Cheap Accommodation: The Best 69 Travel Resources in 2024
When it comes to planning a vacation or a trip, the biggest chunk of your budget goes for accommodation.
So, finding the cheapest possible accommodation you’ll feel comfortable with is a huge task.
Fortunately, there are gazillion online resources to help you compare prices and book a cheap accommodation option during your travels.
Unfortunately, you don’t know where to start.
Luckily, you’re in the right place, because this massive list of 69 trustworthy, reliable, and authoritative resources will provide you with information and links for every possible kind of accommodation you might want or need!
So dig in and don’t forget to share it with your friends – I’m sure they’re looking for the perfect cheap accommodation as well.
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Cheap Accommodation: The Best 69 Resources For Your Travels
Jump directly to:
- Free Accommodation: You Pay No Money, But Exchange Your Time, Skills And Comforts
- Cheap Accommodation: After All, You’re Renting It, You’re Not Buying The Place
- Start Planning Your Next Big Adventure And Go Book Your Cheap Accommodation Now
Free Accommodation: Instead Of Money, Exchange Your Time, Skills, And Comforts
What’s even better than cheap accommodation?
That’s right – free accommodation!
The big advantage of the free accommodation options is, of course, that they’re free.
The big disadvantage, however, is that they come with a lot of limitations. Lack of privacy, possible lack of comfort, and destination choice, to name a few.
Still, if you’re ready to put up with the cons, the pros might be huge.
If that’s your kind of accommodation, the following resources are for you.
Staying with Friends and Relatives
This one might seem pretty obvious to you, but how often did you actually take a trip to visit an old friend from school or your cousin at the other end of the country?
- Facebook: log in, find your friends and relatives, start (re)connecting with them, and eventually take the trip to their home. Or join a few FB groups and connect with fellow travelers around the world. Eventually, you can home swap with them.
Couchsurfing Communities
If you haven’t lived under a rock in the past 10 years, then you must have heard about Couchsurfing already. Still, if you are unsure what it is and how exactly it works, check out this Couchsurfing 101 guide.
In a nutshell, it is the perfect option to make new friends in new places and explore with the help of a local. Read some of the experiences other travellers have had using this type of free accommodation before arranging to stay in a stranger’s house.
- Couchsurfing: the biggest and most popular couch surfing community.
- Warm Showers: the basic idea is to provide touring cyclists with a place to crash.
- Global Freeloaders: make new friends whilst seeing the world from a local’s perspective.
Home Swaps
You get to stay at my home, while I stay at yours. A pretty good deal, isn’t it? The sites themselves charge a small membership fee, but that’s also how you know the offers are real.
To learn more about home swapping, read this story.
- Home Exchange: with 65,000+ homes in over 150 countries it will be hard to choose.
- Love Home Swaps: Swap Points make it easy for you to arrange trips – no need to match dates and locations with other members. You earn Swap Points when another member stays in your home and you don’t stay at theirs, then use them to travel when it suits you.
- Intervac: pet care might be involved in the deal.
- HomeBase Holidays: if you don’t find a swap, your membership for the 2nd year will be free.
- HomeLink: the leader in home exchange since 1953.
- Seniors Home Exchange: exclusively for the 50+ age group.
- Knok: a family travel network. Swap your home or rent an apartment.
- Invented City: if you don’t find a swap, your membership for the 2nd year will be free.
- Matching Houses: holiday house exchange where people with disabilities swap houses with other people who have the same accessibility needs.
- Sabbatical Homes: academic destinations, homes for rent, exchange, or sitting.
- Guest To Guest: works with GuestPoint system. No subscription fee, no transaction fee. 187 countries, 200 000+ homes.
House and Pet Sitting
Making sure the host’s property is safe and his pet(s) are fed and loved while he’s away. Almost free, as the memberships usually cost as little as a single night at a hotel.
- Trusted Housesitters: stay for free in return for caring for pets and homes. 60,000+ pet-loving members in 147 countries. A small membership fee is due for both parties.
- Mind My House: brings homeowners and house sitters together. Only sitters pay a small membership fee.
- House Carers: the site provides a confidential secure matching system. House sitters pay a small membership fee.
- Luxury House Sitting: for a small fee, you can stay in luxurious homes all around the world while taking care of the owner’s property and pets.
- Nomador: there’s a free limited option for house sitters and a paid option with more flexibility.
Volunteering
AKA work in exchange for free accommodation (and sometimes meals).
- WWOOF: work anywhere in the world on organic farms. Linking volunteers with organic farms and growers.
- HelpX: a listing of host organic farms, non-organic farms, farm stays, homestays, ranches, lodges, B&Bs, backpackers hostels and even sailing boats that invite volunteer helpers to stay with them short-term in exchange for food and free accommodation.
- Work Away: a resource for anyone interested in cultural exchange and learning, who’s ready to help out for a few hours a day in exchange for food and accommodation. Make a difference in the communities you visit, while putting your existing skills to good use, or trying something new you‘d never normally get to do.
- World Packers: find amazing spots around the world where you can live for free in exchange for a few hours of work per week. Some of the listings also provide meals, laundry, different tours, and activities.
- Find A Crew: if living on a boat is your kind of adventure, this is your best resources.
- Farm Stays: work on a farm in exchange for free accommodation and meals. Different resources serve different destinations:
- Go Cambio: in exchange for a bed and a few home-cooked meals, all you have to do is spend a few hours of your time helping your host (or their kids) improve their skills, giving them lessons in e.g. English, cooking, guitar playing, or even programming.
- Work-to-stay at hostels: show up at a hostel and ask if they need help in exchange for accommodation. Simple as that. Here’s how exactly it’s done.
Unusual Stays
Those free accommodation ideas aren’t for everyone. You need to be a little adventurous or even crazy to do some of these. But hey, that’s how the best travel memories are made!
- Monastery stays: for an offbeat accommodation, stay at a monastery. Some stays are free or donation-based, while others are as expensive as a hotel room, but offer a totally different experience.
- Good Night And God Bless: a listing of monasteries’ contact information with short descriptions.
- Monasteries.com: a booking website for monastery stays. The website features a tonne of historical buildings in Europe. Most of the properties are in Italy, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom. Your place to book a cheap room in an 11th-century old building!
- Tent camping: in many countries, wild camping in a tent is free. For example, on the beaches of Mexico, in the mountains of Norway, in the steppes of Mongolia, or on the Great Wall of China to name a few. The latter is not perfectly legal, by the way. Of course, you have to consider the one-time cost of equipment.
- Overnight transportation: not the most comfortable option, but you’ll save money and time, so it’s worth considering.
- Sleeping in public places: again, not a very comfortable option, but it’s free. Some of the best places to do it for various reasons are airports.
- Squatting: stay on a property that’s owned by someone else without their permission. Some estimates suggest that 1 in 7 people worldwide are living as squatters! This includes shantytowns where families build shacks on land that they don’t own. However, in many countries squatting is illegal.
Cheap Accommodation: You’re Renting It, You’re Not Buying The Place
If you don’t want to exchange your time, skills or comforts, but instead pay for your bed, below are a few resources to help you find the kind of accommodation to match your needs. In this section, you’ll find cheap accommodation options which will not break the bank.
Camping
Every country seems to have its own rules on camping, so make sure to check them, before heading on.
- camping.info: find details for 20,000+ campsites in Europe, as well as ratings and reviews.
- Reserve America: Campgrounds, marinas, and more, as well as camping tips and guides.
- Euro Campings: find the location of your perfect vacation among almost 10,000 campsites in 30 countries, inspected every year.
- Glamping: warning: not cheap at all! But the listings on this site and the experience they offer are well worth the money.
Huts, Cabins, and Bungalows
Whether high in the mountains or directly on the beach, huts, cabins, and bungalows are always cheap accommodation options, covering your very basic needs. For the cheapest deals, you probably need to search at your travel destination and perhaps negotiate. Very few online booking resources are available.
- Mountain Huts: for hikers, trekkers, mountain bikers, climbers, and mountaineers. Includes an interactive map and reviews of over 560 European mountain huts.
- Mountain-Huts.net: an interactive map of mountain huts in the Balkan countries.
Hostels
From a single bed in a dorm with a shared bathroom to private rooms and even suites, hostels offer cheap accommodation for every budget as well as a unique atmosphere you can’t find anywhere else.
While there is a huge amount of online booking sites, the cheapest option remains booking directly with the hostel of your choice. And while the same booking sites offer a ton of reviews, the best recommendations usually come from fellow travelers or friends.
- Hostel World, Hostels.com, Hostel Bookers: all three websites belong to the same company. Still, with 33,000 properties (hostels, hotels, B&Bs) in 170 countries and over 8 million verified guest reviews, one of the biggest search databases.
- Hi USA: Unique hostels across the United States. Think of historic buildings, bright lofts, and unusual structures. Hi USA is a nonprofit organization providing cultural experiences at affordable prices.
- Hostels Club: a young and vibrant company dedicated to providing budget travelers with a one-stop shop for their travel accommodation needs.
- Hostelz.com: compares prices on all major hostel booking sites to give you the option to select the best available price. Make sure you compare the type of room and facilities and not only the price before booking.
- Hotwire: great deals on hotels. The catch is that you don’t know which hotel exactly you’ll be staying in. The hotel name is first revealed after you pay for your room. Of course, you can still compare prices, approximate location, and ratings before deciding.
B&Bs and Guest Houses
If you only need a roof over your head and breakfast to start your day, this one is for you.
- Booking.com: the largest hotel booking website has dedicated B&B and guesthouses sections.
- Bed and Breakfast: the world’s number 1 online B&B directory.
Short-term Rentals
Do you want to live like a local? A short-term rental provides an authentic experience, which a hotel room or a hostel dorm will not give you.
- AirBnB: book homes from local hosts in 191+ countries and experience a place as if you lived there.
- Home Away, VRBO: these sites belong to the same company. They offer over 1 million live vacation rental listings in 190 countries – a huge database to search.
- Wimdu: Europe’s biggest portal for city apartments.
- Trip Advisor Rentals, Flip Key: both sites belong to Trip Advisor. Search for vacation rentals in 190 countries – cabins, condos, beach houses.
- 9Flats: a variety of affordable vacation rentals offered by individuals around the world. Choose from over 200,000 locations, including vacation apartments and rentals of all types.
- Home Stay In: invite international students and tourists to your home, meet people from around the world, share experiences, and make some money.
- Tripping: search other vacation rental sites, compare, and save on vacation homes and short-term rentals in 150,000 destinations worldwide.
Aggregators and Search Engines for the Cheapest Rates
Tip: Make sure you compare the rooms, too, not just the prices. Some sites will only display luxurious rooms and hence their prices will appear to be higher than the prices on a site where you can book the simplest available room at the same hotel.
- Trivago: find your ideal hotel for the best available price at the world’s biggest hotel search website.
- Hotels Combined: compare all the top travel sites in one simple search to find what you’re after.
- Kayak – Hotels: search hundreds of travel sites and save 25% or more on the same hotel.
- Momondo – Hotels: best prices on millions of hotel rooms worldwide.
Hotel Booking Sites
Search directly on these sites or find a hotel elsewhere and book it hassle-free on one of the booking sites below. Don’t forget to check the prices on the hotel’s own website or even call and ask for a special rate. You’ll be surprised how often you’ll get a discount by just asking, making your cheap accommodation even cheaper.
- Hotels.com, Expedia: these sites belong to the same company, so don’t be surprised if the hotel you booked asks if you’ve used Expedia after you’ve made a booking through Hotels.com.
- Booking.com: hotel rooms, resorts, hostels, guesthouses – you can find and book everything here. You’re only charged 10% of the price online, the rest is due at your destination.
- HRS: very good deals on hotel rooms and special conditions for business travelers. Right, you’re going on vacation, I forgot. But on your next business trip, check the rates.
- Trip Advisor: along with tons of useful travelers’ reviews, you can directly book a hotel here.
- Agoda: features every possible kind of cheap accommodation, even in the unlikeliest of locations.
- Travelocity: if you find a better price, they promise to match it, refund you the difference and even give you a $50 off your next booking.
- Hot Wire: offers last-minute deals.
- Priceline: you can name your own price.
- More Hotels 4 Less: cheap hotel rates that won’t max out your budget. They provide over 905,000 cheap hotels at 76,000+ destinations.
- Travel Zoo: search deals from thousands of recommended hotels.
Vacation Packages
Often you’ll get better prices if you book a flight and a hotel from the same site, or a vacation package from a travel agency than if you book every aspect of your vacation separately. Here are a few options for you:
- Loveholidays: the UK-based provider offers a variety of destinations and cheap accommodation options.
- First Choice: the home of all-inclusive holidays.
Some people find this option better as it saves them not only money but planning as well. For others, packages are just not flexible enough. But hey, everyone is different and so are their needs!
Start Planning Your Next Big Adventure By Booking Your Cheap Accommodation Now
You know what’s the best accommodation for you. Now, you also have the resources to find it.
Searching for cheap accommodation is a difficult task.
However, it shouldn’t be impossible.
Decide on your preferred travel style, set your budget, search, compare, and book. Don’t forget to look for sustainable accommodations if possible, too.
And don’t forget to have fun and share all about it when you’re back!
Tip: now that you’ve found your perfect, affordable accommodation, it’s time to search for a cheap flight to your dream destination as well ;) Check my guide on how to find the best airfare in five simple steps!
Great article – different approaches for the different preferences.
Thanks, glad you found it useful!
I’ve found the article very helpful, especially the part with the Volunteering website. Have you tried this yourself?
Hi Denitsa, glad you liked the post!
To be honest, I haven’t tried volunteering due to various reasons. I’ve included the resources listed in the post based on the experience of other travel bloggers, whose opinion I trust. I hope this helps and if you need more information (for example blog posts on the topic of volunteering), don’t hesitate to contact me.
Cheers,
N.
Hello, Naddya!
What an amazing article this is! I did not know so many great opportunities exist. I will definitely bookmark your page and visit it again! I also might want to try some volunteering projects!
Danke schoen!
Bitte, Svet! I’m glad you liked the resource, I’ve invested a lot of effort in putting this huge list together and I’m happy that you find it helpful :)
Yeah, it seems you have invested a lot – consider adding a nice Pinterest image so we can share it there too :)
Thanks for the suggestion, Svet! Done.
I had created an image for Pinterest already, but I usually don’t add those to my posts.
Cheers,
N.
Great, added it! You should – Pinterest is an amazing tool! :)
Cheers and have a nice day :)
Thank you, you too!
Such a huge list of resources!Thank you for sharing it with us. It is great that you’ve put so much time in compiling it and also organised it for easier reading with the drop down categories. Will be also sharing it on twitter so it can reach more people!
I’m glad you liked it, Sianna :) Thanks for sharing it!
Have a great Sunday!
Hi Naddya,
Thank you for the thorough list!
Great resource for all of us searching for cheap accommodation! One thing to add – we could always use a combined approach – and check if a place we like is on more than one source. I had this case with an appartment in Milano – the owner had put it on couchsurfing for free and on airbnb for a fee.
Thanks again for those many options you provide to travellers!
Hey Bistra, this is a great tip! Thanks for sharing it, I’d never have guessed that someone would do this :)
Happy travels!
Cheers, N.