I struggled to find a hotel in Anchorage. Everything near downtown was $350 and up with extremely mixed reviews. There wasn’t much savings away from downtown. I was still going to pay $300/night and have to find transportation. Even the Sheraton and Hilton hotels had some bad reviews. Every hotel had these “old and dirty” reviews. The one I found that didn’t have those reviews was $900/night.

If I were looking to start a business I would buy a hotel in Anchorage. It seems like you could make a fortune with just a  simple modern, clean hotel. I decided to look at VRBO and Airbnb. I haven’t had much luck with these in the past. Normally the cleaning fees double the price of the room. Last year in Miami I had a VRBO apartment canceled at last minute and wasn’t a huge fan of the Airbnb I ended up in.

For Anchorage VRBO seemed to have the ridiculous cleaning fees but Airbnb did not. I ended up booking Apartment in Historic House through Airbnb. I took a chance on a new listing with no reviews. The host had all great reviews at her other listing which is in the same house. That one is a bigger place with multiple rooms and it costs and additional $100/night. I picked the new listing which is a smaller place but big enough for me. I know I’m taking a gamble on this one, but I figured I’m taking a gamble on any hotel I book with those reviews. At least this way I’m saving money. I paid $278 total for the two nights. That’s cheaper than one night in a hotel.

This house is the Leopold David House. It was the home of the first mayor of Anchorage. The house is in the middle of this sign across the street.

These are the steps up to the apartment.

 

This is the view from the balcony.

This is the sunset view from the balcony.

That door on the left goes to an office. It’s vacant over the weekend but someone does work in there during the week.

In the closet they have plenty of towels and a fan.

The kitchen includes a fridge, microwave, and a coffee pot.

This is the view out the bathroom window. They do have parking available on the weekend. During the week they have workers who use these spaces.

This is the view out the bedroom window. The black building to the left is 49th State Brewery. The blue building to the right of it is Wild Scoops Ice Cream.

I had a flight of beer, seafood chowder, and parmesan and asiago crusted halibut at 49th State Brewery.

I got a Sitka swirl at Wild Scoops and brought it back to the Airbnb.

Here you can see the Airbnb from the rooftop bar at 49th State Brewery.

One block away from the Airbnb is F Street Station where I had an Alaskan Amber, onion soup, and a halibut sandwich.

This is in front of F Street Station. You can see the Airbnb down on the left.

One block from F Street Station is the log cabin. This is the Visitor Information Center. It also seems to be where all of the tours meet at. My Trolley Tour and my Glacier Hike both left from in front of this cabin.

Kitty-corner from the log cabin is the old federal building. There they show free movies about Alaska.

I like to sleep in the upper 60’s and it did get to 71 in the room so I utilized the fan they had available in the closet and I was comfortable.

I mentioned all of the things I didn’t like about my Miami Airbnb to this host prior to my stay. The one thing way at the bottom of the list that would’ve been an issue here was no live TV. All I really wanted was an off-air antenna so I could watch local stations. But before I arrived they setup a guest Hulu account for me on the TV.

It was nice getting to watch the Saints preseason game on NFL Network while I was there.

Other places I ate at within walking distance include Glacier Brewhouse where I had both the standard and seasonal flights, salmon dip, fish n’ chips, and peanut butter pie.

Snow City Café where I had the Kodiak benedict for breakfast.

And International House of Hotdogs where I had an Alaskan Dog made with reindeer sausage.

The one downside to this apartment would be the stairs. They usually aren’t an issue for me but since I’m hauling a 42 pound suitcase and the steps happen to be wet on my checkout morning, I have to be very careful. If stairs are an issue for you I would recommend booking the larger Airbnb on the first floor of this house.

I really enjoyed my stay at this Airbnb. It was clean and comfortable. The location was outstanding. And the hosts were very easy to deal with. It will be the first place I look at the next time I stay in Anchorage.