If you’re looking to slow travel for more than a month, you may want to rent out your house or property while you’re gone so you’re not paying a mortgage on top of your travel accommodations! While AirBnB is still a great option for this — mostly because it holds the lion share of the rental market — over the past few years their bookings have declined, partly due to the platform’s rising fees and issues with party guests and damages. This has left many hosts wondering: is there a good alternative to AirBnB for listing my property?
The short answer: Yes! There’s lots of niche platforms that have popped up in the last several years that can be considered a good alternative to airbnb.
The long answer is: we’ve got to dig into the numbers to find out if one of these sites is a good alternative to airbnb for your particular situation.
First, let’s take a look at the AirBnB numbers:
| Guest Fee | Host Fee | Credit Card Fee | Subscription | Insurance | Market Share and # of listings |
| 3% to 16% | 3% to 14% (hosts have the option of splitting fees with guests or opting for host-only fees.) | $0 | $0 | $1M Airbnb Host Guarantee and Host Protection Insurance | 20% of vacation rental market and ~7 million properties |
With this in mind, let’s look at the top 5 highly rated alternatives to AirBnB.
1. Vrbo
This marketplace has actually been around since the ‘90s, but you would never know that with its slick interface. Vrbo has a lot fewer selections than AirBnB — about 2 million compared to 7 million — but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for a host…fewer listings could just make it easier to stand out in your local market. They also only offer entire places for rent.
Vrbo guests also skew older; the platform caters more to families and wealthier travelers than Aibnb does.
| Guest Fee | Host Fee | Credit Card Fee | Subscription | Insurance | Market Share and # of listings |
| 6% to 15% | 5% service fee on every booking OR pay the annual subscription | 3% | $499 for an annual subscription (host) OR forgo the subscription and pay the %5 fee on every booking | VRBO Host Insurance offers owners and property managers liability protection of $1M | 4.6% of vacation rental market and ~2 million properties |
2. Kid & Coe
Kid & Coe works specifically with family friendly properties. This could also be a good alternative to AirBnB for those looking to mitigate the risk of having your house turned into a party house! Their properties also tend to be more upscale & luxurious.
| Guest Fee | Host Fee | Credit Card Fee | Subscription | Insurance | Market Share and # of listings |
| 18% | $99 listing fee. Then corporate properties have a 15% fee, private listings are 10% More info. | 2.9% | Hosts can opt for a $99 membership fee that allows them to participate in home exchanges | None provided | N/A |
This alternative to AirBnB markets directly to traveling nurses — so if you live near a hospital, this could be a great option! The average rental period is longer than AirBnB —about 90 days per stay — and since most travel nurses are looking for a furnished place, you won’t have to put your furniture in storage while you’re traveling.
Furnished Finder seems to function primarily as a vetting agency and connector — once your listing is approved and you find an interested tenant, you negotiate your own terms directly.
| Guest Fee | Host Fee | Credit Card Fee | Subscription | Insurance | Market Share and # of listings |
| $0 | $0 | $0 | Host pays $99/year to list | None provided | N/A marketshare / ~150,000 properties |
4. Trip Advisor / FlipKey
FlipKey is a subsidiary of Trip Advisor, so if you list on FlipKey your property will automatically appear on Trip Advisor sites, most of which have a broad international reach. However, this alternative to AirBnB has considerably fewer listings than others listed here. Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you’re a host since it could make it easier for you to stand out on the platform.
| Guest Fee | Host Fee | Credit Card Fee | Subscription | Insurance | Market Share and # of listings |
| 8% to 16% of booking | 3% per booking | $0 | Host pays $99/year to list | None provided | N/A market share /~830,000 |
5. Booking.com
Even though Booking.com is well-known for hotels and more professional stays, it has in recent years gotten into the private vacation rental game. It’s the largest vacation rental platform and the age range of guests can skew older. With its wide scope, this could be a great alternative to Airbnb!
| Guest Fee | Host Fee | Credit Card Fee | Subscription | Insurance | Market Share and # of listings |
| 0 | On average, 15% per booking | $0 | 0 | None provided | 38.2% /~29 million |