I know there are more hosts and guests on Airbnb. But, on VRBO you can be a bigger fish in a small sea. Have any of you tried both platforms for short-term rental of your space? Were you able to keep your stay booked pretty well on VRBO? I am looking to hold my bed and bath out on VRBO for anywhere from 3 to 28 days once I get rebuilt in the Palisades. I will have the bed and bath walled off from the rest of the house (where I will live).
I thought VRBO only lists entire homes. I donât think you can list just a bedroom/bath, even if it has its own entrance amd doesnât share spaces with the host or anyone else.
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I list across 3 platforms, plus my own website
VRBO is my worst performing site, maybe 1 booking every 2 months.
I offer 5 listings
It seems to me, from reading hosting forums for many years, that different platforms can get used more than others depending on where you are located, or where guests are located.
Iâve read hosts saying they get hardly any bookings through VRBO, or BDC, but then others who say the majority of their bookings come through those sites.
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Deb, your experience with VRBO seems very good compared to mine. In 3 years, I received 5 bookings from VRBO.
2 of those were double bookings due to dysfunctional VRBO calendar sync (dates were already booked on Airbnb), so I had to cancel the VRBO bookings, which sent me to the bottom of VRBO search results as a penalty. Apparently VRBO notoriously had the calendar sync problem at that time.
Another thing: every VRBO support ticket I ever opened was promptly closed without any response or explanation.
I eventually quit VRBO as a result. But that was years ago. Things may have changed since then.
I think VRBO will want your unit to have a kitchen in order to list your space âŚnot just a bed and a bath. It is ok though that it is attached to your home as if it is completely separate with itâs own entrance. No different than an apartment, condo, or townhouseâŚshares a mutual wall. I get most of my bookings from VRBO for my 5 br houseâŚNOT from Airbnb, despite what was said by everyone in the comments. VRBO does best with larger homes in Vacation / Resort destinations. Airbnb does better with smaller units in city destinations.
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Yes you can. No different than a condo or townhouse or apartment. It is perfectly fine.
Thx for correction. I was under the impression you couldnât list something with shared property. I can understand the âno different from a condo or townhouseâ, but if the host lives in the main part of the house and guests share the yard, would that be allowed?
One of my propertyâs has been listed like that for 14 years. I served on the Owner Advisory Committe with the Executives of Vrbo. Yes, a home listing that is separate is totally acceptable.
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My research indicates that the market share for different platforms varies greatly by country. VRBO is owned by Expedia who own a number of brands in different countries. In Australia the main Expedia brand is Stayz. Before Expedia bought it had been the market leader. It is now behind booking_com (BDC) and Airbnb for self-catering short term accommodation. Airbnb pushed Stayz from market leader position, but now Airbnb market share is falling and BDC is taking that market share. Expedia/VRBO (Stayz) does not seem to be gaining much from the Airbnb decline. In my opinion possible reasons are
- BDC has lower fees than Airbnb & Stayz and sometimes they discount the tariff paid by the guest out of their commission and currently they are paying the state 8.2% short stay tax out of their commission while the others are adding the fee to the guest charge.
- Expedia/VRBO/Stayz does not have a flat 30 cancellation option. Resort areas with a very short but intensive peak season have to choose 60 day cancellation option if they cannot afford to give any refund on cancellation less than 30 days.
- Stayz does not have a 24 hour cancellation policy option which some resort areas are happy to give in the off-season but need a very strict policy in peak season.
In our market I believe that these are key factors why as Airbnb becomes less popular with guests. Guests are turning to the cheaper and more flexible BDC and not Expedia/VRBO/Stayz in my market.
VRBO guests for us are older, higher maintainence, and not well mannered or well socialized. We will occasionally accept a booking on there but we donât depend on its revenue.
I just read a post today with a lot of replies concerning VRBO where hosts began to list their properties on VRBO but never finalized. They were still getting bookings, and since they had not made their account live, they slso had not synced their VRBO account with Airbnb and were getting double booked. When they contacted VRBO they were told that they would have to pay a cancelation fee if they canceled a reservation. If it had just been the one post, I might have thought it was the hostâs error but many others chimed in with the same story. I am listed on both platforms with my calendars synced and have never had a problem. I get one or two bookings a month from VRBO and many more from Airbnb.
I spoke to VRBO. Having microwave oven and a refrigerator qualifies as a âkitchenâ.
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We have a three-bedroom house in a typical vacation area (St Lucia in the Caribbean). Itâs been rented out for about 13 years. Started on Vrbo and then added AirBnB and our own website nine years ago.
For 2025, 40% of our bookings are from Vrbo, and 30% each from AirBnB and our own website.
Debthecat and Islacat Are you listing an entire house? Apartment? How many beds and baths? What is the shortest rental time you allow?
Itâs a villa, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, on a Mediterranean island.
VRBO is virtually unheard of over here. Expedia bought up a few smaller European OTAs, so there is a presence, but Airbnb is the dominant player. BDC comes in 2nd.
5 listings
17 beds in total
all entire homes
Expedia bought the local online booking site Stayz and literally killed itâŚAussie dont like overseas call centres
My house is on both VRBO and AirBnB. I used to get most of my bookings through VRBO but in the last year or so itâs switched and most come from AirBnB. If you do list on multiple platforms make sure to sync your calendars on all sites. You can also sync them to your Google calendar. FYI, Iâm in Oregon, USA.
Try to become a Premier host on Vrbo. Hosts with this status get the lion share of the bookings. 