Free tool · live prices
Hotel vs. furnished apartment: what will your stay really cost?
Pick a city, your dates and your group. We pull a live price for a furnished apartment that fits, then put your hotel math next to it — taxes included.
How the comparison works
The apartment number is a real quote for the cheapest Trifecta apartment that fits your group on your dates — nightly rates, the one-time cleaning fee and local lodging taxes. The hotel number is your nightly rate × nights × rooms, with the same local taxes added.
It doesn’t count what a kitchen and laundry save you, because that depends on how you live. For a deeper 30/60/90-day breakdown, read extended-stay hotel vs. furnished apartment and what corporate housing costs in Raleigh, Durham & Charlotte.
When a hotel still wins
For one person staying a night or two, a hotel is usually simpler and often cheaper — the apartment’s cleaning fee is spread over fewer nights. The apartment pulls ahead as nights add up, as more people share it, and when a kitchen matters.
Frequently asked questions
- Is a furnished apartment cheaper than a hotel for a long stay?
- Often, once a stay runs past a week or two or more than two people travel together — one apartment replaces two hotel rooms, and a full kitchen cuts what you spend eating out. Run your own dates above: the apartment side is a live price, not an average.
- Where does the apartment price come from?
- From the same booking system our checkout uses: the cheapest Trifecta apartment that fits your group on those dates, quoted with its real nightly rates, one-time cleaning fee and North Carolina lodging taxes.
- Why does the hotel rate start at the GSA rate?
- The federal (GSA) lodging rate for each city is a neutral, published benchmark for a mid-range room. Hotel prices swing with events and seasons, so type in the rate you are actually seeing.
- Do hotels and apartments pay the same taxes in North Carolina?
- Short stays in both are subject to state and local sales tax plus the county occupancy tax, so the calculator applies the same local rate to both sides. Stays of 90 or more consecutive days are exempt — see our 90-day tax guide.