6 Airbnb Alternatives for Booking Delightful Accommodation Around the World

6 Airbnb Alternatives You NEED to Know About

We all love a good Airbnb stay.  It’s unique.  You feel like a local.  You meet interesting people.  And you often pay MUCH less than you would for a hotel.

But what about Airbnb alternatives?  What are the best competitor sites to use, and how do they stack up against this powerhouse?

Most importantly, can they provide you with a one-of-a-kind travel experience that gives you just as much bang for your buck as Airbnb would?

The short answer: YES!

There are many Airbnb alternatives these days where you can book interesting and affordable accommodations the world over, and I’m here today with the best of the bunch so you can kick off your next trip feeling delighted with your temporary digs.

Bookmark this post so you can revisit these awesome booking sites whenever you need some accommodation inspiration!

Need some destination inspiration? Check out my list of favorites here.

6 of the Best Airbnb Alternatives

6 Airbnb Alternatives You NEED to Know About6 Airbnb alternatives you should probably be using #traveltips Click To Tweet

HomeAway

If you’re looking for an entire home to temporarily call your own, HomeAway has the rentals you’re looking for, in over 190 countries around the world.

To book the perfect getaway home, follow these simple steps:

  1. Enter the city, state or country where you want to go
  2. Enter travel dates to get rental availability
  3. Use filters and maps to narrow results

With your free HomeAway account, you can save vacation rentals to your list of favorites, track your messages to and from rental owners, and manage all of your booking information in one spot.

No need to share these gorgeous rental homes with noisy neighbors or nosy owners–that’s the beauty of HomeAway, you get the space allllll to yourself.Airbnb Alternatives You Should Know About

VRBO

VRBO stands for Vacation Rentals By Owner and is owned by the HomeAway company. As such, the process is the same as it is with HomeAway, including the perks like cancellation protection and zero booking fees.

This site currently offers over 2 million vacation rentals worldwide. Want some extra income for yourself? Try listing your own home on one of these sites!

Tripping

There are many Airbnb alternatives out there these days, but Tripping–the self-proclaimed “world’s largest search engine for rentals”–has to be one of the best.

Quickly compare vacation homes and short-term rentals in 150,000 destinations around the world to find the best deal possible (and the ideal setting) for your next getaway.Airbnb Alternative: Trusted Housesitters

Trusted Housesitters

Are you a pet lover? Do you also love to travel? Then Trusted Housesitters is for YOU!

This nifty site allows pet owners to travel without worry and gives pet-loving travelers a way to stay for free in an exciting new city.

Win-win!



Booking.com

I’ve been using Booking.com for years now and chances are, you’ve heard of this site, too. But did you know they offer SO much more than just hotels?

Not only can you find charming apartments, bed & breakfasts, hostels, and homestays, but Booking.com has their very own search engine for beautiful vacation rentals in just about any city of your choosing.

I like Booking.com because there is almost always a fully refundable option (up to a certain date) so I can book something with the peace of mind that a) I didn’t miss out on the good stuff by waiting until the last minute and b) I can still change my mind if I find something better or cheaper.Airbnb Alternatives You Should Know About

HotelsCombined

This final Airbnb alternative is the absolute best search engine around for booking hotels around the world. Period.

Why, you ask?

Because HotelsCombined aggregates the search results from every other hotel booking site (even the ones you’ve never heard of) and compares them all side by side, so you can quickly and easily find the best deal on the exact hotel you want.

Don’t want a hotel? No problem. Just filter your search results to show only the accommodation type you want, including apartments, B&Bs, vacation rentals, guest houses, homestays, hostels, and more.

Have you ever heard of these Airbnb alternatives? Would you consider booking with one?6 Airbnb Alternatives You NEED to Know About

31 comments

  • Juliette @ Namastay Traveling

    As an airBnB enthusiast, I’m always looking for unique places to stay (it’s one of the best parts of the trip!). Glad I now have some other options to look over when finding the perfect accommodation.

    • Leah Davis (author)

      I agree, having a charming place to stay really adds to the enjoyability of a trip!

  • Brittany

    Thanks for this list! I recently was in an area with very few Airbnb’s, and I had a very difficult time trying to find other rentals. I’ll definitely check out these other options in the future!

    • Leah Davis (author)

      Oh good, hopefully these Airbnb alternatives can solve that problem for you the next time! 🙂

  • Mark

    Hey Leah,
    Thanks for this list. Love Airbnb but it’s always good to know what other sites are out there. One for putting up our own property and two for vacations. I haven’t heard of Tripping or HomeAway. Will be sure to check into one of these.
    Cheers,
    Mark

    • Leah Davis (author)

      My pleasure, Mark! Glad you have some more options now! 🙂

  • Inge von Roos

    I use vrbo all the time. There’s also Homestay. I haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds good.

  • Simona

    Woaaa! Sounds really good!
    Must try!

  • Kimberly

    Wow, I can’t believe I hadn’t heard about so many of these! I’m definitely going to try them out and recommend to my sister and best friend who are traveling soon. Thanks so much for sharing!

  • Sara

    I use VRBO and have had amazing luck with them! The owners are great, the places have been beautiful, not much more that I could ask for. I’ll definitely be checking out HotelsCombined next time, it sounds intriguing.

  • Yolanda

    These are great tips. I have to check out the pet sitter one. I will need something like that for our upcoming trip and I always have trouble finding someone to watch our dog. Thanks for this post!

  • Lia

    I totally plan trips around unique places to stay, so I’m really excited to have some alternatives to AirBnB. I’ve had plenty of not great experiences with AirBnB – enough to want a backup or 6. Bookmarking this for later!

  • Jamie

    Good list – I have also used VRBO with success. I’ll need to try the others you mention.

  • Lucy

    I’ve never even heard of hotels combined but it sounds fab; will definitely use it next time I’m booking somewhere!

  • Sandy

    Good article Leah- thanks !

    We are Airbnb hosts but yes it’s not available ( or legal) everywhere. I especially like the Housesitting site !

  • Rhiannon

    Thanks so much for such a helpful post! I have recently been thinking about looking into the house sitting thing while travelling. Such a cool idea!

  • Michael @ Mile in My Glasses

    These are awesome, Leah! Thank-you so much for these brilliant suggestions! I’ll be keeping them in mind for my next adventure away!

  • Kim

    I’ve used Airbnb, Booking.com and VRBO with success in all, but I’ve never heard of the others alternatives! Looks like I need to bookmark these for future trips 🙂 Thanks for the post!

    xx
    Kim / http://www.simplylovebirds.com

  • Anisa

    It’s funny I used vrbo before Airbnb even existed! I had several great experiences with it but lately there just seem to be more options on Airbnb. I do check other sites though as you never know what you will find.

  • Charmaine

    These are some great ideas! AirB&B is getting really popular so it is nice to have some other alternatives to switch it up! Thanks for the research you’ve done! Great article!

  • Cathy Ries

    Minus Hotels Combined I had never heard of these other ones. I’ll have to check them out! They sound like great alternatives!

  • Kyntra Strickland

    These are some great alternatives that I have never heard of!! The only one of used is booking.com and I love that they typically have free cancellation. Thanks for sharing.

    • Leah Davis (author)

      Never heard of Abritel! But yes, I mentioned that VRBO and HomeAway were part of the same company. Thanks for reading.

  • Jonathan McCurie

    I can highly recommend Thankeyou.com. If you are a host you don’t pay any fees and you get instant payments when the guest books your home. You also don’t have to pay any penalties as a host if you have to cancel a booking. The customer support is also very good, you can chat with them and they reply fast on email. They are actually dedicated to the work they do, and they have this “hungry” feeling to succeed. The “negative” part is that they are newly launched, so there are not many listings on the site. But on the other side, that means less competition between other hosts. Highly recommendable to list on that site as an alternative.

    • Leah Davis (author)

      Cool, thanks for sharing, Jonathan! This is a site I hadn’t heard of yet so I’ll definitely check it out.

  • Barka Balta

    There should be more competitors in market so it will really help travelers on budget to find awesome deals. Let me add another one here: https://www.findaroom.net/

    • Leah Davis (author)

      Totally agree! Thanks for sharing!

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