As a vacation rental owner, you have undoubtedly scanned online and come across dozens of relatively unknown vacation rental listing sites. The major vacation rental listing sites will almost certainly represent the bulk of your online bookings. Airbnb alone processed around $12 billion in reservations in 2016, but there are several unknown vacation rental sites that can add to your bottom line. Here are a few that I have tried and recommend.
Redawning
Redawning is really more like a distribution network than a vacation rental listing site. Your vacation rental can be distributed to all the major listing sites with little or no work on your end. I personally prefer to manage my own listings on sites such as Flipkey, Homeaway and Airbnb, but Redawning can be useful for getting you exposure to additional sites that have traditionally been reserved for hotels. These include Trivago and Google Hotel Search.
Owner Direct
Owner Direct is actually a pioneer in the online vacation rental marketplace, first starting in 1994. This website seeks to pair vacation rental guests directly with property owners, thereby streamlining the process for both parties. Guests do not pay a booking fee and it is free to list your property until you get a booking. You will pay a 10% commission on a completed booking.
Owner Direct is a great option for me because it comes with no risk. A lot of these smaller vacation rental listing sites will have relatively little activity, so it is hard to justify spending marketing dollars upfront.
Tripping.com
Tripping.com might just be the largest vacation rental site you have never heard of. This site aggregates listings from dozens of the most popular vacation rental listing sites in the world. Essentially Tripping.com is a huge meta-search site for vacation rentals. The best part is Tripping.com is 100% free if you already advertise on a major site such as Homeaway.
Homestay
Homestay is similar to Airbnb in that they specialize in private room rentals and solo accommodations. They have quietly hosted over 200,000 guests since 2013. Property owners pay a 3% booking fee. Homestay is firmly on the list of unknown vacation rental sites worth trying.
Bring Fido
Bring Fido has long been one of my favorite niche websites. The focus here is on pet friendly properties. There are no booking fees to the guest or owner and annual listings are $249/year. You may be able to get a free listing through Bring Fido if you already advertise on a major listing site. Still this is one lesser known listing site that might be worth investing some upfront marketing dollars.
Where you Should not Advertise your Vacation Rental
I am a big fan of getting as much exposure as possible for your vacation rental listing, however sometimes it is best to focus on quality rather than quantity.
Craigslist is a great website for selling furniture and other household items. It can even be a great resource for finding a long-term renter. My experience advertising vacation rentals on Craigslist has been very lackluster. Vacationers simply do not utilize this site often when planning their trip. It can also be very time consuming to post ads, and there is always the potential for fraud when using Craigslist.
Small vacation rental listing sites you have never heard of. You are an educated and informed vacation rental owner. If you haven’t heard of a particular site, then that is not a good sign. Granted there may be a few sites in this article that you have not heard of, but you could find them with a limited amount of online research. A vacation rental listing site with very little activity or online presence is not worth your time.
Facebook is a pioneer in social media and one of the most popular websites in the world. I recommend that every vacation rental owner or manager start a Facebook page for their home or company. It is a great way to build your brand and interact with your customers.
Just don’t expect to get too many direct bookings from Facebook. World renowned hotel expert Anthony Melchiorri of “Hotel Impossible” has said many times that “people don’t go to Facebook to book hotel rooms.” Time will tell as to whether this changes in the future. For now you should use Facebook as a tool to interact with current and past guests, not necessarily as a booking engine.
