13 Best Vacation Rental Websites for Booking Your Trip

The first vacation rental we ever booked was an apartment in France through Vrbo, and since then we’ve rented holiday homes, apartments, cabins, and cottages all over the world. We’ve used Airbnb regularly since 2012, booked a cottage in Cornwall through Sykes, and used Agoda for stays in the UK and across Asia. To help you find the right website for your own trip, we compare 13 of the best vacation rental websites below, from the big peer-to-peer marketplaces to specialist villa and cottage agencies.

If you just want the short answer: for most trips, we’d start with Vrbo or Booking.com, which combine a huge selection with guest reviews and clear cancelation policies. Here is our quick take on the best vacation rental website for different types of trips:

• Best overall: Vrbo or Booking.com
• Best for unique stays and variety: Airbnb
• Best for the UK and Ireland: Sykes Holiday Cottages
• Best for European holiday homes and Swiss chalets: Interhome
• Best for luxury vetted homes: Plum Guide
• Best for large group villas: Top Villas or Oliver’s Travels
• Best for stays of a month or longer: Blueground
• Best for avoiding booking fees: Houfy

Vacation rentals are a great option for travelers who want to have the conveniences of home at their travel destination. They offer more privacy than a hotel or bed-and-breakfast and can often be a less expensive lodging option, particularly for families and larger groups. Vacation rentals often offer travelers the option to cook their own food and do their own laundry, which can also help travelers save money.

Just know that vacation rental companies are not all the same and there are differences in how each operates. Some are peer-to-peer marketplaces like Airbnb and Vrbo, whereas others are agencies with a portfolio of managed properties like Blueground. Some focus on the luxury market like Top Villas and Oliver’s Travels, some focus on a specific region like Sykes Holiday Cottages, and others list properties worldwide.

The websites also differ in how they charge you. Airbnb and Vrbo add a guest service fee at checkout (typically somewhere in the 8% to 15% range, although neither publishes an official rate), whereas most of the agency-style websites build their commission into the price you see. We cover the fee situation for each website in the comparison table below, as it can make a real difference to what you actually pay.

Best Vacation Rental Websites Comparison

Here is how the 13 best vacation rental websites compare at a glance. All listing figures and fees were checked in July 2026, but these numbers do change over time, so we recommend confirming any fees at checkout before you book.

A quick note on fees, as this is the thing we get asked about most. The websites on this list fall into two groups. The marketplace platforms (Airbnb and Vrbo) add a variable guest service fee on top of the nightly rate at checkout, and neither publishes an official fee schedule, so the percentages above are typical ranges rather than fixed rates. Everywhere else, the price you see already includes the company’s cut, so there is no separate service fee to pay (although individual properties can still set their own cleaning fees, and local taxes may apply anywhere). So if booking fees annoy you, the majority of the websites on this list never show you one.

13 Best Vacation Rental Websites

Ready to book a vacation rental for your next travel adventure? Here is our list of the best vacation rental websites, with details on each company, who it suits best, and what fees to expect:

1. Vrbo

Vrbo is our top overall pick for booking a whole vacation home, particularly for families and longer stays.

Vrbo, which stands for Vacation Rentals By Owner, was one of the first major vacation rental websites to connect property owners with travelers. The website was launched back in 1995, and the company has grown to be one of the best-known vacation rental websites worldwide. Vrbo is owned by Expedia Group, and the former HomeAway and Expedia vacation rental listings have all been consolidated into the Vrbo website.

Vrbo lists over 2 million properties in 190 countries, with a particularly large concentration of properties in Europe and North America. While sites like Airbnb list homestays, rooms for rent, yurts, shared properties, and such, Vrbo focuses almost exclusively on private and self-catering vacation rental properties. You’ll find vacation villas, cabins, condos, cottages, apartments, and beach houses across a range of budgets, although I would say the majority fall in the middle with lots of good value and mid-range prices.

In terms of fees, Vrbo adds a guest service fee at checkout, typically somewhere between 8% and 15% of the booking cost, although it varies by property and Vrbo doesn’t publish an official rate. The total price with fees is shown before you pay, so check the final figure rather than the nightly rate when comparing.

Vrbo was the first vacation rental website I ever used to book an apartment in France for a week. We have always had a good experience with Vrbo and have particularly liked using it for longer stays.

Best For: Whole-home rentals, families, longer stays
Company Headquarters: Austin, Texas, United States
Number of Listings: over 2 million
Geographical Availability: Worldwide, 190 countries
Guest Service Fee: ~8% to 15%, varies by booking (not officially published)
Pricing: Budget to Luxury
Book Vacation Rentals Online: Book here

2. Booking.com

Booking.com is the best vacation rental website if you want flexible cancelation policies, or if you like being able to compare vacation rentals alongside hotels in one search.

Booking.com has become in recent years the main website we use for booking hotels when we travel. However, the website also lists over 8 million homes, apartments, and other unique places to stay in more than 220 countries and territories. You can search the Booking.com website by type of property such as for holiday homes only or for apartments only.

There is no separate guest service fee on Booking.com. The property sets the price and Booking.com takes its commission from the owner’s side, so the rate you see is what you pay (plus any property-set cleaning fees or local taxes, which are itemized before you confirm).

We have been using Booking.com for years, and although we mainly book hotels and B&Bs, we also use it for apartments and holiday homes. We have never had an issue so far with Booking.com and we like that many of the properties offer free cancelation. We also save money on some of our bookings by being a member of the Genius loyalty program which gives you discounts and perks (free breakfast, free upgrades, free cancelation) on certain bookings. We definitely recommend signing up if you are a regular user.

Best For: Flexible cancelation, comparing rentals and hotels together
Company Headquarters: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Number of Listings: over 8 million homes & apartments
Geographical Availability: Worldwide, 220+ countries
Guest Service Fee: None (host pays commission)
Pricing: Budget to Luxury
Website to Book Vacation Rentals: Book here

3. Agoda Homes

Agoda is the first vacation rental website we check when traveling in Asia.

Agoda is particularly known for its selection of hotels, guesthouses, hostels, and homestays in Asia, but it also has a large and growing selection of vacation rentals. Agoda started as a start-up in Thailand in 2003 and has focused primarily on Asian accommodation bookings. Today it lists over 4 million hotels and holiday properties across more than 200 countries, and around 2 million of those are vacation rentals such as cottages, apartments, and villas.

Like Booking.com, Agoda does not charge guests a separate service fee; its commission comes from the property side, so the displayed price is the price (plus any taxes or property fees).

Although Agoda is not usually our first place to check for vacation rentals, it is often our first place to check when traveling to Asia as they often have more selection, especially in smaller cities and towns. But you can also find good deals in major cities around the world and we recently used it to book a place in the UK.

Best For: Vacation rentals in Asia, budget stays
Company Headquarters: Singapore
Number of Listings: over 2 million vacation rentals
Geographical Availability: Worldwide, focus on Asia
Guest Service Fee: None
Pricing: Budget to Luxury, with a lot of properties in the budget and mid-range categories
Book Vacation Rentals Online: Book here

4. Plum Guide

Plum Guide is our pick for luxury vetted city stays, and it’s the most selective website on this list.

Plum Guide is based in London and launched in 2016, initially listing only short-term London flat rentals. It has since expanded to over 30,000 homes across more than 30 countries, with most properties in major cities like London, Paris, Rome, and New York City, plus a growing number in smaller towns and rural areas.

Plum Guide is a bit different from the other peer-to-peer vacation rental websites on this list, as the properties go through a much more selective vetting process. These days that vetting is done by an AI model (trained on the thousands of homes they have already vetted) combined with a review by their in-house home experts, and only a small fraction of the homes they consider (they say around the top 3%) end up listed. When we first reviewed them, they were sending a staff member to evaluate each property in person; the AI plus expert review approach has replaced that as they have grown.

The listings on Plum Guide are really great, with lots of photos of every aspect of the vacation rental interior and a section pointing out the unique features and highlights of each property. A good website for city travelers who have discerning tastes. You can read our in-depth review of Plum Guide for our thoughts and experiences using this platform.

Best For: Luxury and design-led city stays
Company Headquarters: London, England, United Kingdom
Number of Listings: over 30,000
Geographical Availability: 30+ countries, primarily Europe and North America
Guest Service Fee: None stated
Pricing: Mid-range to Luxury
Book Vacation Rentals Online: Book here

5. HomeToGo

HomeToGo is a bit different from everything else on this list, as it’s a vacation rental search engine rather than a booking platform.

HomeToGo, founded in Berlin in 2014, aggregates over 18 million vacation rental offers from more than 1,300 other websites, including Vrbo, Booking.com, and many of the specialist agencies. You enter your destination and dates, and it shows you matching rentals across all of those sites at once so you can compare prices. Depending on the listing, you either book directly on HomeToGo or get passed through to the partner website to complete the booking.

Because of that, the fees depend on where your booking actually happens. Some bookings completed on HomeToGo itself carry a service fee, while others follow the fee rules of the partner site you end up on. We’d suggest treating it as a comparison tool: use it to find the property and the best price, then check what the final booking site is charging before you pay.

One thing to know: HomeToGo also owns Interhome (number 7 on this list), which it acquired in 2025, although Interhome continues to operate as its own separate brand.

Best For: Comparing prices across many rental sites at once
Company Headquarters: Berlin, Germany
Number of Listings: over 18 million offers from 1,300+ websites
Geographical Availability: Worldwide
Guest Service Fee: Depends on the site where you complete the booking
Pricing: Budget to Luxury
Book Vacation Rentals Online: Search here

6. Airbnb

Airbnb is probably the best-known vacation rental website, and it’s the best choice for variety and unique stays.

Airbnb started in 2008 as a small start-up (called Airbed & Breakfast) with a handful of listings, and today it has over 8 million active listings in more than 150,000 cities and towns across 220+ countries and regions. Airbnb offers a wide variety of accommodation options, from a room in someone’s home to apartments to beach villas to castles. Basically, anything that can be rented from a yurt in someone’s yard to a private island can be listed on Airbnb.

Pricing on the platform runs from $10/night homestays to $20,000/night luxury villas, and everything in between. On fees, Airbnb charges a guest service fee that typically works out around 14% of the booking, although it varies by listing and some hosts now absorb the whole fee themselves, in which case you won’t see a separate guest fee at checkout. The overwhelming amount of choice can also be frustrating since there are so many listings for popular destinations, so you’ll want to use the search filters to narrow things down to the types of places that suit your budget.

We first started using Airbnb back in 2012, and overall we’ve had good experiences with it. We’ve stayed in dozens of properties in North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe over the years. Although we have had a few negative experiences, most have been positive. You can read more about our personal experiences and our review of Airbnb here.

Best For: Unique stays, variety, budget options
Company Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Number of Property Listings: over 8 million
Geographical Availability: Worldwide, 220+ countries
Guest Service Fee: ~14% typical, varies by listing
Pricing: Budget to Luxury
Book Vacation Rentals Online: Book here

7. Interhome

Interhome is one of the largest home rental companies in Europe, and it’s our pick if you’re after a Swiss chalet or a European holiday home.

Interhome was founded in 1965 as a vacation rental company offering short-term holiday home rentals in Switzerland. Today, the company has around 40,000 quality-checked vacation rentals across more than 20 countries, most of them in Europe. Since 2025, Interhome has been part of the HomeToGo Group, although it continues to run as its own brand.

All kinds of vacation rentals are listed on Interhome, from budget-friendly studio apartments to luxury villas, and they are rated on a star system from 1 star (simple furnishings) to 5 stars (luxury furnishings). There is no separate guest service fee; the price shown includes Interhome’s cut, although a small booking or admin fee can apply.

The listed properties are owned by local homeowners and then rented via Interhome. Some are managed by the owner and others are fully managed by Interhome, and the company offers 24/7 customer service. They have a particularly large number of vacation rentals in Switzerland since this is where they started. So if you are looking to rent a Swiss chalet, this is a good one to try first.

Best For: European holiday homes, Swiss chalets
Company Headquarters: Zurich, Switzerland
Number of Listings: ~ 40,000
Geographical Availability: 20+ countries, primarily Europe
Guest Service Fee: None (a small booking/admin fee can apply)
Pricing: Budget to Luxury
Book Vacation Rentals Online: Book here

8. Marriott Homes & Villas

Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy is the best vacation rental website for Marriott loyalists, since you can earn and redeem Bonvoy points on your stay.

Marriott is well known for its international hotel brand, with its first hotel opening back in 1957. In 2019, Marriott launched Homes & Villas to offer upscale and luxury vacation home rentals, and it has grown enormously since: the platform now lists around 183,000 properties across roughly 10,000 destinations worldwide.

Homes & Villas specializes in premium and luxury vacation homes, villas, condos, and apartments. Marriott does not own or lease the properties; all properties are professionally managed by local management companies for the owners. Guests get 24/7 support, professional cleaning, and premium linens and amenities.

There is no platform service fee added to your booking, which Marriott positions as a selling point; you pay the nightly rate plus taxes and any property-set cleaning fee. Do read each listing carefully though, as the cleaning fees, house rules, and refund policies differ by property. And if you are a Marriott Bonvoy member, you can earn and redeem points on homes and villas, which makes this a particularly attractive option if you already stay in Marriott hotels.

Best For: Marriott Bonvoy members, premium homes
Company Headquarters: Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Number of Listings: ~183,000
Geographical Availability: Worldwide, ~10,000 destinations
Guest Service Fee: None (no platform service fee)
Pricing: Mid-range to Luxury
Book Vacation Rentals Online: Book here

9. Blueground

Blueground is the website to check if you’re planning to stay a month or more in one city.

Founded in 2014 in Athens, Greece, Blueground specializes in furnished apartments that can be rented for 1 month and longer. The company now has apartments in around 100 cities worldwide, including New York City, Paris, Athens, London, Dubai, and Boston. Blueground leases properties from owners and developers, then furnishes, decorates, and manages the apartments itself, handling all bookings and customer service.

Since the company caters primarily to business travelers and people moving to a new city, the apartments are set up for remote working and everyday living. But Blueground can also be a great option for leisure travelers and digital nomads wanting to stay in a place for a longer amount of time. They also have 6-month and 12-month Blueground Pass options where you can move between Blueground apartments in different cities under one master lease, switching apartments as often as every 30 days.

There is no guest service fee; you pay a monthly rent (a one-time reservation or setup fee may apply). Blueground says its monthly rates work out around 30% to 50% less than the cost of a comparable hotel stay, so if you are planning to spend 4 weeks or more in any city, this is one to check out.

Best For: Monthly and longer stays, remote workers
Company Headquarters: New York City, New York, USA
Number of Listings: apartments in ~100 cities
Geographical Availability: ~100 cities worldwide
Guest Service Fee: None (monthly rent model)
Pricing: Mid-range to Luxury
Book Vacation Rentals Online: Book here

10. Sykes Holiday Cottages

Sykes Holiday Cottages is the best vacation rental website for cottage stays in the UK and Ireland.

Sykes Holiday Cottages was founded by Clive Sykes and his mom in Yorkshire as Cottage Holidays in 1985. At first, they were just renting out holiday homes in the Yorkshire Dales to themselves and their friends. Today, Sykes is the best-known vacation rental company in the UK, with over 20,000 properties across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland.

Sykes offers self-catering properties in small towns, villages, islands, and rural areas throughout the UK and Ireland. They do have a few city properties, but the focus is primarily on holiday homes away from the city, from flats to glamping to country cottages, across all budgets. The price you see is the price; there is no separate guest service fee.

The search interface makes it easy to look for certain property attributes and amenities. For instance, you can easily search for dog-friendly properties, those with open fires, those with a swimming pool, and those next to a beach. We recently booked with Sykes and stayed in a rural cottage in Cornwall for a week and had no issues and a great stay. The listed properties are owned by local homeowners; most are managed by the owners themselves but some are fully managed by Sykes.

Best For: UK and Ireland cottage stays
Company Headquarters: Cheshire, England, UK
Number of Listings: over 20,000
Geographical Availability: UK and Ireland only
Guest Service Fee: None
Pricing: Budget to Luxury
Book Vacation Rentals Online: Book here

11. Oliver’s Travels

Oliver’s Travels is the one to check for character properties in Europe, think chateaux, castles, beach cottages, and country estates.

Oliver’s Travels started in 2003 as a company that allowed travelers to book chateaux in France. It soon expanded to include luxury properties of all types and currently lists over 9,000 properties in more than 20 countries. There is a large concentration of holiday villas in warm coastal locations along the Mediterranean (France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Malta, and Turkey) as well as other warm destinations like Bali, Thailand, Florida, and the Caribbean, plus ski chalets in France and hundreds of properties in the UK and Ireland.

The company notes that each property is carefully reviewed before it is selected and that staff regularly visit the regions and individual properties. There is also a free concierge service (by phone or online) where you can speak to destination experts and get advice on which properties may be the best fit for you. Prices are inclusive; there is no separate guest service fee.

They are definitely one to consider if you are looking for a more unique and more upscale property for your next trip. We find that they have a particularly good selection of properties in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Croatia.

Best For: Character villas, chateaux, and estates in Europe
Company Headquarters: London, England, UK
Number of Listings: over 9,000
Geographical Availability: Over 20 countries, concentrated in southern Europe, Thailand, Bali, and the Caribbean
Guest Service Fee: None
Pricing: Upper Mid-range to Luxury
Book Vacation Rentals Online: Book here

12. Top Villas

Top Villas is the best vacation rental website for luxury villas in Florida and for large groups.

Top Villas started in 2010 as a Florida vacation rental company and has since expanded to over 18,000 luxury vacation homes across more than 150 destinations. The website lists condos, vacation homes, apartments, and resort villas, with prices inclusive (no separate guest service fee).

The company specializes in luxury Florida vacation rentals, so it is a particularly good website for those traveling to Florida, especially the Orlando area where its USA headquarters is based. They also offer concierge services to guests such as car hire, airport transfers, excursion planning, catering, and more.

Top Villas also has a large presence on some of the Caribbean islands, and it continues to expand its listings in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere in the United States. Many of its villas sleep 8, 12, or more, which is why it is one of our first recommendations for multi-family trips and group getaways.

Best For: Florida and Orlando villas, large groups
Company Headquarters: Orlando, Florida, United States
Number of Listings: over 18,000
Geographical Availability: 150+ destinations, primarily USA (Florida) & Caribbean
Guest Service Fee: None
Pricing: Luxury
Book Vacation Rentals Online: Book here

13. Houfy

Houfy is the best vacation rental website for avoiding booking fees altogether.

Houfy (short for “House For You”) is a book-direct marketplace, founded in 2014 and based in Denver, Colorado. Rather than acting as a middleman for payments, Houfy connects you directly with the property owner, and no service fees are added at checkout. The company says guests save up to around 20% compared to booking the same property on a fee-charging platform. Hosts pay no commission either, just a one-time $5.99 verification fee, which is why many owners list here alongside the bigger platforms.

Houfy lists around 98,000 rentals, so the inventory is much smaller than sites like Vrbo or Airbnb. Because of that, we’d treat it as a website to check alongside one of the bigger platforms rather than instead of them. It is particularly useful if you have found a property elsewhere and want to see if the owner also lists it on Houfy at a lower fee-free price, or if you are a repeat visitor who wants to book with an owner directly.

As with any direct booking, read the listing, payment, and cancelation terms carefully, since you are dealing with the owner rather than a platform’s customer service team.

Best For: Fee-free direct bookings with owners
Company Headquarters: Denver, Colorado, United States
Number of Listings: ~98,000
Geographical Availability: Worldwide
Guest Service Fee: None (0% guest fee)
Book Vacation Rentals Online: Book here

Tips for Booking a Vacation Rental Online

Now that you know where you can book vacation rentals online, here are our tips to help you search and book, especially if you are new to booking vacation rentals online.

Decide What You Need Before You Search

• Make a checklist before you start searching for what your must-haves are for the property in terms of amenities, number of bedrooms, location, etc.
• Use the filters in your search results to narrow down the search to properties that fit what you are looking for. For instance, if the property has to be dog-friendly, be located in the city center, offer laundry facilities, or have a swimming pool, you can usually narrow your property search to ones that fit those specific criteria. This can save you a lot of time.

Read the Listing Carefully

• Read property descriptions thoroughly. Make sure you read through all the information provided about the property, what is included, and the property’s guest policies.
• If you are traveling with pets, make sure that the property welcomes them. Many properties do not allow dogs, whereas others may charge an extra cleaning fee or require you to get approval in advance.
• If you are traveling with kids, especially young children, make sure you are booking a family-friendly vacation rental. Some properties, especially resorts and luxury villas, may have age requirements and may not allow young children.
• Make sure you have a way to get to the property. Can you reach it by public transport, taxi, or car? Is there a bus stop within walking distance? If you are planning to drive, is there parking nearby, and is it free?
• Look at all the provided photos and make sure they match up with the property description. Photos are often shot at the most attractive angles and edited to highlight the most photogenic qualities of the rental. If you don’t like the look of the photos, I’d find another property.

Check Reviews, Fees, and Policies Before You Book

• Pay close attention to reviews from prior guests. We recommend only booking properties that have high overall ratings and good reviews. A few negative reviews are to be expected, especially for popular properties, but check what the guests were unhappy about. If you see a lot of complaints about the same issue and that issue is important to you, I’d move on to another property.
• We recommend avoiding properties that have no reviews (on platforms that allow peer reviews) or seem too cheap to believe. Fraudulent and illegal listings are more likely to have no or few reviews and be listed at very attractive prices. We have been in both situations, and in general, we recommend avoiding properties with no reviews.
• Check to see if there are any additional fees that may be charged on top of the booking price, such as pet fees, tourist taxes, resort fees, or cleaning fees that may be charged on arrival or after your stay.
• Check cancelation and refund policies before you book. What happens if you need to cancel or change your booking date? Is there a date you must cancel by to be eligible for a refund?
• Compare prices across vacation rental websites before booking. Many owners list the same property on several websites (we list plenty of options above, and HomeToGo can compare several at once), and the fees can differ between sites for an identical stay. Just be sure to also compare the cancelation policies, as sometimes it is worth paying a little more for a more flexible policy.
• If you have any important questions about the property, ask them before booking. For instance, if you need a later check-in time than the window listed, ask if this is possible BEFORE booking. Never assume policies can be altered after you have agreed to them.
• We always recommend that travelers have travel insurance. If you have travel insurance, check to see if it would cover you if you need to cancel your trip, are unable to travel, or if the company becomes insolvent or bankrupt.

After You Book

• Check to see what you might need to bring with you. Some vacation rentals come fully equipped with linens, toiletries, and basic kitchen goods, whereas others may require you to bring some things, such as towels, bed linens, soap, laundry detergent, a hairdryer, coffee or tea, a travel crib, firewood, or pet bowls. Add anything you need to your packing list.
• Once you make a booking, save the confirmation and other relevant details. For your trip, you’ll want a digital and/or paper copy of your confirmation along with the vacation rental address, the phone number for the owner or local manager, and the check-in and check-out details.

Frequently Asked Questions about Vacation Rental Websites

Here are answers to the questions we get asked most often about booking vacation rentals online.

Which vacation rental website has the lowest fees?

Houfy has the lowest fees, as it charges guests no service fee at all (0%). Most of the agency and hotel-style booking websites on our list, including Booking.com, Agoda, Interhome, Sykes Holiday Cottages, Oliver’s Travels, Top Villas, and Marriott Homes & Villas, also add no separate guest service fee, since their commission is already built into the displayed price.

The websites that do add a guest service fee at checkout are Airbnb (typically around 14%) and Vrbo (typically 8% to 15%). Neither publishes an official rate and the fee varies by booking, so always compare the final checkout total rather than the nightly rate.

Is Vrbo or Airbnb better?

We’d pick Vrbo if you want a whole private home, especially for a family trip or a longer stay, as it focuses exclusively on private self-catering rentals. We’d pick Airbnb if you want more variety, such as a room in someone’s home, an unusual property, or a budget homestay, as it has a much wider range of listing types.

Both charge a variable guest service fee and both have guest reviews, so for a standard whole-home booking we’d compare the same property on each (many owners list on both) and book wherever the total price and cancelation policy are better. Laurence also has a guide to Airbnb alternatives over on our sister site if you want a deeper look at the options.

What is the best vacation rental website for the UK?

For the UK and Ireland, we recommend Sykes Holiday Cottages, which has over 20,000 self-catering properties across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. We’ve booked with Sykes ourselves and stayed in a lovely rural cottage in Cornwall.

Vrbo and Booking.com also have a good UK selection, and Oliver’s Travels is a good option if you are after a more upscale UK property like a country estate or castle stay.

Are vacation rentals cheaper than hotels?

They often are for families, groups, and longer stays, since you get a whole home (and usually a kitchen and laundry) for one nightly rate, and cooking some of your own meals saves money too. For a short solo or couple’s stay, a hotel can work out cheaper once cleaning fees are added.

The key is to compare the total price including all fees and taxes, not the nightly rate. For monthly stays, furnished apartment companies like Blueground say their rates run 30% to 50% less than a comparable hotel stay.

Is it safe to book a vacation rental online?

Yes, booking through an established vacation rental website is generally safe, and we have booked dozens of rentals online over the years without any serious problems. The main things we recommend: book through a well-known platform, keep payments on the platform (never wire money to a stranger), read recent guest reviews, and be cautious of listings with no reviews or prices that seem too cheap to believe.

Also check the cancelation policy before you pay, and save all your booking confirmations. If a listing asks you to pay outside the platform, that is a red flag and we would walk away.

What is the best vacation rental website for large groups?

For large groups, we recommend Top Villas and Oliver’s Travels, which both specialize in bigger luxury properties. Top Villas is especially strong for Florida and Orlando trips, with many villas that sleep 8 to 12 or more, while Oliver’s Travels is our pick for villas, chateaux, and country estates in Europe.

On a tighter budget, Vrbo is also worth checking, as you can filter by number of bedrooms and find whole homes for larger groups at a wide range of price points.

Which Vacation Rental Website Should You Use?

So that is our guide to booking vacation rentals online. If you take one thing away: start with the comparison table above, match the website to your trip type, and always compare the final total (with fees) rather than the nightly rate. Hopefully, you have found a vacation rental website you like and have found the perfect vacation rental for your next trip!

PIN this post on Pinterest so you can find it again to read later:

Do you have a favorite vacation rental website? Have you ever booked a holiday home online? If so, we’d love to hear about your own experiences and any tips you may have for others.

If you have any questions about booking a vacation rental online, just ask in the Comments section below. We have booked dozens of vacation rentals across the world and are happy to try to help. We love hearing from you!