We’ve put together a list of some of the best vacation rental websites where you can book your dream holiday home, cabin, apartment, cottage, or villa. If you are looking for a self-catering stay for your next trip, we have you covered.
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.
Vacation rentals come in all kinds of forms and can work for almost any budget and travel style, from budget backpackers looking for a bargain to family travelers looking for a good value stay to luxury travelers looking for 5-star amenities. Vacation rentals can include city apartments, yurts, Airstream trailers, country cottages, houseboats, resort villas, and even private islands and castles!
The Internet has made it easier than ever to book a vacation rental, and there are thousands of vacation rental companies competing for your business. Just know that vacation rental companies are not all the same and there are differences in how each operates. Some are peer-to-peer rentals like Airbnb, Vrbo, and The Plum Guide, whereas others offer a portfolio of carefully curated and fully managed properties like Sonder and Turnkey.
Some vacation rental companies offer accommodation for any budget, whereas others focus on the luxury market like Top Villas and Oliver’s Travels. Some are focused on a specific geographical region whereas others offer vacation rentals worldwide, and some focus on city travelers whereas others focus on country retreats. Knowing this can help you find the best vacation rental websites for you and your trip.
We regularly book vacation rentals when we travel and have booked properties around the world using lots of different websites. We particularly like to stay at a vacation rental over a hotel when spending a week or more in the same place.
To help you find your perfect holiday home or apartment for your next trip, we list the largest, best-reviewed, and most popular vacation rental websites out there. We give you details of each vacation rental company and then we give you tips on booking vacation homes online.
Contents:
11 Best Vacation Rental Websites
Ready to book a vacation rental for your next travel adventure? Here is a list of some of the best vacation rental websites:
1. Airbnb
Airbnb started in 2008 as a small start-up (called Airbed & Breakfast) with a handful of listings, and is today probably the best known of the vacation rental websites. It currently has over 7 million listings in over 100,000 cities in over 220 countries!
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 in Airbnb. The platform has also more recently begun listing more traditional lodging options like B&Bs, hostels, and hotel rooms.
Pricing on the platform runs from $10/night homestays to $20,000/night luxury villas, and everything in between. This makes Airbnb a great vacation rental website for travelers of all types, from budget backpackers to mid-range value seekers to luxury travelers.
The overwhelming amount of choice on Airbnb can also be frustrating since there are so many listings for popular destinations. You’ll want to be sure to use the Search Filter to narrow down your search to the types of places you want and that suit your budget.
For those who want to ensure a certain standard of quality, you can search the verified Airbnb Plus listings and its more luxurious properties within its verified Airbnb Luxe offerings.
Airbnb also has Airbnb Experiences which offers tours and activities by local hosts all over the world. So in addition to booking your stay in a city, you can also book local activities as well.
We first started using Airbnb back in 2012, and overall we’ve had good experiences with Airbnb. We’ve stayed in dozens of properties in North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe over the years. Although we have had a couple of negative experiences, most have been very positive. You can read more about our personal experiences and our review of Airbnb here.
Company Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Number of Property Listings: over 7 million
Geographical Availability: Worldwide, 220+ countries
Pricing: Budget to Luxury
Book Vacation Rentals Online: Book here
John Corley Post author
We still want to take a two week vacation to Scotland and do all we can . We will rent a car. We did this in Ireland and it was great. Is scotland open to US A now? Also what is weather in winter? Would also lke to go on several Train trips? Would like trains with sleeping berths and dining cars/ Can you please ehlp. You guys are super.
Barbara and John Corley Athens Texas USA
Jessica & Laurence Norah Post author
Hi John & Barbara,
Currently, you would be subject to a 14 day quarantine both by the UK and USA, so not an ideal time to travel between the two countries. We also have increasing rates of COVID-19 in the UK and local lockdowns and additional restrictions are becoming increasingly common throughout the UK and Ireland. So I would recommend waiting until Spring 2021 if you can to visit. Also many things close down seasonally starting in October in Scotland (particularly in the Highlands and Islands) so that is something to consider as well if you want to travel off-season.
For visiting in winter, you can see this guide to visiting Scotland in winter for lots of winter tips. Winter is often cool and wet, so you would want to be prepared with appropriate clothes and shoes.
It is easy to take trains between the main cities and larger towns in Scotland. However, most trains don’t have dining cars or sleeping berths, or offer overnight accommodation. The main regular overnight train in the UK is the Caledonian Sleeper (which was recently upgraded) and we’ve taken it a number of times, but for a long journey you would probably want a London to Scotland trip as otherwise the journeys are short ones. There is also the Belmond Royal Scotsman train in Scotland which offers luxury overnight accommodation but it is not a regular train (more for booking multi-day guided train trips), and in England you have the British Pullman. Although not an overnight train, the Jacobite Steam Train may be of interest, one of many Harry Potter filming locations in Scotland and a very scenic route (part of West Highland line).
I think if you are looking for overnight train travel as a main part of your trip, you will find many more options in continental Europe than the UK. But you can still get around Scotland by train to many destinations but they are mainly just normal trains.
Hope that helps and let me know if you have further questions as you plan your trip to Scotland!
Jessica
pooja Saxena Post author
i personally like AIRBNB .. the best part is their application is very fast and has a nice user interface.. After reading this list I am interested in Agoda and will definitely try this.. Thanks for this list..
Jessica & Laurence Norah Post author
Hi Pooja, Glad you enjoyed our list. Yes, Airbnb is a great place to start your search for vacation rentals, especially since it covers almost every country. However, for some specific countries or regions, you may find more options and availability on some of the other vacation rental websites. Agoda Homes is particularly a good website to use for bookings in Asia, although it has properties worldwide. Best, Jessica
Seana Turner Post author
I think a lot of people are considering a vacation rental as an option this year, as traditional hotels have closed many of their amenities. This is so thorough and helpful. We tried our first VRBO last winter, and it actually worked out quite well! I think this will continue to be a desirable alternative, especially for families who like the convenience of being able to prepare some meals at “home.”
Jessica & Laurence Norah Post author
Hi Seana,
Glad you had a good first experience with VRBO last year!
Yes, I think a lot of new people are going to trying vacation rentals for the first time this year who are wanting to avoid hotels, hostels, and B&Bs for now where it can be harder to socially distance. I didn’t think about the amenities also being closed but yes, I think a lot have closed down swimming pools, spas, buffets, shared kitchen areas, fitness centers, and other communal spaces because of social distancing guidelines.
We actually just booked to stay in a holiday home this weekend. It will be our first time staying away from our home since early February. We felt better booking a rural vacation home as it does give us the ability to keep a distance from others, cook our own meals when we want, have some private outdoor space, and do our own laundry. We’re hoping to be able to then do some hiking and sightseeing around the area, but are not really interested in going to places where we have to be amongst crowds of other people right now.
Best,
Jessica
Phil Post author
Great list of vacation home website – I had only heard of a few of these before. My wife and I have been using VRBO for probably 15 years now and can definitely recommend that website. We have mostly used them in France, Spain, and Canada for 1 week or more stays at a time for either travel or visiting our children and grandchildren. Back in the day, it was harder as deposits often needed to be physically mailed so easier these days with online payments and such. We only book homes with good reviews and lots of photos, so definitely agree with these recommendations. Sometimes are a bit off, but we’ve never had a really bad experience. May decide to try Airbnb or The Plum Guide in the future – thanks for these recommendations.
– Phil Cahill & family
Jessica & Laurence Norah Post author
Hi Phil,
Glad you enjoyed the article and found a couple of new vacation rental websites you might try in the future. Yes, Vrbo was the first one I used as well for a trip to France. Had a wonderful 1 week stay in Paris in a central apartment and love it 😉 And yes, even back in the early and mid 2000’s we had to send a check to France to secure deposits for holiday homes – now I think most have electronic options 😉
Yes, we agree. Good prior reviews and lots of photos are definitely two good tips for those searching for a vacation rental online! Without those, we’d recommend that users be very wary and consider other properties instead.
Airbnb definitely has more properties than Vrbo, but also a wider range in quality. As a first-time user, we often recommend starting with Airbnb Plus listings as these are the properties that have more reviews and have been verified by Airbnb.
Best,
Jessica