How do I choose a booking site?

Modified on Mon, 29 Jan 2024 at 05:08 PM

In this guide, you'll learn how to select the best booking sites to promote your property with Travelnest.

We partner with the most prominent vacation rental companies in the world. Your property will be featured on major platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, Vrbo, TripAdvisor, Holidu and HomeToGo as well as on popular affiliate and specialised sites like FlipKey, HolidayLettings, Hotels.com, and Priceline. With our expertise, your property will be visible to millions of travellers worldwide.

How do I choose a booking site?

Here, you'll see all the booking sites where your property is currently listed. If you wish to advertise on additional booking sites, simply 'tick' the box corresponding to that site to create a new listing, then click on 'save changes' at the top of the page. In the image below we have selected Airbnb as an example.

Please note it can take up to 7 days for your listing to be created and go live on all the booking sites.

Our booking sites explained

Founded in 2008, Airbnb has now become a household name. Its online marketplace enables anyone to advertise their space - whether it’s a spare room within their own home, an entire property, or a unique space such as a log cabin, yurt, castle, or eco-home.

Key facts:

Over 6 million places to stay worldwide
100,000 cities around the world in 191 countries
More than 260 million guests have booked and stayed in Airbnb properties since the site was launched
Today, Airbnb has approximately 150 million users in 65,000 cities

Who uses Airbnb?

54% of Airbnb guests are female, and 46% are male. The typical Airbnb guest is looking for a space that is affordable, functional and in an urban area. The average stay for Airbnb guests is between three or four nights, and the typical booking is for between two and four people. Airbnb is popular among young people - more than 60 per cent of its users are millennials.

The site is also popular with people looking for a last-minute break, thanks to the instant book functionality. 88% of Airbnb’s reservations are for groups of two to four people and 60% of the reservations were for an entire home/apartment.

Established in 1996 in Amsterdam, Booking.com has grown from a small Dutch startup to one of the world’s biggest travel e-commerce companies. The Booking.com network also includes the Priceline, Kayak and Agoda travel brands. Its vast portfolio includes everything from accommodations, flights, rental cars and other travel-related services.

Key facts:

1,550,000 room nights booked per day from more than 5.7 million listings
143,171 destinations in 230 countries and territories worldwide
# 1 most visited travel site by traffic
100+ million visits a month
95,000,000+ guest reviews

Who uses Booking.com?

Booking.com competes with Airbnb to attract millennial travellers, In addition to leisure and personal travel, Booking.com has a focus on the business traveller - 1 in 5 users book hotels and accommodation for business travel purposes.

TripAdvisor was founded in 2000, originally as a simple aggregator of guidebook reviews and other established sources. Although the platform is best known for its traveller reviews, it covers two segments: hotel and non-hotel travel products (attractions, restaurants and vacation rentals).

TripAdvisor was one of the earliest adopters of user-generated content, and has since become the go-to site for traveller reviews, Q&As and interactive travel forums.

The TripAdvisor Group owns and operates a portfolio of around 25 major travel brands, including FlipKey, HolidayLettings, VacationHomeRentals, BookingBuddy, HouseTrip and many more.

Key facts:

600 million reviews and opinions on 7.5 million places to stay, places to eat and things to do
136,000 destinations
1,060,000 hotels/accommodations and 835,000 vacation rentals
4.6 million restaurants and 915,000 activities and attractions
490 million unique visitors
160 million traveller photos

Launched in November 1998, Expedia.com is a travel booking website owned by Expedia Group. The Group has acquired a number of well-known travel fare aggregator websites and travel search sites including CarRentals.com, CheapTickets, Expedia.com, HomeAway, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, Trivago, VRBO and vacationrentals.com.

As a ‘full-service travel site, Expedia offers a range of complimentary travel products such as car hire, flights, cruises and activities in addition to its hotels and accommodation options. What’s more, Expedia allows travellers to ‘bundle’ their accommodation with its other travel products.

Key facts:

590K properties, 1.5M online bookable vacation rentals
Access to over 550 airlines, 150 car rental companies and 25,000 activities
Localized sites in 33 countries
40M+ post-stay reviews and 30M+ real-time reviews

Originally known as 'vacation rental by owner', Vrbo was founded in 1995, acquired by HomeAway in 2006, and has been owned and operated by Expedia Group since 2015. In 2020, the separate HomeAway and Vrbo websites were combined and rebranded as a single Vrbo site.

Specialising in whole property vacation rentals, rather than private homes/rooms and hotels, Vrbo is recognised as a leader in the short-term vacation rentals industry. It has around 2 million unique holiday properties on its books.

Key facts:

Vrbo has over 2 million vacation rental properties worldwide
Vrbo operates 50 localised websites in 23 languages
Rentals are offered in more than 145 countries, including the US, UK, France and Brazil
Vrbo has around 9.5 million unique visitors per month
50% of HomeAway’s properties can be booked instantly (approx 1 million rentals)

Who uses Vrbo?

According to Vrbo, its average user is female, 35 to 50 years old who is travelling with family - typically a group of four or more people. Vacations and special occasions are the most common reasons for booking accommodation with Vrbo, with an average stay of seven days.

Holidu is a search engine for vacation rentals that helps users find the perfect holiday home or apartment for their next trip. It was founded in 2014 and has since grown to become one of the largest vacation rental search engines in the world, with over 21 million offers from more than 600 different booking sites in over 200 countries.

Holidu uses advanced search algorithms and machine learning technology to match users with the best rental options based on their preferences and budget.

Key facts:

The platform uses advanced search algorithms and machine learning technology to match users with the best rental options based on their preferences and budget.
Holidu is a search engine for vacation rentals, offering over 21 million offers from more than 600 different booking sites in over 200 countries.
Holidu also offers a range of features to help users compare prices, read reviews, and make bookings directly on its platform.

Who uses Holidu?

Holidu is used by travellers who are looking for vacation rentals, including holiday homes, apartments, and villas. The platform is popular among a wide range of users, including families, couples, solo travellers, and groups of friends.

HomeToGo, a leading platform dedicated solely to vacation rentals, provides a focused strategy for connecting with guests who value unique lodging options such as cabins, houses, apartments, villas, and cottages over typical hotel rooms.

Key facts:

HomeToGo is a global marketplace for vacation rentals, founded in 2014 by Dr. Patrick Andrae and Wolfgang Heigl in Berlin, Germany.
HomeToGo uses intelligent algorithms and machine learning to recognize properties from various sources.
The platform lists properties from various sources, including property management companies and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs).

Who uses HomeToGo?

HomeToGo connects millions of travellers searching for the perfect place to stay with thousands of providers offering vacation rentals. Users can find their dream vacation rental on HomeToGo, including cabins, houses, and other vacation rentals around the world. The platform helps users save up to 40% on their bookings.

All Travelnest customers have their own personal Travelnest Direct website with unique property URL(s) for each of their properties, which can be accessed, managed and shared from within the Travelnest account.

The website is complete with a seamlessly integrated live calendar, photo gallery, interactive map and a secure payment system giving guests a great overview of the property itself. Best of all, it’s completely optimised for mobile.

The information which appears on your Direct page will be taken straight from your Travelnest account and automatically updated regularly. As it's direct, there are no added channel fees – meaning you’ll only pay 5% commission which includes payment processing fees. Travelnest handles all the hard stuff. All you need to do is share the page with potential guests.