Airbnb Alternative in Medellín — Book Direct & Save

Airbnb is a fine way to find a place — it is an expensive way to book a month in Medellín. Factory Lofts is a registered aparthotel in Laureles: the same loft living, with a front desk, cleaning, coworking and a rooftop included, and none of the platform fees stacked on top.

Most people searching for an Airbnb in Medellín for more than a couple of weeks are really shopping for two things: a neighbourhood they can live in, and an honest total price. This page covers both — how the platform's fees build up on a longer stay, and what the same month looks like when you book the loft directly with the people who run the building.

Why travellers look for an Airbnb alternative in Laureles

Laureles is where long-stay travellers actually live in Medellín — the neighbourhood Time Out ranked the #1 coolest in the world in 2023, full of cafés, local restaurants and tree-lined streets. Most Airbnb listings here are individual apartments run by individual hosts: quality varies, check-in can be a lockbox, and if something breaks, you are messaging a stranger. Our furnished apartments in Laureles give you the same live-like-a-local setup inside a real aparthotel — reception 24 hours, staff on site, and everything maintained by one accountable team.

What a monthly Airbnb booking really costs

The nightly rate is only the first layer. When you book an Airbnb in Medellín, the platform adds a guest service fee — up to roughly 14.2% of the subtotal — and most hosts add a cleaning fee on top. On a monthly stay those layers are charged on the whole month, so the gap between the rate you saw and the total you pay is at its largest exactly when you stay longest.

Worked example — 30 nights, illustrative

Booking direct, the monthly price is one total, quoted up front. Put simply, for every COP 1,000,000 of rent on a 30-night stay:

Illustrative example using Airbnb's published guest-service-fee range; your exact Airbnb fees appear at their checkout. Ask us on WhatsApp for the direct monthly total for your dates.

What you get instead: a real aparthotel in Laureles

Factory Lofts + Coworking is a registered aparthotel (RNT 76913) operated by Laureles Holdings. Your loft comes with an equipped kitchen, a queen bed, A/C, a Smart TV and fast WiFi — and the building adds what an apartment listing cannot: a coworking floor that is free for guests and open 24/7, a rooftop pool and jacuzzi, the Smash restaurant and BBC craft beer bar downstairs, free laundry, and a pet-friendly policy (refundable USD 100 deposit). Guests also receive the Casacol Black Card benefits and complimentary MAMM entry. Planning the neighbourhood? Read our guide to staying in Laureles.

The building around the loft

A listing gives you four walls; a month in Medellín runs on everything around them. At Factory, the second floor is a coworking space with workstations, meeting rooms and a panoramic view over UPB — free for guests, open around the clock, so a workday never depends on café WiFi. The rooftop has the pool and jacuzzi for the end of the day. Downstairs, Smash serves natural, healthy food from breakfast to dinner and the BBC bar pours Bogotá Beer Company craft beer, so breakfast, lunch and an after-work drink never require leaving the building. And when something needs fixing, the people responsible are downstairs too — not a host across town.

When Airbnb still makes sense — honestly

The platform earns its fee in a few situations, and it is worth naming them. If you need a whole house for a big group, a one-off weekend in a neighbourhood we don't cover, or the exact apartment a friend recommended, Airbnb in Medellín is a big, convenient catalogue and its review system genuinely helps you compare strangers' homes. For a two- or three-night first visit, while you are still learning the city, the platform's protections can be worth the surcharge. We list there too, because travellers find us there — many of our monthly guests first saw Factory on Airbnb.

The maths changes with length. The service fee is a percentage of the whole booking, so the longer the stay, the more the platform layer costs you in absolute terms — while the things it buys you (discovery, reviews, a first layer of trust) matter less once you know the building and can walk in and see it. That is the honest test: if you have already found the place, and especially if you are staying a month, booking the same stay direct is the same loft, the same neighbourhood — without the extra layer of fees.

Questions about booking direct