Prompt: Some people think that staying in hotels is not a good option to know about a country or its people. Ċ What do you think about this viewpoint?

Travelling to far off places and exploring new places is a thrilling endeavour in itself. In spite of this, some people have a viewpoint that checking into hotels is not a recommended option if one wants to know thoroughly about a country or its local inhabitants. This essay elaborates on why I partially agree with the idea and what are my reservations about it. Ċ To begin with, when travellers stay at hotels, they prefer to eat at the attached restaurant. Firstly, one cannot be said to have truly experienced a place until he/she has tasted the local cuisine. This is seldom possible in lavish hotels run on corporate principles. For example, Goan delicacies are better tasted at a beachside shack than at a 5-star hotel like Taj Exotica. Secondly, the room that we check-in at the resort is a private affair. We rarely get to interact with the locals barring a few shopkeepers. Instead, staying as a paying guest with a native family gives us new insights into their customs and traditions, as well as their problems. For instance, enjoying a home-stay booked on AirBnB is obviously more insightful than staying at a resort with respect to observing local culture. Ċ Moreover, there are certain places that are not commercially viable for business and thus, are not promoted by hoteliers. These niche sites are known to locals exclusively and can be scratched off our bucket list only if we intermingle with locals, which is hardly possible with a resort stay. Although these are the advantages of not staying in posh 5-stars, there are certain risks as well, the most important one being safety issues. We cannot trust people over internet booking and hotels provide a safer alternative. For example, female travellers can find it unsafe to opt for a home-stay and would prefer the other option, even at the cost of letting go of some of the authentic experience. Ċ In conclusion, though I agree that knowing about a nation and its people cannot be truly completed by just checking into hotels, certain risks associated with other available choices compel people to choose resorts over them.