{"id":5473,"date":"2017-05-23T15:13:20","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T22:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tripz.com\/vacation-rental-magazine\/?p=5473"},"modified":"2017-08-31T15:28:48","modified_gmt":"2017-08-31T22:28:48","slug":"vacation-rental-marketplaces-costing-travelers-hundreds-dollars-booking-tripz-com-puts-money-back-travelers-pockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tripz.com\/vacation-rental-magazine\/news\/vacation-rental-marketplaces-costing-travelers-hundreds-dollars-booking-tripz-com-puts-money-back-travelers-pockets\/","title":{"rendered":"Vacation Rental Marketplaces are Costing Travelers Hundreds of Dollars, Booking on Tripz.com Puts That Money Back in Travelers Pockets"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (PRWEB)\u00a0MAY 23, 2017<\/p>\n

The vacation rental industry is huge \u2013 and it\u2019s only getting bigger. In fact, just within the past five years alone, vacation rentals have swelled from 1\/10th of all bookings to a whopping 1\/3rd when compared to hotels.<\/p>\n

And more and more travelers are booking their accommodations online, with many sites to choose from, including Airbnb and HomeAway.<\/p>\n

After all, vacation rentals are a lot more varied and unpredictable than hotels, whether it\u2019s amenities or furnishings, and that means doing a little more research before your book. Being able to do that research online and browse hundreds or even thousands of listings for every city, all from the comfort of a laptop or smartphone, is a major timesaver.<\/p>\n

But there are some major drawbacks.<\/p>\n

1. Service fees on top sites make booking more expensive<\/strong><\/p>\n

These fees start at 5 to 6 percent, respectively, and can go higher than 15%. When assessed to rentals that cost anywhere from $100 to $10,000+ per night, those percentages really add up.<\/p>\n

For the \u201cservice\u201d of using these major marketplaces, travelers are paying hundreds of dollars more than they would by booking direct.<\/p>\n

2. Booking through a third party provides less benefits and more hassles<\/strong><\/p>\n

The truth is, there are a lot of other benefits to booking a rental directly through the owner or property manager. It gives the host and renter a chance to get to know each other, so they\u2019re not renting to or from a total stranger. The homeowner can also share advice or recommendations about the area, both before and after booking, and even offer extra services, like laundry or equipment rentals.<\/p>\n

And perhaps most attractive, they can provide unadvertised deals or discounts that save vacationers money. The catch is,most marketplaces often prevent the two parties from communicating outside of their platform, limiting direct contact as much as possible to prevent what they refer to as leakage. The leakage only prevents them from making their “service fees.”<\/p>\n

3. Many rentals aren\u2019t advertised on the major marketplaces<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are tons of vacation rentals in every city and at every location that don\u2019t advertise through the likes of Airbnb & HomeAway. That\u2019s because many of the best properties simply don\u2019t need to list on these large sites, since they get plenty of bookings as it is.<\/p>\n

Not only that, there are many owners and managers who are leaving major marketplaces in response to their growing fees, which cut into their business and bottom line.<\/p>\n

In short, travelers who only check these sites may miss out on the best properties AND the best prices.<\/p>\n

But Online Marketplaces Are Still Useful<\/p>\n

Of course, these drawbacks, while big, aren\u2019t a reason to abandon online vacation rental sites entirely. They still have a lot of good properties to choose from, and they\u2019re so easy to use that it can help kickstart your search.<\/p>\n

The secret is to use these sites for research, then do the actual booking directly through the property manager.<\/p>\n

While marketplaces often make it difficult to get direct contact information through the site, there are a few tricks that can help track down that info elsewhere.<\/p>\n