The main booking portals for vacation rentals

Vacationers are staying in more and more in vacation rentals because they have a cozy and individualistic ambience and, what’s more, they often cost less than hotel rooms. Nowadays, every fourth vacation rental is booked via an online portal because it’s easy and fast for guests.

Which booking portal is right for me?

Many owners who rent out vacation rentals ask themselves on which portal they should advertise their vacation rental to achieve the highest possible occupancy rate for their accommodation. For numerous hosts of vacation rentals, this question is not always easy to answer because there are many booking portals that seem attractive at first glance.

However, the accommodation must also fit in the corresponding booking portals to get as many bookings as possible, as well as to address the right target group for your accommodation.

Therefore, we would to introduce you to the most important booking portals for your vacation rental business.

International vacation rental booking portals

The trend is increasingly that mainly young people are in have the urge to travel and book spontaneous city trips over the weekend. Consequently, many are foregoing expensive hotels and instead choosing the inexpensive and flexible alternative of a vacation rental, because it brings with it many positive benefits.

Airbnb

Airbnb is characterized by the fact that only private hosts rent out their accommodations here and introduce themselves in a few sentences on the booking portal. Often people choose Airbnb because they are looking for a special accommodation, apartment, or vacation rental. In many cases, searchers find what they are looking for on the booking platform. In our Airbnb guide, you will learn why you should advertise your vacation rental on Airbnb.

Booking.com

Booking.com is characterized above all by its large international network of different accommodations. In our Booking.com guide you will learn how to advertise your vacation rental on Booking.com.

HomeToGo

HomeToGo is a big player in the holiday rental industry, with the impressive number of 50 million users monthly. HomeToGo gives you the chance to reach local and international tourists to develop your activity and revenue.

Expedia

The travel portal Expedia offers a lot for travelers because it offers a lot of choice. It doesn’t matter if vacationers are looking for a hotel, vacation rental, rental car, flight or click and mix travel. Travelers can find the right deal on Expedia.

Vrbo

Vacation Rentals by Owner or Vrbo for short is one of the most popular portals for vacationers searching for vacation rentals in the United States and abroad. Rentals available on Vrbo range from rustic cabins in the woods, to luxury oceanfront villas, to everything in between. One thing that sets Vrbo apart from other portals is that rentals are for the entire unit or property, and not individual rooms within a larger property. In our Vrbo guide you will learn more about listing your vacation rental on this platform.

Other portals

Is your vacation rental listed on other portals not listed in this guide? No worries, Smoobu integrates with over 15 portals by API and thousands more via a 2 way Ical Sync!

Using a Channel Manager

If you use our channel manager for the administration of vacation accommodations or small hotels, you have the day-to-day management will be a breeze after the one-time setup of the portals. Our software takes the tedious synchronization of the individual portals completely off your hands. You can therefore specialize on some platforms so you can always have your bookings in view.

In addition, a channel manager provides a good basis to collect all your guests in a reservation system. This way you can build up regular guests and get direct bookings without commission. For this you can build your own website with our free website builder. With Smoobu you can create a nice website for your vacation rental in no time without any coding or IT knowledge.

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