Today, almost all privately owned holiday homes are rented through established online platforms.
AirBnB has become a synonym for private accomodation rental.
And while we take pride in providing you with perfect property management on Samos, you will want to create a good income from it, too.
Sure, AirBnb works for many – but their almost-monopoly comes at a steep price.
While they charge you as a home owner around 3% which does not sound too bad, they take a hefty service fee from the guests, adding up to rather high total prices. And let’s not forget your rental income is taxed, too…
Do you as a home owner have no other options?
Let me show you a few alternatives that may increase your bookings quite a bit.
1. Booking.com
What AirBnB is for apartments and holiday homes, booking.com is for hotels.
Or that’s how it used to be.
Today, more and more houses, villas and apartments are available on booking.com, too. And they actively encourage that, taking a piece of AirBnBs cake.
This competition is good for both home owners and guests.
The fees for booking.com listings are cheaper, plus they do not charge this exorbitant “service fee” from your guests.
Take a look yourself – often you will find the exact same properties on booking.com for the same dates at a much better price.
That’s why more and more guests also search booking.com. (For sure I do)
That’s a good reason why you should be present there, too. Some people do not even bother checking AirBnB, or they went to booking.com because originally they were looking for a hotel but found this lovely house instead…
Registration is free, their cut from the profit varies but is generally lower than at AirBnB.
For the setup, you can reuse your existing text and image from AirBnB. It couldn’t be easier.
Give it a try!
2. Tripadvisor
Tripadvisor has been around for more than 20 years and developed from a discussion board for travelers to a full blown service websites for everything connected to tourism.
They are hugely popular, so a listing with them guarantees you a big audience.
Their fee is 3% on each booking from you plus 8-16% from the guest. This puts them in one line with the competition.
3. VRBO
VRBO is part of a group of companies consisting of big names like expedia.com or hotels.com.
This is their branch that deals with privately owned apartments.
Vrbo charges you 5% plus 3% for the processing fee. This sounds like a lot, but it includes the credit card handling because they charge the customer, not you.
They also have a fixed rate of around 500$ which makes sense if you will have more than 10.000 EUR income from your property.
They say they have 2 million bookings through their website, and as long as you go for the pay-ber-booking-option you may give it a try.
Conclusion
So, back to our initial question: Do I need AirBnB?
Well, it depends.
To be honest, there is no reason for you not to go with AirBnB, but you might give one or two of the competitors a chance. They may attract a different clientel, or they may be that bit cheaper… and since none of them has fixed fees you can only win by trying out.
One thing to consider though – you have to handle all bookings from these platforms. It is mandatory to keep your calendars in sync on all of them, which can be a bit of a pain.
The good news is that there are tools for that. I will cover these in the next post!
