Managing different properties for vacation rental includes making different decisions. Among them, the most relevant is in which web portals to publish our vacation rental offers. Currently there are many online options, specialized online websites and each of them can target a different market or can have specific benefits, the combined use of different of them. It is therefore important to know which are the best portals to work with to improve our occupancy rate of our properties.
The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) health crisis has meant a very important change in the vacation rental industry. However, different studies point out that the total revenue of tourist accommodations in the vacation rental market in Europe may reach 20 million euros in 2021(According to statista.com data). Therefore, find the best options to publish your rental properties in 2021 and make the most of your rental ads.
It is good to take into account several elements when choosing the right web portals for your ads in Europe. One of these elements is the origin of the bookings, i.e. where your guests usually come from.
The best international rental websites in Europe
Are your properties located in an area more visited by European tourists? Or, are your guests more from the USA, Asia or other parts of the world?
Many rental portals are internationally successful in Europe. In fact, in the most relevant web portals or channels you can also appreciate their worldwide presence by checking the number of languages in which the website is translated. Each channel has certain differences, and therefore it is interesting to know them in order to choose the one that best suits you.
- Booking.com. It is a travel rate aggregator and travel metasearch engine for accommodation bookings. Founded in 1996, this platform is well known for its hotel booking service, however, it also offers vacation rentals. It has become one of the major competitors for vacation rental companies in Europe and worldwide due to its strong reach. The good thing about Booking.com is that it helps to get bookings in low season. As one of the most well-known platforms in the travel industry, you may have already joined Booking.com to post your listings.
- Expedia. It is one of the largest travel booking websites by number of users in the world. Expedia stands out for its wide variety of options in terms of accommodation. It offers many alternatives such as car rentals, travel packages, flights and more. In addition to vacation rentals of private properties.
- Travelopo. It is a rental portal that is very successful in European countries, especially Spain, Italy, Portugal and France. It offers private chalets, villas and apartments for rent. Its main target are British and German tourists who accept a high booking price.
- Airbnb. It is the leading portal of all short-term rental portals worldwide, operating in 191 countries and being one of the best known portals in Europe. However, it is originally from the United States where it is most successful. Its worldwide online presence can be seen in the number of languages in which the web portal operates; at the moment, the website is translated into 31 languages, allowing people from all over the world to use its services. Airbnb is present in more than 100,000 locations, having hosted more than 1 billion travelers have stayed through this platform.
- Tripadvisor. Reviews are key on this platform. Millions of users book on this web portal based on the reviews they have read before. It is widely used and well known in Europe. Therefore, if your guests' opinions are very valuable to you, Tripadvisor is a good place to advertise your listings. Your properties will be displayed on other Tripadvisor portals, including "Flipkey", "TripAdvisor Rentals" and "Holiday Lettings".
- Tuivillas and Atraveo. These two partners are connected to 9000 travel agencies in Switzerland, Austria and Germany, so their presence in Europe is remarkable. However, they publish ads all over the world.
- The Vrbo group has several platforms:(Vrbo, Homelidays, Abritel, etc) and each one targets a different market. Vrbo's main platform operates in the US but if your property attracts more European tourists, your ads may work better on one of its subsidiaries, such as Homelidays. Rather than focusing on a single country, Homelidays targets Europe in general, although it is best known in France. Previously the most visited portal, at least in Spain, was HomeAway, which is now called Vrbo. It currently has an offer of more than two million listings on its different portals.
Of course, since 2020 international bookings have suffered a big drop in the market due to the pandemic. However, during this summer of 2021, in some European countries, local tourism is starting to recover, so it may be a good option to focus on domestic tourists.
Main local vacation rental websites
there are certain rental web portals that work better in specific regions, this is usually because users are used to these portals because of the language or because the portal gained trust and therefore a better position in these regions. In any case, it is good to know in which territories each rental portal stands out in order to get the most out of your ads. Generally, these portals do not offer more than 5 or 6 languages, compared to the larger international portals that do.
- E-domizil. It stands out for its experience. This company has been operating for more than 20 years and is certified by the German TÜV, which guarantees safety, status and trust. However, they also have properties outside Germany. E-domizil is a group that includes two other vacation rental portals: E-dom and Bellevue-Ferienhaus.
- Bellevue-Ferienhaus. This web portal is more focused on luxury rental apartments and collaborates with important media in Germany. This web portal does not offer translation options in addition to German, which means that it will only address the German market.
- Locasun. It is well known in France but has also expanded to other European countries.
- Abritel belongs to the giant Vrbo, but in fact, it is a complementary portal aimed at the French market. This platform is very successful, as it is the number 1 vacation rental web portal in this country. Sportal is only available in German and French.
- Cozy-cozy is a French metasearch engine that advertises vacation rental properties worldwide, but is more targeted to the French-speaking market; however, they have expanded the languages by including 20 options in their list.
AYRE Estates collaborates with the main vacation rental web portals, including all those mentioned in this post. It also hosts specialized portals in very specific areas. Some of these niche rental web portals are price comparators such as Holidu, which provides a lot of visibility to competitively priced listings. AYRE Estates also works with a vacation rental web portal that targets the LGBTQ+ community: misterb&b, which has already reached 1 million listings worldwide. On the other hand, if your guests are usually on business trips, you can include your properties in Magic Stay, which is more focused on business travelers. Or if, among your properties there are both short and long term offers, maybe you can consider joining Rentberry, which allows both short and long term rentals compared to other web portals that do not.
Conclusion
Depending on the nature of your properties, their location, guest profile and other aspects, you can choose a number of portals to maximize your bookings. These can be international, local or targeted to a specific niche. Hopefully, this article will help you choose the best rental portals that best suit your vacation properties in Europe.
In most cases, it is advisable to publish ads on several vacation rental portals to obtain the maximum amount of reservations, although it is true that we must follow a strategy so that our property has the highest possible occupancy rate throughout the year, with a correct synchronization of the calendar of availability of our property.