Comments on: Comparing Top Sites RentClicks and VRBO

By: Dave Dugdale

Dave Dugdale — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:24:52 +0000

Most all of the top vacation rental sites in the US are own by one company – their parent site is http://www.homeaway.com. I only study the vacation rental market a little so I’m sorry I can’t help you.

By: parisrentals

parisrentals — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:18:56 +0000

Dear All,
I’ve been renting an apartment in Paris for 3 years and VRBO has brought me about half to 75% of my business. I manage to kep the pace rented about 80% of the time but now it’s getting harder. I am lookng for new ways to market my place. What’s the second best sight? And what would be the best site to attract Europeans? Finally
do you think that having a personal site to back up the VRBO site is really important?

By: Dave Dugdale

Dave Dugdale — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:12:04 +0000

Thanks for the comments.

I heard that the folks over at rentals.com are banned from commenting here.

By: Redneckrenter

Redneckrenter — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:07:14 +0000

Dave,

I believe RentVine is simply enough. I like the basic format. You have something great going that others have overlooked (or are too afraid of the open format since its hard to keep only the paid bloggers posting comments. There are a few other things you can do for SEO and property searchibility. But lets not give out too many secrects and free advice. We know the good people over there at Rentals.com are listening, even though they must remain silent. Its gotta be killing them.

By: Dave Dugdale

Dave Dugdale — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:56:37 +0000

Red Neck,

I am curious, is RentVine simple enough or do you recommend making it more simple?

By: Redneckrenter

Redneckrenter — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:52:13 +0000

Hi Taylormade,

The Alexa ranking for “Google” is actually #2. I do agreee with you by syating that VRBO is one of the best (if not the best) in the vacation segment. I believe the bulk of their success can be attributed to the simplicity and user friendliness of the site. The majority of sites out there shun the importance of keeping things simple. They try to over compliacte the user experience with too much marketing BS, flash, banner ads, and useless content. Marketing boobs and IT nerds can really do some damage to a perfectly good website. Take a look at Craigslist. Pretty darn simple isn’t it. This is classified ads people! BORING! And even beyond that we’re talking about the rental industry. There’s no need to over complicate things. Leave that to the myspace’s. But we still have people the likes of Rentals.com who think they need make tnis industry more romantic and compliacted than it actually is.
However, saying that VRBO is to the vacation industry what Google is in the search industry is a stretch. Great yes, but not great the likes of Google greatness.

By: taylormade2001

taylormade2001 — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:26:30 +0000

I know you wrote this a while ago but it is still an awesome analysis that you did. Sometimes it’s good to have too much time on your hands.

I have a vacation rental property that I list on VRBO.com. My site is http://www.parkcitysilveradolodge.com Of course it is a vacation ski rental in Park City. But what amazed me is that VRBO is to the Vacation Rental Industry what Google is the the Search industry.

I am listed on probably 10 other sites and none of them come close to the traffic and the revenue that I get from VRBO. It’s like 99 to 1 or 95% of my booking revenue has come from vrbo.

What is interesting is the Alexa ranking for google is about 8000, It’s next closest is 40,000. The difference between 8000 and 40000 is huge.

I think there is opportunity for new blood out here but only the cream will get really really paid.

By: Dan

Dan — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 18:55:50 +0000

Great comments guys. Yes, I think it is a combination of two things, the first what Wendy and Dave mentioned is there are more people searching for vacation rentals because you could theoretically have a different person or family occupy your home once a week. Second, there are dramatically more vacation rentals online compared to single family homes. Some estimates are:

Over 1 million vaction rentals being advertised each month online (US and ROW) compared with about 60,000 homes for rent being advertised online (US).

Does anyone have any data on how many total single family homes for rent are on the market each month that don’t advertise online?

I would imagine that a higher percentage of vacation rentals are advertised online. This could be anywhere from 90 – 95 % of total inventory. It is hard to put a sign up infront of your beachfront mexican villa and hope someone sees it.

As compared to total number of single family homes on the market, I wonder what the percentage of those are advertising online?

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 05:20:03 +0000

Ah, you bring up a good point! You might only look for a rental house to live in once every few years, but you might look for a vacation rental once a year. That would account for the increase in searches.

Dave

By: Wendy Frenzel

Wendy Frenzel — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 05:15:48 +0000

NAR (National Association of REALTORS) has done research in the past that those that search online first for homes to purchase make more money and are better educated. Do you think that those looking for vacation homes fall into that “research category” more so than those looking for homes to lease long term, thus the difference in the numbers?

I would think that those that are looking for vacational rentals have more disposable income and because it is for a shorter term, more people would be looking as there is a larger pool of people.