Where to Advertise Your Holiday Home: The Best Vacation Rental Sites

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If you’ve ended up here, you are probably looking to learn how to advertise your vacation rental property in the best way possible so you can maximize your profit. Short answer: online! There’s no better way to reach people from all over the world than through the mighty infinite powers of the Internet. Plus, it’s efficient, and you can see the results in minutes!

But choosing which holiday rental website is the best for you – especially these days, when the web abounds with websites that promise you this and that – is no easy task. No worries, I did all the research, so you don’t have to.

Below you’ll find the best vacation rental sites for hosts out there, as well as lots of useful information on how to advertise your property like a pro.

What you need before listing your vacation home online

Advertise Your Holiday Home
  • A set of high-resolution images & a video tour of the property. By far, this will be the most important step. Hire a professional to take the photos, don’t make compromises, as this is a key element and can make a huge difference between you and your competitors.
  • Description of the property to use in the listing. Optimize the title and description of your property, and make sure they’re catchy but also relevant and informative. Again, if writing is not your forte, don’t hesitate to hire a professional to do it for you.
  • A website for your property. This is not mandatory, but preferable. You can start without one, but my recommendation is to create one along the way. More details on this further down this article.
  • Your rates and calendar availability. Make sure your calendar is updated in real-time, and always set your rent price considering factors like season, location, and facilities.

Before we dive in, let’s have a quick look at the 3 different commission structures vacation rental sites are offering – free, paid (annual fee), and pay-per-booking (commission-based).

Commission-Based vs Annual Fee vs Free Listing

Commission-Based (pay-per-booking) – Instead of requiring an upfront fee for an annual subscription, the pay-per-booking model allows you to pay only for the bookings you receive. Studies showcase that this flexible plan works best for those who don’t rent their property that often (less than 6 weeks a year). The commission varies from one website to another (3% on Airbnb to over 8% on Vrbo), and so do their services.

Annual fee (paid listings) – The advantage of this type of vacation rental website is that you don’t have to pay any commissions or extra fees. An annual subscription involves one set price for unlimited inquiries and bookings for a whole year. Some of the most famous listing sites out there offer both monthly/annual subscription plans as well as a pay-per-booking option, allowing rental owners to choose what’s best for them.

Free listing sites charge no fee or commission. They might not offer you the same exposure and professional tools as subscription or commission-based websites, but they are especially useful if you don’t have a budget and want to start slow. Also, even if you have already listed your vacation rental on one or more popular vacation rental platforms, it never hurts to diversify your audience with a couple of adverts on some free listing sites.

Now let’s have a look at the best vacation rental websites to advertise your holiday home.

Airbnb

Most popular rental marketplace

Airbnb operates exclusively on a pay-per-booking model, and with a 3% commission fee, it has some of the lowest tariffs out there. Nevertheless, this rental marketplace is mainly popular with short stays, so if you only accept week/month-long reservations, you might want to look elsewhere.

Clickstay

Holiday rental company

For a £1 sign-up fee and a 3% payment fee on bookings, owners can list their rental property on Clickstay. This UK-based holiday rental company gives you exposure to over 4 million people a year and comes with a sister website (Rentalsystems) to help you manage your bookings through other platforms, such as Facebook or your own website.

Wimdu

Europe’s biggest platform for city apartments

This is Europe’s biggest platform for city apartments, with more than 350,000 properties in popular destinations throughout the world. Nevertheless, the site is not limited to urban flats, accepting everything from affordable beach cottages to luxury countryside villas. Listing your property on Wimdu is free, as the processing fee, which is automatically added to the price you have set, is paid by the guests.

TripAdvisor Holiday Rental Network

TripAdvisor Holiday Rental Network

Advertising your property on TripAdvisor will automatically appear on its full network of vacation rental sites, including Holiday Lettings, FlipKey, and Niumba. This not only saves you tons of time, money, and energy but also gives you exposure to over 455 million holidaymakers that visit the world’s largest travel website monthly. And the best part, publishing your listing is free. They only charge a low 3% booking fee per confirmed booking, deducted from your guests’ payment.

Booking.com

The world’s No.1 accommodation site

Listing your vacation rental on the world’s No.1 accommodation site comes with unparalleled benefits, including zero subscription costs, instant booking confirmation, and access to a vast global audience of around 480 million. Owners pay commission (somewhere between 10-25%) on a pay-per-booking basis.

Vrbo

Vrbo

Vrbo is the world’s largest and most reputed vacation rental marketplace – a network of 5 international sites attracting millions of visits per month. Vrbo, Abritel.fr, FeWo-direkt.de, Bookabach.co.nz, and Stayz.com.au are all members of the Expedia family.

Their $499 USD annual subscription might seem pricey, but it includes unlimited bookings for a year, fantastic exposure on their top sites across the world, as well as access to a set of tools that make self-managing your property a breeze. Alternatively, homeowners can opt for a pay-per-booking listing, which requires no upfront fee, just a commission starting at 5% per booking.

TheHolidayLet

Advertise your holiday home

For £40 a year, you can advertise your vacation home on TheHolidayLet and get the second year free. There are no commissions or other service fees involved. Among others, a full-page advert allows you to link to your website, upload up to 28 images, and display seasonal prices for your holiday home. All inquiries will be sent to your email address so you can reply directly. For extra exposure, you can also feature your advert on the homepage for a fee of £15 a month.

Tripz

Advertising platform for vacation rentals

With a $29 monthly subscription on Tripz.com, you have total control over the booking process. Unlike other sites, this up-and-coming advertising platform encourages open communication between travelers and owners and doesn’t charge any other unnecessary fees. They have over 60,000 properties throughout the world, focusing mainly on the US.

Tourist-Paradise

Holiday rentals website

Based in Germany, Tourist-Paradise has been connecting rental owners with holidaymakers for more than 17 years. In order to advertise your vacation home here, you will be required to pay a low monthly fee of 10 € + VAT. This not only gives you access to the site’s 15 million+ annual visitors but also to 8 other international sites in 8 different languages. The company specializes in affordable holiday homes & apartments in Europe.

TravelStaytion

Short-term rentals

Founded in 2013, TravelStaytion describes itself as “an online platform for professionally managed holiday and short-term-let rentals”. Listing one or more properties is completely free and comes with all the tools you need to increase your vacation rental occupancy and revenue. Expect 24/7 customer care support, a secure payment system, and exposure to over 25,000 travelers from around the world.

Free Rentals

Free Rentals

True to its name, Free Rentals lets vacation rental homeowners expose and promote their properties to a worldwide base of customers without charge. Based in Phuket, Thailand, this short-term rental property listing hub boasts thousands of accommodations located in over 120 countries around the globe. And the best part – it enables free, direct communication between proprietors and holidaymakers, which is pretty rare in this industry.

Your own website

Holiday property website

There are countless advantages of having your own website for the property you own/manage. This will not only help you look professional and establish trust & credibility with the audience you’re targeting, but it will also boost the number of bookings, thus increasing your profit.

Additionally, you can use analytics to track useful details about your site’s visitors. For example, you can see from which countries you have the most visitors and how they ended up on your site, and then use this in your future marketing strategies.

These days it’s pretty easy to create a website on your own, even a professional one. Here’s the best and simplest solution: Squarespace. It’s free for 14 days; after that, I would suggest you pick the Business plan, which includes advanced website analytics.

Create an account, follow this tutorial, and that’s pretty much it!

This platform is super easy to use and provides all the tools you need to create a good-looking, high-quality, mobile-optimized website in under an hour.

A Facebook page doesn’t hurt either, but if you’re serious about renting out your property, you need a website.

Other honorable websites to try:

Other things to consider

  • Be active on social media
  • Use a newsletter to keep your clients updated with your latest special offers
  • Respond immediately to any inquiry
  • Ask for reviews from your clients. People love to see how others have experienced your property
  • Always keep the calendar and the rates updated
  • Try other marketing alternatives (classified ads, local newspaper ads, Facebook groups)
  • Advertise the property on local websites
  • Work with an agency that can do all this for you

This pretty much sums it up. Weigh up the pros and cons of each platform before deciding where to list your rental property. If you have any questions/suggestions, please let me know in the comments section below.

  1. I have listed my property with VRBO/Home Away since October of 2013. Until recently, I have been very happy and successful with this service. However, the service has evolved into a “cookie cutter” option for property owners. Dictating a refund policy to owners and calculating “discount” fees for renters without the owners knowledge. When I asked to speak with someone personally about my issues, I was told that my only option was to go online to my owner dashboard and submit a “feedback” comment. Seriously! I could not talk with a real person! When I started with VRBO, I could call customer service # and get assistance with my website as well as rate adjustments, etc. the service was very personable and very helpful and understanding tothose of us who are not as computer savvy. I am very disappointed in VRBO. It is not as owner friendly as it was when I started and I will be researching other options for listing my vacation rental.

    I believe that I should be able to dictate my rates and my refund policy. I believe that I should be able to go in and adjust my rates on any quote to whatever I want them to be! It’s my business. The “average rate per night” that VRBO lists on a property is confusing to a potential renter because not all renters stay for the same amount of time, therefore the rates are different based on the amount of time booked. ( I offer a nightly rate, weekly rate, monthly rate).

    Change is never easy and it’s never fun, however, it seems that a change is my only alternative, if I want to have control of my vacation rental rates and refund policy. I’m very disappointed.

    1. Loretta Stone Loretta Stone says:

      I’ve just encountered the same disappointment with VRBO. I can’t get a person to talk with and they’ve added a third party payment company called VacationRentPayment which is totally messed up. HomeAway sends an email to call the VRP and then the VRP people tell you to call HomeAway and all you end up doing is waiting while some stupid music keeps playing and playing. I too am looking for another way to rent our places now. I sent HomeAway an email with my phone number but I doubt I’ll get a call back! Very upsetting!!

  2. Roger Pinion Roger Pinion says:

    Very informative article…I rent my 2nd floor rooms in a small Ga. town and only advertise on Airbnb & Trip advisor but will add some of these…thanks

  3. Jim Delaney Jim Delaney says:

    Very informative article. Thanks.
    I currently have two properties on Airbnb but would like to list on a second site.
    I am in Killarney, Ireland and am particularly interested in the American market. Any tips?

    1. Hi Jim,

      I would suggest starting with the TripAdvisor network of vacation rental sites.

  4. Todji Kurtzman Todji Kurtzman says:

    In the second half of 2018 we booked $53,000 through Airbnb, and $5000 through vrbo.

    Vrbo has been a terrible experience!!! Airbnb has been a real pleasure to work with! Vrbo cant even tell me the exact figure that i will earn on a booking, their website is non intuitive, with many difficult to find functions, and their customer service is poor.

    I recommend Airbnb!!!

  5. I have a Vacation Home in Kissimmee, which is well known for being 10 minutes away from Disney. I set up an account with Booking.com and I was very happy with the number of bookings, they would start all in April. But out of the blue I got an email from Booking.com saying that my VH was under a breech of whatever, they said that what I advertise was misleading, so they shut my account cancelled my bookings and do not explain what happen. I gather either I am unlucky or they are unreliable. 🙁

    1. Andreia, I had the same problem with Booking.com…because a picture I used was once up with an estate agent they shut me down…I wrote 10 emails, called twenty times and an absolute disgrace of a customer service team with NO POWER to help property owners…WITHOUT US THEY HAVE NO BUSINESS AND THE NEXT TO FALL TO ITS KNEES!

      Airbnb customer service and support is amazing, I’m so happy with the site. In fact 95% of all my bookings come from Airbnb and no other sites. After one year of trying to resolve the problem with Booking.com I gave up! Will never even use them to book hotels for myself in the future!!!

  6. Thank you very much for your insightful, well researched article! One of the most trustworthy articles I have seen yet! Thank you Meeroona! My question to you pertains to your last sentence… or hire an agency to do this for you. I am in a time crunch and this caught my attention. What agencies would you recommend?

  7. Thank you for this article!! Very helpful !!! I will be following you in the future ! 🙂

  8. Meerona,

    I do not have a property to rent, but when seeking websites in order to search for vacation rentals, I happened upon this page. What a wealth of information you have here! Thank you so much for putting this together. I will be using this newly acquired knowledge to book rooms in Europe this fall. Again, fantastic job!

  9. At the bottom of your ‘Other things to consider’ section, you mention working with an agency that will “do all this for you.” Can you specify some agencies? I’ve been advertising a property for a summer rental in Amagansett NY on both VRBO and AirBnB; but it’s a slow season. Additionally, I’m posting my listing with local offices of global real estate agencies (i.e. – Corcoran, Brown Harris Stevens, Douglas Elliman, etc.). Are these the types of agencies you’re suggesting; or do you mean other types of agencies who will work with me, in depth, in terms of setting up my own website, content, etc.? (Great article – Thanks!)

  10. Leila Halligan Leila Halligan says:

    Loretta,
    I can relate very well to your disappointment with VRBO. Quite honestly it has really gotten to be so confusing and frustrating with their 3rd party payment companies. I really don’t know what to do. I got an email today with two choices they are apparently giving me to use and they want a decision by Nov. 1st. Just recently I had to choose one of two options when to receive my guests payments, at check in or at the end of their stay. If you choose at check in you pay a 6% fee. If you choose at check out you pay 3%. I did choose at check out and am now finding with my funds only being deposited every 30 days I am not going to have enough funds in my account to pay my cleaning lady or utility bills. This is really hard for me to believe. I have been with them for almost 15 years and used to love the way everything operated. It went smoothly and was easy for me. Now it is a nightmare. I definitely will be leaving them but really don’t know who to use next.
    I do wish you luck with your situation. They have us right where they want us. They know how dependant we are on them for our customers and they just keep getting more demanding in order to make money.
    Best,
    Leila

  11. Lindsay H Lindsay H says:

    After many years listing my property with OwnersDirect, which then became HomeAway, and then VRBO, I feel that the changes introduced through this ownership evolution have been mixed. It’s easier now to set rates (was v difficult before) but there are so many constraints on what you can/can’t do now – we weren’t even allowed to mention that we’re Covid-aware/cautious in the listings last year. In the last 12 months there have been a couple of IT challenges with the site and this week, for some reason, I get an error when I try to accept a client booking. You have 24 hrs until it times out. I’ve contacted VRBO support three times in last 24hrs. They have escalated to their tech team but I’m not allowed to talk with the tech team direct and they can give no indication of if/when it’ll be fixed. And there’s the constant nagging to go to automatic bookings (when I wish to preserve the owner-traveller interface), or to review the property facilities (which really don’t change). So, I started looking for an alternative and found this informative article. I will investigate the options. Thank you.

  12. Linda Shufelt Linda Shufelt says:

    Thank you for the information, I have an RV campground setting beautiful, in Florida. I am trying to find a web site to rent it out. It has been hard for me to find a place for advertising it. This really helped me. Thank you very much , I am so glad I found a place to get some information.thanks again . Linda in Florida

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