Vacation rentals have changed the way people travel. Instead of standard hotel rooms, platforms like Airbnb, VRBO, and HomeAway let you book houses, apartments, and condos in nearly every country on earth. Whether you’re renting a place for your next trip or listing your own property, this guide covers everything you need to know.
Airbnb vs. VRBO vs. HomeAway: How They Compare
Who has the nicest places to stay?
VRBO has the edge on higher-end rentals. If you’re looking for a large vacation home rather than a spare bedroom, VRBO tends to have better inventory in that category. Airbnb is expanding into luxury listings, but VRBO remains the stronger option for upscale stays.
Winner: VRBO
Who has the most available rentals?
Airbnb has the most listings overall. If you’re on your own or traveling with one other person, it’s the dominant marketplace for quick rentals across varying locations. Looking for a bedroom in San Diego or a small condo in Barcelona? Airbnb has tons of inventory and is expanding the fastest.
But if you need a big house in Boston, a mountain place near Denver, or a beach house near Santa Barbara, VRBO tends to have more higher-end options. Worth noting: HomeAway owns VRBO, so there’s significant listing overlap between the two.
Winner: Airbnb
Who has the best prices?
Airbnb generally has the cheapest available options, but you’re comparing different types of inventory. Airbnb lets you rent floor space in someone’s apartment. VRBO and HomeAway don’t focus on that type of offering, which makes them look more expensive on the surface. For larger rentals and longer stays, VRBO’s pricing is often competitive.
Winner: Airbnb
Who has the best customer service?
All three platforms offer consumer protection on both sides of the transaction. Whether you’re the renter or the property owner, you’re generally protected in the event of a negative experience. None of the three stands out as significantly better or worse here.
Winner: Tie
Who is in the most countries?
Airbnb is the most consistently available worldwide. VRBO operates in over 190 countries, which covers nearly every destination a traveler would consider, but Airbnb’s sheer inventory of small-scale listings (spare rooms, studio apartments) means it has a presence in more locations overall.
Winner: Airbnb
How Does VRBO Work?
Renting a place on VRBO
VRBO has one of the more straightforward rental platforms. Use their filtering options to sort by location, house size, amenities, restrictions, and price. Select your travel dates to ensure availability, browse results on a list or map view, and once you find the right rental you’ll be connected with the property owner to work out final details.
Listing your property on VRBO
Listing is free. You’ll answer a short questionnaire about your property type (house, apartment, cabin, condo), provide details on capacity and bedrooms, enter the address, upload photos (six minimum), add your bank account for payouts, and set your pricing. Your listing goes live and reaches millions of monthly visitors from around the world.
Before listing, keep in mind the responsibilities: creating and maintaining your listing, responding to inquiries and screening guests, managing reservations and payments, cleaning and maintaining the property (or hiring a service), and handling any local registration or tax requirements.
Is VRBO Safe and Legit?
For renters
VRBO’s Book with Confidence Guarantee covers listings that display their blue shield badge. If you arrive and the listing was misleading, VRBO will work to find you a replacement nearby. If there’s a dispute over your security deposit, they’ll step in to resolve it.
For property owners
VRBO provides $1 million in liability insurance for your home when you rent through their platform. This covers injury claims, damages caused by tenants to third parties (like neighbors), and damage to your property, at no additional cost.
VRBO vs. Hotels
Hotels are reliable and easy to book, but vacation rentals offer a different kind of experience. Here’s how they stack up:
Experience: VRBO wins. Renting a house or apartment in a neighborhood lets you experience local culture in a way hotels can’t match. Hotels can feel manufactured by comparison.
Ease of booking: Hotels win. You can almost always find a hotel room wherever you travel, and the process is faster. VRBO sometimes requires more coordination with property owners and availability can be spottier.
Price: It depends. Hotels are often cheaper for solo travelers or short stays, especially budget options. But for groups, longer stays, or prime locations, VRBO frequently offers better value. Hotel pricing also fluctuates more with seasonality.
Service: VRBO wins. The individualized care from a property owner, combined with VRBO’s platform protections, edges out standard hotel service for most travelers.
Overall: For most vacation scenarios, VRBO has the advantage. Longer stays, groups, and travelers who want a local experience will get more out of a vacation rental. Hotels still make sense for quick business trips or destinations where rental inventory is thin.
Have only used Airbnb so far. I may not know how to navigate options well but it seems frustrating that a renter cannot reach out to an owner without picking a date first and then getting cancelation fees, etc. I’m sure some of this is to ensure that the vendor gets it % instead deals being made outside the vendor’s website. But it’s a pain.
Use Contact host (under description of the place) instead of Book. You will be able to set dates you are interested in and reach out to host without any charges.
Can you tell me if a rental states Feb 4 thru March 6 is the check out March 6 or the morning of March 7
I have used Home Away/VRBO for many years and have never had any problems in the US or other countries. This year, I rented a 6 bedroom home in Pigeon Forge for a family vacation. I always purchase the insurance. The day before leaving, one of the children was hospitalized so I cancelled the rental to stay home and help with the other child and family. The owners were very kind and offered other weeks at times we could not go. The insurance company refused to pay because the child was hospitalized for something that was not covered even though it was my rental. By all means, use Home Away /VRBO but DO NOT use their travel insurance.
March 6. The last date stated it the check out date.
Airbnb has horrible response if you have a problem. The customer always loses. If you vacation matters, consider a hotel first.
I personally prefer Airbnb – the other two have ridiculous deposits. I can’t trust that I am going to really get my $400 – $500 deposit back. I am just skeptical – that is just insane to charge that amount. Back when I was renting I didn’t even have to pay a deposit for my apartment. So to have that much being charged on my credit card and having to wait a week or so to get it back makes me cringe.
I agree. I found an ideal place I’d reserve in a minute if not for the outrageous $300.00 ‘damage deposit.’ Does the owner decide to have this and how much the amount of the deposit is?
Yes, the owner decides. As both an owner and renter I can speak to deposits. We require a deposit ($200) to insure we get the right type of renter. We love our vacation condo and want to help insure we don’t get a renter who has no skin in the game and may trash it. Your deposit is quickly refunded in a week if there’s no damages
Do you have to own the place?
When I am scrolling through the list it says one price per night and then when I click on the rental it shows a much higher price. Which price will I pay?
Depends on the dates. The listing is most likely showing the lowest rate of any season.
Airbnb has extremely unfair policies and practices and does NOT support hosts. Renters can file false claims and you as a host have NO recourse. They will deactivate your account without explaining why.
I am planning to be a host. I have a lot of questions about. 1. Is the price usted for one guest or the capacity of the place? 2. How much does home away and vrbo charges to the host? 3. Do I have to be the owner of the place to be a host? For now, those are some of my doubts. Thank you very much for your help. Regards,
1. Both companies allow you to set pricing. Most rentals charge a flat rate based on the size and quality of the property, but there are some with a per-guest nightly charge on AirBnB and more typically a per-guest service fee on VRBO.
2. The fees for VRBO and AirBnB come out to be pretty much even for the guests. For hosts AirBnB makes it easier and cheaper to list part time by charging a roughly 3% fee to you. VRBO meanwhile runs a few different options and it’s complicated, but generally a better option if you’re running a place full time. For example, there is a $500 subscription option that lets you avoid all other booking fees for a year, but that’s only going to be worth it for most people if they’re booking half the year or if they have a high-end property (in other words $17k in total bookings.)
In practice most people use both for full-time properties. Because VRBO has subscriptions to limit percentage fees, high-end properties may only list on VRBO. Because the percentage model works better for smaller properties, cheaper or part-time listings tend to use only AirBnB. Both companies are constantly playing with plans, but last I checked AirBnB’s subscription model is by invitation only.
3. No, you do not have to own the property to host. But if someone else owns the property you must obviously have their permission to host. Rental agreements often have rules against subletting or short-term subletting, and some HOAs do as well. People break these rules all the time, but doing so could get you kicked out and even sued/fined. Check any paperwork you signed. If it’s forbidden in the contract but the landlord or owner says it’s fine, make sure to get that in writing.
I used airbnb and had a host cancel on me months later after all of my other plans were booked (airfare, activities and other non-refundable things). Airbnb allows them to do this an all they offered me was the ability to book from the scraps left at the time of the cancellation. If I had done the same thing the host would have pocketed $ from me. I turned to VRBO and got a great place to stay with no difficulties.
Do you allow listings for out of the country? We have a home in Slovenia
It would probably be wise not to rent if don’t own! Think about damages. If you have the rental agreement with the owner, you’d be in the hook.
I was helping a friend who thought she wanted to rent on VRBO.
She changed her mind about renting and instead will rent to a relative. Consequently, I need to delete the infomation I put in the application.
Below is my name and contact information if you have questions.
Thank you so much for your help.
Hi, Is there a way to set up my cabin as a short term rental, but not have it available for several months? I am doing construction and won’t be available. My HOA wants to limit short term rentals, but will grandfather me in if I have it setup.
So can I block out dates for several months until construction is completed?
Thanks, Ken
can you list property on vrbo if you have it listed on airbnb