How To Build A Vacation Rental App Like Vrbo

By Hyperlocal Cloud

July 21, 2023

How To Build A Vacation Rental App Like Vrbo

Vacation rental applications are getting popular as per their convenience for people who love to travel. Vrbo, also known as Vacation Rental By Owners, is a rental marketplace that allows property owners to rent out their place to visitors or travelers. The tourism industry is booming, and entrepreneurs or business owners are rapidly adhering to a platform like Vrbo. That’s why the competition in vacation rentals has risen significantly in the past few years.

A rental marketplace like Vrbo is a rapidly growing part of tourism industry that has a bright future in the coming days. Various factors are driving the growth of a rental marketplace like Vrbo:

  • The rising population in the sharing economy.
  • Increasing demand for short-term rentals.
  • Immense use of mobile applications.
  • Advancement of technology.

Are you an entrepreneur and looking for a company to build an app like Vrbo? Look no further than Hyperlocal Cloud because we offer you a solution that caters to all your business needs.

So here in this blog, we will explore the development process of an app like Vrbo. We will also undergo some business benefits and understand the essential features of an app like Vrbo. Let’s get started:

Amazing Facts About Vrbo

Let’s start the blog by understanding some interesting facts about Vrbo:

Founded in 1995, Vrbo is the oldest vacation rental marketplace ever.
Vrbo has 4 million vacation listings in over 190 countries.
The application serves 22 different languages.
It allows a variety of features that can be used to minimize the search result.

Future Of Vacation Rentals

Vacation rentals have a bright future, and an app like Vrbo can fulfill your business needs. Let’s understand it with some stats:

  • The economy in vacation rental is projected to grow to $94.34 billion before the end of 2023.
  • Vacation rental revenue is expected to show a CAGR of 3.37% between 2023-2027.
  • The market volume of vacation rentals can reach $107.7 billion before the end of 2027.

As you can now find out, the future of vacation rentals is quite bright. It also secures the idea of investing in building an app like Vrbo.

Business Model Of Vrbo

A Vrbo app connects property owners with travelers who look forward to renting a vacation stay. Let’s understand how Vrbo works:

How Does A Vacation Rental App Like Vrbo Work For Property Owners?

  • Vrbo allows property owners to list their property on the app for free.
  • Vrbo charges a commission from the property owner on each booking. The commission rate here depends on the location and property type.
  • Vrbo grants a variety of tools to hotel owners that help them manage their listings, calendars, bookings, messaging system, and guest reviews.

How Does A Vacation Rental App Like Vrbo Work For Admin?

  • Vrbo admin can log in to the platform with the credentials.
  • Admins can track and view sales, active sites to visit, people’s choices, and generate revenue.
  • Admins can connect with a vendor or a user whenever they feel like connecting.
  • Vrbo admin charges 40% of the listing fee, 35% service fee, and 25% for advertising from vendors.

How Does A Vacation Rental App Like Vrbo Work For Travelers?

  • Travelers can find their vacation rentals according to their search types of location, property, and pricing.
  • Travelers can book their stay directly from the application.
  • Vrbo charges a travel service fee, and this fee covers the amount of processing payments and providing customer support.

The business workflow of Vrbo is as simple as other on-demand service apps. The more an app is accessible, the higher number of customers will be retained.

Monetization Planning For Your Vacation Rental App Like Vrbo

Monetizing your application is necessary to generate revenue for your business. So we have brought up some strategies for you can earn income from your application:

Commissions

Vrbo will charge a tiny amount as a commission on every successful booking. It is a common money-making strategy for rental marketplace apps, as it allows charges from the service person without connecting directly with customers.

Subscriptions

A subscription service will generate income growth for an app like Vrbo. You can offer premium features, services, and auto-suggestions for their best match as premium in your app. To avail of this, a user has to pay for it. Here, you can make money directly from the user.

Advertising

It is a great way to generate income and engage with many users simultaneously. You advertise ads for other organizations and companies on your home page, search section, and at other locations.

Sponsorship

An app sponsorship revenue model is a type of monetization strategy in which a business pays to have its products or services featured in an app. This can be a lucrative monetization strategy for apps that have a large user base, and that can attract businesses that are interested in reaching their target audience.

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Must-Have Features In Vacation Rental App Like Vrbo

We have classified the features into 3 categories; property owners, admin, and guests. Let’s understand it in depth:

For Guests

We embed quality features for guests to increase engagement in the application. Let’s discuss some essential features:

Search & Filter

This feature helps guests to search accordingly based on their choice of stay. It lets them filter rooms, number of people, pricing, and many more.

Manage Bookings

A user can manage their booking by changing dates, changing the number of days of stays, and number of guests.

Customer Support

This feature will let a user connect with the customer support executive to solve their booking-related queries. It can be done by call, message, and chat.

View Property And Review

Users can engage with the property’s location, its review and rating, services they offers, and pricing before booking a stay.

Multiple Payment Options

A user can pay in various payment modes, including credit/debit card, UPI, net banking, and cash.

Push Notification

This feature allows users to send messages, report an issue, receive a reminder, get a recommendation, receive special offers, etc.

Ratings & Reviews

Users can post reviews and ratings on a property based on their experience and the services they consume.

For Property Owner

We implement many features that can help a property owner. Here are some of the best features for property owners:

Listing Management

This feature can help property owners list their property's memos along with photos and descriptions. It will also allow us to update and modify an existing property.

Rate Card

A rate card feature will let a property owner decide, set, and manage their pricing for the rent of the property. It can help in increasing flexibility, improving accuracy, enhancing security, etc.

Calendar

The calendar feature helps a property owner to track the date for the availability to rent the property. It increases visibility and efficiency in the business.

Messaging

This feature lets an admin communicate with potential tenants. They can easily communicate with their renters with just one click.

Payments

The payment feature allows vendors to receive payments in various payment modes. It can be done online, which eliminates the need for cash.

Marketing & Promotions

The marketing feature allows property owners to promote or market their business online as email marketing or online listing. Some may be free, and some can be purchased.

Guest Insights

This feature helps a property owner to collect feedback and reviews from the tenants. This can be used for business development and improvement.

For Admin

With our features, Admin can access all items and toolbars to manage their business; let’s understand some essential features:

User Management

This feature lets an admin add, remove, and modify an active user in the application. Admin can also track the activity and performance of a user.

Reporting

A reporting feature lets an admin analyze, collect data, and create a report. It is often used to track and monitor business performance.

Settings

Admin can change the theme, outlook, and language in their application. This can also improve user experience and increase customer engagement.

Backup & Restore

A backup & restore feature will let an admin secure their data. It can help them with backup scheduling, backup rotation, data protection, and archiving.

Monitoring

A monitor feature will allow an admin to scan some essential things like performance metrics, CPU health, memory usage, and alerts.

Dashboard

This feature lets an admin overview the business operations. They can view it by a chart to gain proper details on performances.

Access Control

This exclusive feature for the admin lets them control the system and can access applications. Role-based access control and attribute access control are part of this feature.

How To Build A Vacation Rental App Like Vrbo?

Development of an app like Vrbo can be daunting, but with the right tech stack and on-demand app development company, you can achieve a top-notch application like Vrbo. Let’s understand its process:

Define Your Market Goal

The first step is to conduct proper market research and analyze the competitors. Find out what price they are offering the services and try to fill the market gap, if any. You will also need to identify the specific goals, like what do you want to achieve. How will you help property owners, and what is your target audience?

Choose A Platform

An app like Vrbo needs to be developed effectively so that it can run on both iOS and Android devices. Each platform has its own expertise and tools to use. Cross-platform frameworks like React-native, Xamarin, and Flutter come into the use for an absolute Vrbo like app development.

Application Design

After choosing the right framework for your application, it's time to design the application. The design part includes logo design, color matching, styling fonts, inserting an image, and designing the header and footer. This will decide how an app like Vrbo will interact with a user.

Application Development

After the complete design of the application, the development stage takes place. The development part takes place in two stages: front end development and back end development.

Front end development of an app like Vrbo decides the application's interface. The implementation of pagination, navigation, buttons, content, images, listing, cart, and payment gateways occurs here.

At the same time, the back end process includes all the coding that works behind the front end. This phase includes user data and contains application security, API requests, and payment transfers. It doesn’t fall under the user's interaction but plays a crucial role.

Application Testing

After complete development, the app needs to be tested from different phases. This testing includes unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and acceptance testing. In addition, get a more secure app like Vrbo; we offer performance, security, and usability testing of your application.

Deploy Your Application

The final part of building an app like Vrbo is to deploy it on a server. After satisfactory testing and development of your application, it is time to deploy it on hosting servers. We offer our clients to test their application on their own, and we will deploy it for free on the Google Play Store and Apple Store.

Market Your Application

Now that you have your application handy, it's time to market it to reach many customers. You can market your application using social media, SEO, paid advertising, and content marketing.

Tech Stack Required To Build A Vacation Rental App Like Vrbo

Using a dynamic tech stack is required to have a business-level Vrbo-like app. Let’s understand the tech stack that is essential to use:

Front End Development
Back End DevelopmentDatabase
HTMLNodeJSMySQL
CSS PythonSQLite
JSRubyMongoDB
ReactC#Django
AngularLaravelPostgreSQL
Vue.jsPHPOracle
JQueryApacheCassandra

How Much Does It Cost To Build A Vacation Rental App Like Vrbo?

On an estimation, the complete development cost to get a vacation rental app like Vrbo can cost you around $10,000-$12,000. Be advised the development cost is not certain as it can go higher and degrade depending on various factors like:

  • The complexity of the project
  • Location of the project
  • Development platform
  • Development timeline
  • Marketing and maintenance
  • Active workforce
  • Third-party integration

It is important to keep these factors in mind before starting the development procedure of the app.

Conclusion

Creating An App Like Vrbo Requires Careful Planning, Technical Expertise, And A Customer-Centric Approach. By Addressing The Needs Of Both Property Owners And Travelers, Providing A Seamless Experience, And Embracing Feedback, Your App Can Carve Its Place In The Vacation Rental Industry.

FAQs - An App Like Vrbo

How Much Time Does It Take To Build An App Like Vrbo?

Complete the development process of a platform like Vrbo 5-days to 1-week. The development time for such an app needs proper market analysis, which can also take more than the estimated time.

How Do I Make My Rental App Like Vrbo Stand Out?

Hyperlocal Cloud helps build an app with competitive features, which will make your app, like Vrbo stand ahead in the competition. Besides that, we use the latest tech stack to keep you updated among your competitors.

What Is The Cost To Develop An App Like Vrbo?

Approximately the starting price to build an app like Vrbo starts from $10,000. The cost of development can increase due to several factors that affect complexity, API integrations, and the size of the project.

Why Choose Hyperlocal Cloud To Build An App Like Vrbo?

We have 150+ seasoned developers on the floor who are experienced enough to give you an app solution like Vrbo. We have served more than 1200 clients worldwide in our 11+ years of experience and helped them adhere to top-notch applications in every category.

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