Best Rental Listing Sites for Hosts

Best rental listing sites
By The Hospitable Team

Are you a host looking for the best rental listing sites for your vacation rental property to get more bookings and maximize your profit?

Vacation rental sites and online marketplaces attract millions of visitors worldwide; they are all looking for a place to stay for either their vacations or business trips. These sites are also a perfect place for hosts and can help you reach your potential guests at the right place and time.  

In this article, we will briefly review the best rental listing sites to help hosts choose the right platform.

Best Rental Listing Sites

There are plenty of short-term housing websites out there. Take a look at the best sites to list your vacation rental property.

Airbnb

Airbnb started in 2008 as a room-sharing site catering to younger audiences. Now, it’s the largest vacation rental site that offers both short-term vacation rentals and long-term vacation rentals. You can rent out one bedroom of a house, shared spaces, or the entire property.

The platform operates on the pay-per-booking model that allows you to list your property for free and pay a 3% service fee only for the bookings you receive. This flexible plan works best for hosts who don’t rent their property very often (less than six weeks a year).

The website is attractive and easy to navigate, and there are lots of search filters for visitors. The guest fee is 6% – 12%. The site handles all bookings and payments.

There are clear, step-by-step instructions for listing your home space and tools that help verify both hosts and guests. The only downside of Airbnb and similar sites is that the hosts are blocked from communicating directly with prospective guests until after they’ve booked. At the same time, to win more bookings, hosts have to be quick to respond to guests’ pre-booking requests.

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Vrbo

Launched back in 1995, Vrbo, which stands for Vacation Rentals By Owner, was one of the first major vacation rental websites to connect property owners with travelers. It offers over 2 million properties in 190 countries and focuses exclusively on “whole home” rentals.

Hosts can choose between a subscription model or a pay-per-booking model. An annual subscription costs $499 per year and covers all bookings you make on the platform. If you choose a pay-per-booking model, you pay 5% of every booking.

The website is very attractive and easy to navigate, with a payment system and excellent resources, including “toolkits” and a community forum.

Vrbo is a great option for booking the entire property from a guest perspective, which is more convenient if they travel with family and kids. Keep in mind that guests are charged a service fee of about 12% per booking, and there can be other additional fees.

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TripAdvisor

It’s one of the largest vacation rental sites and is famous for its user-generated reviews of hotels, vacation rentals, restaurants, and tourist attractions. The company also owns several of the best vacation rental sites for owners, including FlipKey, HouseTrip, and VacationHomeRentals.

Hosts can list their properties for free, and there is a 3% commission taken on all bookings. If you list your home on TripAdvisor, it will automatically be listed on FlipKey too, which means more visibility and exposure.

Guests can filter listings by price, the number of bedrooms/bathrooms, distance from a landmark, and many other factors. Some of the rental properties can be paid for online, and others require direct arrangements with the owner. TripAdvisor also charges travelers with a premium service fee of 8 – 16%.

Booking.com

You may want to check our detailed guide about hosting at Booking.com.

This website lists just about every type of accommodation imaginable, from hotels and B&Bs to apartments and vacation rentals. The platform boasts of more than 27 million listings with over 1.5 million nights booked daily.

Listing your rental property on their platform is a great way to get it in front of a large audience. Hosts can list their properties for free and are charged a 15% service fee per booking. Booking.com doesn’t have its own payment system, and hosts can choose the payment options they prefer.

Guests don’t pay any extra commissions when making a reservation, and there is no cancellation fee. The site is a great way to compare different types of lodging and get the best deal.

Whichever platform you choose, make sure to prepare your place for short-term rentals. Our guide will help you to reduce your operational cost. Download it now for free.

Top Short Term Housing Websites: What Are Other Options?

In the previous section, we told you about the best rental listing sites. Here are several other top short-term housing websites that are worth your attention.

OneFineStay offers high-end vacation rental home listings in popular locations. If you want to list your property here, you need to send an application. The company’s staff will inspect your property to decide if it is a good match.

Homestay.com offers rental properties in more than 160 countries. Its main difference from other sites is that a guest can stay at a host’s place without any monetary remuneration. Property owners can register their listings for free.

9flats serves hosts and guests in 104 countries and allows hosts to list unusual accommodations like castles, tree houses, igloos, and boats for free. Hosts pay a 12% fee for instant booking listings, and there are no fees for guests.

How to Choose the Best Rental Listing Sites to Promote Your Property?

Short term rentals can be an exciting and profitable investment, but the key is an effective marketing strategy. Part of this strategy should involve listing your property on the best rental listing sites.

Modern home-sharing and booking platforms like Airbnb allow property owners to easily match renters to their properties. There are plenty of options that are worth your attention.

When choosing a platform to list your property, you should determine your goals and identify the target audience. This way, it’ll be easier to shape your offer and select the most suitable site to list your rental.

You should explore each platform to learn more details and then decide which of them appeals to you in terms of bookings and revenue. A good idea is also to list your rental property on several short-term housing websites. This way, you’ll get a better chance to maximize your earnings. This would require a lot of your attention unless you get a helping hand.

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What Are the Best Websites to Find Apartments?

Short-term rentals have become a popular alternative to hotels because they offer a more personal experience to travelers. With the rise of short-term housing websites, now it’s easier than ever before to find accommodation that can feel more like home and be cheaper than a hotel stay.

The platforms will do their work to attract travelers. Your job as a host is to make sure that your listings appear high on the platform’s search results. Then, you need to make sure that your properties are well prepared for short-term rentals. Our guide will come in handy here and will save you from unnecessary operational expenses. Don’t forget to download it.

9 Solutions to Reduce Operational Costs

Discover the simple solutions to prepare your place for short-term rentals and reduce operational costs in your business.
9 Simple Solutions to Reduce Operational Costs