Are These Short-Term Rental Sites Better Than Airbnb? Let’s Find Out!
For a lot of people, traveling is a major goal for 2023. For years now, Airbnb has been synonymous with traveling—but, are there alternatives?
If you want to use your properties and leverage the short-term rental market, you’d want a site that offers you the most benefits. In recent years, a couple of sites have stepped up their game.
We went to see if they can compete against Airbnb. To compare things objectively, we listed down the features to look into when picking out a short-term rental site.
Features To Look For On A Short-Term Rental Site
Airbnb is obviously the most popular short-term rental site out there. But, each property is different. Some sites can offer features that better suit your property. Here’s a quick look at what a short-term rental site should offer:
- A wide variety of listing options.
- Integration support to hosts.
- Intuitive and convenient interface for users and hosts.
- Flexible fees depending on location, size of the property, and length of stay.
- Low or flexible commission rates.
- Free or low-cost property listing
- A robust collection of reviews on restaurants, hotels, and other local attractions.
7 Of The Best Short-Term Rental Sites
Now that we have a good foundation on what to look for, here are the top seven short-term rental sites that could offer you better benefits than Airbnb.
Vrbo
Vrbo specializes in offering vacation rentals in the United States. It’s one of the most popular rental listing platforms worldwide. But, only private home rentals are allowed.
To get a listing, hosts need to either pay per booking or an annual subscription of $499. The per-booking option costs a 5% commission along with a 3% credit card charge.
But unlike Airbnb, Vrbo won’t allow you to rent out a spare room in your home. Travelers looking for those kinds of short-term rentals are simply not their target market.
Instead, this platform is better for older audiences traveling with family and friends that are looking for a wide, child-friendly space that they can enjoy for a vacation.
If you’re looking for a more in-depth comparison between Airbnb and Vrbo, check out this article on Vrbo VS. Airbnb.
Booking.com
One of Airbnb’s top competitors is Booking.com. It currently has over 28 million properties listed and boasts an impressive 1.5 million nights booked each day.
Booking.com was originally a hotel booking site. But in recent years, the site has entered the vacation rental game and made a huge splash.
One of the reasons why it’s so popular is its flexible payment options—allowing hosts to choose their preferences. However, this can be a double-edged sword with the site charging a 15% commission for each booking—quite a hefty fee.
And, if customers want to cancel, they need to contact the hotel directly. But, they don’t have to pay extra booking fees when making a reservation.
Vacasa
If you want to use your property as a short-term rental but don’t have the time to fix and manage things, then Vacasa might be for you.
It recently acquired Turnkey and now provides hosts with full-service short-term rental property management.
Not only can you list properties for bookings, but you also get the added benefit of managing a vacation rental remotely. Vacasa will do everything from management to turnovers ensuring the property is ready for the next renters.
But if you want to get the most revenue, Vacasa might not be for you. The site charges you 35% of the nightly booking fee because of the service it provides you.
However, if you don’t want to worry about property management and all the work that comes with it, then the 35% fee might be a good price to pay for the convenience.
FlipKey
FlipKey is TripAdvisor’s vacation rental site. It’s got over 300,000 properties listed where guests can stay anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. If you get verified on the platform, you can list homes, apartments, villas, or even private rooms.
The site also offers a ton of customer support. For example, if a renter has questions about a listing, they can just fill out a form and FlipKey sends it directly to the owner. It also shows you information about the property owners so you can get more insight.
Currently, this short-term rental site offers the following:
- Beach homes
- Cabins
- Condominiums
- Vacation homes
- Cottages
HomeStay
Homestay offers short-term rentals across 160 countries. It’s a niche platform that has served over 200,000 guests since 2013.
The key difference it has with other short-term rental sites is that it offers an entirely different form of payment. For example, guests and hosts can make a deal wherein they can stay at each other’s properties.
Staying in a listed property can also be paid with a barter system such as exchanging housekeeping or working at a host’s property. Meanwhile, hosts pay HomeStay a 3% service fee per booking.
This site is best for solo travelers that want private rooms/accommodations. It also has the added benefit of direct negotiations between hosts and guests.
HomeToGo
HomeToGo is a search engine designed for finding rentals listed on platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo.
You can input your destination and budget into the search engine and find rentals that fit what you’re looking for. When you find a listing that works for you, you’ll be redirected to the original website.
For travelers, HomeToGo offers the advantage of instant listing comparisons across several short-term rental platforms. This provides guests with the opportunity to find the platform best suited for their needs.
Tripping
Tripping is another rental search engine that combines listings from different platforms and online travel agencies (OTA).
The platform also offers a map beside the results page displaying a list of hotels, vacation rentals, and other types of accommodation. What’s better is that Tripping doesn’t require payment from hosts or guests.
Key Takeaways
Listing your property on short-rental sites is a good way to earn passive income. But before reaching out to them and spending time and resources, consider the following:
- Find sites that offer flexible payment options or low commission fees.
- Some sites with higher commission fees offer management services.
- Go for sites with intuitive UI and good customer support.
- There are short-term rental sites for various types of properties and hosts.