Where Should You List Your Vacation Rental? (Best Sites, Costs, and How Each Platform Works)

If you’ve got your vacation rental fully stocked, furnished, deep-cleaned, and guest-ready, the next big step is getting it in front of travelers.

That leads first-time STR owners to the next biggest question:
“What are the best sites to list my vacation rental on?”

To help you decide what’s best for your property, this guide breaks down the top vacation rental listing sites, how each one works for owners, who each site attracts, and what it costs.

Fast answer: If you don’t want to choose, Evolve lists your home on all major booking sites for you — Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Google Vacation Rentals, Expedia, Hopper Homes, Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy™, and more.

In This Article 
Airbnb
Vrbo
Booking.com
Google Vacation Rentals
Expedia
Hopper
Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy™

Airbnb

Best for: broad reach, younger and tech-savvy travelers

Audience size: estimated 275M+ global users

Airbnb is one of the most recognizable vacation rental platforms. You can list almost any type of accommodation, including private rooms, entire homes, and unique stays.

How Airbnb Works for Owners

• Must meet basic requirements for signup and keep a positive review rating

• Fully DIY setup: you create your listing and manage inquiries, calendars, and reviews

• Standard 24/7 support, with priority support available for Superhosts

• Airbnb frequently updates its tools to streamline the hosting process

It’s a flexible, hands-on platform, but new hosts may feel the learning curve if they want step-by-step business guidance.

Airbnb Fees

• 15.5% commission per confirmed booking via a single host-only service fee

• Airbnb sends detailed payout emails so you know exactly what you take home

Vrbo

Best for: families, longer stays, older travelers, locals

Audience size: 48M+ monthly active users

Vrbo focuses exclusively on entire-home rentals (not shared spaces), making it ideal if you want to cater to families or groups.

How Vrbo Works for Owners

• DIY listing setup similar to Airbnb

• Simple, familiar interface

• Part of Expedia Group, giving you wider visibility across their network

• Supports software integrations for more advanced owner operations

Guests tend to book longer stays here, meaning fewer turnovers and potentially lower cleaning and maintenance costs.

Vrbo Fees

Owners choose between:

• 5% fee per booking, or

• $499 annual subscription

Both options include a 3% payment processing fee on total payment and taxes.

Booking.com

• Best for: massive global reach and hotel-like visibility

• Audience size: 100M+ monthly users (435M+ monthly visits)

Booking.com includes hotels, rentals, flights, and more, attracting high-intent travelers who are ready to book. It has the broadest audience of all the best short-term rental sites.

How Booking.com Works for Owners

• No guest service fees: Prices you set are the prices guests pay

• Automatically confirmed reservations (you can’t review or decline requests)
  • Their optional “Request to Book” feature is an exception, but only for check-in dates more than three days away

• 24/7 support and access to operational tools for calendar management, guest screening, and performance metrics

• Group invoicing, reconciliation, and auto-onboarding for owners with multiple properties

This platform behaves more like a travel marketplace than a community, which some owners appreciate for predictability.

Booking.com Fees

• ~15% commission on confirmed stays in the U.S. (may vary by country)

• Your bank may add its own processing fees

Google Vacation Rentals

Best for: maximum visibility on Google search results

Audience size: virtually anyone searching for stays on Google

Google’s vacation rental feature displays rental listings directly in search results. Combined with their near-monopoly on internet searches, it can dramatically increase your exposure.

How Google Vacation Rentals Works for Owners

You cannot list directly. Google Vacation Rentals isn’t DIY because it isn’t technically a marketplace. You must work with a property manager partnered with Google (like Evolve).

Since Google relies on search algorithms:

• Listings must be highly optimized

• Professional photography is essential

• SEO expertise significantly improves placement

Google Vacation Rentals Fees

• No extra listing fees for owners
  • You only pay your property management company’s standard rates

Expedia

• Best for: exposure to convenience-focused travelers and packaged-trip shoppers

• Audience size: 46M+ active users

Expedia is one of the most well-known travel agencies globally; travelers often book rentals alongside flights and activities.

How Expedia Works for Owners

Owners can’t list directly. You must work through a property management company (like Evolve).

Working with an Expedia subsidiary (like Vrbo) gets you the opportunity to show up on Expedia’s site, but there are specific criteria to be featured.

With the right management partner, your listing may also appear on Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotwire, Hotels.com, and other Expedia Group sites.

Expedia Fees

• Owners pay only their property manager’s standard fee

• Expedia doesn’t take a separate commission from owners

Hopper

Best for: Millennials & Gen Z, mobile-first travelers, packaged-trip shoppers

Audience size: 120M+ app users

Hopper offers flights and rental cars in addition to stays. It markets aggressively on social platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and 70% of its users are Gen Z and Millennials.

How Hopper Works for Owners

• Only accepts entire-home rentals with essential amenities (like a kitchenette and private bathroom)

• Simple and straightforward listing creation and price setting with reliance on an internal algorithm

• Price prediction for automated adjustments to market trends

• Guest-focused, featuring custom pricing for unrestricted cancellations, a “VIP Support” add-on, and a rewards program

Hopper Fees

Hopper has two separate fee structures for owners working with a property management company and those doing it themselves:

• Owners working with a property management company pay a 14% commission on every booking

• DIY owners pay a 3% commission, and their guests pay up to a 12% service fee

Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy™

Best for: premium properties and loyalty-driven travelers

Audience size: 220M+ Marriott Bonvoy™ members

Homes & Villas’ vacation rental collection showcases high-end, hand-selected homes.

How Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy™ Works for Owners

HVMB is only accessible through partnered property management companies.

• Homes must meet Marriott’s five-star service standards, hand-selected based on quality and aesthetic

• Guests earn and redeem loyalty points as a booking incentive

Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy™ Fees

• No direct listing fees

• Costs are covered through your property manager’s rate

Which sites should you list your property on?

Listing on just one platform limits your visibility. More sites mean more exposure, more bookings, and higher revenue.

But managing multiple listings yourself presents many challenges:

• Different fee structures

• Separate calendars

• Multiple inboxes

• Varying polices

• Higher time investment

How Evolve Helps Owners Get Listed Everywhere

Evolve eliminates the need to choose. As part of our services, we:

• Build a fully optimized listing

• Provide professional photography

• Post your home on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Google, Expedia, Hopper Homes, and evolve.com
  • Along with Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy™ and a few others, if your property qualifies

• Constantly adapt your pricing to market trends

• Handle guest communication for you

• Fold all booking site fees into a proven revenue strategy

All while only charging an industry-low management fee of 10% or 15%, depending on your chosen management plan.

If you want simplified, high-performing vacation rental marketing without managing it all yourself, fill out the short form below to see if your home qualifies.