The top 10 best vacation rental websites to get more bookings and boost your profits

Below we've posted a list of the top vacation rental advertising websites that we know and trust (in no particular order of preference ).

These names should definitely ring a bell, unless you're brand new to the game.

Nonetheless, these websites are some the best and most established vacation rental sites in the industry. And even despite their many shortcomings, they are the ones most likely to turn a profit for you and we feel confident saying that any of them could be a great addition to your vacation rental advertising portfolio.

FlipKey by TripAdvisor

FlipKey first became a TripAdvisor company back in 2008. Since its acquisition, they've grown to an inventory of over 300,000 properties with exposure to over 160 countries. But most importantly, they've introduced a Free-to-List option!

On its own, FlipKey gets enough targeted visibility to provide an average of 72 inquiries per listing per year. But it doesn't end there.

An account with FlipKey also means your vacation rentals will be distributed to 12 other popular sites, including TripAdvisor themselves. All in all, you're looking at a complete exposure to over 340 million travellers per month. And that's without any extra charge!

So if a traveller is looking to book a vacation rental on his or her next trip, there's a pretty good chance that FlipKey - along with the 12 other websites you'll be listed on - are going to be some of the first places they'll look.

That said, we honestly believe that the real value of advertising your properties with FlipKey is the TripAdvisor name. TripAdvisor is known all over the world as one of the most trusted brands in travel (even despite the many contradictions in their review policies). So a strong review profile with them can add some serious credibility to your business.

They also offer some the best listing subscription options in the industry, including;

- a Free-to-List option – only pay when you get paid (just 3% per booking with no upfront charges), or;
- a Pay-per-Lead option – only pay when you get qualified leads.

Either way, there's absolutely no up front risk to give them a try!

➩ Click here to learn even more about advertising with FlipKey and to create your free account today!

A true giant, HomeAway is the 800 pound gorilla that has been dominating the vacation rental industry for years. No matter where travelers are looking to book their next vacation rental, chances are Homeaway will be one of the first sites at the top of your Google search.

And not to mention, these guys also own a large number of other very successful sites including VRBO and VacationRentals.com .

They also claim that the average owner on their site earns about $12k per year, but keep in mind, that average also includes the extremely luxurious properties that rent out for $10k per week.

Starting at only $349 per property listing per year, there's a good chance HomeAway will in your top 5 sites for inquiries and bookings. Their top owners earn upwards of $50,000/year per listing!

But you can't expect advertising on HomeAway to be a walk in the park. - With a great popularity comes great competition.

That being said they have a consistent flow of some tens of millions of travellers every month, and bottom line, your property needs to be on here.

They also offer a "Free-to-List" option with no up front charge, and with a commission structure at 10% per booking. Which to be notes, is a great option for owners with shorter seasons and smaller income potential. But it's important to know that even the CEO himself has admitted - in an interview with Skift - that their rankings favor listings with paid subscriptions, stating that "on average their exposure is still very, very low".

Also, depending on your rental income, the commission-based model can start to get pretty pricy. When their average owner earns about $12K in bookings, that will raise your listing costs up to $1200 (almost 4X than your paid listing option).

Ultimately, your choices are more visiblity with more potential profit, or zero risk with a little less potential profit. Either way, HomeAway is probably going to be your top 3 sources for bookings, if not the first.

➩ Click here to learn even more about advertising your vacation rental properties with HomeAway and to create your new account today.
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Founded in 2009, and originally based out of Singapore, Roomorama has successfully grown to over 60,000 properties, in over 4,000 locations across the world.

The site is already generating some 50,000 visitors a day (according to thisstat.com), making them one of the fastest growing vacation rental websites in the world.

It won’t cost you thing to list your property. There are no processing fees and no commissions. Instead, they charge the traveler a booking fee.

They’re extremely popular in Europe, which is great considering Europeans tend to take a ton more vacation days than we do. And they also have a significant business traveller presence, with a concierge service and everything.

But where Roomorama really stands out, is that they have what they call a ShoutOut program. The program allows travelers to post what they are looking for so that owners can be a little more proactive and make them offers. They also offer travelers a Perks program with discounts to local services such as spas and restaurants.

The average Roomorama traveller books for 9 nights or longer and spends $1,000 or more per booking. Seeing how this is more than double the industry average, there’s no doubt that Roomorama should be the next vacation rental website to add to your portfolio.

➩ Click here to see what Roomorama can do for you and create your new account, 100% free, today!

Conclusion

Any one of the websites mentioned in this article could be a great addition to your advertising portfolio.

But it's extremely important to note that "HOW" you advertise your properties is just as important, if not more important than "where" you advertise them.

In our experience, when performing local market and direct competitor analysis for our clients, we found that over half of the top performing properties, in any given area, are really only advertising their properties on 2, or 3 website families (maximum). While another quarter of the top performing properties are only advertising on 1 channel (something we definitely do not recommend).

We also found that most of them don't have their own websites, and they don't even use social media.

Instead, they focus on taking advantage of the best portals, using them to their full potential. And the results? Well, they're the top performing properties in their designated locations, which should say it all.

Want help marketing your properties online?
➩ Click here to take the guesswork out of your vacation rental marketing and learn how our full service approach can help you save valuable time, get up to 45% more revenue, and even become a better host for your guests

Charles C.
Charles is the Head of Marketing and Chief Vacation Rental Strategist at VacationRentalPartners.co . a company providing world class marketing services to help vacation rental owners & managers get more bookings, work less, and even be better hosts for their guests.