Vrbo and Airbnb dominate holiday rental listings but they attract different guests and have very different fee structures. Here's how to decide which platform is right for your property.
Airbnb has 7+ million listings globally and is likely the first thing that comes to mind when anyone thinks about short-term rentals. Vrbo (Vacation Rentals by Owner, now part of Expedia Group) has over 2 million listings and has been a major player in the holiday home market since 1995 — pre-dating Airbnb by more than a decade.
Both platforms charge hosts fees. Both have significant booking volume. And both have distinct strengths that make them better fits for different types of properties and hosts.
The honest answer to 'which should you be on?' is usually 'both' — but understanding the differences is essential to knowing how to position your property on each and how to manage the dual-platform approach effectively.
Airbnb's audience skews younger and is more diverse in what they're looking for. The platform's 'Experiences' positioning and its early association with urban homestays means that Airbnb has strong appeal for:
Airbnb is strongest for urban, periurban, and accessible rural properties. It's also extremely strong for anything with a design angle or unique character — treehouses, shepherd's huts, converted barns.
Vrbo has always positioned itself as a whole-property platform — historically, it didn't allow shared spaces or room rentals. This positioning attracts:
Vrbo is particularly strong for rural holiday cottages, beach houses, ski chalets, and properties that appeal to the 'family holiday' market.
Airbnb offers hosts two fee structures:
Split-fee model (most common): The host pays approximately 3% of the booking subtotal. Guests pay a service fee on top, typically 14-20% of the booking value. This guest-side fee can meaningfully inflate what guests see as the total cost, which leads to comparison shopping and occasionally to abandonment.
Host-only fee model: The host pays a higher fee (typically 14-16%) and guests see no additional service fee. This improves conversion because guests see a 'clean' total price. Some hosts report better booking rates using this model despite the higher host fee.
Cleaning fee: Hosts set their own cleaning fee, which is charged to guests. This is separate from the above fees.
Vrbo also offers two models:
Annual subscription (US$499/year): Pay once and Vrbo charges no per-booking fee. This is excellent value for high-volume properties — at 10+ bookings per year it almost always wins economically.
Per-booking commission: Vrbo charges the host approximately 5% per booking plus a 3% payment processing fee, totalling around 8%. Guests also pay a service fee of 6-12%.
What this means in practice: For a UK holiday cottage generating £30,000 per year from Vrbo, the annual subscription model saves roughly £1,900 vs the per-booking commission model.
Both platforms add fees to the guest-facing price. On Airbnb, a £150/night property might show as £200+ per night once all fees are applied. This has become a well-documented frustration with both platforms among guests, which is part of why direct bookings are increasingly attractive to guests as well as hosts.
Airbnb offers multiple cancellation policy tiers:
Hosts choose their policy, though Airbnb nudges hosts toward more flexible policies with promotional visibility rewards.
Vrbo allows hosts to set custom cancellation policies within a framework that includes:
Vrbo generally gives hosts more flexibility to enforce strict cancellation policies, which is valued by hosts with high-demand properties during peak seasons.
Airbnb has a dual review system — hosts review guests and guests review hosts. Reviews are only published after both parties have submitted theirs, or after 14 days. The star rating system averages across cleanliness, accuracy, communication, location, check-in, and value.
Airbnb's review system is integral to its trust model. Hosts with high ratings get better search placement, access to Superhost status, and more booking volume. Guests with poor reviews can be restricted from booking.
Superhost status — earned by maintaining a 4.8+ star average, completing 10+ stays per year, and maintaining a low cancellation rate — provides a meaningful boost to visibility and booking conversion.
Vrbo's review system is guest-only: guests review properties, but hosts cannot publicly review guests. This is a different dynamic and means hosts have less leverage over guest behaviour.
Vrbo doesn't have an equivalent to Superhost status, though 'Premier Host' status is available to highly-rated properties.
Airbnb's search ranking algorithm is known to weight:
The algorithm is opaque and changes periodically, which frustrates many hosts. Listings can lose significant search placement after a negative review or algorithm update.
Vrbo weights:
Vrbo's search is generally considered slightly more stable and less volatile than Airbnb's.
One of the most important practical differences for hosts: Airbnb obscures guest contact details until after check-in, and actively discourages hosts from taking guests 'off-platform' for future bookings. Encouraging repeat direct bookings through Airbnb messaging is against their terms of service.
Vrbo historically allowed more direct host-guest communication, though it has also tightened restrictions over time.
Both platforms are designed to own the guest relationship, not to help hosts build their own.
This is one of the strongest arguments for using these platforms as discovery channels while building a direct booking capability — the guest discovers you on Airbnb or Vrbo, and if you can get them to book directly next time, you've eliminated platform fees entirely.
For most holiday home owners in the UK with a whole-property listing, the answer is yes. The incremental effort of managing a second listing is minimal if you use a property management system with channel manager functionality — availability syncs automatically, preventing double-bookings.
Being on both platforms means you're capturing both audiences, filling gaps in your calendar, and reducing dependency on any single platform's algorithm changes or policy updates.
Managing listings on Airbnb, Vrbo, and other channels simultaneously is exactly what a property management platform should make effortless. LetPilot connects to the major channels and syncs your availability automatically — so you can be everywhere guests are searching, without the manual calendar juggling. Try LetPilot free at letpilot.co — no credit card required.