Vrbo is one of the largest vacation rental sites around, attracting 15.9 million worldwide visitors monthly.* However—since the platform is owned by the Expedia Group—the potential audience for bookings is even larger. Vrbo cross-posts some vacation home inventory on Expedia sister sites, like Expedia.com, Orbitz, and Travelocity. In total, homeowners who list on Vrbo have potential exposure to more than 750 million visits each month.
Needless to say, there’s money to be made on Vrbo—but you still have to stand out and be smart about driving bookings. We should know. We’ve helped tens of thousands of vacation home owners like you succeed on Vrbo (and many other vacation rental sites). Your earnings on Vrbo come down to this: a winning listing that’s built to boost bookings and garner consistently high reviews.
Here’s how to do it.
1. Invest in amenities guests want
The first component of a profitable vacation rental on Vrbo is knowing what travelers need and want while vacationing. First, cover their essentials. Shopping for these can be easy using a vacation rental inventory checklist. Then, consider investing in the most searched vacation rental amenities, like a hot tub (which can increase your revenue by 15–20%) and central A/C.
Vrbo markets heavily to parents planning family vacations. So, appeal to families with items like play pens, kid-friendly dinnerware and cutlery, and baby gates.
2. Only use professional photos
When capturing guests’ attention, looks do matter. In Vrbo search results, visitors see one main photo per vacation home (make sure this lead photo is attention grabbing), then can toggle through the rest of the images. From there, the formula is simple—the more people look at your listing, the more bookings you’ll get. Your photography needs to be compelling and showcase your vacation rental property in the best possible way. Here are some vacation rental photography tips:
- Take the time to stage your vacation rental and prep it for a photoshoot.
- Capture views and the room interiors in the same shot.
- Show your home’s layout.
- Turn off the flash. The light could otherwise flatten a photo.
If you work with Vacasa, we provide professional photography (and a 3D virtual tour) as part of our full-service vacation rental management. Our virtual tour alone can help set you apart. Travelers can filter their Vrbo searches to show vacation home listings with virtual tours, increasing Vacasa homeowners’ visibility.
