Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb: Which Is Better for Hosts?

Listing vacation rental properties on multiple online platforms is a smart approach for STR hosts. Regarding Airbnb alternatives, you can choose from dozens of booking websites. Major Airbnb competitors are Booking.com and Vrbo, and there are also smaller platforms, such as Furnished Finder, an online portal for monthly furnished rentals.

While Airbnb allows hosts to enable monthly stays, depending on the location, Furnished Finder can also be an excellent place to try if you want to experiment with extended stays to achieve a higher occupancy rate. In this article, we compare Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb to help you determine which site best matches your property type.

Whether renting out an apartment in an urban area or a vacation home at a ski resort, managing your property will be easier if you automate your hosting routine using vacation rental software like Hospitable. Our AI-powered tool can save hours of your precious time a week and help you ensure an exceptional guest experience.

Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb: Key Differences

Look at this comparison table to see how these popular online platforms differ and what they offer to property owners. We compare Furnished Finder vs Airbnb across different categories, including the number of listings, global reach, target audience, property types, service fees, and payment options.

Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb: Property Types and Target Audience

Furnished Finder is a US niche site focusing on mid-term rentals. These fully furnished properties are available for rent for 30 days or more. Furnished Finder started in 2014 with a focus on traveling nurses and medical professionals, but it also welcomes athletes, engineers, military personnel, business travelers, and relocating families.

Currently, the website has 150,000+ affordable monthly furnished rentals—houses, apartments, condos, and rooms. Furnished Finder also partners with some hotels, providing a platform to promote available units.

Airbnb is an American company founded in 2008, but it operates globally in more than 220 countries and regions. However, its core audience is the US, Germany, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom. The online marketplace connects travelers who want to live like locals during their trips and property owners willing to rent their properties to STR guests to get passive income.

Most Airbnb guests are young people in their late 20s/early 30s, and the website is also popular among families with children, business travelers, and digital nomads.

Airbnb allows hosts to list entire properties, private rooms, and shared rooms and classifies the listings into more than 60 different Airbnb categories based on various factors, including location, property style, nearby activities, and more. Now, it boasts 7.7 million active listings, from budget-friendly tiny homes, tree houses, and yurts to luxury villas and castles.

Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb: Fees and Payments

On Furnished Finder, property owners pay a flat fee of $149 for an annual subscription, but the platform doesn't charge additional commissions and booking fees. Furnished Finder doesn't process payments, so guests pay rent to the property owner directly.

You can also set up an account on KeyCheck, Furnished Finder's sister site, which allows property owners to screen potential guests by running credit checks, background checks, and eviction history and to accept rent payments via credit/debit cards.

Airbnb handles payments and charges commission for each booking. Under the split fee model, hosts pay 3% of the booking subtotal, and a guest service fee is about 14% of the listing price. With the host-only fee, guests aren't charged any fees to book a stay, but hosts pay a 14-16% commission, which is deducted from the host payout.

Although Airbnb allows you to reach a wider audience, the hefty fees it charges for each booking can significantly impact your profit margins. But you can save on OTA fees if you create a direct booking website using our dedicated service, Hospitable Direct, and focus on driving repeat direct bookings.

We'll list your property on Google Vacation Rentals so travelers can discover it when using Google to search for a place to stay during vacations. This way, you'll have a chance to get direct bookings without investing in promotion and paying high third-party fees.

Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb: How They Work for Property Owners

Hosts can list their properties on Furnished Finder by filling out a form and providing all necessary information for travelers, including property description, price, amenities, images, availability, pet policy, and house rules. Then, Furnished Finder will review your submission to ensure it's suitable for their network of travelers.

Additionally, all property owners must pass a free background check before posting a listing to help ensure traveler safety. Once you register, your rental space will be listed on the Furnished Finder and Travel Nurse Housing websites and the Furnished Finder mobile app.

Travelers who browse listings in the city they're traveling to can send booking requests directly through Furnished Finder. Property owners receive the booking requests via notifications in their dashboards and via email. You'll also get each traveler's contact information so you can decide how best to respond to your potential guests—via text, email, or phone call.

Hosts can list their properties on Airbnb for free—after they sign up, they can create listings in the host section of their profiles. You need to fill out a form asking you to provide details about your vacation rental, including the type of your property, its address, the number of guests, and select the amenities you provide. You must also create a detailed description and add high-resolution photos to illustrate it and highlight your best features.

Airbnb gives hosts complete control over their listing policies—you can set your nightly rates and additional fees, minimum stay requirements, cancellation policies, house rules, check-in and checkout time, etc. You can communicate with your guests using Airbnb messaging tools, but Airbnb doesn't give you their contact information.

Final Thought

The main difference between Furnished Finder vs. Airbnb is that Furnished Finder is designed for traveling professionals looking for month-to-month furnished housing. That's why properties listed on Furnished Finder usually have a minimum of 30 days to book. Airbnb is a global platform marketed for anyone looking for vacation rental accommodation and for stays as short as one night. But you can also enable monthly stays to rent out your place for at least twenty-eight days.