Best Vacation Rental Sites for Hosts and Travelers

People want to enjoy life, but with the pressure of work, they can’t. That’s why once in a while they choose to go to a place and stay there to enjoy their life. For lots of people, daily life is the same every day, like going to the same place for work or doing the same thing to earn money, or they’re just so bored with life that a vacation can solve the problem or simply freshen up their mind and soul. But for that, every type of person, like a business person, couple, family, or traveler, chooses different types of places to stay. Nowadays, it’s possible because of the vast amount of sites for vacation rentals.

Vacation rental sites mainly provide information about the rentals, the amenities that are available there, the facilities that you can get there, and some booking-related things like the date of booking, the availability of rooms, the number of people that can get in one room, the location of the place, some good photos of the rentals, reviews of the vacation rentals, and many more filters to help you choose the best place for you. But in every vacation rental site, there are various options, and no site’s facilities are equal.

As a host, you want to know what types of sites are available there to register your place to maximize the booking, and as a traveler, you want to know about the best place to feel like your money was worth it after staying there. And in this article, I’ll give you both types of information about the vacation rental sites you should choose. But before that, if you don’t know what it is, go through the next three questions; otherwise, if you know, you can skip these three questions and go to the Top 7 vacation rental sites.

Check out the Airbnb listing management feature.

What are vacation rentals?

A vacation rental is a place where you can stay during your vacation and enjoy the site. It is a rental spot. It could be a house, a furnished apartment, a cottage, or a resort. In different countries, it has different names such as “holiday lets,” “self-catering rentals,” “cottage holidays,” ” gites,” “holiday homes,” and the rest.

What does it offer?

Vacation rentals offer things according to the payment. They supply different services and amenities according to the place, person, and money. But they provide basic items like a bedding set, air conditioning, good lighting, a bedside table, tissues, towels, and the bare minimum things you require in daily life. In some places, they offer swimming pools, hot tubs, and lots of luxurious items. Vacation rentals offer lots of services, and to know that you need to check them on vacation rental sites.

Who is it for?

Vacation rentals are for everyone who can afford them. for every person who wants to stay in a place to relax and vibe. A business person needs a space where he or she can work; a family needs a safe place as they have small children; a couple needs a private space to enjoy; and so on. In short, vacation rentals are for those who want to enjoy their vacation.

Top 7 vacation rental sites

First things first, every rental place is different accordingly. Vacation rentals have varieties according to your needs and desires. If you want a well-furnished home with a kitchen, living room, bathroom, and lawn, you can choose homestays. And accordingly, you can prefer rental apartments, private rooms, hotels, and so on.

It’s not like you can only use vacation rental sites to learn about one place. Social media is a very good way to promote sites and achieve more profit.

The following are some vacation rental sites you can use in accordance with your requirements. Have a look and choose from which site you want to book your room or on which site you want to register your place.

Airbnb

Among all the vacation rental sites, Airbnb is the rapidly booming and most reputable website in the travel world. Due to the very large crowd, there are lots of options for choosing the best place. At this time, this is the most trusted and recognizable website.

Let’s talk about the features of this site:

A host can list a property here without any fee; however, there is a service charge per booking according to the location of the property, which is around 3–16%.

This vacation rental site is designed so well that using it is very easy.
A feature of a site map is that it helps you know the location better. If you want, you can turn it off.
There are lots of useful filters to choose the place.
When you click on a property, it shows everything about it, such as the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, price per night, guest capacity per room, type of accommodation, ratings, and reviews, amenities they supply, etc.
Photos of the property are also available to get an idea of the type of room you are choosing.

Over six million people around the world list their properties here. so that they can get more guests and you can get more options to choose from.

Vrbo vs Airbnb: which is better for hosts and guests?

Booking.com

Over 25 million listed properties are available here just because it doesn’t list only vacation rentals but also hotels, B&Bs, apartments, OYO, etc. As a result of this, lots of bookings happen here, and most travelers choose to book from this site to get more alternatives. At first, it was named a hotel booking site, but now it lists every type of place and gains lots of profit.

Some features of booking.com that you should know before listing and booking include:

Those who know what type of place they want to book can get it by applying filters on the site.
This site is very easy to use, but sometimes it shows sold-out options with a “you missed it” text. That thing is irritating for some people.
Just like Airbnb, it doesn’t charge anything for listing, but unlike Airbnb, it doesn’t take a service charge from customers. Sometimes, it takes a service fee of about 15% per booking from the host.
Instant booking is available if the property is not sold out.
There is a huge amount of basic information about the property available, such as bedroom and bathroom numbers, cost per night, reviews, photos, house rules, and a facility to contact the host through the website.
It shows whether the booking price is non-refundable or not, as well as the cancellation and penalty policies.

Discover the beginner’s guide to Booking.com.

Expedia

Expedia is another trusted vacation rental site on which you can plan your full vacation from beginning to end. It’s like a shopping platform, but for travelers.

There are some extra facilities available on this website, but this site has some difficulties. Let’s discuss the features of this site.

Except for rentals for vacation, it has some other options, such as vacation packages, car rentals, cruise ships, and air ticket booking.
Information about the accommodation is available with full details, and with that, there is a filter option to choose business-friendly places where a person can work with free wifi and all, then family-friendly places to choose a place that is suitable for children and family.
The listing is free, but the commission is 10–30%.
The total price will not show until the end, and when you tap on the reserve option, then the whole amount will appear. Here there’s no breakdown of tax and other fees; it shows the whole amount at once without the whole information.
There is no option to contact the host through the site.

Vrbo

In its early stages, VRBO was known as a “vacation rental by owner.” But now it has merged with Home Away and becomes Vrbo. It has developed itself to provide rentals in the United States, and it is part of the Expedia Group. Apart from this, this site is one of the most famous vacation rental sites worldwide.

The following are some properties of Vrbo:

Vrbo only lists spare rooms. You cannot find any other type of option other than private apartments and houses.
There are two options to choose from for a host at the time of renting. One is pay-per-booking, and the other is a $499 subscription per year. If you choose the “pay per booking” option, you will need to pay 3% of the credit card charges plus 5% commission.
Guests need to pay a service fee of 12% and some additional fees like a pet fee (if there is any), a cleaning fee, and the rest.
This is mainly famous for booking rentals in the United States.

How to VRBO your house read here.

TripAdvisor

The oldest and best site to know a property. This is a very informative website just because of its billions of reviews on hotels, vacation rentals, tourist attractions, restaurants, etc. This is working since 2000.

Some properties you should know about the TripAdvisor site:

You can find places for yourself by applying filters according to your needs, like how many beds you want, how many rooms you prefer, how much you’re willing to pay, the distance from different locations, and other factors that matter.
Free listing with a low commission is available for owners. The commission is 3% per booking.
The guest fee is 8–16%, and this price sometimes drops.
When you rent your place on this site, it automatically shows up on Flipkey. This thing increases the visibility of your place.
However, the photo quality in each listing differs from the other.
The cancellation policy is not accessible. You don’t get information about the cancellation, whether it’s non-refundable or whether any penalty will be charged.
On this vacation rental site, you can text the owner and get in touch with them.

HometoGo

You can call it a hybrid marketplace. When you choose a location and budget on the site, it shows lots of the properties, which are listed on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, etc. This feature of it made it popular among crowds for doing comparisons before booking.

Learn more about HometoGo by going through the features of this site.

As you read in the above paragraph, this has varieties, and here are all the properties that you need after filtering results from different sites.
When you click on the listings here, it redirects you to the original site, where you can easily see all the information about the place, like amenities, bedrooms, bathrooms, and so on.
From the host, it charges commission fees and other fees depending on the original site.
easy for comparison and a variety of options.
Sometimes, it shows price glitches.

Hotels.Com

This vacation rental site is just like Booking.com. This has endless accommodation options so that anyone can find any type of place.

Some facilities Hotels.com provide to the users are

It has a filter named “property type” to go to the place they want.
From hotels to hostels, everything is available on this site.
The map feature is also available if you want to use it.
Displays both the whole price of the stay with the one-night price.
On every listing property, you can get the key amenities, house rules, rooms, other services, customer reviews, nearby places to visit, and photos of the spot.
After clicking on Let’s Book, you can find all the breakdowns of money and all taxes and other details.

Besides these, there are other vacation rental sites available. For instance, Tripping, Plum guide, Agoda, Getaway, and so on. You can choose any according to your preferences. Decisions determine destiny!