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Updated about 4 hours ago on . Most recent reply

Traditional Weekly Rental Approach v. No/Low Minimum on VRBO/AirBnB
Hello, I'm curious if anyone has a perspective on the pros/cons of listing a STR through an area's local weekly rental system, versus using a platform like VRBO or AirBnB.
We're investing in our first STR in Ocean City, NJ, which is a popular, long-time summer beach destination, mainly for people coming from ~2 hours away. It's the type of place people will visit annually. The rental inventory here is massive and predates platforms like VRBO and AirBnB. Still today, most (but not all) rentals are listed by local real estate agencies and rented a week at a time.
The week-at-time approach of the old system is tempting, but I think because of my age and generation (Millennial), it also seems out-dated to me. No common listing page (you have to search to individual agency papers), crappy photos, no algorithms, no data, a real estate agent who...does what exactly?
Assuming the fees are the same, does anyone have a perspective on the pros and cons of these two approaches? Is the local system an important network that I shouldn't disregard? Is getting weekly rentals just fundamentally better than many, short, two-to-four night stays?
Or, on the other hand, is listing on VRBO or AirBnB a potential differentiator because I could reach a new market (i.e., Millenials like me who would never in a million years think to look at a local agency webpage to book a rental)?
Thank you!