Furnished Finder vs AirBnb

[Isabella Romano]

Hi,

I'm new to the community and trying to figure out the best site to list my rental property on. This property is in Albuquerque NM which is not a particularly popular vacation spot. We would like to do a furnished rental for 1-3month leases. The property is very close the the local hospital, medical school and university so it would be ideal for traveling hospital workers/nurses/students. I was wondering if anyone has used furnished finder? What are the benefits of this site compared to listing on airbnb or VRBO?

Thanks!

[Bruce Woodruff]

From what we see on this forum, FF is more suited to what you are doing which is closer to Medium Term Rentals. VRBO and AIR cater to the typical STR, which is weekends and maybe week long stays....

[John Underwood]

Vrbo has been hands down better than anything else for me on a true vacation rental.

[Carolyn Fuller]

Depending upon how much you are charging for rent and the length of your leases, Furnished Finder should be significantly cheaper than Airbnb or VRBO for both you and your tenants. 

[Joshua Messinger]

Hey @Isabella Romano! 

It sounds like given the situation of how close your property is to the hospitals/med school/university I would recommend using a furnished finder as your main marketing platform. But, I would also advise on still listing on Airbnb/VRBO with a minimum booking length of 1-month so you can focus on consumers looking to rent on a medium-term/long-term basis. 

Also, another recommendation I would have is listed across other rental platforms like Zillow, Apartments.com, or Turbotenant. These platforms usually target consumers looking to rent on a medium-term/long-term basis. 

If you have any more questions don't hesitate to reach out! 

All the best,

Josh

[Carolyn Fuller]

Quote from @Joshua Messinger:

Hey @Isabella Romano! 

It sounds like given the situation of how close your property is to the hospitals/med school/university I would recommend using a furnished finder as your main marketing platform. But, I would also advise on still listing on Airbnb/VRBO with a minimum booking length of 1-month so you can focus on consumers looking to rent on a medium-term/long-term basis. 

Also, another recommendation I would have is listed across other rental platforms like Zillow, Apartments.com, or Turbotenant. These platforms usually target consumers looking to rent on a medium-term/long-term basis. 

If you have any more questions don't hesitate to reach out! 

All the best,

Josh

 If you list on VRBO and Airbnb, make sure your monthly rent covers the percentage that these platforms will charge you, including, in the case of VRBO, their bank fees.

This is probably not an issue for anyone who has minimum rental periods of 30 days or more but I've seen STRs in my city whose monthly rates for fully furnished apartments are less than the rates for unfurnished LTRs! I think the issue is that the STR platforms encourage hosts to offer hefty monthly discounts that are way too generous. I suspect that this becomes an issue in areas of the country where there is a serious LTR housing shortage but I've been hearing rumors that this LTR housing shortage is nation wide.

[Andrew Street]

We use furnished finder quite a bit for our mid term rentals. It sounds like you are in the right location as well to be renting out monthly. Furnished Finder is another way to generate leads for your unit where Airbnb doesn't take their 15% cut from the guest and it's 3% cut from you. That's most likely the primary benefit for you and the guest. You may charge reasonably on Airbnb, but those fees can be what's affecting occupancy to some extent (People will definitely still book through Airbnb and not care about fees as well). If you ever have a property that's an up down duplex or equivalent, it can be very smart to use furnished finder for the bottom unit, while airbnb'ing the top unit.

[Bonnie Low]

It's not an either/or. As long as you have software to integrate your bookings (so you don't get booked on multiple platforms for the same nights) you should list on as many as possible (take into account listing and admin fees, of course). The feedback I get from both guests and hosts about FF is that their messaging and notifications are terrible. Hosts miss messages from would be guests all the time and the guests don't always see the host's responses so there are a lot of costly, missed connections.

[Katie Miller]

I second everyone else's sentiment on here -- use furnished finder for everything longer than a weekend stay (typical mid-term rentals)! It doesn't hurt to also post it on VRBO or Airbnb to see if you get bites but you just have to be careful to prevent double bookings like @Bonnie Low mentioned. If it's only one property it'll probably be pretty easy to watch bookings without paying for a software; but if it's more than 1 property I would definitely suggest some sort of platform manager.

[Bob Willis]

Quote from @John Underwood:

Vrbo has been hands down better than anything else for me on a true vacation rental.

 Hey @John Underwood why do you think that is, and is there some specific differentiator (type of guest, price paid, etc) you like?

Thanks.

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Bob Willis:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Vrbo has been hands down better than anything else for me on a true vacation rental.

Hey @John Underwood why do you think that is, and is there some specific differentiator (type of guest, price paid, etc) you like?

Thanks.

I think I can speak for John when I say that VRBO (generally) has a better quality of guests. They tend to be older, have more money and leave the places cleaner.

The difference in the 2 platforms is also distinct. AIR tends to be authoritarian and corporate (in the bad way :-) and their customer support is a joke (english speakers are non-existent)

VRBO can be a bit more expensive, but you can purchase the yearly plan and make up for that....

[Bob Willis]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Bob Willis:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Vrbo has been hands down better than anything else for me on a true vacation rental.

Hey @John Underwood why do you think that is, and is there some specific differentiator (type of guest, price paid, etc) you like?

Thanks.

I think I can speak for John when I say that VRBO (generally) has a better quality of guests. They tend to be older, have more money and leave the places cleaner.

The difference in the 2 platforms is also distinct. AIR tends to be authoritarian and corporate (in the bad way :-) and their customer support is a joke (english speakers are non-existent)

VRBO can be a bit more expensive, but you can purchase the yearly plan and make up for that....

 So do you use VRBO exclusively over AIR, or use both?

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Bob Willis:

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Bob Willis:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Vrbo has been hands down better than anything else for me on a true vacation rental.

Hey @John Underwood why do you think that is, and is there some specific differentiator (type of guest, price paid, etc) you like?

Thanks.

I think I can speak for John when I say that VRBO (generally) has a better quality of guests. They tend to be older, have more money and leave the places cleaner.

The difference in the 2 platforms is also distinct. AIR tends to be authoritarian and corporate (in the bad way :-) and their customer support is a joke (english speakers are non-existent)

VRBO can be a bit more expensive, but you can purchase the yearly plan and make up for that....

 So do you use VRBO exclusively over AIR, or use both?

 No I use both, they're at about 50/50 for my places and I can't afford to not use them.

[Jared Hottle]

We are on Furnished Finder, Airbnb and VRBO and link calendars so when someone books or signs a lease we can block off all the dates on all platforms. seems to work great. I may start on FF first for a week or so just to see if you get a medium term 

[Jason Regan]

Wow I never knew about Furnish finder, ill have to check it out.  Right now I am split between Airbnb and VRBO guests.  I am finding about equal quality of guests between both right now in Kissimmee and stay length averages about 4 days on both.  

[Conner Olsen]

I have a different experience than a lot of other people here. I listed on Furnished Finders, Airbnb, and VRBO and only had bookings through Airbnb. I just set it to 30 day minimums. I make more through Airbnb than I would through Furnished Finder.

[Carolyn Fuller]

Quote from @Conner Olsen:

I have a different experience than a lot of other people here. I listed on Furnished Finders, Airbnb, and VRBO and only had bookings through Airbnb. I just set it to 30 day minimums. I make more through Airbnb than I would through Furnished Finder.

I think the experiences with Furnished Finder versus the STR platforms all depend upon location. Here in Cambridge, we are in the midst of a serious housing crisis. Our vacancy rates are less than 1%. That means LTR rents are through the roof. This impacts the MTR rents, as well. Traveling nurses compare Cambridge / Boston MTR rents to what they know from their respective homes and go into serious sticker shock and balk at everything. It would be easier for someone doing an MTR in cities like Boston/Cambridge to use the STR platforms instead of Furnished Finder.

If your MTR is in a University town, you can use Sabbatical Homes. Visiting scholars are a bit more use to the housing crisis in our cities and what it has done to rents. Sabbatical Homes is significantly less expensive to use than either Airbnb or VRBO. 

[Chi Walsh]

Quote from @Joshua Messinger:

Hey @Isabella Romano! 

It sounds like given the situation of how close your property is to the hospitals/med school/university I would recommend using a furnished finder as your main marketing platform. But, I would also advise on still listing on Airbnb/VRBO with a minimum booking length of 1-month so you can focus on consumers looking to rent on a medium-term/long-term basis. 

Also, another recommendation I would have is listed across other rental platforms like Zillow, Apartments.com, or Turbotenant. These platforms usually target consumers looking to rent on a medium-term/long-term basis. 

If you have any more questions don't hesitate to reach out! 

All the best,

Josh

 Hey Josh, currently listing my property for midterm rental on airbnb and vrbo but I want to expand to zillow, do you post you property with address on it? I like the idea of airbnb and vrbo since i can give them the area where the house is in and not actual address but haven't found a way to do so with zillow, apartments.com if any

[Patricia Taveras]

@Jared Hottle

How do you link your calendars?

[Jared Hottle]

I believe you can do it on just on airbnb

[Ryan Johnston]

@Isabella Romano  Might as well list on all platforms - Air BnB, VRBO, and Furnished Finder.  Would consider pricing it a little higher on Air BnB and Vrbo due to fees, etc.  We use a channel management software that allows us to list on all platforms including our direct booking site.  Consolidates our calendars so I don't necessarily care which platform the booking comes from.  Key is to maximize exposure to your listing. 

[Michael Emery]

Quote from @Andrew Street:

We use furnished finder quite a bit for our mid term rentals. It sounds like you are in the right location as well to be renting out monthly. Furnished Finder is another way to generate leads for your unit where Airbnb doesn't take their 15% cut from the guest and it's 3% cut from you. That's most likely the primary benefit for you and the guest. You may charge reasonably on Airbnb, but those fees can be what's affecting occupancy to some extent (People will definitely still book through Airbnb and not care about fees as well). If you ever have a property that's an up down duplex or equivalent, it can be very smart to use furnished finder for the bottom unit, while airbnb'ing the top unit.

Hey Andrew! Were you able to find a channel manager that could sync with Furnished Finder? I'm stuck looking for one right now. Thanks for any recommendations!

[Jared Hottle]

I have had success with VRBO, FF, and Airbnb. Why not post on all platforms just make sure to make it unavailable on FF when it is booked on Airbnb or VRBO

[Andrew Street]

Quote from @Michael Emery:

Quote from @Andrew Street:

We use furnished finder quite a bit for our mid term rentals. It sounds like you are in the right location as well to be renting out monthly. Furnished Finder is another way to generate leads for your unit where Airbnb doesn't take their 15% cut from the guest and it's 3% cut from you. That's most likely the primary benefit for you and the guest. You may charge reasonably on Airbnb, but those fees can be what's affecting occupancy to some extent (People will definitely still book through Airbnb and not care about fees as well). If you ever have a property that's an up down duplex or equivalent, it can be very smart to use furnished finder for the bottom unit, while airbnb'ing the top unit.

Hey Andrew! Were you able to find a channel manager that could sync with Furnished Finder? I'm stuck looking for one right now. Thanks for any recommendations!

I haven't found anything that integrates with FF yet. FF is still working through some things as website because it's kind of clunky. It's name is bigger than the product offered, but it's just a matter of time before FF catches up.

[Bruce Woodruff]

So does Furnished Finder's calendar sync with ABNB and VRBO...?

[Alex Schober]

Quote from @Carolyn Fuller:

Quote from @Conner Olsen:

I have a different experience than a lot of other people here. I listed on Furnished Finders, Airbnb, and VRBO and only had bookings through Airbnb. I just set it to 30 day minimums. I make more through Airbnb than I would through Furnished Finder.

I think the experiences with Furnished Finder versus the STR platforms all depend upon location. Here in Cambridge, we are in the midst of a serious housing crisis. Our vacancy rates are less than 1%. That means LTR rents are through the roof. This impacts the MTR rents, as well. Traveling nurses compare Cambridge / Boston MTR rents to what they know from their respective homes and go into serious sticker shock and balk at everything. It would be easier for someone doing an MTR in cities like Boston/Cambridge to use the STR platforms instead of Furnished Finder.

If your MTR is in a University town, you can use Sabbatical Homes. Visiting scholars are a bit more use to the housing crisis in our cities and what it has done to rents. Sabbatical Homes is significantly less expensive to use than either Airbnb or VRBO. 

Do you have much experience/success with Sabbatical Homes? My rental is in a big university town (Columbus, OH) and that seems like a compelling medium for finding MTR leads.