Vacation Rentals: Which website is best?

Question

I was wondering if anyone uses multiple platforms for their vacation rentals?  We have been pretty successful with Airbnb and have recently acquired a cabin and will put on Airbnb, as well.  How have VRBO, Homeaway (aren't those the same company?), FlipKey, worked out for people?

Michael Pulka · Answer

Monika - could you rate your top three channel managers you've listed in order.   Also explain why you've picked them. Thanks.

Monika Haebich · Answer

Hi Mar! Like the others said, it really does depend on your market. That being said, I work with thousands of vacation home owners, and I've seen most of them make the most from VRBO.

Here's some more information on each of the sites: http://www.vrma.com/files/2015Annual/Materials/Third%20Party%20Channels%20How%20to%20Generate%20Millions%20of%20Dollars.pdf

Another way to get your property across multiple sites would be (as @Patrick Diamond suggested) to hire a channel manager. LeisureLink, Avantio, myBookingPal, Rentals United, and Rental Network Software are all great options!

Patrick Diamond · Answer

Hi there!

I have quite a bit of experience hosting and working as a consultant to help people get their listings up... As mentioned, it depends on the market.  Depending on the volume you are thinking of doing, I would recommend a solution that gets you exposed on all of them... Kigo is one of those platforms, and has a feature called "Channel Manager" which will list your space on several sites easily and from one place, including Homeaway, VRBO, Airbnb, and even Booking.com.  It definitely makes it much easier to manage your listing since you can just do a one stop shop.  Photos, descriptions, availability, etc., are all updated real time from your dashboard.

I have a contact at Kigo if you're interested and I could dig it up.  There are some other solutions out there as well.

I would also recommend checking out Airdna.co (not .com), which provides some handy metrics for free.

Andy Plattner · Answer

I just got on Airbnb and I like that because I also get to rate the guest.  That is cool.   But I also use Vrbo/homeaway and flip key.  All three have been very successful.

William Stokes · Answer

it truly depends on your local market. You can actually schedule conference calls with reps from each company to show you hard data so you can make that determination yourself. As far as making the decision on which one to go with, that answer is simple. All of them. From VRBO, homeaway,  Airbnb, Flipkey, etc. Their pricing may be steep, but my advice is that you can't afford not to. Airbnb may be big where you live, but I'm a guest of yours from OBX NC. Homeaway may be the go-to place for me, and where I'm used to booking, so to truly fill your calendar, you want to be everywhere your target audience is looking. There are platforms that make this easier to accomplish. And this is what separates the serious VR owner from the second home owner who occasionally rents it out.

Keith Courtney · Answer

Mar -

I am in Central Florida around Disney World.  I have had the greatest success with HomeAway/VRBO and FlipKey.  Those websites seem to produce the most inquiries for our rental market we have here.

Keith