E-Paper
Pune man prefers hotels to renting an apartment in Mumbai. This is how much he spends
Neil Borate, the Personal Finance Editor at LiveMint, divides his time between Pune and Mumbai. Here is how much he spends on hotels in the Maximum City.
Relocating to Mumbai for a job often means ending up with the contacts of several property brokers on your phone, as finding the perfect home in the space-starved city is no easy task. The steep rent for small living spaces, coupled with the numerous conditions imposed by landlords, make renting in Mumbai a tough endeavour indeed.
Perhaps that is why one hybrid worker prefers to travel from Pune to Mumbai every week instead of moving to the city of his work permanently. And to do away with the headache of renting entirely, he stays in hotels and Airbnbs whenever he is in the Maximum City.
Neil Borate, the Editor of Personal Finance at LiveMint, divides his time between Pune and Mumbai. In a LinkedIn post, Borate shared a list of three hotels in South Mumbai where he prefers to stay whenever he is in the city and how much he spends on hotels and Airbnbs in a month.
“Given up on renting”
“Each week, I divide my time between Pune (my home) and Mumbai (for work). After some struggles, I've given up on renting in Mumbai. I go for Airbnbs and hotels instead,” Borate explained on LinkedIn.
The LiveMint personal finance editor said he likes the old world charm of Colaba hotels as he listed his three favourites - The Sea Green Hotel, The Strand, and The Westend Hotel.
The cost of booking these hotels starts at roughly ₹5,000 per night. “If you book these, don't come with expectations of modern hotels. You will generally get metal keys instead of key cards. There won't be gyms, pools or any other fancy amenities. Instead, enjoy the great location and history all around you,” Borate advised.
The cost of hotels vs renting
In the comments section, Borate fielded questions about the cost of renting an apartment in Mumbai vs staying in hotels. “So you are spending a lakh per month on hotels?” asked one person in the comments section.
Borate explained that he spends around ₹40,000 a month on hotels and Airbnbs in Mumbai, staying not just in hotels but also Airbnbs where the rent is cheaper.
“I spend about 2 nights a week in Mumbai. Not always in hotels. Sometimes Airbnbs at half the price. So no, I don't spend a lakh a month on hotels. Probably 40k, which is close to a 1 BHK rental anyway,” he answered.
