Have you heard about some Airbnb hosts being shut down from Airbnb from one day to the other? Are you wondering which platforms are the best to advertise your Short Term Rentals?
Do you want to find ways to cover yourself in case one platform doesn’t work for you anymore?
There are ways to do this: having a website and social medias pages is definitely was of the best option.
You can be sure that your former guests and followers won’t disappear like your listing on a platform. This would be one of the biggest mistakes you could do!
The best is to have as many eggs in different baskets as possible!
That’s why I work on my different businesses and why I invest in different things. If something doesn’t work anymore one day, I won’t lose everything!
Let’s see which platforms are right for you to rent more!
1 – Airbnb
Whole house or homeshare?
For whole house or for a room in your house.
Fees: 3% (except in Italy or if you have a Super Strict Cancellation Policy then it can be higher)
Estimated Organic Views per month in the US (est. May 2019): 6 M views!!
Pros and Cons:
+ the biggest platforms for families offering short term rentals and vacation rentals
-in case of problems with guests, Airbnb tends to help more the guests and the hosts
-Airbnb can shut down your listing without warning
Are you looking for a platform for your luxury vacation rental to attract high-end clients, check our post here:
Luxury vacation rentals platforms in 2019
2- VRBO –
Vacation rentals by owner and Homeaway
HomeAway and VRBO are part of the same company as HomeAway bought VRBO in 2007.
It’s also part of Expedia, so you might get bookings from people on VRBO you are coming from Expedia.
The good thing is that you don’t have to do anything for it, your listing will automatically appear on Expedia website and thus attract more guests!
Whole house or homeshare?
This is only if you rent an entire place.
Fees: membership fee $499/year or 5% per booking + 3% credit card processing fee (the percentage is better if you make less than $9,980 per year)
Estimated Organic Views per month in the US(est. May 2019): 5 M views!!
Pros and Cons:
+ a good alternative to Airbnb
-hosts get much less bookings than from Airbnbs
-payments take to long to be sent
-not very good customer service
3- Flip Key / Trip Advisor
TripAdvisor is a general platform for everything related to the hospitality industry. It has a lot of views, but isn’t specific on your business niche.
Flip Key is a sister company of Trip Advisor specialized on vacation rentals. With your listing on Trip Advisor, it’s directly visible on Flip Key as well.
Whole house or homeshare?
Only for the entire place.
Fees: 3%
Estimated Organic Views per month in the US (est. May 2019): 185 M views
Pros and Cons:
+ having a listing on Trip Advisor may not bring so many new guests but they definitely show people your reviews on a trusted website
-the website is not specific enough
4 – Booking
Whole house or homeshare?
Only for the entire place.
Fees: 15% per booking + 3% credit card processing fee
Estimated Organic Views per month in the US (est. May 2019): 20 M views + 30M in Europe
Pros and Cons:
+ one of the most, if not the most widely used platform to find accomodations
-high owner fees
-not specific to vacation rentals, they list mostly hotels
5- Houfy
Quite a new platform, which is on the rise.
Whole house or homeshare?
Most of the places seem to be entire place but you have the option to list a room as well.
Fees: 3% per booking
Estimated Organic Views per month (est. May 2019): 300 views
Pros and Cons:
+ no fee both for guests and for hosts -> higher revenue per night
-not very well known still
6 – Spotahome
Listing only for flats not for houses or any other type of properties.
Especially good if you have a short term rental in Europe. As they are ranking well on the keywords for London, Rome, Madrid and Valencia.
They offer only rents for minimum a month. It’s good if you don’t want to have a high turnover rate and increase your occupancy rate.
However, the night rates are lower than it would be on other platform as it’s for a longer term.
Whole flat or homeshare?
Working both for an entire place or rooms.
Fees: not indicated online …
Estimated Organic Views per month in the US (est. May 2019): 55k views (+120k from Europe)
As you see there are other opportunities for you beside Airbnb platform. Having your listing on other websites will allow you to bear the risks of losing it all if you run into difficulties with Airbnb.
In my opinion, the best is to have one’s own website and social media pages to be 100% sure that whatever happens you are still managing the situation.
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Over to you, on which platforms are you right now? What are your main issues with your platforms?
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I’m Natacha, a French vegan Airbnb host who has been working online for the past 4 years. I help hosts stand out and make more money online so they can have a good work-life balance!
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