Spunky Vrbo Is Outpacing Airbnb in Listings Growth

Skift Take

Vrbo indeed seems to be stealing a bit of market share from Airbnb in the U.S. in recent months, albeit from a much smaller base. Vrbo's aggressive marketing campaign earlier this year appears to be paying off.

Dennis' Online Travel Briefing

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, Executive Editor and online travel rockstar Dennis Schaal will bring readers exclusive reporting and insight into the business of online travel and digital booking, and how this sector has an impact across the travel industry.

Learn More

Online Travel This Week There's something happening here — In the arms race for stockpiling listings and presumably new hosts in a hot short-term rental market in parts of the world, the much smaller Vrbo is adding vacation rental listings in 2021 much faster than market leader Airbnb. Expedia's Vrbo, which focuses on whole homes, saw its total listings increase 21.1 percent to 1.93 million in April compared to January 2021, according to new statistics from AirDNA. When it came to active listings, or those with at least one booking, Vrbo saw a 9.9 percent jump to 1.02 million. You can quibble with AirDNA's numbers, but they show a clear trend. Officially, Vrbo.com states it offers "2+ million whole homes," as does its most recent financial filing.

Join Us at the Skift Short-Term Rental and Outdoor Summit on May 19

On the other hand, during the same period, from January to April 2021, Airbnb's total listings increased just 1.13 percent to 7.13 million while its active listings nudge

Spunky Vrbo Is Outpacing Airbnb in Listings Growth

Skift Take

Dennis' Online Travel Briefing

Get unlimited access with Skift Pro.

BILLED ANNUALLY

BILLED QUARTERLY