@PoliteMight,
Actually we did not rent a room - we rented an entire house.
They can be almost anything from a room, to an apartment, to a townhome, to a house, camper, tent, cottage, houseboat, cabin and I have heard of castles.
They can include pools, hot tubs, saunas, --- so these are far from half-way houses.
Have you tried one?
Hotels can be just as bad - I received a frantic call from my daughter once when they mistakenly booked a hotel room - it was like a motel 8 or something with a number in it (not 4 Seasons) - they had stayed at similar ones on their road trip with no issues - but this one was disgusting - smoke smell; appeared to be very unsafe and unclean - I managed to get them another room elsewhere that was nearby much nicer and get a refund.
So anything can be terrible excuses if you do not do your research a head of time.