When we travel, Chris and I usually try to stick to a hotel/accommodation budget of $80 – 120/night. At that budget we’re usually not staying in super nice hotels. They're OK – clean and safe – but nothing very stylish or fancy.

That’s why I’m so glad we’ve found Home Away! For the same budget we can rent an apartment or studio with some local character and have the convenience of a small kitchen and a little bit more room than a standard hotel room. It's also nice having a person to email directly leading up to the trip to ask questions about the best places to visit, etc. And at our price point I think we really come out ahead through Home Away. 

The first time we used Home Away was for our trip to Porto, Portugal in 2010. For about $80/night we stayed in a sunny and well-located apartment. The owner even met us at the apartment, helped carry our bags, gave us restaurant recommendations and a bottle of wine, and arranged for a taxi to take us to the airport!

For our trip to Hawaii I turned to Home Away again and I’ve reserved a cute little condo near the beach. It has a small kitchen, queen size bed, and porch. The total cost comes out to $117/night, a price I’m really pleased with. I was even able to negotiate the price to $40 less than the original quote just by asking the owner if they could come down a bit.

Can't wait to get to our little home away from home in Hawaii!