Beginner’s Guide to Hosting on Vrbo

Vrbo is a short-term rental platform that connects property owners with guests. The company got its start in the mid-1990s—well before the big boom of vacation rentals driven by Airbnb in the 2010s. It all started when one vacation home owner wanted to list his property online. He chose the name “Vrbo,” which stands for “vacation rentals by owner.”

The platform grew significantly when it was acquired by HomeAway in 2006 and then later by Expedia Group in 2015. Today, the platform has achieved lasting success and remains Airbnb’s biggest competitor, with more than 2 million vacation rental listings available to travelers all around the globe.

Hosting on Vrbo comes with a range of benefits. All you have to do is craft a property profile, and Vrbo will help you manage all your bookings while connecting you to its mammoth international audience of travelers.

Before taking a deep dive into the specifics of how to start a Vrbo side hustle, you should understand Vrbo’s features, requirements, and restrictions for hosts.

How much does it cost to list your property on Vrbo?

Vrbo isn’t free. However, you have two options for how to pay for your Vrbo listing. Here’s a breakdown of these Vrbo fees for hosts:

• Annual subscription: The annual subscription is a $499 flat fee that covers all service fees. It is the only fee Vrbo will charge you for the entire year, unless you purchase extra services from the platform.
• Pay-per-booking fees: Pay-per-booking fees total 8% per booking, consisting of a 5% commission fee and a 3% payment processing fee.

If a booking originates from one of Vrbo’s expanded distribution partners, pay-per-booking fees may be higher. Additionally, no payment processing fees are charged in Australia, New Zealand, or Japan.

Vrbo host requirements

You must be at least 18 years old in order to become a host on Vrbo, and you need to be a property owner or manager. As long as you meet these basic requirements, you can submit a host profile for approval. Vrbo claims to sometimes perform background screening on hosts, but it’s unclear how often they do this.

Even if you meet all of Vrbo’s requirements, you will still want to check your local government regulations related to short-term rentals. You may be required to get a short-term rental license from your state or local government.

You’ll also be required to report your Vrbo income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and you may need to pay short-term rental occupancy tax. What’s more, some local governments have imposed restrictions on short-term property rentals or banned them altogether. These are factors to bear in mind regardless of where you list your property.

Property requirements

Vrbo allows listings for all types of properties, and they operate in 190 countries worldwide. Their only requirement is that you must rent out the entire property. In other words, shared spaces are not allowed.

This means you can’t use Vrbo to rent out just one room in your house while you continue living there. But other than that, Vrbo doesn’t specify any other property requirements.

Vrbo owner cancellation policy

Vrbo hosts get to choose their own cancellation policy from a list of options. Here’s a summary of the available Vrbo cancellation policies:

• Relaxed: 100% refund for cancellations 14 days or more before check-in and a 50% refund for those within 7–14 days before check-in.
• Moderate: 100% refund 30 days before check-in and 50% refund 14–30 days before check-in.
• Firm: 100% refund 60 days before check-in and 50% refund 30–60 days before check-in.
• Strict: 100% refund 60 days before check-in and no refund after 60 days.
• No refund: No refund provided.

On your end, Vrbo may penalize you if you cancel a certain number of bookings after they’ve already been confirmed.

Guest and host reviews

Vrbo uses a two-way review system. As a Vrbo owner, you can rate guests who book your property and leave them a review evaluating their cleanliness, communication, and adherence to your house rules. Guests also have the option to leave you a rating and review after their stay. Neither of you will be able to see the other’s ratings until you’ve both submitted your reviews.

Vrbo host support

Vrbo offers 24/7 user support for hosts through online chat, email, and phone. You also have the option to report guests who behave inappropriately.

Additionally, Vrbo offers natural disaster support. In the event that a natural disaster affects a booking, their customer support team will help you manage your listing and calendar and rebook affected travelers.

Property damage and liability insurance

As a Vrbo host, you’ll get complimentary liability protection up to $1,000,000 for all stays that are processed online through the Vrbo website. You can also pay extra for property damage protection.

Property damage insurance plans offer up to $5,000 in coverage for accidental damage to your home. This will cover accidents like broken fixtures, stained bedding, and lost or stolen keys.

Confident your property is a good fit for Vrbo? If so, here are the steps you need to take to list on Vrbo.

1. Create an account

To create your account, go to the Vrbo website homepage and click “List your property.” You’ll then be prompted to provide details about your property, including the number of bathrooms and bedrooms.

You’ll then need to provide your address. The final step to creating a Vrbo account is to provide personal information like your name, phone number, and email address.

2. List your rental

Vrbo will guide you on how to create a listing. The process includes a review of your property’s earning potential. Next, you’ll upload details like a property description, photos, security information, payment information, and listing pricing information.

After you’ve uploaded all of the required information, Vrbo will review your listing to ensure you’ve followed the Vrbo listing guidelines before it goes live. They’ll confirm that you’re accurately portraying your property and location and that you’re not using information that you copied from another listing.

Finally, Vrbo will send you a notification once they’ve approved and published your listing.

3. Set your prices and availability

You have the freedom to set your own prices on Vrbo. To help you stay competitive, Vrbo’s MarketMaker tool will provide pricing suggestions based on market data, historical booking patterns, and your property’s features.

In addition to setting your rates for nightly stays, you can also add on any extra fees for guests, such as fees for pets, cleaning, late check-ins, additional guests, and so on.

You’ll also be able to set your property’s availability at this point. You can make the property available whenever you like, as often as you like, with no minimum availability period required.

4. Get booking requests

Once your Vrbo listing is all set up, all you have to do is wait for the booking requests to come in. You’ll receive property reservation requests in your Vrbo inbox, and Vrbo will send you an email notification.

When a guest submits a booking request, Vrbo automatically blocks off the requested dates on your availability calendar. You must respond to the request within 24 hours. If you don’t respond, Vrbo will automatically reject the request.

Where to download the Vrbo Owner app

App Store Google Play

There’s limited information available on recent earnings among Vrbo hosts. What we can say, however, is that according to a report by AirDNA, short-term rental property owners in the US earned an average annual revenue of over $26,000 from their vacation rentals in 2023.

That same report showed that hosts earn an average rate of over $300 per night, depending on the size of the property. One-bedroom properties earned $182 per night on average, whereas three-bedroom properties earned $337 per night.

These data don’t reflect the earnings of Vrbo hosts in particular, but they can serve as an indication of the earnings you could potentially achieve. Nevertheless, you could earn much more or less than this amount.

Factors influencing your earning potential from hosting on Vrbo

Nightly rates on Vrbo vary widely, and there are plenty of good reasons for that. All of the factors below can impact your revenue as a Vrbo host:

• Whether or not you own the home outright or are still paying a mortgage
• How much you pay in taxes on the home
• Whether you’ve opted to pay Vrbo’s annual or per-booking fee
• Your property’s features and amenities
• Your property’s location and the local demand for short-term accommodation
• Travel trends and disruptions
• Local taxes and fees for short-term rentals
• Costs related to property maintenance and repairs

When you look at insights from real property owners, the earning potential varies vastly, from a few thousand dollars per year, after all costs, to tens of thousands of dollars per year on a single property.

One thing that can definitely impact your earnings on Vrbo is whether or not you’re a good host. Poor reviews can tank your listing and leave you with fewer bookings than you might get otherwise. Here are some hosting tips from Vrbo owners that will help you get the best reviews possible by providing your guests with an enjoyable stay.

Make sure the property is primed for guests

Your property should be stocked with basic amenities so that guests don’t need to worry about bringing essential items along with them.

Here are a few items that hosts say they often stock in their rentals:

• Towels
• Toilet paper
• Toiletries
• Cleaning supplies
• First aid kits
• Emergency supplies

Furthermore, kitchens should be outfitted with a few sets of dishware and basic cookware. As a courtesy to your guests, you could also include basic pantry items, like coffee, tea, salt, pepper, and spices. Some hosts recommend stocking up on these items in bulk to save on costs.

Hire a good cleaner

While some Vrbo owners cut down on costs by cleaning their property themselves after each stay, this isn’t always feasible. It’s also a gamble to do the cleaning yourself since guests often expect hotel-level cleanliness and small oversights can have major consequences on their impression of your place.

In many cases, it’s worth finding a good cleaner who specializes in short-term rental cleaning. Find a cleaner with great reviews who’s capable of thoroughly cleaning your rental, including nooks and crannies. You can offset cleaning costs somewhat by adding a cleaning fee to your rental price, but be careful—overly high cleaning fees could deter some guests.

Take high-quality photos

Your photos market your property. Many prospective guests won’t even look past your photos if they’re unappealing. The most successful Vrbo hosts have photos that stop potential guests in their tracks and successfully entice them to book a stay.

Ultimately, it’s well worth hiring a photographer to take your photos for you. But regardless of who takes your photos, make sure you follow Vrbo’s basic photo guidelines for high-quality photos. You should only use high-resolution photos with appropriate lighting that show off the best aspects of your property.

Set clear property rules for guests

Property rules keep your guests and your property safe. They also ensure guests aren’t breaking community rules that could get them and you in trouble. While not always fun, they’re for everyone’s benefit. Vrbo requires that you include at least six house rules on your listing, and they give you the option to add up to three custom rules.

The required rules dictate the following booking details:

• Number of guests allowed at the property
• Age requirements for the primary renter
• Whether or not events are allowed at the property
• If guests can bring a pet and if so, what kind
• Whether or not guests may bring children
• If guests can smoke on the property

If your rental is in Australia or New Zealand, age restrictions are not allowed.

Consider hiring a property manager

If you don’t live near your property, or just don’t want to bother managing it, you can hire a property management service to oversee the rental on your behalf. This can make Vrbo hosting easier and simpler for you, although you’ll need to pay the property manager or give them a percentage of your booking revenue.

A property manager can perform in-person tasks like meeting guests during check-in and check-out, handling cleaning arrangements, and fielding questions from guests. They ensure guests are taken care of, professionally, so that’s one less thing for you to worry about.

Make sure your guests leave happy

Lastly, and most importantly, make sure your guests leave happy. All it takes is a small gesture like checking in at the end of their stay to see how their stay went and if they need anything else. When guests are happy, they’re more likely to leave you a positive review on Vrbo.

Hosting travelers on Vrbo isn’t for everyone, but if you own a property that sits empty for portions of the year, then you could be missing out on thousands of dollars in earnings each year by not renting out your property.

Even if you’re not interested in the extra income, you might simply want to host in order to cover the costs of property ownership, such as property taxes and mortgage bills. You could even purchase a property you don’t intend to use right now and rent it out on Vrbo until you need it later down the line.

That said, jumping into hosting on Vrbo isn’t a decision to take lightly. It’s a lot of work, and if you outsource work to a property manager or cleaning service, you may find the costs significantly eating into your profits.

Additionally, hosting travelers comes with certain risks. While short-term rental insurance can keep you protected, it’s still a hassle to deal with damage, no matter how minor, caused by travelers.

Pros and cons

Hosts report a lot of the same advantages and disadvantages of Vrbo hosting. Here’s a quick summary to help you decide whether hosting on Vrbo is worth it for you.

Alternatives to Vrbo

Short-term rental businesses are booming right now. While that does mean greater competition, it also means there are many alternatives to Vrbo if you want to use another platform.

Here are other sites like Vrbo:

• Airbnb: Airbnb is the world’s most popular short-term rental platform. Unlike Vrbo, Airbnb allows you to rent out shared spaces, which may be desirable if you just want to rent out a room in your house. Some users also report that Airbnb has fewer scammers than Vrbo.
• Booking.com: Booking.com lists both hotels and short-term rentals, so it’s a good place to reach travelers who aren’t sure yet which option they’d prefer. However, the risks are much higher on Booking.com since you can’t review guests or make the final decision on whether to host them. Hosts also complain that Booking.com’s customer service leaves a lot to be desired.
• FlipKey: Owned by TripAdvisor, FlipKey may not be as well known as Vrbo, but the platform’s per-booking fees are much cheaper, at just 3% rather than Vrbo’s 8%.

Many property owners and managers choose to list on multiple platforms to broaden their reach and get more business. Some guests exclusively use one rental platform or have a favorite they use time and time again.