Do different types of guests use Airbnb vs. VRBO?

Question

Curious what the dominant booking platform within a market might say about the type of guests visiting that market ...

I would guess that VRBO skews older/ family, and Airbnb skews younger/ groups of friends or couples ON AVERAGE ... but that could be a terrible oversimplification (or maybe I'm just entirely wrong).

Have any of you noticed a pattern in your market that proves/ disproves this theory? Any other differences between guests that you've noticed between platforms? Be sure to mention the market you're referring to

John Underwood · Answer

Definitely differences.

VRBO tends to be families going on vacation and spending vacation money. They plan well in advance and take care of your property. They tend to bring the family pet/s.
Since my property is a true vacation destination, I get the bulk of my rentals from Vrbo.

Airbnb tends to be more of a shorter notice, gathering with friends (but families on vacation too). The few issues I have had tend to be from the Airbnb crowd. I had a spike in Airbnb rentals during COVID but that has gone back down to just a few bookings now.

This is just my personal observation.

Ryan Moyer · Answer

Generally, I think those generalizations are somewhat true.  At least that is my general understanding of them.

I am still relatively new to this business, I've hosted about 150 stays.  I have personally not had that experience.  I've had good guests with both, bad guests with both.  Both of my guests that caused significant damage were from VRBO, and my only non 5-star review (2 star) was from VRBO.  That is anecdotal on a pretty small samples size (150 stays).  Some of the guys above have a much larger sample size, I think.

Chris I. · Answer

My experience is the same as John's.  I prefer VRBO guests and even charge a premium on Air (~15% more) just to make it less likely they'll book, but if they do, so be it and I'll take the higher rate.

Erik Stenbakken · Answer

Yep. 100% what @John Underwood and @Nathan G. said. I own several in two different markets. Generally the same story for me. I find that smaller properties trend toward the Airbnb.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

My experience is the same ass John's. I own one rental, have used a lot, and I used to manage 65 of them and advertised on multiple platforms. Airbnb tends to skew towards a younger generation and last minute bookings while VRBO bookings are planned well in advance. The rentals on AirBnB tend to cost a little less, but they provide a lower quality experience, with little attention to detail designed to make your stay memorable. For example, I rented quite a few airbnbs that didn't have a single piece of artwork and a lot of the "features" were just for show and nonfunctional (e.g. a Nashville rental with records and record player prominently featured in marketing, but no speakers). VRBO rentals tend to have guest books, info about the owners, lots of little touches throughout, higher quality furnishings, etc.

AirBnB isn't terrible, but it's not the same.

Kerry Baird · Answer

My experience, as well.  ^^^ I prefer my VRBO guests to my AirBnb guests.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

I wouldn't go too far in tailoring your listings.....just go right down the middle. A 30 yr old couple and a 50 yr old couple are going to like pretty much the same things. We know what everyone wants: coffee, internet, cleanliness, etc. Just stay with that and you'll attract everyone. Our split is 50/50 (VRBO/ AIR) at one place and 60/40 at the other. Get the most out of both of them.

Rhonda Cohen · Answer

I am on both platforms and we get great guests on both platforms.  We started with vrbo and then branched out to airbnb and now 80 percent of our bookings are from airbnb. Our properties are vacation rentals.  I am active in multiple FB groups and your question is asked frequently.  It depends on the market and price point.  We find the vrbo bookings are often longer.  Our min is 4 nights. We actually prefer shorter stays during peak seasons.  There is less mess for the housekeeper.  I suggest sending house rules/guidelines at time of booking to make sure guests understand your expectations.  Good luck!

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

No you're absolutely correct. In my experience VRBO is more well known and used by the older crowd....probably because they were around 13 years before AIR jumped on the bandwagon. AIR tends to be used by the younger, more hip crowd. We have had few issues with any guests at all because of our policies, but the AIR people are the ones that are more messy, complain more and appear to feel more entitled.

I'll take VRBO guests all day long over AIR, and would take VRBO as a platform also. Much better policies and customer service.

Ben Morand · Answer

Hey Sean! So obviously it is not a hard and true fact, but typically you do tend to see the younger crowds leaning towards Airbnb, while VRBO is more the families coming in for stay. My management company uses software that allows us to list on both sites simultaneously and maximize earning potential through both platforms. The reason that this is ideal is because you will see bookings farther in advance through VRBO, while Airbnb fills many of the more "last minute" vacancies that you may see for the month. Pricing each accordingly is also crucial because 1) there is more earning potential for different times of booking in advance and 2) VRBO takes a higher fee than Airbnb so you want to make sure you are charging a bit higher for the bookings through them to compensate. I'd love to chat more about it if you'd like! Feel free to shoot me a PM!

Do different types of guests use Airbnb vs. VRBO?

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