For years, Airbnb has set the gold standard for short-term rental platforms. The platform continuously refines its interface, policies, and host protections to adapt to the evolving travel industry. In contrast, Vrbo, despite being Airbnb’s largest competitor, has consistently lagged behind in both usability and host support. The platform’s shortcomings aren’t just incidental—they stem from its ownership under Expedia Group, a corporation with a broad, unfocused approach to online travel services. This article breaks down why Vrbo is failing hosts. It also explains how to potentially still use Vrbo as a short-term rental platform!
Vrbo’s Connection to Expedia: A Major Weakness
At its core, Vrbo suffers from the same weaknesses that plague its parent company, Expedia Group. Unlike Airbnb, which is singularly focused on short-term rentals, Expedia juggles dozens of brands, including Hotels.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, and Trivago. This means Vrbo is just one of many products under Expedia’s umbrella. Consequently, it never receives the full attention, resources, or innovation it desperately needs to compete.
The consequences? While Airbnb has refined its platform with host protection programs, user-friendly interfaces, and cutting-edge features like dynamic pricing tools, Vrbo often feels neglected. Simple bugs on the site can go unfixed for months. Hosts are left dealing with a platform that lacks basic functionality, making listing management far more frustrating than it should be.
Expedia’s focus has always been on traditional hotel bookings, not short-term rentals. It’s not surprising that Vrbo operates more like a clunky afterthought than a competitive alternative to Airbnb. Rather than prioritizing innovation, Expedia relies on its brand name to keep Vrbo afloat. However, brand recognition alone won’t fix a fundamentally flawed product.
A poorly designed Interface with Persistent Bugs
One of the most glaring issues with Vrbo is its outdated and often bug-ridden interface. Hosts frequently report issues such as:
- Calendar synchronization failures, leading to accidental double bookings.
- Messaging system glitches, preventing timely responses to guests.
- Clunky navigation, making simple tasks like adjusting pricing or updating photos a chore.
- Frequent payment delays, causing cash flow issues for hosts.
- App crashes, causing overall difficulty to use the booking platform.
For a company that has existed since 1995 (Expedia), it is unfathomable that these issues persist for months or even years. The most frustrating part? Airbnb solved these problems a decade ago.
Vrbo Lacks Key Features that matter to hosts
Despite existing in the short-term rental space for decades, Vrbo is still missing basic features that Airbnb hosts have come to rely on. Here are just a few:
- No written guest review system: Airbnb’s two-way review system allows hosts to flag problematic guests through detailed, written reviews. Vrbo, on the other hand, offers no way for hosts to leave written feedback about guests. This increases the risk of bad bookings.
- Limited instant booking control: Airbnb allows hosts to customize instant booking requirements, while Vrbo’s options are far more limited.
- Weak cancellation protections for hosts: Airbnb has clear host-friendly cancellation policies. Vrbo’s policies are more rigid and often leave hosts at a disadvantage.
The irony here is hard to ignore—Vrbo copied Airbnb’s model but failed to copy the best features.
Poor Customer Support and Host Protection
Customer support is another area where Vrbo falls flat. Host protection policies are weak. In the case of damages, Vrbo offers little recourse beyond telling hosts to file a claim with their own insurance. Compare this to Airbnb’s AirCover, which provides hosts with $3 million in damage protection. The difference is night and day.
When hosts do encounter problems, Vrbo’s support team is notoriously slow and ineffective. Many hosts report waiting days or weeks for a response to urgent issues. Often, the responses are generic and unhelpful. In a competitive rental market, where guest satisfaction is paramount, this kind of support failure is unacceptable.
The only Reason to use vrbo: Higher Paying guests
Despite all of these flaws, some hosts have found a way to make Vrbo work for them—but not in the way Expedia likely intended. Especially in urban markets, hosts can often price their Vrbo listings 10–30% higher than on Airbnb. They treat Vrbo bookings as an occasional high-paying bonus rather than a primary source of income.
This pricing strategy works because Vrbo’s core audience consists of less travel-savvy guests who don’t comparison shop as much as Airbnb users do. Vrbo also markets itself toward an older, more traditional demographic that is used to paying higher prices for vacation rentals. This strategy allows hosts to extract more revenue when bookings do come through. At the same time, they rely on Airbnb for consistent occupancy.
Vrbo Creates a greater need for Short-term Rental management services
For independent hosts, Vrbo’s clunky platform, lack of automation, and poor customer support can quickly become overwhelming—especially when juggling multiple listings. Managing guest communication, pricing adjustments, and platform-specific quirks takes time away from actually running a successful rental business. That’s where a dedicated short-term rental management company like MGH can make a real difference. With our hands-on approach and experience, we navigate Vrbo’s complexities, optimize listings for maximum visibility, and handle guest interactions seamlessly. Instead of dealing with frustrating tech issues and inconsistent policies, hosts can focus on what matters—growing their investment.
To inquire about MGH short-term rental management service, fill out this form here.
Vrbo is Not built for the future of short-term Rentals
At the end of the day, Vrbo’s problems are systemic—they aren’t just the result of slow updates or occasional neglect. The platform is owned by a company that doesn’t prioritize short-term rentals. This lack of prioritization shows in nearly every aspect of Vrbo’s operation. Expedia’s broad focus means Vrbo will always be playing catch-up. Meanwhile, Airbnb continues to innovate, protect hosts, and build a platform designed for the future of travel.
It’s also worth noting that Vrbo only holds the position of the second-largest short-term rental platform because of its inheritance from Expedia’s existing market presence. Unlike Airbnb, which built its dominance through innovation and commitment to hosts and guests, Vrbo’s place in the market was handed to it. If an ambitious, well-funded competitor emerges, don’t be surprised if Vrbo loses its number-two spot in the coming years!
Want more expert hosting tips? Sign up for our newsletter!