Did VRBO change their name?

Vrbo is changing its name—or the pronunciation, at least—to what many people already thought it was. An ad campaign starting next month calls the company “VER-bo,” replacing the letter-by-letter acronym that has stood for Vacation Rentals by Owner since the company launched in 1995.



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HomeAway is now Vrbo In this transition, we're changing our name, but maintaining our ethos: to help families everywhere find the perfect holiday home to reconnect with each other.

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We conducted research and learned that “ver-boh” is easier to remember and easier to say in other languages, so we decided to make it official by changing our brand name from an abbreviation to a word: VRBO is now Vrbo.

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HomeAway is now Vrbo In this transition, we're changing our name, but maintaining our ethos: to help families everywhere find the perfect holiday home to reconnect with each other.

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Vrbo's map looks a bit outdated by comparison. However, aesthetics aside, Vrbo offers far better filter and sort functionality than Airbnb. For example, Vrbo lets you filter by user reviews, including properties rated highly for cleanliness and properties rated 4 stars and above. Vrbo's filters are also more intuitive.

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While Airbnb is publicly traded and owned by a variety of shareholders, including its co-founders and venture capital firms, VRBO is a subsidiary of Expedia Group, a publicly traded company that also owns other popular travel brands.

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Vacation rentals are suddenly more expensive, thanks to a new guest service fee tacked on to the rental price by the big sites VRBO and HomeAway.com. Travelers looking for a place to stay will pay up to $499 a week extra now that the sites have instituted a 4% to 9% service fee on all vacation rentals.

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The customer care costs for Airbnb are often more costly than those for VRBO. On Airbnb, customer service charges range from 14.2% to 16%. Meanwhile, VRBO charges a reservation fee of 3% for handling payments and 5% for commission on the overall rental price. Taxes are not a part of these costs.

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In 2006, VRBO was acquired by HomeAway. In late 2015, Expedia Group acquired HomeAway, including VRBO. In March 2019, VRBO was re-branded Vrbo, including a new logo, capitalization, and pronunciation. In May 2019, the HomeAway and Vrbo websites were both rebranded as Vrbo.

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The cost of the service fees is typically much lower with Vrbo. Although the total price will depend on the cost of your rental, a Vrbo rental tends to be cheaper than an Airbnb rental. The cost of the listing depends on a variety of factors, including location, size and length of stay.

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YOU COULD BE FINED $1,000 OR MORE OR SLEEP ON THE STREET The biggest problem with Airbnb is hosts cancelling on you last minute. Most short-term rentals are not licensed and thus illegal. At the time of writing almost 80% of online listings were not licensed. You and the owner could be fined.

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Luckily, property managers and owners looking to list on VRBO or Airbnb don't have to choose between the two. If you wish to list a property type that is accepted by both platforms, you can list on both platforms.

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Steep Service Fees A guest may find two comparable vacation rental properties but choose to book the property on a website that does not include additional service fees. This feature has caused guests to look elsewhere when choosing their vacation rental, which has proven to be a major disadvantage to VRBO owners.

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Vrbo Cons. The downside to using Vrbo is that they have much lower visibility than Airbnb since they have fewer listings overall (2 million compared with 6 million). This means you may not get as much exposure for your listing as you would if you used Airbnb instead.

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Hotels Are Actually Cheaper Than Vacation Rentals on Airbnb and Vrbo, According to a New Report. A new study says hotels are the more affordable option over Airbnbs and Vrbos — across 50 global markets. Find out where you can save.

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