Answers · Getting found by travellers
Where can I list my holiday rental besides Airbnb?
Short answer
The main places are Booking.com and Vrbo, Google through a Business Profile, regional and specialist sites, your own booking page, and marketplaces for places that book direct. Airflow Stay is one of the last kind: it is launching soon, listing is free, and it will show your place on a map and as a stop on published trip routes, with the guest's enquiry and details coming straight to you. Whichever you add, keep one calendar behind them all so the same night is not sold twice.
More listings, more ways to double-book
Every extra place you list is another calendar, another inbox and another fee structure. Hosts often stop at one platform because the second one doubled the admin and produced a double booking in the first month.
So the useful question has two halves: where is worth listing, and what keeps several listings in step. The second half is what makes the first one practical.
How to do it with Airflow
- 1
Choose one or two additions, not five
Pick the channel whose travellers suit your place: Booking.com for short stays and international guests, Vrbo for families and whole homes, a specialist site for a niche.
- 2
Set up Airflow as the calendar behind them
Add your listing, exchange calendar links with each platform, and route their confirmation emails to Airflow. Each booking, wherever it comes from, lands in one calendar and one bookings list.
- 3
Add the listings that cost nothing
Publish your Airflow booking page and switch on your Airflow Stay listing. Both read from the property record you have already entered, so there is no second set-up.
- 4
Compare what each one brings
Every booking is labelled with its source, so after a season you can see which channel earned what, after its fees, and drop the ones that did not pay their way.
What each option is good for
A plain comparison for a host with one to a few properties.
| Booking.com | Large international reach, short stays. Commission billed to you. |
|---|---|
| Vrbo | Whole homes, families, longer stays. Strongest in North America and parts of Europe. |
| Google Business Profile | Free. Puts you on the map and collects reviews you keep. |
| Regional or specialist sites | Smaller audience, better matched. Often a flat annual fee. |
| Your own booking page | Returning guests and anyone you send a link to. Lowest cost per booking. |
| Airflow Stay (launching soon) | Places that book direct, on a map and in trip routes. Free to list; the guest stays yours. |
Fees on each platform change; check the current terms in your own account before deciding.
How Airflow Stay differs from a booking platform
On most platforms the platform takes the payment, owns the guest relationship and ranks you in a list. On Airflow Stay the enquiry reaches you, the guest pays you, and you get their name and email. Stay will also show places inside trip ideas, routes through a region with a stop for each night, so a traveller planning a journey meets your place as part of it. Your rates, minimum stay, cancellation policy and house rules are the ones you publish.
Listing now, before launch
Stay has not opened to travellers yet. Trip ideas are already published and places are being invited. Listing takes a switch on a property that is already in Airflow, costs nothing, and means your place is there on the first day. If Airflow is not useful to you for anything else, it is reasonable to wait and list when Stay is bigger.
Other ways to do this
Airflow is one option. These are the others, and when each is the better choice.
- Stay on Airbnb alone
- Simplest to run. Sensible for a first season, or if Airbnb already fills your calendar at a price you are happy with.
- A channel manager
- If you want to be on five or more platforms with rates kept in step, a channel manager with API connections is the right tool for that.
- A local letting agent
- An agent markets and manages the property for a share of the income. Less work and less control.
What Airflow does not do
- Airflow does not create or manage your listings on Booking.com, Vrbo or Google.
- Airflow Stay has not launched to travellers yet, so it is not a source of bookings today.
- Calendar links carry dates, not prices; rates on each platform are set in that platform.
Common questions
What are the best alternatives to Airbnb for hosts?
Booking.com and Vrbo for reach, a Google Business Profile for search and maps, regional or specialist sites for well-matched guests, your own booking page for returning guests, and Airflow Stay, launching soon, for places that book direct.
Can I list on Airbnb and other sites at the same time?
Yes. Keep one calendar behind them. In Airflow, calendar links block the dates both ways and each platform's bookings arrive from its confirmation emails.
Is there a free place to list a holiday rental?
A Google Business Profile is free. Listing on Airflow Stay is free too, with commission only on bookings that come from it; Stay is launching soon and hosts can list now.
Does listing on more sites mean more double bookings?
Only without a shared calendar. With calendar links in both directions and dates held during checkout, a night sold in one place is blocked in the others.
What does Airflow charge on bookings from other platforms?
Nothing. Bookings that reach you through Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo or any other channel never carry an Airflow commission.
When does Airflow Stay launch?
Soon; no date has been published. Trip ideas are live now and places are being invited. A place listed now is included from launch.
Try it on your own bookings
Forward a few booking emails and look at what Airflow builds from them. A card is needed at sign-up.
Start with Airflow See plans and pricing