The decision to book an Airbnb instead of a hotel is usually framed as a price-versus-amenities question. We think it is more useful to frame it as a neighborhood-fit question.
Book a hotel when the neighborhood has serious hotel infrastructure that you actually want to use — concierges who know the city, breakfast that justifies its price, public spaces that work as a meeting place. The classic European grand-hotel neighborhoods (Le Marais in Paris, Belgravia in London, the Innere Stadt in Vienna) reward hotels because the hotels themselves are part of the experience.
Book an Airbnb when the neighborhood is residential and you want to feel like you live there for a week. The Brunch Rule neighborhoods we recommend most often — Vesterbro, Fitzroy, Mile End, Yeonnam-dong — are almost always better experienced from a small apartment with a kitchen and a balcony than from a hotel room.
Avoid Airbnbs in neighborhoods that have been hollowed out by short-term rentals. Lisbon’s Alfama, Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, Florence’s historic centre, Venice almost everywhere — these neighborhoods have lost so many residents to tourism that staying in an Airbnb actively contributes to the problem. In these places, please book a hotel.
Avoid hotels in genuinely residential neighborhoods where the only hotels are tired chain properties. If your only options are a Marriott on the edge of a residential district and a small apartment in the middle of it, the apartment will give you a better trip ten times out of ten.