Vrbo vs. Airbnb vs. Booking.com: Which Vacation Rental Listing Site is Best?
You’ve done your
research about how to run a vacation rental. You invested in the right furniture
and amenities to appeal to guests. You have a plan in place for cleaning and guest
support. Now, how do you get bookings?
The listing site you
choose will have a significant impact on your vacation rental’s success. It
affects your costs and can impact your ability to get bookings.
That’s why we want to
help you determine: Which listing site is best for you?
We list our owners’
properties on Vrbo, HomeAway, Airbnb, Booking.com,
TripAdvisor, Flipkey, and Dream Exotic Rentals so the
owners who work with us don’t have to choose one marketplace over the other.
Our strategy pays off: our owners often double or even triple their rental
income by having a professional property listing that appears on multiple
platforms.
But if you have to
choose, it’s important to understand how the listing sites stack up. We’ve
crunched the numbers for the top vacation rental listing sites for you: Vrbo/HomeAway, Airbnb, Booking.com, TripAdvisor/FlipKey, and Dreamexoticrentals.com.
Use this post to find
out where you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck and see all the factors
that ultimately affect your net income.
Airbnb
- Owner Fee: 3 – 5% booking fee
- Guest Fee: Typically between 10 – 13% per booking
- Monthly Traffic: 88 million visitors (average over
six months)
Airbnb continues to prove
it’s a force to be reckoned with in the travel industry. With an average of 88
million visitors over a six month period (June –
November 2019), it leads the pack for sites that specialize in short-term
rentals. In fact, it’s gone so mainstream that some travelers talk about
staying in an ‘Airbnb’ rather than a ‘vacation rental.’
Most hosts pay a
low 3% booking fee which
makes it an affordable choice for owners and with the volume of traffic it
receives, we believe that Airbnb is a listing site owners need to use. In fact,
if you’re not on the platform, you’re likely losing bookings.
We also think Airbnb’s
guest fee is a drawback to consider. It can run up to 13% depending on the
booking total, and while it doesn’t impact your bottom line outright, higher
prices can impact your ability to attract bookings.
Vrbo and HomeAway
- Owner Fee: $499 annually or 5% per booking + 3%
credit card processing fee
- Guest Fee: Typically between
10% – 11%
- Combined Monthly Traffic: 14 million visitors
(average over six months)
Boasting a combined average
monthly visitor count of over 14 million, Vrbo and HomeAway are great choices for owners of
traditional vacation rentals. They focus exclusively on “whole home” rentals so
they’re attracting travelers who aren’t interested in sharing space with
others. Both sites are under the umbrella of the Expedia Group, Inc., and when
you list on one, you get the added benefit of being listed on the other.
With Vrbo and HomeAway, you have the choice between a
subscription model or a pay-per-booking model. The subscription model costs
$499 per year and covers all the bookings you make on the platform. With the
pay-per-booking model, you pay 5% of every booking to Vrbo and HomeAway.
If you’re weighing the
differences between the two, the pay-per-booking plan works out
in your favor if you’re making less than $10,000 in rental
income or booking fewer than six weeks per year. Any more than that, and the
subscription plan is the better choice.
The guest fees with Vrbo and HomeAway are relatively similar to those of
Airbnb. Both marketplaces determine the guest fee based on a variety of factors,
which may require a more detailed analysis into each platform to determine your
needs.
Booking.com
- Owner Fee: 15% per booking + 3% credit card processing
fee*
- Guest Fee: 0% per booking
- Monthly Traffic: 458 million visitors (average
over six months)
*Booking.com doesn’t
have a credit card processing fee, but it requires that owners have a secure
merchant account, such as VRP or Square, which usually comes with an additional
3% fee.
Booking.com is the
most-visited travel site in the world and has seen an average of 458 million monthly visitors over
the past six months. In addition to offering a wide selection of vacation
rentals, they also provide hotels, flights, vacation packages, and
transportation options. It is a true one-stop-shop for everything a traveler
needs for their upcoming vacation.
Posting your vacation
rental on their platform is a great way to get your property in front of a
large audience. Booking.com consistently offers travelers the lowest prices on
rentals and no additional fees, which are incredible guest-focused perks.
However, it is
important to consider taking on that 15% owner fee, although we believe it’s a
great option to get your vacation rental in front of a significantly larger
audience than any of the other marketplaces can.
TripAdvisor and FlipKey
- Owner Fee:
3% per booking + 3% credit card processing fee
- Guest Fee: 8%-16% per booking
- Monthly Traffic: 94 million visitors (average over six
months)
TripAdvisor and FlipKey operate on a pay-per-booking model with an owner
fee starting at 3%. While this is a little higher than Airbnb’s owner fee, we still
think this is an affordable choice for owners, but not necessarily a great
choice for guests.
TripAdvisor and FlipKey also charge travelers a premium service fee of 8 –
16%. This is the highest guest fee of all the sites in our comparison,
typically between 14% and 15%.
TripAdvisor’s average
of 187 million monthly visitors over
a six month period (June – November 2019) are certainly impressive, but it’s
important to note, a lot of this traffic is likely focused on the site’s other
travel-related services such as reviews, hotels, and car rentals.
If you choose to list
your rental on TripAdvisor, it will automatically be listed on FlipKey too. Therefore you are
getting exposure on two fronts – the larger, less-targeted audience of
TripAdvisor and a smaller, more-targeted audience on FlipKey,
which exclusively focuses on vacation rentals. From our perspective, that makes
TripAdvisor worth the investment since it promotes vacation rentals to
travelers searching for hotels.
How the Listing Sites Compare
Now let’s put it all
together to see how the listing sites compare when you stack them side by side.
To calculate how much you’ll
pay in owner fees, we used an annual rental income of $28,000. According to HomeAway, this is what the
average vacation rental owner earns per year.
Airbnb’s Host Service Fee
is the lowest owner fee we see in this comparison. According to their website,
“This fee is 3% for most hosts, but may be higher for Airbnb Plus hosts, hosts
in Italy, or for listings that have a Super Strict cancellation policy.” We
only see the 10% fee for “hosts operating listings located in Mainland China.”
The Vrbo/HomeAway subscription model comes in a close second to
Airbnb with their subscription model at $499/year.
TripAdvisor/FlipKey option tie for third with Vrbo/HomeAway’s
pay-per-booking model that starts at 5%.
Booking.com comes in
the final spot when only considering homeowner fees with its 15% minimum
service fee. While it’s the priciest option for homeowners, it is the best
option for travelers with no added fees.
It’s also important to
consider how much your guests are going to be charged to book your home. Four
of the five listing options include a guest service fee, which is calculated
based on the total nightly rate and property fees.
We looked at how guest
fees are calculated for one of our 3-bedroom properties in Cape Coral, Florida,
to see how they add up and can impact a prospective traveler’s decision to book
your property.
To calculate this, we
took into account:
- The property’s weekly rate of $1,050
- The occupancy tax of 11% (traveler fees are not charged
on taxes)
You’ll see the
traveler fee as a percentage, as well as a dollar amount based on the weekly
rate for the property:
Booking.com is the
clear winner here because they offer the best prices and charge travelers no
additional fees. The rate you set is the price your guest will pay.
However, Vrbo/HomeAway and Airbnb prove to be an attractive choice
on both sides of the coin. They’re in the middle with the
second- and third-lowest traveler fees and reasonable owner expenses as well.
Meanwhile, TripAdvisor/FlipKey is the most
expensive for travelers.
Final Decision: Which Listing is the Best?
Our recommendation is
that you list your property on as many sites as you can manage.
If you have to choose
one listing site, then pick the one that makes the most sense for your vacation
rental based on fees, traffic, and the audience.
The cost difference
between Vrbo/HomeAway, Airbnb, and FlipKey/TripAdvisor is slim, especially when you factor in
all the components above, which is why we think it’s better to prioritize
getting your properties in front of as many travelers as possible.
If you really want to
make more money, your focus shouldn’t be on picking the platform that saves you
a few hundred dollars – your focus should be on getting more bookings overall.
The more bookings you make, the more rental income you’ll earn. It’s as simple
as that.