughly 7 per cent.

This made Auckland the 12th dearest option for picking a BnB over a Hotel and the only Kiwi inclusion on the list.

Amsterdam, London and Singapore were the three most expensive places to opt in for a private rental, with a Hotel in the Dutch capital costing on average −$138 (or 36 per cent) less than the equivalent BnB. In Singapore and London the gap was around $124.

“Many holidaymakers may be surprised to discover that the average cost of hotels in many destinations is cheaper than one-bedroom holiday lets, which are often promoted as a popular option for travellers trying to save money,” said Rory Boland, editor of Which?.

Auckland is not the only Kiwi city where booking a suite in a hotel may still work out cheaper.

Hotels were found to be the budget option in three of the top ten most searched destinations in New Zealand.

Where are the best value hotels and BnBs in New Zealand?

When online rental sites like Airbnb were started 30 years ago, the were launched to provide affordable accommodation and an alternative to hotels.

For travellers looking to get away for the Easter long weekend - March 29 to April 1, 2024 - there’s little difference between private rentals at all.

Looking at a booking for two people, the median BnB in Wellington was $3 more expensive than a hotel.

Comparing the top 100 listings on Airbnb for the long weekend to room prices of Hotels listed via Booking.com, hotels came out as the cheaper options in three out of the ten most popular cities.

The median price for hotels in Wellington, Wanaka and Kaikoura were all cheaper, from a couple of dollars to almost $90 cheaper in Kaikoura.

While the availability over the busy weekend affected numbers, bigger cities helped bring down prices for travellers on a budget.

In Auckland hotels were more pricey than a private accommodation rental, but barely.

The nightly cheapest hotel rate was just $2.67 more expensive than a BnB, with almost an equal number of Airbnb listings as hotel rooms in the city.

This difference was around $20 in Christchurch, where there were 1.7 private listings for every hotel room, up to around $29 in Dunedin, where this rises to more than 6.6 BnBs per hotel room.

It seems the further from an urban hub the more expensive hotels become compared with private listings on websites like Airbnb.

Queenstown had the most expensive average hotel room over Easter at $663 per night, versus the cheapest average hotel room which was found in Wellington for $221pn.

Meanwhile the most expensive BnBs were also found in Wānaka at $872pn, followed by Kaikōura, $412pn and Queenstown $334pn.