Ten booking trends that defined the vacation rental marketplace in 2012

Travelers' primary requirements when booking a rental home are the basics. They want a television, microwave, DVD player, and, more often than not, are booking traditional houses over condos and villas.

Flipkey looked at the booking and destination trends from 2012 to create a roadmap for where it predicts the vacation rental business to head in 2013. Flipkey is owned by TripAdvisor, but still plays second fiddle to Homeaway and its subsidiary VRBO.

Renters were more concerned with dishwashers and full-size refrigerators than Wi-Fi in 2012. Internet access didn’t make the list of top five amenities needed last year, but Flipkey expects its importance to rise in the coming year with more employees connecting with work, even while on vacation.

New York City is Flipkey’s strongest marketplace. It’s both the most requested destination and where the most users are looking to leave. And like its competitor Airbnb, it has issues with facilitating illegal rentals.

The other most-requested destination are Paris, Rome, Key West, and Orlando. In addition to Manhattan, the most inquiries are came out of Los Angeles, Chicago, London and Toronto.

Bookers planning vacations just for two tend to book in major cities, while groups of ten or more turn to large vacation homes located in remote locations. This often means mountain homes in Gatlinburg or Seviervile, Tennessee or South Lake Tahoe, California.