Short term rental management sites

[Edwin Buitrago]

Hello BP community. I am launching my first STR and I was wandering what are the most common site for bookings besides Air b n b and what are their pros and cons.

On the other hand, I would like to hear some recommendations on sites to manage the different postings on different platforms, again I am a beginner with only one villa, so I would like to stay on the $20-$40 a month. 

[John Underwood]

Vrbo and Airbnb are the 2 biggest.

I get 95% of my bookings from Vrbo and very few from Airbnb.

[Mike Grudzien]

John,
I'm the flip-side: I get 95% Airbnb vs. VRBO.  10 years on both platforms.  Airbnb SuperHost and VRBO Premier Partner.

The house is a 2 bed, 2 full bath, great room, 1400sqft. in Eugene OR.

Curious: why the difference?  You have a 4-5 bedroom?

Mike

[Lauren Kormylo]

I'm on Airbnb, Vrbo, and Houfy, which is like direct booking - no fee to the guest, and a small yearly fee to the host to list. You'll need your own credit card processor for that one too - Square and Stripe are integrated with the platform.

[Ryan Osborne]

Airbnb, VRBO, Direct, and Google Vacations

[Michael Baum]

Like the others said, AirBNB and VRBO are the 2 top OTA's for STRs.

I haven't heard how much others have brought in for others.

[Erwin Sham]

Quote from @Edwin Buitrago:

Hello BP community. I am launching my first STR and I was wandering what are the most common site for bookings besides Air b n b and what are their pros and cons.

On the other hand, I would like to hear some recommendations on sites to manage the different postings on different platforms, again I am a beginner with only one villa, so I would like to stay on the $20-$40 a month. 

Airbnb and VRBO for beginners. You should have noise monitoring aka minut and exterior cameras. Once you gained experience vetting guests you could try BDC but your prices need to higher than your Airbnb prices and you be very careful as the platform has tons of scammers looking to prey on unsuspecting newer hosts. If you don't have stripe setup than opt for payment processing by BDC. I would recommend listing on Peerspace first. Also most platform won't charge you to list. There are some platforms where you will need a channel manager those costs vary by who end up choosing.

[Edwin Buitrago]

Quote from @John Underwood:

Vrbo and Airbnb are the 2 biggest.

I get 95% of my bookings from Vrbo and very few from Airbnb.

 Are you using any management Site like gesty to sync the different platforms? 

[Edwin Buitrago]

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Like the others said, AirBNB and VRBO are the 2 top OTA's for STRs.

I haven't heard how much others have brought in for others.

Are you using any management Site like gesty to sync the different platforms?

[John Underwood]

Quote from @Edwin Buitrago:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Vrbo and Airbnb are the 2 biggest.

I get 95% of my bookings from Vrbo and very few from Airbnb.

 Are you using any management Site like gesty to sync the different platforms? 

No.

Vrbo and Airbnb can sync the calendars with each other.

[Andrew Steffens]

With just 1 house you definitely need to be on Airbnb and VRBO.  Different markets yield different results between the two.  I would collect guest data for 1 year (phone and email) and then have a direct booking site and a marketing campaign to previous guests to book direct.  I personally would also do booking.com but my experience has not been as negative as some others here.

There are a lot of other platforms I use as a PM like Marriott Homes and Villas and JetBlue airlines but they only work with PM's with over 50 units.

[Michael Baum]

Are you using any management Site like gesty to sync the different platforms?

Nope, like @John Underwood said, you can sync with the built in tools.

[John Underwood]

Quote from @Mike Grudzien:

John,
I'm the flip-side: I get 95% Airbnb vs. VRBO.  10 years on both platforms.  Airbnb SuperHost and VRBO Premier Partner.

The house is a 2 bed, 2 full bath, great room, 1400sqft. in Eugene OR.

Curious: why the difference?  You have a 4-5 bedroom?

Mike

This one is a 3 bedroom Lake House. Maybe because it's a true vacation rental.

[Edwin Buitrago]

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Are you using any management Site like gesty to sync the different platforms?

Nope, like @John Underwood said, you can sync with the built in tools.

 Thanks @John Underwood and @Michael Baum

[Garrett Brown]

Welcome to the forums @Edwin Buitrago The big ones have been covered like AirBNB, VRBO, and even booking.com is pretty solid. I would check out Hospitable for property management software that does a lot at a reasonable price! Even with 1 property, it can help with many things in the STR world. Let us know if you have any more questions that come up!

https://hospitable.com/biggerpockets-2/?utm_source=biggerpoc...

[Trent Reeve]

Quote from @Edwin Buitrago:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Vrbo and Airbnb are the 2 biggest.

I get 95% of my bookings from Vrbo and very few from Airbnb.

 Are you using any management Site like gesty to sync the different platforms? 

 we have 3 properties. but the best benefits to me are the message templates and automatic messaging and door coding, along with being able to handle direct bookings. Im about 25% Airbnb, 25% Direct and 50% VRBO.