Airbnb vs. Vrbo: Pitting the Largest Short-Term Rental Platforms Against Each Other

In the world of short-term rentals, there are many ways people can book a stay. Offline bookings continue to make up a significant chunk of the market, albeit a declining one, and there are many niche online booking platforms, as highlighted in our Skift Short-Term Rental 250 map.

But the vast majority of bookings today come through three platforms: Airbnb, the market leader; Expedia Group’s Vrbo; and Booking Holdings’ Booking.com, which has a different strategy in terms of the types of properties it sells, property managers it works with, and its geographical focus. 

In a new report by Skift Research, we focus on the two largest short-term rental online travel agencies in North America: Airbnb and Vrbo, and where data is available, we also add Booking.com to the mix. We investigate the types of listings on each platform, the value and returns on these listings, booking behavior and business dynamics that set these different platforms apart. 

What You’ll Learn In This Report

• Skift Research estimates of gross bookings and revenues for the three largest short-term rental OTAs.
• Estimates of the global market size of short-term rentals.
• Airbnb and Vrbo’s geographic mix, property types, destination mix, and ownership.
• Similarly, comparisons of metrics like bookings, market share by region, length of stay, and booking windows.

This is the latest in a series of reports and data products that Skift Research puts out to help you analyze the biggest trends in the travel industry. Tap into the opinions and insights of our seasoned network of staffers and contributors. More than 200 hours of desk research, data collection, and/or analysis goes into each report.

By subscribing to Skift Research, you will gain access to our entire vault of reports conducted on topics ranging from technology to marketing strategy to deep dives on key travel brands. You will also be able to access our proprietary Skift Travel Health Index, Skift Travel Company Tracker, Hotel Tech Benchmark, and data from our regular traveler surveys.

Short-Term Rental OTAs: Airbnb vs Vrbo in 20 Charts

We attempt to tell you everything you’d want to know about the Airbnb – Vrbo rivalry in 20 charts… Sadly we failed, and give you 23 charts instead. As a bonus we sprinkle in some Booking.com analysis too, data permitting.

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