1. Never book an Airbnb or a hotel room located in a crowded place
One of the easiest ways to avoid common tourist traps is to avoid booking your stay in a crowded place (near the beach, for example). Most tourist-dependent cities and beach towns have a hotel district or an area that is popular with chain hotels that are reasonably priced.
Next, do your research and locate an organized map of your location that specifies where you would like to book a hotel stay; locate the place that is referred to as “quieter” or away from “main tourist areas”—granted that public transit isn’t an issue, these are the areas you could like to get a room in. And trust me when I say that you will be surprised to see that these places are usually even cheaper than chain hotels!
This also applies to restaurants or fast food restaurants in the area. I usually ask locals around what the best places are to have a traditional dish instead of going straight to the ones most recommended by TripAdvisor users. And big tip to avoid common tourist traps and end up in a crowded restaurant: avoid the ones near huge landmarks. They are usually the most pricey ones!
