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We have compiled a list of the ten most popular vacation rental websites according to Alexa traffic, reader response, and expert industry analysis. While the vacation rental industry varies tremendously between simple listing sites to more robust vacation rental reservation services, this list is meant to provide a quick look into this rapidly growing industry and to provide readers a basis for future research into this industry. Please note that this list is not in any particular order and is meant merely as a guide.
HomeAway – We couldn’t start our analysis of the vacation rental industry without acknowlegding the parent company that owns nearly all of the larger ones? Based upon their information listed in Crunch Base, “The HomeAway portfolio of sites includes HomeAway.com, Vacation Rentals By Owner and VacationRentals.com in the United States; HomeAway.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk in the United Kingdom; HomeAway.de in Germany; Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com in France; HomeAway.es in Spain; and AlugueTemporada.com.br in Brazil. The company’s portfolio also includes HomeAwayRealEstate.com, which offers unique real estate information that highlights a vacation home’s rental income potential and destination-specific characteristics. In addition, HomeAway operates BedandBreakfast.com, a global site dedicated to finding bed-and-breakfast properties, which provides travelers with another source for unique lodging alternatives to chain hotels.” HomeAway will certainly be at the heart of the vacation rental industry for quite some time.
VacationRentals – Another one of HomeAway’s popular off-spring, VacationRentals.com usually places first on most major search engines for the Holy Grail of keyword terms, “vacation rentals”. Basically the same premise as Vacation Rentals By Owner, this website is a robust advertising site for individual property owners and property managers.
CyberRentals – Why stop now? Yes you are right, yet another HomeAway spin-off. Again the same premise as both CyberRentals and Vacation Rentals By Owner, CyberRentals provides yet another avenue for rental owners to list their property and to manage inventory. A clean website which follows the same patterns and guidelines as their predecessors.
AlwaysOnVacation – AlwaysOnVacation is a listing service that offers a broad array of vacation rental listings. They offer owners an advertising guarantee stating that “if you do not receive a 10 times return on your investment during the first 12 months of your initial subscription, we will extend your subscription an additional 6 months free of charge!” Although this is another listing site, it does have decent customer support both online and telephone.
AlwaysOnVacation – AlwaysOnVacation is a listing service that offers click-thru payments for rentals. They offer owners an advertising guarantee stating that “if you do not receive a 10 times return on your investment during the first 12 months of your initial subscription, we will extend your subscription an additional 6 months free of charge!” Although yet another listing site amongst thousands of listings sites, AlwaysOnVacation does have a rather large database of property listings.
Vacation Rentals By Owner – Maybe one of the best acknowledged originators of the online vacation rental listing business, Vacation Rentals By Owner has a huge database of individual owner property listings. Now owned by the behemoth mega-company, HomeAway.com, this is one of their many property rental brand websites. While best-known and extremely popular, the website is not without its faults. Constant critical analysis over property legitimacy is the primary concern regarding this company.
VacationRentals411 – One of a few of the larges websites that is not owned by HomeAway (yet), VacationRentals411 is another listing site that offers individual vacation rentals from owners worldwide. Not nearly as visually impressive as some of the other sites mentioned it still offers respectable owner online support and an broad inventory. This website is a great place to search for choice vacation listings.
FlipKey – A newer vacation rental website that has popped up on the web, FlipKey offers a nifty user program and the power of being part of the Trip Advisor marketing machine. Probably one the cleanest and most visually appealing advertising sites, FlipKey has quickly etched out a place as emerging industry leaders and appears to be gaining some major leverage on the industry.
CyberRentals – This is another HomeAway-owned company and falls along the same lines as the others. CyberRentals provides yet another avenue for rental owners to list their property and to manage inventory. A clean website which follows the same patterns and guidelines as their predecessors.
VacationRentals – Another one of HomeAway’s favorite off-spring, VacationRentals.com usually places atop leading search engines for keyword search terms, “vacation rentals”. Essentially the same assumption as Vacation Rentals By Owner, this website is a strapping advertising site for personal property owners and property managers.
Although this list cannot do the entire vacation rental industry absolute justice, it does supply an interesting cross-section of size and type of organization currently existing in today’s market. While it does appear that certain companies clearly hold an advantage when it comes to investment dollars and sheer size, there are a few a couple of prime sites that offer a distinct approach to renting short-term rentals. Wherever you decide to jaunt, attempt doing some initial research on some of these websites and see for yourself.
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