Top Vacation Rental Companies
We have created a list of the ten most popular leisure rental websites reported to Alexa read-outs, customer response, and expert industry investigation. While the vacation rental industry varies tremendously between easy listing sites to more robust vacation rental reservation services, this list is intended to provide a fast examination into this rapidly growing business and to provide viewers a footing for future investigation into this business. Please observe that this list is not in any particular arrangement and is intended simply as a reference.
HomeAway - We couldn't start our analysis of the vacation rental industry without acknowlegding the parent company that owns nearly all of the larger ones? Based upon their information listed in Crunch Base, "The HomeAway portfolio of sites includes HomeAway.com, Vacation Rentals By Owner and VacationRentals.com in the United States; HomeAway.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk in the United Kingdom; HomeAway.de in Germany; Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com in France; HomeAway.es in Spain; and AlugueTemporada.com.br in Brazil. The company's portfolio also includes HomeAwayRealEstate.com, which offers unique real estate information that highlights a vacation home's rental income potential and destination-specific characteristics. In addition, HomeAway operates BedandBreakfast.com, a global site dedicated to finding bed-and-breakfast properties, which provides travelers with another source for unique lodging alternatives to chain hotels." HomeAway will certainly be at the heart of the vacation rental industry for quite some time.
VacationRentals - Another one of HomeAway's popular off-spring, VacationRentals.com usually places first on most major search engines for the Holy Grail of keyword terms, "vacation rentals". Basically the same premise as Vacation Rentals By Owner, this website is a robust advertising site for individual property owners and property managers.
Vacation-Renter - This is a small but relatively stable company that has been around for the past five years. They focus on individual markets rather than the broad spectrum of the vacation rental industry. Because they simply lack the financial firepower of the other major industry leaders, this is the only real way that they can carve out a small market share, and so far this has resulted in slow but steady growth.
HomeAway - We couldn't mention a few of the most popular vacation rental websites without mentioning the parent company that owns them now can we? Based upon their information listed in Crunch Base, "The HomeAway portfolio of sites includes HomeAway.com, Vacation Rentals By Owner and VacationRentals.com in the United States; HomeAway.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk in the United Kingdom; HomeAway.de in Germany; Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com in France; HomeAway.es in Spain; and AlugueTemporada.com.br in Brazil. The company's portfolio also includes HomeAwayRealEstate.com, which offers unique real estate information that highlights a vacation home's rental income potential and destination-specific characteristics. In addition, HomeAway operates BedandBreakfast.com, a global site dedicated to finding bed-and-breakfast properties, which provides travelers with another source for unique lodging alternatives to chain hotels." Whatever is to be said about the future of the vacation industry it's a safe bet that HomeAway will be at the center of it.
Rentalo - Rentalo.com is a good website based upon the pay-per-advertisement listing system. Just like the HomeAway group of websites, Rentalo is a simple promotion website. They have a respectable reputation and currently offer listings worldwide. They also rank favorably in search engine results for vacation rental properties.
Vacation Rentals By Owner - Maybe one of the best acknowledged originators of the online vacation rental listing business, Vacation Rentals By Owner has a huge database of individual owner property listings. Now owned by the behemoth mega-company, HomeAway.com, this is one of their many property rental brand websites. While best-known and extremely popular, the website is not without its faults. Constant critical analysis over property legitimacy is the primary concern regarding this company.
Vacation-Renter, Inc. - We call this one the little engine that could. Extremely out-gunned on almost all levels, Vacation-Renter, Inc. has opted for a guerilla-style approach when trying to attack the vacation rental market. They do this by offering market-specific websites aimed at achieving high Google rankings and international markets. While they don't have nearly the inventory or operating capital behind them as the others do, they do offer online booking and live telephone reservation support with their market-specific websites and appear to have been growing steadily over the past 5 years. They also offer the only industry index available to vacation rental industry insiders. Here's rooting for the little guy!
FlipKey - A newer vacation rental website that has popped up on the web, FlipKey offers a nifty user program and the power of being part of the Trip Advisor marketing machine. Probably one the cleanest and most visually appealing advertising sites, FlipKey has quickly etched out a place as emerging industry leaders and appears to be gaining some major leverage on the industry.
FlipKey - One of the more recent vacation rental websites that have hit the web, FlipKey offers a great user interface and the power of being part of the Trip Advisor marketing machine. Probably one the cleanest and most visually appealing advertising sites, FlipKey has hit the ground running and appears to be gaining some serious leverage on the industry.
VacationRentals - Another one of HomeAway's favorite off-spring, VacationRentals.com usually places atop leading search engines for keyword search terms, "vacation rentals". Essentially the same assumption as Vacation Rentals By Owner, this website is a strapping advertising site for personal property owners and property managers.
Although this list cannot do the entire vacation rental industry complete justice, it does provide an interesting mix of size and type of company currently active in today's market. While it does appear that certain companies clearly hold an advantage when it comes to investment dollars and sheer size, there are a few quality sites that offer a different approach to marketing short-term rentals. Wherever you decide to travel, try doing some initial research on some of these websites and see for yourself.
HomeAway - We couldn't start our analysis of the vacation rental industry without acknowlegding the parent company that owns nearly all of the larger ones? Based upon their information listed in Crunch Base, "The HomeAway portfolio of sites includes HomeAway.com, Vacation Rentals By Owner and VacationRentals.com in the United States; HomeAway.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk in the United Kingdom; HomeAway.de in Germany; Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com in France; HomeAway.es in Spain; and AlugueTemporada.com.br in Brazil. The company's portfolio also includes HomeAwayRealEstate.com, which offers unique real estate information that highlights a vacation home's rental income potential and destination-specific characteristics. In addition, HomeAway operates BedandBreakfast.com, a global site dedicated to finding bed-and-breakfast properties, which provides travelers with another source for unique lodging alternatives to chain hotels." HomeAway will certainly be at the heart of the vacation rental industry for quite some time.
VacationRentals - Another one of HomeAway's popular off-spring, VacationRentals.com usually places first on most major search engines for the Holy Grail of keyword terms, "vacation rentals". Basically the same premise as Vacation Rentals By Owner, this website is a robust advertising site for individual property owners and property managers.
Vacation-Renter - This is a small but relatively stable company that has been around for the past five years. They focus on individual markets rather than the broad spectrum of the vacation rental industry. Because they simply lack the financial firepower of the other major industry leaders, this is the only real way that they can carve out a small market share, and so far this has resulted in slow but steady growth.
HomeAway - We couldn't mention a few of the most popular vacation rental websites without mentioning the parent company that owns them now can we? Based upon their information listed in Crunch Base, "The HomeAway portfolio of sites includes HomeAway.com, Vacation Rentals By Owner and VacationRentals.com in the United States; HomeAway.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk in the United Kingdom; HomeAway.de in Germany; Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com in France; HomeAway.es in Spain; and AlugueTemporada.com.br in Brazil. The company's portfolio also includes HomeAwayRealEstate.com, which offers unique real estate information that highlights a vacation home's rental income potential and destination-specific characteristics. In addition, HomeAway operates BedandBreakfast.com, a global site dedicated to finding bed-and-breakfast properties, which provides travelers with another source for unique lodging alternatives to chain hotels." Whatever is to be said about the future of the vacation industry it's a safe bet that HomeAway will be at the center of it.
Rentalo - Rentalo.com is a good website based upon the pay-per-advertisement listing system. Just like the HomeAway group of websites, Rentalo is a simple promotion website. They have a respectable reputation and currently offer listings worldwide. They also rank favorably in search engine results for vacation rental properties.
Vacation Rentals By Owner - Maybe one of the best acknowledged originators of the online vacation rental listing business, Vacation Rentals By Owner has a huge database of individual owner property listings. Now owned by the behemoth mega-company, HomeAway.com, this is one of their many property rental brand websites. While best-known and extremely popular, the website is not without its faults. Constant critical analysis over property legitimacy is the primary concern regarding this company.
Vacation-Renter, Inc. - We call this one the little engine that could. Extremely out-gunned on almost all levels, Vacation-Renter, Inc. has opted for a guerilla-style approach when trying to attack the vacation rental market. They do this by offering market-specific websites aimed at achieving high Google rankings and international markets. While they don't have nearly the inventory or operating capital behind them as the others do, they do offer online booking and live telephone reservation support with their market-specific websites and appear to have been growing steadily over the past 5 years. They also offer the only industry index available to vacation rental industry insiders. Here's rooting for the little guy!
FlipKey - A newer vacation rental website that has popped up on the web, FlipKey offers a nifty user program and the power of being part of the Trip Advisor marketing machine. Probably one the cleanest and most visually appealing advertising sites, FlipKey has quickly etched out a place as emerging industry leaders and appears to be gaining some major leverage on the industry.
FlipKey - One of the more recent vacation rental websites that have hit the web, FlipKey offers a great user interface and the power of being part of the Trip Advisor marketing machine. Probably one the cleanest and most visually appealing advertising sites, FlipKey has hit the ground running and appears to be gaining some serious leverage on the industry.
VacationRentals - Another one of HomeAway's favorite off-spring, VacationRentals.com usually places atop leading search engines for keyword search terms, "vacation rentals". Essentially the same assumption as Vacation Rentals By Owner, this website is a strapping advertising site for personal property owners and property managers.
Although this list cannot do the entire vacation rental industry complete justice, it does provide an interesting mix of size and type of company currently active in today's market. While it does appear that certain companies clearly hold an advantage when it comes to investment dollars and sheer size, there are a few quality sites that offer a different approach to marketing short-term rentals. Wherever you decide to travel, try doing some initial research on some of these websites and see for yourself.
About the Author:
Want to find out more about San Francisco vacation rentals, then visit Jennifer Decker's site on how to choose the best vacation rental for your needs.