What It’s Really Like Living in a Hotel in Krabi for a Month as a Family (And Why It’s More Affordable Than You Think)

This post is not sponsored but includes affiliate links that we may receive a small commission from at no extra cost to you. Thank You for supporting our blog!

We're adding all of our favourite hotels to the blog that we've been staying in during our world adventure to help you with the complex job of booking accommodation! Today we share our best budget find for a family in Ao Nang, Krabi. For the price you pay and what you get for that price, we honestly struggled to find better in April 2025 unless you go full on hostel style. Our fave hotel for budget travelers who also appreciate nice decor. We spent 2 months in Thailand in 2025 and re-kindled our old love for Thailand - this time sharing our experience with our 2 kids. Last time we visited we were just a 3 and little Boo hadn't been born yet.

And what's more we ended up living in THIS hotel during our time in Krabi which we mostly don't do. But working out the costs you'll see why this was a no brainer.

We flew from Changi Airport Singapore to Krabi via Thai Airways. The flight took 1 hour 55 mins and cost £56 per person using our flight planner. From Krabi airport you can take a taxi from the Krabi International Airport to your accommodation. May people base themselves in Krabi Town, Ao Nang or Railay Beach during their time in Krabi - all of which are great bases for exploring the beautiful Krabi area. Depending on what you want from your holiday - we planned to be based in Ao Nang (read why we think Ao Nang is a great base for exploring Krabi). But before this we had booked 1 month of slow travel in Koh Lanta after being based in busy Singapore - we wanted some chill, relaxation and getting bak into a school and work routine (see our day in the life video - a slow day world schooling, and online work in Koh Lanta Thailand here). So we booked a private taxi transfer via our accommodation that picked us up at Krabi airport and took us to the ferry and across to the island in Koh Lanta and onward in the same taxi to our home for the next month (we booked this 1 monthly house with pool on booking.com). The Taxi and Ferry cost 2500 Baht around £56 one way.

🏨 What It’s Really Like Living in a Hotel in Krabi instead of a house as a Family (And Why It’s More Affordable Than You Think)

When we first set out to travel full-time as a family, we always assumed that hotels were a short-term luxury — the kind of place you stay for a few nights between apartments or longer stays. And if you follow our channel you'll know that we mostly rent month by month preferring to stay in local rented housing as opposed to hotels. But when we arrived in Krabi, Thailand, something unexpected happened: we booked one hotel... and ended up living the hotel life for an entire month.

And honestly? We loved it. It wasn’t just convenient — it was surprisingly affordable, too.

In this post, we’ll share our experience of living in hotels for a full month as a family of four, give you a breakdown of what it cost, what was included, and why hotel living might be worth considering for your own long-term travels.

🛏️ Our Hotel Setup in Krabi

We stayed in a spacious family room at a small, locally-run hotel just a few minutes from Ao Nang Beach. Just far enough away from the main hustle and bustle (because Ao Nang is quite touristy and busy - check out our first impressions of Ao Nang video), but close enough to be able to walk within 10 mins to the beach / pier etc. We booked 2x rooms because our daughter is 16 and loves her own room wherever possible and since the prices were so good, this was a good option for us. But the hotel does family rooms that are super affordable too. Our room had one double bed and the kids room next door had 2x single beds, Both had desk space, air conditioning, a mini fridge, fast Wi-Fi, and a balcony with a view.

It was simple, but super comfortable — and cleaned every single day.

What Was Included:

• ✔️ Daily housekeeping (with fresh towels and linen changes)

• ✔️ Free bottled water (replenished daily)

• ✔️ Tea and coffee making facilities

• ✔️ Air conditioning & fan

• ✔️ Strong Wi-Fi (essential for our remote work)

• ✔️ Shared pool

• ✔️ Front desk staff who were very helpful.

💰 Is Living in a Hotel for a Month Expensive?

That’s what we thought too — until we added everything up.

Here’s the truth: staying in a hotel long-term can actually save you money, especially if you factor in the extras:

What We Paid:

Our monthly rate: ฿20,000 THB (approx. $599 USD / £450 GBP) That’s around $19 per night, £15 per night all in. And hence why we could splurge and book the 2 x rooms. Total ฿40,000 THB (approx. $1200 USD / £900 GBP) for the month. We'd looked at renting a villa by the month and the prices were quite expensive. Who knew our hotel option would work out far cheaper than our monthly rent. We always aim to keep our monthly rent to around £1000 per month if we can - similar to UK prices to help keep within our monthly living budget.

But what makes this really great value for money is THIS - What We Didn’t Pay For:

• ✖️ Utility bills (electricity, water, internet were all included as it's a hotel so no monthly expenses on those)

• ✖️ Weekly cleaner or laundry services

• ✖️ Linen and towel replacements

• ✖️ Separate gym or co-working spaces

• ✖️ Coffee runs (tea & coffee were free in-room)

For comparison, many condos in Krabi cost around ฿18,000-25,000 per month — but then you’d still pay for electricity, cleaning, and other hidden extras.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Why Hotel Living Works for Families

We’re a family of four with two young kids, and we found hotel living in Krabi incredibly manageable. Here’s why:

• No chores: Housekeeping took care of the room, towels, and bins daily — a huge perk when juggling remote work and homeschooling. Which meant more time for island hopping adventures like this trip

• Comfort & consistency: We didn’t have to move around, settle into new kitchens, or reset passwords every week.

• Space to play: A pool meant instant kid entertainment.

📝 Tips for Booking a Long-Term Hotel Stay in Thailand

If you're considering living in a hotel for a month or longer, here’s what we’ve learned:

🏷️ Look for:

• Monthly discounts on Agoda or Booking.com

• A fridge (a must for snacks, drinks & quick meals)

• Balcony or windows for natural light

• Fast Wi-Fi (essential if you work online)

• Kid-friendly features like a pool or large room size

💡 Pro Tips:

• Message the hotel directly to ask for a better long-term rate

• Don’t be afraid to negotiate if you’re staying more than 2 weeks

• Book a few nights first, then extend once you’re happy

• Stay flexible — even 3-star hotels can feel like luxury if they’re clean, quiet and welcoming

📍 Recommended: Our Hotel in Krabi

We stayed at LaRio Hotel, and we can genuinely recommend it for families looking for a balance between budget, comfort, and convenience. We find this hotel to be a good price with a little bit of style which you tend not to get at our budget level. You can use this handy price tool to check your dates for availability and prices below:

👉 Check current rates for the hotel here

👉 See more family-friendly hotels in Krabi blow:

🧳 Final Thoughts

We went from thinking hotels were just a short-stay option to realising they can be a smart, stress-free, budget-friendly base for long-term family travel. The simplicity, cleanliness, and included extras made our month in Krabi feel like a holiday… even when it was “just” our everyday life.

Would we do it again? Absolutely.

If you’re heading to Thailand and wondering how to keep your trip smooth and affordable — consider hotel living. It might just surprise you.

What we liked about LaRio Hotel?

All trips knew exactly where the hotel was for pick up / drop off and the hotel was within the zones for free pick ups.

The hotel was peaceful and calming. The decor was modern. There is a 7-11 shop over the road (2 min walk) very handy. There is also night vendors near the 7-11 selling nutella roti's and treaty roti's at super cheap prices which doesn't harm.

A really great location: 

Near to: near to everything that you need to be but far away enough to be out of the way. When you come out of the lane that this hotel is on and get on the main road you can turn right to go down to the 7-11 and towards to main action, restaurants and the beach. But turn left to get to a big supermarket. Amazing to buy breakfast supplies in to save even more. When turning left you can get to a cheap fruit market to pick up fruits to make breakfasts.

💬 Have you ever stayed long-term in a hotel? Would you try it with your family? Let us know in the comments! Let me know if you would like to see a video of this hotel as I have lot's of videos to share. Oh & Btw, This post is not sponsored just our honest review in our corner of the internet of the places we love along the way of our crazy adventure.

LaRio Hotel Krabi-SHA Extra Plus

849 Moo 2, Ao Nang Soi 2/1, Ao Nang, Krabi, 81000 Ao Nang Beach, Thailand

I hope you found this post helpful. Check out our upcoming Blog - Best place to stay in Krabi- And Don't forget to keep up with our daily updates of our full time travel life below and use our handy travel planning tools below to get best prices for flights, hotels and more:

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💡HELPFUL PLANNING TOOLS FOR YOUR THAILAND TRIP 💡

✈️ - FLIGHTS - Check your dates and flight costs to on our Flight Planning Page fore more

🏨 - ACCOMMODATION - We use this to check dates and costs to hotels and hostels in Thailand now or go to our Accommodation Planning Page for more

🧭🗺️👣 - THAILAND TOURS & GUIDES - We use Get Your Guide for all of the trips in Thailand. But we also love Klook too. TIP: Use both to compare offerings as trips will be different.

This post includes affiliate links that we may receive a small commission from at no extra cost to you. Thank You for supporting our blog!