March 4, 2016
The 35 Best Vacation Rental Blogs For Every Airbnb Host
Managing your Airbnb is not always easy. Fortunately, with the right team to support you and with the best resources at your fingertips, caring for your vacation rental and making rental income can feel effortless. And while Rented.com is always here to help you assemble the perfect rental management team for your home, we also know of the importance of staying well informed.
To help you and to share our love for the following blogs, we compiled a list of our favorite go-to resources for industry news and best practices.
Here are the blogs every Airbnb or VRBO homeowner and manager should follow:
Blogs by listing sites
1. HomeAway
“HomeAway’s blog is a great resource for vacation rental owners looking for some professional insight. It provides first hand stories from other owners in the business, DIY home improvement tips and talks about how to be a successful property manager. Have a question about renting your home? Feel free to ask in the comments. Someone from HomeAway’s team will be happy to help.”
Maddi Bourgerie, HomeAway’s Blog Manager
2. Airbnb
Looking to learn more about how the sharing economy connects the world? Airbnb’s blog highlights just how powerful the sharing economy can be in creating authentic experiences, communities, and a global sense of belonging.
3. Tripping.com
“Current and potential vacation homeowners can access advice from industry experts here. Check out tips, guides and FAQ’s to help you make the most out of your rental property.”
4. TripAdvisor
“TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals has over 770,000 properties available for rent worldwide. That’s a lot of homeowners and property managers interacting with us, sharing their insights, challenges and experiences. In the Owner & Managers section of our blog, we turn that information into tips, tricks, and best practices for renting out your home. From providing a better guest experience to optimizing your listing to earn more money, we aim to make you a smarter renter.”
Dave Armenti, Digital Marketer
5. FlipKey
With over 300,000 listed homes and reaching over 340 million travelers worldwide, FlipKey is certainly an expert in the vacation rental space. Their blog section for owners and managers covers everything from pet-proofing your vacation rental to using social media to drive website traffic.
For the data driven
6. Airdna
“The Airdna blog utilizes the performance data of over 2MM vacation rentals to explore how vacation rental managers can price, optimize, and grow their business.”
Scott Shatford, Founder & CEO
7. Everbooked
“On the Everbooked blog, we keep tabs on the latest trends in vacation rental pricing and occupancy. We’re constantly collecting and analyzing data — most recently we partnered with LearnAirbnb.com to do a comprehensive 119-page study of the Airbnb marketplace. The study and our blog, were featured in Forbes, Skift, and Tnooz, among others.”
David Ordal, CEO
8. Mashvisor
“Mashvisor is an online platform that provides real estate analytics to help investors find and analyze traditional and Airbnb investment properties. Investors can analyze real estate investments in easy-to-read visualizations, never having to use spreadsheets again. The Airbnb data provides projections of revenue potential, cash flow, occupancy rates, seasonality trends, and more. The blogs shares the best tips on how to create the most lucrative Airbnb listing and how to get the highest returns using analytics.” Diala Taneeb
For Airbnb users
11. Learn Airbnb
“Drawing from our experience in finance, real estate, and hospitality, as well as the home sharing experience from our extensive network of hosts, we offer a multi-disciplinary approach when developing tips and insights that will help vacation rental owners improve profitability and maintain their competitive edge.” Jim Breese, Co-Founder
12. AirbnbSecrets.com
“Hello rented.com readers! Make sure to check out my site, airbnbsecrets.com, to learn step-by-step how to maximize monetization of your rental on Airbnb overnight.” Dany Papineau, Founder
13. Ourbnb
“We’ve been Airbnb hosts for over three years. From hosting at home to now managing multiple listings in Barcelona, we’ve pretty much seen it all. At Ourbnb.com we share stories (the good and the bad) and offer tips to help others hosts. Fiona also has an amazing section on interiors! From time to time we’ll also feature products that help us in hosting.” Phil Morris, Founder
14. The Abundant Host
The Abundant Host is about hosting with intention and finesse. An independently-run website headed up by a woman named Amy (she prefers to be mainly anonymous, though not for nefarious reasons), The Abundant Host offers actionable and heartfelt advice, tools, resources, and guides on Airbnb hosting.
15. LaptopLandlord
“LaptopLandlord helps regular people (like you!) overcome the fear of opening their home to others to start earning a side income that can make a real difference in their lives. On my journey to become an Airbnb Superhost, I’ve learned a lot about how to be a successful host, but, more importantly, I’ve learned that it’s both quicker and easier to learn from other top hosts who have come before you. By simply sharing everything I’ve learned about hosting in a non-get-rich-quick kind of way, I’m here to help you jump-start your journey to becoming a SuperHost so you never worry about not being able to pay the bills again.” Tyler Knudtson, Founder
16. Best Airbnb Hosting Tips
“This blog is loaded with useful tips that cover the full spectrum of an Airbnb hosting business. Written by a multi-year Airbnb Superhost with hundreds of 5-star reviews, Best Airbnb Hosting Tips has all the information you need to start and improve your Airbnb hosting business. From managing guests to money saving tips, you can find it all on this awesome blog!” David Cross, Founder
For the budding photographer
17. Tyann Marcink
“If you want the skinny on getting killer photos for your vacation rental property, my blog is the one to follow. In addition to posts about photography geared towards vacation rentals, I also share about marketing and business subjects, as well as the occasional story about my adventures. Never boring, always informative, and I promise not to overwhelm your email inbox…I keep my posts random enough that they are as delightful as getting a handwritten note card in your mailbox, except more often.” Tyann Marcink, Owner
For the independent homeowner
18. VR Owner’s Guide
“For some real, practical advice on improving your vacation rental marketing and overall management, come check out VR Owner’s Guide. Oh, and don’t miss the video interviews with industry experts.” Steve Sasman, Founder
19. Lodgify
“The Lodgify blog is a one-stop portal for vacation rental owners. Our articles cover everything from vacation rental marketing to the guest experience, from web design to industry updates—plus just about everything in between! For owners looking to optimize conversions and increase direct bookings on their website, our practical tips, advice and insider knowledge is your guide.” Dennis Klett, CEO and Co-Founder
Blogs by property management software providers
20. Rentivo
“The Rentivo Blog is devoted to helping owners and managers gain control over their business, especially from OTA’s. We cover industry news, tips & tricks, marketing, vacation rental tools, and much more with a focus on increasing direct bookings and reducing costs. With over 4,200 subscribers, we also run a very popular weekly email of exclusive articles curated for professionals in the vacation rental industry.” Danny Vaughton, Head of Marketing
21. Pillow
“Pillow’s blog does its utmost best to put out timely, relevant, and quality information for everyone in the vacation rental industry. Fom guests to hosts to industry thought leaders, Pillow’s blog aims to provide valuable insight. Its content contains everything from tips and tricks to the larger significances of current industry happenings. It’s our goal to share our expertise and experience with everyone. If you can’t find something on the topic you’re interested in, let us know and we’ll work it in!” Michelle Giuliano, Content Marketing Specialist
22. Guesty
“Guesty has a deep level of integration with Airbnb, having recently released the first Airbnb-centric property management software for vacation rental hosts. Our blog has been one of the top sources of best practices, tips, and recommendations for everything relating to Airbnb hosting and short-term rental management since 2013.” Nathan Tobin, Head of Growth
23. Hostaway
At Hostaway we are dedicated to developing the knowledge and expertise of property managers, hosts, and those interested in entering the market. We dive deep into niche topics such as rental abirtiage, corporate leasing, vacation rental accounting, and more. In addition you’ll find local market trends, regulations, and financial data that analyzes the best short term rental markets in the world!” – Connor Griffiths, Head of Digital Content
For industry news
24. VRMA
“The VRMA blog provides valuable insight for vacation rental professionals at every level. The blog content ranges from reservations and revenue generation, to sales and marketing, to operations and maintenance, to disaster management. Whether your work is in the front or the back of the house, the VRMA blog has content relevant to you.” Brittany Manning, Associate Editor
25. VRM Intel
“VRM Intel was created to provide industry-specific news, information, resources and trends for vacation rental managers. We want property managers and suppliers to engage and feel free to comment on posts, submit press releases and share vital information which affects our industry.” Amy Hinote, Editor & Founder
26. Serviced Apartment News
The only online news and networking resource for the serviced apartment, extended stay, aparthotel, and short term rental sectors, Serviced Apartment News features the latest industry news and best practices for advancing in this industry.
For those who want to learn more about home automation
27. Parakeet
Parakeet’s blog is a leading resource for property managers as well as homeowners who are interested in up-to-date industry data as well as tools and tips for saving money with vacation rental home automation.
For those looking to improve their listings
28. Guest Hook
“We built the Guest Hook blog to be a source of inspiration and ideas for those looking to improve the words they write about their vacation rental. We keep the sales-speak out of our blog posts and instead make them genuinely helpful to owners and managers, focusing on issues like cultivating guest trust, writing compelling listing descriptions and web content, and more.” Andy McNulty, Co-Founder
Blogs by channel managers
29. Rentals United
The Rentals United blog is “a mix of hacks, tips, industry news and infographics, with a special emphasis on innovative vacation rental technology, served to vacation rental industry professionals on a weekly basis.” Vanessa de Souza Lage, CMO
For the marketer in you
30. VR Marketing Blog
VRMB.com is a 100% free resource designed to help owners and managers build more sustainable vacation rental businesses.
For the financially driven
31. Leading Landlord
“Hello! At Leading Landlord, I collect and test ways for rental owners to increase their net incomes by adding new income streams and reducing expenses. To that end, I experiment with attracting business travelers looking to stay for a month or longer. This is a sweet spot for those of us who don’t own rentals with ocean views.
My objective is to help you use Airbnb and other short-stay platforms to earn more net income than a traditional landlord makes. So stop by and look over my shoulder. I look forward to meeting you.” Al Williamson, Landlord Thought-Leader, Author, Speaker
32. Afford Anything
“At Afford Anything, I publish every detail of my experience as both a landlord and Airbnb host — including detailed income reports that show, with total transparency, every penny of income and expense. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the business of both being a rental property investor and Airbnb host.” Paula Pant, Finance & Real Estate Expert, Author, Speaker, Blogger
By owners, for owners
33. The Business of Holiday Rental
“I offer advice and tips to help holiday home owners create and grow a holiday rental business that works for them – both financially and on a personal level. I help owners take control of their business, get confident with their marketing, with the techie stuff, with how to present their holiday home and to ensure guest’s expectations are exceeded.” Karen Spencer, Holiday Home Expert
34. Vacation Rental Secrets
“Attract, engage, and convert. Vacation Rental Secrets is a trusted industry resource for owners to use to get more bookings, streamline your workflows, and maximize your rental income.” Antonio Bortolotti, Founder
Hospitality blogs
35. occupancylevel
“OccupancyLevel discusses matters of interest to the vacation rental and boutique accommodation sectors. Particularly targeted at operators situated around the Mediterranean, the blog seeks and shares a cross-section of best practices and ideas to aid operators in growing their business.” Anson David, Author
For you
36. Rented.com
Here at Rented.com, we connect second homeowners with the world’s best professional property managers. As a thought leader in the sharing economy and in the vacation rental industry, we are here to provide homeowners and managers with the latest industry news and best practices. To learn more about the future of the accommodation and to see how the world’s best property managers lead their businesses, subscribe to our biweekly newsletter below!
What is your favorite blog for vacation rental news and tips? Let us know in the comments below!
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