AirBnB vs. Vrbo
A comparison of services
Airbnb vs. Vrbo Comparison
By Scott Nielsen January 12, 2021
Airbnb vs. Vrbo: a Comparison of Sites
When traveling or booking a Vacation in 2021, you have a wide variety of options to choose from other than the usual hotel scene.
The newest trend for travelers is to book a room or a whole home from one of the 6 or 8 booking services that have sprung up to accommodate these needs. They are Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Trip Advisor, FlipKey, Home Away, and Vacation Rentals.
This gives travelers a wide range of rental options, and at the same time, provides property owners in cities across the country with the capability to easily generate a large amount of additional income with minimal marketing expenses and with pre-qualified renters.
Two of the most popular services are Airbnb and Vrbo. Both of them connect homeowners with travelers looking for short-term rentals, yet each have their minor recognizable differences.
So which rental site is right for you? Here’s what you need to know if you have travel plans and you are trying to decide between Airbnb and Vrbo.
Comparisons
Airbnb
Airbnb was founded in 2008 as a home rental platform with a simple goal: to connect homeowners to customers looking for short term rentals, booking either a single room, or the whole home
One thing that sets Airbnb apart from other platforms is the fact that they have an extensive network of Host Properties available. In 2017 Airbnb announced that it hosts more than 4 million listings in over 191 countries. Anyone can become an Airbnb host and rent out spaces ranging from a single shared room to as large as a whole house. And, Travelers like the fact that they can rent a wide range of unique and creative properties that are not found in other booking services.
Airbnb users can learn all the details about a prospective home to rent by looking through all the listing features. But the site also features an very active guest review from prior renters, so you can learn more about the home and the Host as well as the accuracy of the listing as it applies to features, location and cleanliness of the property.
Also, the Airbnb site includes a Host Community Section so other Hosts can give each other helpful tips on how to successfully list their property, as well as how manage short term rentals.
Airbnb charges each Host a 3% fee each time the property is rented out, and the guests are typically charged between 5% to15% of the reservation total, depending upon the type and location of the property.
Vrbo is short for Vacation Rental By Owner, and was founded in 1995. It specializes in vacation rentals of whole houses, apartments, condos, villas, etc. In 2006, Vrbo was acquired by HomeAway, and joined their vast booking network which includes other sites like VacationRentals.com, and they now have over 2 million properties listed and available for rent worldwide.
Just like Airbnb, Vrbo allows property owners to list any type of property which ranges from houses, apartments and tiny homes, all the way up to mansions, but unlike Airbnb you can only rent out the entire property (and not just a single room or a shared portion of a home). So when a guest rents out a property, they can be assured of complete privacy during their stay.
Vrbo not only offers a review section allowing guests to rate their stay at a particular property, but it also allows the host to post a response directly underneath the guests comments. This allows potential new guests to gain much more insight from the host before they book a rental.
Vrbo offers a searching and filtering advantage over Airbnb by allowing guests to search by location type — beachside, lake side, mountain view, ski rental, downtown and more — as well as more refined property types. (You can filter if you only want to stay in a yacht, houseboat, or tiny home for instance).
Vrbo also charges a service fee to both the homeowners as well as the guests. Guests are typically charged a service fee ranging from 6% to 12% of the total rental. The service fee for the Host is available in one of two different options. For part-time seasonal rentals, the Host is usually charged a subscription fee of 8% fee for each booking received. But for full time all year long listings, they offer a second option of a flat rate annual subscription fee of $499 per year per property listed. If you expect to generate more than $10,000 per year in rental income, this second option is recommended.
So which Network should you choose?
This really depends upon the type of trip you are planning. With the 4 million worldwide properties available as well as the shared or small space rentals available, Airbnb could be the choice for someone with a bit of adventure and looking for lodging at a price less than the usual hotel rates.
However, if you are more interested in a totally private vacation or extended travel stay where you have the whole property to yourself, Vrbo may be better suited for you. Of course, both booking networks offer similar products and properties, and visiting each website and searching in the city you are traveling to will help you to decide which service to use.
