What about accommodations? And now this I have a lot to say. Accommodations, let's tally them up first.

Hotel.

Depends on the hotel.

No. I mean let's tally up the different types.

Okay.

So hotels, resorts. Resort就是度假村是吧? There are many hotel chains that says hotel and resorts, resort are generally like next to some natural scenery like the seaside or mountains.

They normally got their own beach, or their own lake for example.

And hostel这个是青年旅社, 青旅the cheap option; and B&B.

Bed and breakfast.

Bed and breakfast, what is your definition of Bed and Breakfast.

Well, they give you a bed and give you breakfast.

Is it...I keep picturing, I don't think I've really stayed in that many B&Bs. But is that the idea of, for example, like an older couple, they have a big house. They decided to rent some of the rooms out, and then they provide you something to eat for breakfast and they give you a bed to stay in.

It's a bit like that. So Bed and Breakfasts are really common in the UK and these are just small hotels.

So a hotel to us would be like this sort of massive building like chain hotel, but a Bed and Breakfast is normally just very personal, and you probably only got maybe 5, 6 rooms there. I stayed in quite a few B&Bs in the UK and I really like them.

Are they're mostly family owned or...

They are mostly family owned and as you say, it's an older couple who they want to rent out a few rooms and they're registered as a Bed and Breakfast.

I see.

And I love them because generally there's nicer bigger houses and also the breakfasts are normally really good home cooked breakfast.

One time there was a student asking me lulu does inn, does that mean Bed and Breakfast or hotel or small hotel?

An inn is traditionally attached to a pub.

下面是酒馆上面可能有 rooms for rent.

Yes. But inns, you do have them now, but they're not very common. So you would say something inn, and it's usually you have the pub below and then you got the rooms above.

Sounds perfect to me.

They are actually quite nice.

If you want to experience that sort of, I would say quite traditional vibe, some of the inns would be perfect because I think you guys had inns for like many years ago.

Exactly, that was the whole point. Inns were usually on the outskirts of the town and they were for visiting merchants. They would have to stay in an inn because there was no way else for them to stay.

我感觉有点像我们原来古代那种驿站的感觉. The other thing is my favorite holiday rental. I think I recommended this to you when like before you were mostly staying in hotels or hostel, and then I was recommending the idea of holiday rental to you.

To be honest now, with like Airbnb I have really started to like holiday rentals. I stay in hotels occasionally if it's just like for a short trip. But I like to have my own freedom, I like to be able to do what I want.

Yeah, and not having housekeeping people keep coming in and just like bump into people in the lobby that sort of thing.

Exactly.

I think sometimes I stay in hotels for business trips, but if I'm going around for pleasure, I would like to get a holiday rental. You can decide when you want to wake up, you can make your own breakfast. It's so much easier.

Holiday rental就是这种假日短租房, 也有人把它叫做民宿.

But nobody like the host is not living in it. It's basically they have like an empty property and they rented out. It's quite popular around the world, especially in tourist cities, many European cities, holiday rentals are much better value for money than hotels.

But the problem is that holiday rentals are now becoming too popular in some cities. The locals are complaining about them because they can't rent apartments, they can't rent homes because they’re all be used for holiday rentals.

I can so see that对确实有一个push back在有一些比较热门的旅游城市, 然后很多的闲置的房子房产都被改成holiday rentals, 因为更赚钱.

Yeah, because they can charge a lot more than if they rent out by month. So the locals who actually want to rent these empty properties are complaining. I can totally see that. I don't think there are that many holiday rentals in Beijing because I don't think people who come to Beijing to travel would necessarily choose holiday rental as their primary accommodation.

And also kind of Airbnb is no longer available.

But we have other apps, other platforms.

The other thing is alternative would be service apartments.

Service apartments, they are quite popular in some places, so service department is basically hotel, kind of a hotel so they probably don't give you food, but they will have housekeeping.

酒店式公寓这种. So安澜, I have a question for you.

Now this is more of a personal question when you travel, how important is accommodation to you? Because for some people they just see accommodation when they're traveling, they see accommodation as just a place to sleep, so they want to save money on accommodation, as long as it's clean and safe. They don't need luxury, they rather save that money to spend somewhere else.

When I was younger, definitely wherever I was staying was gonna be cheap, safe but cheap. I wanted to spend the money elsewhere, but now I am starting to get the idea of where you stay really does make the holiday.

I think it's just you getting older.

It could be, it's probably that.

You need a higher level of comfort.

But then again it's how I travel now really.

So when I was younger, I didn't have much money so I wanted to do as much as possible and I wouldn't really spend a lot time in the hotel.

But now when I travel, if I'm on a holiday, what I like to do is I like to wake up early, I'd like to go around in the morning, go back for lunch, chill out for the afternoon, and then go out in the evening. So having a nice place, maybe like a nice balcony or somewhere a bit special. I do quite like now.

So basically I'm seeing the change from budget accommodation to midrange and now to luxury because let's face it, balcony, landmark view that's gonna be more of a luxury.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a landmark view. But I would say...

You don't want to look at the wall.

But then again, to be honest, I would say it's the location. I don't really worry too much about the service of the hotel or for example if it's like central, if it's a nice place that's quite important to me now. And what about you? I'm guessing luxury five star...

No, I am never big on five star. I really... ever since I started traveling even in my early 20s when I didn't have that big budget, I spent quite a bit on accommodation.

I remember the first time I went to Venice, I basically rent back then a quite expensive suite overlooking the canal.

Wow. Yeah.

That must have cost a fortune.

They are, that cost a fortune. I mean I didn't have that much money but I spent on that because I feel like that gave me the feeling of actually living in Venice, opening up these big windows and directly looking at the canal.

That does sound pretty amazing.

Sitting on the window like the windowsill and then listen to all the noise from the street or sound from the street.

It's just my way of traveling, I guess, like if I go to Rome, I would like to stay in the historical center next to the like the flower market, the Campo de’ Fiori, and then so I can...I do a lot of people watching; and if I go to like Japan I would like to rent like a traditional housing same here. I think specialty lodging is much more attractive to me than say standard hotel.

Yeah. That's one of the reasons why I like Airbnbs because you can find probably not so very luxurious but like a nice studio overlooking the old town or something like that.

It's much better value for money and especially... and for those of you are listening to this podcast if you actually are traveling with a big group like with a family or with like a few couples or a bunch of friends, then definitely rent a holiday rental. You're going to actually save money on that and live in much nicer places or stay in much nicer places.