As vacation rental sites like Vrbo and Airbnb compete to attract hosts, more hosts are making the decision to create a listing on multiple vacation rental listing sites. Generally, it is a good idea to list on both Airbnb and Vrbo because you want to get your properties in front of as many travelers as you can.
There are also other factors to consider aside from the vacation rentals fees and how much the service fee might be. However, the sites that will attract the most bookings are the ones that you should prioritize. So how do you decide which vacation rental listing sites are best for your business?
Here are the details you need to know about the differences between Vrbo and Airbnb and how they differ from traditional vacation rentals. We also share the advantages for property owners of listing your vacation rental property on each site to help you create a comprehensive vacation rental listing strategy.
Quick Guide on Listing on Both Airbnb and Vrbo for Property Owners of Vacation Rentals
1. High-Quality Listings
Create detailed and attractive property listings with high-quality photos. Highlight the unique features and amenities of your property. Different property types attract different guests and the best strategy for winning as many bookings as possible is ensuring the property types you manage match with the demand of your target guests.
Use descriptive titles and write engaging property descriptions that appeal to your target audience.
2. Competitive Pricing
Research similar properties in your area and set competitive pricing. Price your property competitively to attract more guests and increase your monthly rental income. Also consider service fees in your cost analysis to ensure that you are staying competitive.
Consider dynamic pricing strategies that adjust rates based on demand, seasonality, and local events. Also be sure to configure your listing settings so the booking subtotal breakdown, including service fees, is always visible for guests.
3. Professional Photography
Invest in professional photography to showcase your property in the best possible light. High-quality photos can significantly increase bookings.
4. Accurate Availability Calendar
Keep your availability calendar up to date on both platforms to avoid a double booking and maintain guest trust. For Vrbo guests, your listing page and your Vrbo calendar is the easiest way that Vrbo attracts guests to your property.
If your calendars are poorly managed, you are likely to suffer low booking rates and high complaint levels if you have many double bookings.
5. Consistent and Prompt Communication
Respond to guest inquiries and messages promptly and professionally. Quick responses can lead to more bookings. A property management software like iGMS is ideal for managing speedy response rates, whether you own one or multiple listings.
6. Positive Reviews
Encourage guests to leave positive reviews after their stay. High ratings and positive reviews can boost your listing’s visibility and credibility.
7. Offer Competitive Amenities
Provide amenities that are in demand, such as Wi-Fi, a well-equipped kitchen, comfortable beds, and a clean and well-maintained property.
Consider providing extras like coffee makers, toiletries, and local recommendations to enhance the guest experience.
8. Flexible Booking Policies
Offer flexible cancellation policies to attract more bookings for your vacation home, especially during uncertain times. It’s tempting as a property owner and Airbnb host to want to put the strictest cancellation policies in place, but it can often scare guests away and mean your Airbnb calendar is left unbooked.
9. Optimize Listing Titles and Keywords
Use relevant keywords in your listing titles and descriptions to improve search visibility. Research popular search terms in your area.
10. Calendar Sync and Channel Management
Use a channel manager or software that syncs your calendars across multiple platforms to prevent double bookings.
11. Manage Your Ratings
Address any issues or concerns raised by guests promptly and professionally to maintain a high rating. If your property is listed on more than one listing site, you need to ensure that your ratings are good across those multiple platforms. It builds trust with potential guests.
12. Utilize Seasonal Promotions
Offer discounts or special promotions during peak seasons or holidays to attract more bookings. Potential guests are always looking for discount codes and a pay per booking model is the easiest model to adapt with discounts. It benefits both you as the property owner and the guests at your short term rentals.
13. Monitor Competitors
Keep an eye on your competition and adjust your pricing and offerings accordingly.
14. Professional Cleaning and Maintenance
Ensure your property is clean, well-maintained, and safe for guests. Regularly inspect and upgrade your property when necessary.
15. Advertise on Social Media
Promote your listings on social media platforms and through your personal network to reach a wider audience.
16. Optimize Listing Titles and Keywords
Use relevant keywords in your listing titles and descriptions to improve search visibility. Research popular search terms in your area.
17. Gather and Act on Guest Feedback
Encourage guests to provide feedback and use their suggestions to make improvements to your property and service.
Vrbo vs Airbnb: How to Leverage the Feature Differences
There are many distinguishing features between the various vacation rental booking platforms. Here is a brief summary of some of the differences, including those that you can use to your advantage:
Payment Methods: Airbnb vs Vrbo for Owners
On Vrbo guests can pay with a credit card or eCheck (via Yapstone / HolidayRentPayment). On Airbnb, guests can pay with PayPal or credit card. As a result, if you only list with Vrbo, you’ll miss out on attracting guests who use PayPal as their preferred method of payment for bookings.
By listing on all of the platforms, you’ll be able to attract guests regardless of their preferred payment method.
No Shared Spaces on Vrbo (Allowed on Airbnb)
Unlike Airbnb, none of the listings on Vrbo are individual rooms or shared spaces. That means that you will not be able to rent out a room of your property. Instead, you must list the entire property as the rental.
While this might be a boon for some vacation rental sites and hosts, for other hosts, it means that they won’t be able to use Vrbo. However, if you’re able to list your property on all of these platforms, you will benefit because you won’t have to exclude low-budget guests who want to rent rooms or couches from your target audience.
Unique Properties and Experiences on Airbnb
While Vrbo excel in traditional vacation homes, Airbnb is known for its wide range of unique properties. On Airbnb, you’ll find as many as 3,000 castles and more than 1,400 islands. In fact, they even recently did a promotion where you could stay at the Great Wall of China for a few nights.
If your property is one that a guest might consider to be out of the ordinary, Airbnb is the best place to make your property stand out given that they’ve already made a name for themselves in this niche.
On Airbnb, play up the uniqueness of your property while you market your property in the more traditional manner on the other platforms to see which listing version yields the most bookings.
Reviews
Airbnb has an active review culture where guests mainly book based on reviews. In addition, Airbnb encourages hosts to maintain a high review score by improving their services. In contrast, reviews are less important on sites like Vrbo.
This provides an advantage to hosts since it might be easier to list a new property on these sites and get bookings in comparison to Airbnb.
Crafting Your Vacation Rental Listing Strategy
Now that you know the differences between both Airbnb and Vrbo, you can leverage each site to maximize your bookings year-round. Here are the top ways to take advantage of listing on multiple vacation rental platforms:
Sync Your Calendars
Whether it’s peak season or off-season, you’re guaranteed to receive a lot more inquiries if your listings are available on multiple vacation rental platforms. By syncing your listing calendars on Airbnb and Vrbo, you can ensure that your listings are up-to-date and they are available to as many travelers as possible.
Split Test Your Listings
With your listing available on Airbnb and Vrbo at the same time, you can also split-test your listings by writing slightly different headlines and descriptions. You can even try targeting your listings to different audiences on each platform, such as families versus business travelers.
In fact, you can experiment with different pricing as well. By doing this you can increase your conversion rate and uncover the best-performing versions of your listings.
Experiment With Long-term vs Short-term Guests
If you want to rent to long-term guests from time to time simply because of the convenience factor, Airbnb and Vrbo have different audiences which means that it might be easier to find long-term guests on Vrbo. Since Vrbo guests are looking for entire places to rent, you may be able to find a guest that is looking to stay for one or two months or even longer.
How Can iGMS Help?
Owners of Airbnb and Vrbo vacation rental business ventures need to be aware of a range of requirements from paying a service fee to
- Managing multiple accounts and listings on the top OTAs from a single interface
- Synchronizing reservations across multiple platforms to eliminate the risk of double bookings
- Organizing messages into a single feed with a unified inbox
- Improving communication with automated templates and triggered messaging
- Automating the process of guest reviews
- Creating and coordinating cleaning tasks with live tracking to completion
Conclusion
Making your vacation rentals available on Airbnb and Vrbo and other vacation rental sites simultaneously is the best way to maximize your bookings and increase your profits from your business. However, making sure that everything goes smoothly requires careful management and the use of vacation rental software for the best results. It will not only automate your day-to-day routine but also help you increase your hosting revenue and grow your business.
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