Those days are long gone when guesthouses were our sole option for housing. VRBO.com is one of the most widely used websites in the United States for renting vacation houses. It features a large number of listings that you can filter through in a variety of ways, and it uses encryption technology and insurance policies to protect your booking payments and stay. Here are some vrbo competitors to consider:
#1. Airbnb
- Founded: August 2008
- Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Need to know
Airbnb (https://www.airbnb.com) was established in 2008 by Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia. They came up with the idea of turning their living room into a bed and breakfast by putting an air mattress in it. Chesky’s former roommate, Nathan Blecharczyk, joined as the third co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of the new firm, which they christened AirBed & Breakfast, in February 2008. They created a website that offered short-term lodging and breakfast to those who couldn’t find a hotel in the overcrowded market. On August 11, 2008, the website Airbedandbreakfast.com went live. The founders met their first clients in town during the Industrial Designers Society of America’s Industrial Design Conference in the summer of 2008, when travelers were having difficulty finding lodging in the city. The company went public on December 10, 2020, after obtaining $3.5 billion in an initial public offering.
It provides an internet marketplace for lodging and tourist activities, especially homestays for vacation rentals. The service, which is based in San Francisco, California, is available via a website and a mobile app.
#2. Onefinestay
- Founded: 2009
- Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Need to know
Onefinestay (https://www.onefinestay.com) was established in 2009 by Greg Marsh in 2009 following a trip to Pisa.
He was led off the normal path to Piazza delle Vettovaglie by a local friend. He realized he would never have had the same experience in Pisa if he hadn’t made this connection with a local. Marsh had a second realization when he returned to his London flat: it had been empty while he was away, and every time he went away, someone else could be experiencing London while staying in his house. Marsh’s house was the first to be featured on the website onefinestay.com.
It is a business that allows owners of unusual and affluent homes to rent out their homes to guests while they are not there.
#3. 9flats
- Founder: 2010
- Headquarters: Singapore
Need to know
9flats (https://www.9flats.com) was established in 2010 by Stephan Uhrenbacher and Roman Bach. In February 2011, the founders received funding from E.ventures and launched 9flats.com with a 5,000-place inventory. In late 2011, 9flats, managed by VP of Asia Ng Wei Leen, became the first well-known European or North American social travel firm to launch an Asian office in Singapore, establishing a foothold ahead of other competitors.
It has an online marketplace where users may lease or rent short-term accommodations. The company does not own any housing; instead, it acts as a broker, collecting commissions from both customers and hosts for each booking.
#4. Housetrip
- Founded: 2010
- Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Need to know
Housetrip (https://www.housetrip.com) was established in 2010 by Arnaud Bertrand and Junjun Chen in Switzerland. Housetrip has raised $60 million in financing, has a presence in 20,000 destinations, and has over 300,000 residences listed on its website as of May 2015. HouseTrip has booked over 6,000,000 nights since its inception in January 2010. In the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Portugal, HouseTrip has offices.
It can be used by individuals and vacation rental management companies to rent out their properties to tourists. It provides holiday rentals on a peer-to-peer basis. Housetrip serves two sorts of customers: landlords (or anybody with the authority to lease a property) and vacationers. They concentrate on a house rather than certain rooms.
5#. Tripadvisor
- Founded: February 2000
- Headquarters: Needham, Massachusetts, United States
Need to know
Tripadvisor (https://www.tripadvisor.com) was established in 2000 by Stephen Kaufer, Langley Steinert, Nick Shanny, and Thomas Palka. Tripadvisor bought Citymaps.com, a social mapping service and cross-platform map engine based on OpenStreetMap data, from a New York City company in 2016. The company purchased Icelandic startup Bokun, a supplier of trip booking software, in April 2018, and added DoorDash to its restaurant listings in November 2018. The company changed its name from TripAdvisor to Tripadvisor in February 2020.
It offers a user-generated content website and mobile app, as well as a comparative shopping website. It also accepts reservations for transportation, housing, vacation activities, and restaurants via the internet.
#6. Booking.com
- Founded: 1996
- Headquarters: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Need to know
Booking.com (https://www.booking.com) was established in 1996 when Bookings.nl merged with Bookings Online in 2000. Stef Noorden was nominated as CEO, and the company’s name and URL were changed to Booking.com. Booking.com is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and has 198 locations worldwide, including Accra, Amman, Amsterdam, Antalya, Bangalore, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, and others.
It provides an online lodging reservation service via which lodging providers, such as hotels and other lodging establishments, can advertise their products and booking services, and platform users can make reservations.
#7. Wimdu
- Founded: March 2011
- Headquarters: Berlin, Germany
Need to know
Wimdu (https://www.wimdu.com) was established in 2011 by Arne Bleckwenn and Hinrich Dreiling. Wimdu claimed to be Europe’s largest social accommodation website by 2012. Bookings on Wimdu grew by 31% from 2013 to 2014. Sales increased by 34% in the first quarter of 2015. Wimdu’s Berlin headquarters increased its operations in November 2014. The company had 12,000 listings in Germany as of August 2017.
It has a website and a mobile app for iOS and Android that allow users to book lodging online. The company does not own any housing; instead, it acts as a broker, earning commissions on each booking. It’s designed to be a “clone” of other websites. Wimdu looks for and refers consumers to a website with a partnership with a lodging provider, such as Expedia.
#8. Priceline.com
- Founded: 1997
- Headquarters: Norwalk, Connecticut, United States
Need to know
Priceline.com (https://www.priceline.com) was established in 1997 by Jay S. Walker. Priceline sprang to prominence because of its “Name Your Own Price” method, which allowed customers to choose their own prices for airline tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals, and holiday packages. While the buyer can choose a broad location, degree of service, and price, the sales are for unidentified travel inventory; specifics are revealed only after the transaction is completed, and there is no chance of cancellation. The difference between a customer’s proposed price and the price charged by the service provider is Priceline’s profit from the proceeds. It has also added a more traditional model known as “Express Deals,” in which customers are given pricing and a geographic perimeter within which the hotel would be located.
It aids in the discovery of discounted travel-related products such as plane tickets and hotel stays. The organization makes it easier for its providers to provide travel services to its customers.
#9. CouchSurfing
- Founded: April 2, 2003
- Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Need to know
CouchSurfing (https://www.couchsurfing.com) was established in 2003 by Casey Fenton as a New Hampshire nonprofit corporation. Fenton came up with the idea in 1999 after finding a cheap trip from Boston to Iceland but no place to stay. Fenton got into the University of Iceland’s database and emailed 1,500 students at random, asking for a homestay. He was offered between 50 and 100 places to stay, but he chose to stay at the home of an Icelandic rhythm and blues performer. On the way back to Boston, he came up with the concept for the website. On June 12, 1999, he registered the domain name couchsurfing.com.
It is a social networking and hospitality exchange service via which users may request homestays and engage with other travelers. It has a website as well as a mobile app.