Holiday Rentals - which portal - AirBnB, Booking.com HomeAway.co.uk etc

[ukbf0001]

Thinking about using a place we have as a holiday rental BUT the market seems to have a few different options.

Does anyone else on here have a preference re which gets the most traffic / bookings etc.

AirBnB - charge 3% (I think ) commission - you have 24 hours to accept / reject a nooking.

Booking.com charge up to 15% - but generally get last minute high value bookings - BUT you have no say over who books your place.

HomeAway - 8% commission - get 24 hour to accept or reject a booking

Have you used any or all 3 of the above of the above ? , can you multi manage them or is that too much work ? , which one gave you the most number of bookings ?

Thanks in advance - all opinions welcome

 

[Ian J]

which one gave you the most number of bookings ?

Talking from the other end as someone who books a holiday home three or four times a year I tend to use holidaylettings, homeaway and ownersdirect to source a villa or apartment and have no preference as to which one ends up with my business

 

[ukbf0001]

Thanks Ian, I have a friend who was with homeaway and his booking enquiries were getting less and less, he switched to airbnb and now seems to get all his bookings from them. Would be interesting to know which one gets more traffic - or maybe people try numerous portals until they find one they like (I guess)

 

[Ian J]

he switched to airbnb and now seems to get all his bookings from them. Would be interesting to know which one gets more traffic - or maybe people try numerous portals until they find one they like (I guess)

I've never heard of airbnb before but have now added it to my bookmarks. I'm one that checks all of the portals before making my choice

 

[Darren C]

Thanks Ian, I have a friend who was with homeaway and his booking enquiries were getting less and less, he switched to airbnb and now seems to get all his bookings from them. Would be interesting to know which one gets more traffic - or maybe people try numerous portals until they find one they like (I guess)

I think it depends on age group, to an extent. AirbBnB is the mostly widely known with younger people (I may be an exception to this) and (from the few young people I know) this is the first port of call.

I always assumed anyone listing on AirBnB also listed on homeaway but I've never really checked?

I think (pure guess) middle aged and older generation go for homeaway and booking.com is more of an organic search destination for queries like 'apartment+location'.

I would find it hard to believe that anyone goes onto booking.com and thinks 'Yeah, I'm really going to bookmark this really trustworthy and believable website...'

But, then again, I'm only looking from my own experience and somewhat jaded point of view?

 

[Darren C]

I've never heard of airbnb before but have now added it to my bookmarks. I'm one that checks all of the portals before making my choice

From a users point of view, take all the reviews with a large pinch of salt. I've stayed in 20 or so airbnb's and wouldn't recommend any of them.

However, I always give a glowing review for each because the system kind of relies on the social pressure to be nice to each other.

*Not that I'm saying go by reviews on other sites either, especially booking.com

 

[Mitch3473]

We used Owners Direct for 7 years and found them excellent with brilliant after sales service. We are now involved in the other side of the tourist industry and many of our clients use AB&B. It's pricey and you have no choice who you get. OD on the other hand charge you a one off fee and you get to contact the people who will be using your property. OD aren't quite the same as they were but seem OK. Work out the charges/fees and balance that against your ( potential) wear and tear costs.

 

[Ian J]

From a users point of view, take all the reviews with a large pinch of salt. I've stayed in 20 or so airbnb's and wouldn't recommend any of them.

However, I always give a glowing review for each because the system kind of relies on the social pressure to be nice to each other.

Wow that's shocking to hear. If I stay somewhere that I'm not happy with I tend not to review it at all rather than deliberately contribute to someone else having a poor experience.

 

[Darren C]

Wow that's shocking to hear. If I stay somewhere that I'm not happy with I tend not to review it at all rather than deliberately contribute to someone else having a poor experience.

For the odd place that's truly terrible I don't post a review. The others I wouldn't say I was contributing to someone having a poor experience since they already have loads of good reviews.

Some, I assume, are genuine from people who's standards are not the same as mine. For instance, I think an apartment where the neighbour has three constantly barking dogs is hell on Earth. Some people from, say Southern Europe, think that's a bonus.

In the main though, the problem is that you are not dealing directly with a faceless organisation, you are dealing, often, direct with the owner. In the main they are nice people and you would feel bad being the odd one out when it comes to giving feedback.

I think you have to use AirBnB first hand to get how your pressured into acting like this?