Best Vacation Rentals Sites 2013

Homeaway was once again voted best overall vacation rental site for generating bookings by COHR subscribers. With 23% of the votes, Homeway led the vote, with Ownersdirect (18%) and Flipkey (17%) taking the next places. VRBO slipped down to fourth place from second in our last survey, while Holiday Lettings showed an improvement in placing fifth.

Adventurepads was voted as best free vacation rental site, with Domegos coming a close second. However, once again, many vacation rental owners cited that they either don't use free sites or don't generate a lof of bookings when they are used.

In the US category, Homeaway was, perhaps unsurprisingly,again the winner, with Flipkey and VRBO voted next best. Cyberrentals, surprisingly, showed in fourth place, showing there is still life in the old dog yet.

In Europe, Ownersdirect was the winner, with Holidaylettings and Homeaway UK just behind them.

In the Specialist vacation rental site category, Adventurepads was the winner, with Toptravelangebot ( for German speaking guests) and Villas2000 ( specialist in Florida) next best.

You can find the full results on All Holiday Rentals on the Best Holiday Rentals 2013 page.

Survey: Best Vacation Rentals Sites 2013

Which Vacation Rental Sites are "Best in Class"?


You can take the survey here:  COHR Best Vacation Rental Sites 2013


COHR has been the leading comparison site for Vacation Rental Owners for the past six years. Together with our sister site, AHR, we provide information and advice to vacation rental owners on getting the most from their Vacation Rental.


We would like your input on  the "Best Vacation Rentals Sites" , including the following categories:


Best Overall Vacation Rentals Site

Best Free Vacation Rentals Site

Best US Vacation Rentals Site

Best European Vacation Rentals Site

Best Specialist Vacation Rentals Site


You can take the survey here:  COHR Best Vacation Rental Sites 2013

(Please note that you will be asked for an email address to confirm you are a real person: please feel free to leave an alias email, if you do not want to share your actual email. However, I will send the survey results to all respondents. In addition, I will post the results on this blog.)


For reference, check out the results of the 2011 Best Vacation Rental Sites Survey.

Tripadvisor Annual Vacation Rental Survey

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TripAdvisor, who owns both Flipkey and Holidaylettings, recently announced the results of its fourth annual vacation rentals survey of more than 1,300 U.S. travelers. The survey predicts increasing demand for rental properties and has some useful information for vacation rental owners in how to get the best from their vacation rental property.

1. Increased Demand for Vacation Rentals

    According to the survey, nearly half (49 percent) of respondents have stayed or are planning to stay in a rental home in 2013, up from 46 percent in 2012 and 40 percent in 2011.

2. Vacation Rental or a Hotel?

Respondents cited the following factors as those most likely to sway them toward booking a vacation rental over a hotel:

 

1. Savings (82 percent)  
2. Last-minute deals (82 percent)
3. Traveling with a large group (19 percent)
4. More living space (15 percent)
5. Booking a trip for one week or longer (11 percent)

It is worth emphasising these benefits when promoting your vacation rental to potential guests.

3. Benefits of a Vacation Rental compared with a Hotel

Respondents said they like the following attributes best:

1. Access to a full kitchen and/or laundry room (31 percent)
2. More living space (27 percent)
3. Feels like home (10 percent)
4. More family-friendly (10 percent)
5. Low prices (seven percent)

 Again, stressing these points in your marketing / responses to potential renters may help you to attract more guests.

4. Demographics for Vacation Rentals

Families and group travelers are most drawn to rental homes, citing the above benefits as their biggest motivators. Of those surveyed:

Seventy-five percent indicate they have shared a rental home with family on past trips  

Sixty-two percent say they choose to stay in a vacation rental property when they are traveling with family or a large group

When traveling on a family vacation, 89 percent prefer to stay in a vacation rental

5. Best Luxury Features of Vacation Rentals

1. Private beach (25 percent)
2. Amazing view (18 percent)
3. Private pool (18 percent)
4. Large outdoor deck/patio (11 percent)
5. Personal chef (seven percent)

Nominate Your Favorite Vacation Rentals Sites

Which Vacation Rental Sites are "Best in Class"?



COHR has been the leading comparison site for Vacation Rental Owners for the past six years. Together with our sister site, AHR, we provide information and advice to vaction rental owners on getting the most from their Vacation Rental.

We are planning to conduct our 2012 "Best Vacation Rentals Sites" survey in early December. We plan to include the following categories:

• Best Overall Vacation Rentals Site
• Best Free Vacation Rentals Site
• Best US Vacation Rentals Site
• Best European Vacation Rentals Site
• Best Specialist Vacation Rentals Site

Nominees will be chosen from the list of sites on COHR or AHR. The winners will be selected by the 5,000 current COHR Newsletter subscribers and will be announced by the end of the year. Please browse these lists to find your favorites.

Then, if you would like to nominate specific Vacation Rental Sites, please email me with your nominations at kevin@compareownerholidayrentals.com

For reference, check out the results of last year's 2011 Best Vaction Rental Sites Survey.

Vacation Rentals Owners Survey 2012

COHR recently conducted a survey of approximately 5,000 vacation and holiday rentals owners to compare their experience of the rentals business in 2012 with 2011.

About half of those surveyed were subscribers to the COHR Vacation Rental by Owner forum.

Overall, the results indicate that 2012 was a slightly better year than 2011, with higher bookings and slightly higher rental rates. However, only 40% of owners said that they made money after deducting all vacation rental costs. Despite this, only 7% plan to sell their vacation rental in the coming year.

The COHR subscribers seem to have done slightly better overall. Perhaps this is because they are more active in the management of their rentals (and possibly because they have taken advantage of some of the vacation rental promos and special offers available through COHR.)

You can find the full results of the Holiday Rentals Owners 2012 Survey on All Holiday Rentals by Owner .

Renters visit about 4 vacation rental sites before choosing a Vacation Rental

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Data from Flipkey indicates that the average renter will visit about 4 different vacation rental sites and inquire about 7 different vacation rental properties before choosing a vacation rental.

According to Flipkey, the breakdown is as follows:

12% visit just one vacation rental site
39% visit 2-3 vacation rental sites
28% visit 4-5 vacation rental sites
8% visit 6-9 vacation rental sites
12% visit 10 or more vacation rental sites

Apart from the fact that 12% visit more than 10 vacation rental sites, I was not very surprised with these findings. In my own experience,  I certainly want to check out more the vacation rental listings on more than one site. I am likely to look at a couple of the bigger sites, such as Homeaway or VRBO, plus also a couple of regional/specialist sites (e.g. Rentalia or Spain-Holiday for Spain).

I suspect in practice, many renters just google appropriate search terms such as "vacation rentals spain" and then use that to find vacation rental sites to explore.

I was a little more surprised at the fact that renters enquire about only 7 vacation rental properties on average. Given that many of the vacation rental sites have the facility to create "favorites" and make it easy to send the same enquiry to multiple owners, I expected that the average number of renter enquiries would be more than 7.

So, what are the implications of these findings  for vacation rental owners?

Well, firstly, it re-enforces the need to be listed on multiple vacation rental by owner sites. (You should check out either COHR or All Holiday Rentals to find a list of potential sites.)

Secondly, if you are getting bookings from more than 1 enquiry in 7 , then you are probably doing a good job of converting enquiries into bookings. If not, then maybe you need to examine ways to improve your conversions.