Cross promoting vacation rental on AirBnB and VRBO

[Neil Henderson]

My wife and I have been doing very well listing a guest house at the front of our home on AirBnB for three years now. I've found AirBnB to be VERY easy to manage and their fees are low. But I've reached a point where I don't want to be too dependent on just one medium for bookings. 

I know there are a myriad of tools now for managing and syncing the two calendars but I was wondering if anyone can share some experiences, positive or negative of using the two sites.

[Michael Greenberg]

Hi Neil,

I use both sites and Airbnb gets the majority of my bookings.  VRBO has changed their fees and I'm not a fan of how they go about their business, but it has worked well - mostly for longer term guests.  I recently posted this message for another group of private investors....  My thoughts are consistent with some of yours....  And I think all "channels" put us at risk....  Would love to hear your thoughts....

"1. Airbnb's recent announcement and acquisitions are placing them too close to what I believe are MY guests. I view Airbnb as a marketing tool to bring me guests and once they are MY guests I want to own that relationships and provide additional offerings. Post reservation I capture my guests information and market to them, but so does Airbnb. Who do you think owns the Guest?
2. Pricing, pricing, pricing. Third party apps promising higher rates but I've tried BeyondPricing and Wheelhouse - not a worthwhile gain. I purchase Airdna data on occasion - seems to be a good tool but heavy lifting to sort through it all. houghts? Ideas?
3. Where else do you market your properties? I use HomeAway/VRBO and they have brought me many of my longer stay clients, but IMHO their fees are excessive and they have no clear direction. I still get stronger bookings with Airbnb. HomeAway's recent announcements concern me as well - they are removing contact information from OUR view. I tried Booking.com - weak interface and really poor customer service. They're huge but I feel like I need to take a shower after dealing with them. I used TripAdvisor as well - wasted effort.
4. How do you feel about building your own brand? Is this a worthwhile investment? I've build thejetsethost.com but scratching my head on pushing forward with more effort and expense to really build out a marketing plant. 

OK, that's probably a bit much for now but would love to hear your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, frustrations, etc...."