6 Useful Sharing Economy Travel Tips for Families

August 5, 2016

My husband and I are huge advocates of sharing economy travel. In my opinion, the sharing economy has made travel a lot more affordable and accessible for families.

When I was a kid, travel was planned with guidebooks. We booked hotel rooms. And we took taxis to get to where we needed to go. My family often used travel managers from travel management companies to plan our trips.

But these days, the travel industry has changed dramatically. When we travel we crowd-source reviews of travel companies to use. We book rooms in someone’s home. And we get rides from people who are not taxi drivers. Sharing economy companies have truly changed how many of us travel.

This post was updated on December 27, 2021.


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Having fun on our balcony in Hanoi (April 2020)

What is the sharing economy

If you're asking yourself, what is sharing economy travel, here’s a quick primer of sharing economy facts. Most people define the sharing economy as a socio-economic system in which human, physical, and intellectual resources are shared. In a sense, it’s a model built around the sharing of skills, things, and even opinions.

Within the context of daily life, the shared economy exists across a wide range of platforms. Sharing economy platforms like Rover for dog-sitting or Care.com or Fiverr for odd jobs have all made our lives easier in some way or another.

Over the years, the sharing economy has exploded, especially in the area of travel. Business travelers use it for lodging and ground transportation. And leisure travelers use it for lodging, transport, and activities.

However, the sharing economy isn’t without its critics. Those who criticize the sharing economy are quick to point out the lack of safety and privacy with sharing economy services. And for home sharing platforms like Airbnb, critics are quick to point out how an increase in available Airbnb properties correlates with increases in housing prices for locals.

You can read more about the sharing economy disadvantages and advantages in the book, Hustle and Gig: Struggling and Surviving in the Sharing Economy.

Exploring London (September 2021)

Sharing economy travel tips for families

For travel, the sharing economy has opened doors for people to offer their resources to travelers. It's created business opportunities for so many people in countries all over the world. At the same time, the sharing economy has made it a lot more affordable for people to visit a new destination or try a new experience.

If you’re looking for ways to get your family out into the world, it’s now easier than ever to do it without having to spend an arm and a leg. Here are a few of my sharing economy travel tips for family travel.

Exploring the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore (June 2019)

Ready for a change? Take the first step to living a life of full time travel.

1. Do some sharing economy travel planning

When planning travel, whether it's for leisure or business travel, I often turn to crowd-sourcing for ideas of where to stay. I first came across the sharing economy travel website, TripAdvisor in 2009. TripAdvisor provides travelers with a forum to post reviews about hotels they've stayed at, attractions they've visited, or even restaurants they've eaten at.

What I love about TripAdvisor is that for the most part, you'll get real opinions about what a particular hotel is like, rather than curated testimonials that you find on hotel websites. This has really made travel planning easier for me, as I will often turn to TripAdvisor to get ideas of hotels I would want to stay at in a particular destination. (Note, TripAdvisor has since become a lot more commercial, but they continue to rely on user-reviews, so I still consider it as part of the sharing economy).

A similar site (and app) we like is Yelp, which also relies heavily on user reviews. Especially when we are on the road, it's easy to pull up a destination on Yelp and search for a popular restaurant to have a nice dinner.

A boat cruise in Lyon, France (July 2019)

2. Check out lodging options within the sharing economy

Besides airplane tickets and food, lodging is by far one of the biggest expenses when it comes to family travel. In the past, families would have to rely on hotels to fill their accommodation needs. Now, there are a variety of alternative methods of lodging available to families. Our favorite sharing economy travel site for lodging that we often use is Airbnb.

We’ve been using Airbnb since 2009, and have developed some great Airbnb tips from using it over the years. What we like about Airbnb is that it gives our family a chance to have a taste of what it feels like to live in another country.

Since most of the Airbnb rentals that we book are private homes or apartments, we end up staying in mostly residential areas. This gives us a more local experience than we would have had staying at a hotel. We’ve used Airbnb often for our around the world trip, and have had positive experiences in all those places.

Other sites similar to Airbnb are HomeAway and FlipKey, which I haven’t used yet, but have heard good things about. Like Airbnb, they both provide vacation rentals for families and travelers. Keep in mind that Airbnb uses cookies (the other platforms like use cookies too), so you may see fluctuations in prices depending on whether you've looked at a listing before.

Check out more of our experiences using Airbnb for travel here.

Getting some work done on the rooftop deck (April 2020)

3. Consider platforms that offer free or almost free accommodations

Another popular option for lodging for families is house sitting. This is particularly helpful for families doing long term travel. We used Trusted Housesitters while we were traveling through England (you can get 25% off your Trusted Housesitters membership with my referral link!).

There are other house sitting sites like HouseCarers and Mind My House. Many of these sites have annual fees to use their services, but when you compare that to what you would have spend in booking accommodations, it's actually a bargain.

Other options to try are house swapping or Couchsurfing as a family. Again, I haven't used these options, so I can't vouch for how great they would be for families, but you can read about one family's experiences using Couchsurfing on the No Back Home blog.

Additionally, if you're camping, you should considering using Hipcamp to find accommodations. We've used Hipcamp for camping often, and really love it!

Read our top tips for house sitting with kids.

A child walks a dog in a park while taking part in sharing economy travel through housesitting.
Walking the dog while housesitting in Lyon, France (July 2019)

4. Use delivery apps to sample local cuisine

When you're traveling with kids, sitting down to a meal at a restaurant can turn out to be a big ordeal. This is especially true if you're traveling with squirmy little ones!

In the United States, sharing economy platforms like DoorDash and GrubHub make it convenient for families to have meals delivered to them from local restaurants. While there is a delivery fee, the convenience of not having to get tired and cranky little ones to sit through a whole dinner is worth it.

In Asian countries like Indonesia and Vietnam, delivery apps like Grab makes it easy to get takeout. And in the United Kingdom, we enjoyed using Zapp for our food deliveries.

Local cuisine in Hanoi, Vietnam (April 2020)

5. Take advantage of transportation options with ride sharing

I love using public transportation when I travel. But sometimes with kids, it can be more convenient (and cheaper) to pack everyone in a car and go somewhere. In some destinations, taxis can sometimes be hard to find.

In those cases, we often turn to one of our favorite sharing economy travel apps, Uber. It's surprisingly active in a lot of major cities around the world. And in places where Uber doesn't exist, local ride sharing services, like Grab, exist to help locals get from one place to another.

If you're one of the few people who hasn't yet heard of Uber (or its contemporary, Lyft), it's a transportation service that lets you book a ride and pay for it all through the app. At the same time, if you have a car and some free time, you can sign up to become an Uber driver. Essentially you're offering your car and services to travelers.

Planning on using Uber overseas? Read up on my tips.

girl looking at street
Waiting for our Uber ride in India (June 2016)

6. Rent cars using sharing economy travel platforms

If you're looking for a car rental instead, services like Turo lets you do that for a fraction of the price of a regular car rental company. Turo allows car owners the ability to rent out their vehicles to travelers.

We love using Turo because it gives locals a chance to earn money on the side while providing a service to people who need it. In a sense, it's a win-win situation! I used to rent out my car on Turo for a few years. And I've also used it once when I went camping with on a camping trip with my son.

Renting a car through Turo for camping (July 2016)

Taking advantage of sharing economy travel sites

In my opinion, sharing economy tourism has really changed the way we travel. In a way, it has helped to bring travel to more people. And it's also helped us spread our tourism dollars to more locals, which is a great way to travel more sustainably.

The sharing economy allows travelers to take advantage of services and experiences that may not have been accessible to them previously. This is one of the reasons why I love travel. It gives people a chance to try something different. Travel exposes them to new cultures and new people.

The services I list above are just the tip of the iceberg. There are other sharing economy travel related services like WithLocals that are out there on the travel market. And Airbnb also offers experiences, which we could have used in cities like Seville. We just haven't had a chance to try them yet.

Have you benefited from the sharing economy on your travels? Share your experiences in the comments!

Ready to take a leap into a big family travel adventure? Use my ebook, Hey Kids, Let’s Go Travel! as a resource for tools, advice, and action steps for planning your trip.

Sharing Economy Travel Tips For Families | The Wandering Daughter

Need help thinking through how to budget for a family trip? My Travel Budget Worksheet is just the tool you need! Click here to receive your free copy by signing up for my newsletter.

Want to connect with me on social media? Find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. And for those of you who are dedicated to traveling more responsibly, sustainably, and ethically, join over 200 like-minded families on my Facebook group, Responsible Family Travel.

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