You’ve invested your time, energy, and money into creating the perfect vacation rental. You’re finally ready to invite guests into your home, but you’re not sure where you should advertise. The vacation rental leaders Vrbo, Airbnb, and Booking.com are all strong options. However, there are differences between the three to consider when selecting the right platform for your rental. This blog post will cover the benefits and drawbacks of choosing Booking.com, Airbnb or Vrbo for hosts.

Host Tools provides an automated, unified calendar for short-term rental hosts, allowing you to seamlessly list on all major channels. Start your free trial today! 

What is the Difference Between Booking, Airbnb or Vrbo for Hosts?

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let’s take a brief look at the basic differences between these three platforms:

Vrbo

Vrbo was founded in 1995. Originally known as Vacation Rental By Owner, the company is now a part of Expedia Group. It has 2 million listings in 190 countries around the world. According to SimilarWeb.com, the Vrbo website had 36.10 million visits in September 2021.

Airbnb

Airbnb, founded in 2008, recently became a publicly-traded company with an IPO that took place in early December 2020. It has over 7 million listings in 220 countries and regions worldwide. According to SimilarWeb, Airbnb.com had nearly 74.87 million visits in September 2021

Booking.com

Booking.com is a Dutch online travel agency for hotels, car rentals, flights, excursions and more. It’s essentially a one-stop shop for travel needs. It was founded in 1996, and boasts more than 28 million accommodation listings, including 6.2 million rental homes. Booking.com is used in 223 countries and the site is available in 43 languages. In September 2021, Booking.com had 409.33 million site visits.

The rest of this blog post will break down the specific differences between how these platforms function. Whether you decide to list on Vrbo, Airbnb, or Booking.com (or all three!) will depend on a range of factors.

Fees: Booking, Airbnb or Vrbo for Hosts?

When budgeting for your potential income, you’ll need to consider the different types of fees each platform charges. There are different types of fees each platform charges:

• Guest fee: This is a fee charged by the listing platform to the guest. It is an additional fee added on to the listing fee. The higher the guest fee, the higher listing price your guest sees.
• Host fee: This fee is charged by the listing platform to the host (you). The listing platform will take a percentage of each of your bookings.
• Credit card fee: This fee is added on by the listing company to make up for income lost by their credit card processor.

Let’s take a look at how the three platforms compare in regards to fees:

Vrbo

• Guest fee: 10-11% of booking price
• Host fee: Hosts can choose a yearly subscription of $499 or pay per booking. If you make less than $10,000 annually or rent your property for less than six weeks per year, a pay per booking option is the best financial choice. The pay per booking fee is approximately 8% of your property’s nightly rate. It breaks down as a 5% commission to Vrbo, and a 3% credit card fee.

Airbnb

• Guest fee: 10-14.2% of listing price
• Host fee: 3-5% of listing price
• Credit card fee: Airbnb does not charge a credit card fee, but instead charges a higher guest fee to make up this cost. This will make the listing price your guest sees higher.

Booking.com

• Guest fee: No guest fee. Guests see the lowest listing price of the three companies. For example, if the weekly rate for a property is $1,000, guests will see about $1,150 as the price. With Vrbo a guest would see about $1,275 and $1,300 on Airbnb.
• Host fee: 15% of listing. This is a large fee, but your listing is reaching more eyes than the other platforms.
• Credit card fee: None, However Booking.com requires a secure payment option like Square.

Cancellation policies: Booking, Airbnb or Vrbo for Hosts?

Being familiar with each platform’s cancellation policies is extremely important to your hosting strategy. Choosing a lenient cancellation policy is a good choice for attracting guests and keeping your calendar full. However, you will lose out on income if a guest cancels last-minute and you are unable to find a new guest. Picking a strict cancellation policy may make keeping a booked calendar more difficult, but you’re protected from lost income when a guest does choose to cancel. Let’s take a look at the different options between Vrbo, Airbnb, and Booking.com:

Vrbo

14/7-Day Policy. : If your guest cancels at least 14 days before the start of the stay, they receive a full refund. If your guest cancels at least 7 days before, they receive a 50% refund. Cancelations under 7 days will not receive any refund.

30/14-Day Policy: If your guest cancels at least 30 days before the start of the stay, they receive a full refund. If they cancel at least 14 days before, they receive a 50% refund. If they cancel within less than 14 days they will not receive a refund. This is the option that Vrbo recommends.

60/30-Day Policy: If your guest cancels at least 60 days before the start of the stay, they receive a full refund. If they cancel at least 30 days before, they receive a 50% refund. If they cancel within less than 30 days they receive no refund.

60-Day Policy: If your guest cancels at least 60 days before the start of the stay, they receive a full refund. If they cancel when the reservation is less than 60 days away, they will not receive a refund.

No Refund Policy: Guest’s cannot receive a refund.

Custom: If the above policies do not meet your needs, a host can create a customized cancellation policy.

Airbnb

Flexible: If your guest cancels at least 24 hours before the check-in time, they get a full refund. Cancellation under 24 hours will invoke a full refund except the first night and any service fees.

Moderate: If your guest cancels at least 5 days before check-in, they get a full refund. Cancellations within 5 days will provide a 50% refund except the first night and service fees.

Strict: If your guest cancels within 48 hours of booking and at least 14 days before check-in, they get a full refund of the nightly rate. If they cancel at least 7 days before check-in, they get a 50% refund of the nightly rate and cleaning free, but not the service fee.

Long-Term: If your guest cancels within 48 hours of booking and at least 28 days before check-in, they get a full refund. Airbnb automatically applies this cancellation policy to reservations of 28 nights or more.

Super Strict 30 Days: If your guest cancels at least 30 days before check-in, they get a 50% refund. They will not get a refund of the Airbnb service fee. This cancellation policy is only available for software-connected hosts (i.e. those who list on Airbnb via a channel manager or other software).

Super Strict 60 Days: If your guest cancels at least 60 days before check-in, they get a 50% refund. They will not get a refund of the Airbnb service fee. This cancellation policy is only available for software-connected hosts.

Booking.com

Fully Flexible: Guests can cancel all the way up to check-in without any penalties.

Customized: Hosts can select how many days before the reservation a guest can cancel without penalty. This can help cut down last-minute cancellations.

Pre-authorized/Deposit: Hosts can require a nonrefundable deposit at the time of booking. While this is not technically a cancellation policy, it will serve as a similar protection.

Host Protection: Booking, Airbnb or Vrbo for Hosts?

As a short-term rental host you take on many responsibilities, and need to protect both your guests and yourself from guest injury and guest damages.

Vrbo

Vrbo offers up to $1 million in liability protection for hosts. This protects you from travel injury claims made against you, and property claims made against you. An example of a property claim is if a guest damages your neighbors porch.

Airbnb

The platform offers host protection from guests damages up to $1 million with the Host Guarantee. This policy covers damage caused to your property or belongings by guests. This does not cover liability for guest injury or property damage by guests to other third parties such as your neighbors. You would need additional Host Protection Insurance.

Booking.com

Booking.com does not offer protection from guest damages. Investing in short-term rental insurance is a must.

Vrbo vs Airbnb vs Booking Target Audience

Vrbo, Airbnb, and Booking.com are all global leaders in the travel industry. However, they each have a specific audience that is particularly loyal to them. Consider the type of guest your property is trying to attract, and who the audience of the platform is.

Vrbo

• Vrbo’s primary audience is families.
• Caters to guests looking to stay in rural areas.
• Vrbo is the platform most used by property managers.
• The average length of rental is longest on this platform – which is great for keeping a full calendar! This means guests booking these homes are looking to stay in one place for quite some time.
• The platform is most popular with guests from the United States and Canada.

Airbnb

• The primary users are millennials living in the United States.
• Even though the primary users are budget-conscious millennials, it has attracted a large customer base of guests who are looking for luxury stays. Hence, Airbnb created the Airbnb Luxe collection.
• Due to the number of Airbnb listings available, travelers who use Airbnb are more “last minute” than other platforms. Meaning, you’re more likely to welcome guests who book the same day as their stay.
• Caters toward urban stays.

Booking.com

• The site has a strong presence with European customers.
• As the platform with the most site visits, listings, and language options, Booking.com offers essentially every type of audience you are looking for.

Vrbo vs Airbnb vs Booking Property Types

A large difference between Vrbo, Airbnb, and Booking.com is the types of properties they allow hosts to offer.

Vrbo

Vrbo caters to families, and thereby only allows hosts to rent out entire private homes with no shared spaces.

Airbnb

Entire place: The guest has the entire place to themselves, with no shared spaces. Examples of this include full houses, private apartments or condos, or guest houses with private entrances. Hosts can still live on property, but the guest space should be structured in such a way that the guest doesn’t share any of the living spaces with the host or other guests.

Private rooms: Guests have a private room for sleeping, but they may share common areas such as the bathroom, kitchen, or living area.

Shared room: A guest shares a sleeping space with other guests. This can be similar to a hostel-style room.

Booking.com

Booking.com allows hosts to list the most diverse amount of listings:

• Vacation rental homes

• Hotel rooms

• Private rooms in a shared home

• Bed and Breakfasts

• & other types of unique stays (ex. Trailers, cabins, campsites, etc.)

The site also allows guests to book flights and rental cars.

Vrbo vs Airbnb vs Booking Reviews

Receiving and maintaining strong guest reviews is absolutely vital to a successful short-term rental business. Having many positive guest reviews will also increase your properties listing rank within the search engine optimization of each platform. When you integrate with Host Tools, you can easily automate reminders to guests to leave you a glowing review!

Let’s take a look at how the different properties utilize guest reviews:

Vrbo

Vrbo gives guests and hosts an entire year to submit their reviews. However, when one party submits their review, the other has 14 days to write theirs. Vrbo keeps these reviews private until both parties have submitted them, or until 14 days pass.

Vrbo does not display traveler ratings publicly: owners and property managers can only see the ratings of travelers they communicate with.

Airbnb

On Airbnb, guests and hosts have 14 days after check-out to write a review. Airbnb only publishes these reviews once both parties have written their own, or once the 14 days are up.

Next to reviews, Airbnb also encourages guests to leave star ratings on a number of different factors. These include:

• Overall experience

• Cleanliness

• Accuracy

• Check-in

• Communication

• Location

• Value

• Amenities

Booking.com

Booking.com sends guests an invitation to review the property 2 days after check-out. The guest then has up to 3 months to complete their review. Unlike Vrbo and Airbnb, hosts do not leave reviews of their guests on the site.

Vrbo vs Airbnb vs Booking Potential Income

As you can see, there is a lot to consider when choosing the best listing platform for you. Depending on the property type and whether or not you are a superhost can greatly affect these numbers.

Below are recent average income reports for hosts on the three platforms:

Vrbo

Vrbo’s 2017 study, that has been retained through 2021, finds the average income for hosts at $33,000 per year. This is largely due to the fact that they exclusively rent entire homes.

Airbnb

According to Airbnb Statistics, the average income for hosts in 2021 is $9,600. Keep in mind that Airbnb has both full-home rentals and shared room rentals. The allowance for the diversity in property types accounts for the lower average income.

Booking.com

The average income for hosts was $22,960. Similar to Airbnb, Booking.com allows for a diverse array of property types.

Multi-Channel Distribution with Host Tools

Now that you’ve learned the ins and outs of all three platforms you may have a favorite platform in mind. We want to let you know that the most efficient listing option for your property is to list it on all three platforms. Using multi-channel distribution will give your property more exposure, target more audience niches, and diversify your source of bookings. Listing your platform across multiple channels reaches more people, and ultimately secures more bookings.

Listing on all three platforms may seem daunting but if you use Host Tools to manage your listings you will be amazed at how easy it is! Host Tools is the easiest to use property management system on the market. It makes it easy to adopt a multi-channel distribution strategy and to run your short term rental business on autopilot – whether you have 1 or 100 listings.

Host Tools integrates directly with Airbnb, VRBO and Booking.com. This means that you can see all your reservations on a unified calendar, and all your messages in a unified inbox. Host Tools will automatically block your calendars across channels when you get a new reservation so that you’ll never get a double booking.

Host Tools will also automate guest messaging in the platform they booked on, guest reviews, cleaner management, smart locks and more. Host Tools will save you countless hours each week while giving your guests a 5-star experience. Host Tools is one of the easiest to use tools available for hosts. Simply add your listings, set up a few rules, and then sit back while Host Tools takes over day to day management of your short-term rentals.

As you can see, there are many similarities between Vrbo, Airbnb, and Booking.com. While all are strong options, considering the below factors will help you choose the absolute perfect fit for your vacation rental:

• Type of property you are renting
• Where your property is located
• Who you are marketing your vacation home to
• What type of property protection you are looking for
• What your income goals are with your short-term rental business

Adopting a multi-channel distribution strategy – listing your rental on all three of the major sites, is the best way to keep your calendars full. Host Tools provides an automated, unified calendar for Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo hosts, allowing you to seamlessly list on all channels. Start your free trial today!

Host Tools provides an automated, unified calendar for short-term rental hosts, allowing you to seamlessly list on all major channels. Start your free trial today!