Man says living in an all-inclusive resort is cheaper than renting—and he did the math for it

Home prices have been soaring in the US, but when did they become so expensive that living in an all-inclusive resort would be considered cheaper? Ben Keenan, a TikTok creator, recently took to the popular video-sharing platform and confirmed the same. "Have we ever considered that living in an all-inclusive resort could be cheap at this point?" he said in the video.

The creator was curious about this, and therefore, he decided to "test it out." He jotted down all his expenses for one month which came down to $4,000. "Rent, Utilities, Wifi, Car, Food, Dinner Out, and Gym bring it to a total of $4,000," he said. "All I did to test this out, is go to the all-inclusive resorts in Mexico, then went to the 10 best Mexico resorts," he continued. 

A typical resort in Mexico costs $4,500, which is $500 more than what the creator pays. "Yes it's $500 more, but bear in mind I am not paying the most expensive rent out there, compared to what other people might be paying for example," he justified. "Also, if that $500 more means not having to do any amount of laundry, or any of my cleaning or whatever, then yes," he added. He also talked about how even the expensive resorts are cheaper if you go in and stay with another person and split the cost. 

At the end of the video, he said, "It's interesting that there's a chance to go and live in an all-inclusive lifestyle somewhere for approximately the same cost as all of my monthly expenses. That's crazy to me!"

Many people took to the comment section to talk about the feasibility of this plan. "I met a guy on my cruise last year who lived on the ship. Paid for WiFi and works remotely. Blew my mind," read one of the top comments by  Franky Rios while another user Courtney says, "New retirement plan: rent our house and live at an all-inclusive resort with a butler until I die." Another user wrote, "I work with a girl that did this. She worked remotely and lived in an all-inclusive resort in Thailand and then Mexico."

One user revealed that it might be possible to get a better deal at the resort. "Ex-hotel employee here! If you did this, you can contact the sales department and negotiate, you might be able to get a better deal," writes marianuuuhlip. 

In an interview with Newsweek, Keenan said, "Some of my friends and I would sit around during the winter and ask ourselves whether we could live somewhere sunny for cheaper than living in the rain and the cold. That quickly modified to 'could we live somewhere sunny, BY THE BEACH', which then became 'what about just living at an all-inclusive resort.'"

"I poked around and realized that it isn't that infeasible to compare what a month at an all-inclusive might look like in direct comparison to my monthly expenses just living in a big city," he added.

For similar videos, you can follow Ben Keenan (@ivebentraveling) on TikTok.

This article originally appeared 4 months ago.