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Category: Getting Started
By: Chris Nakamura
Reply by Tony Russo:
I list on all three but here's the breakdown from my experience (2 beach properties in FL): - **Airbnb:** ~60% of my bookings. Best for shorter stays (2-5 nights). Their algorithm rewards response time and review quality heavily. - **VRBO:** ~30% of my bookings. Better for families and longer stays (week+). They cater to the vacation crowd more than the business traveler crowd. - **Booking.com:** ~10% — mostly international guests. The interface is clunkier for hosts but the global reach is nice. Fee-wise: Airbnb takes 3% from hosts (split-fee model) vs VRBO where you either pay a subscription or ~8% per booking. Booking.com (https://booking.com) takes 15% but no guest fees. My advice: **start on Airbnb only.** Get 10-15 reviews, nail your process, then expand. Managing calendars across platforms without a channel manager is a recipe for double bookings.
Reply by Heather Barnes:
Agree with starting on Airbnb. One thing to add — if you're in a vacation market like Destin, VRBO should be your #2 priority. The VRBO crowd books further in advance and for longer stays, which is great for cash flow planning. I'd recommend getting a channel manager like Hospitable (https://hospitable.com) or Guesty (https://guesty.com) once you go multi-platform. Saves SO much headache with calendar sync.