The Best Vacation Rental Sites and Home Exchange Platforms
From Airbnb to Plum Guide, these are the best vacation rental and home exchange sites to use while planning your next trip.
Every traveler has their own style when they go away on vacation. While some fall asleep before the plane reaches cruising altitude, others are antsy throughout a red-eye flight. Or, while some travelers prefer the predictability of their favorite hotel chain, others are forever on the hunt for one-of-a-kind homestays.
The concept of having a true home away from home has soared in popularity since Airbnb made its debut in 2008. But even before technology made home rentals accessible to the masses, many travelers booked timeshares, home swaps, and vacation rentals through agencies.
The benefit of renting a vacation home is that it often comes with amenities you don’t always get in a hotel, including a full kitchen, washer, and dryer. For families who consider space a luxury, and for those who want to save money by cooking most meals in a kitchen, home exchanges and rental sites often provide the best options for getaways. Even for couples or large groups (say, a bachelorette party), homestays cut down on overall costs and provide a more private experience for celebrations.
In recent years, vacation rental companies like Airbnb and Sonder began rolling out tech-friendly service apps, contactless check-in, and concierge services to make stays even more comfortable and convenient.
If you’re interested in a vacation rental for your next trip but not sure where to start, this guide to the best companies offering properties around the world will help you navigate the many options out there.
Sonder
If you’re looking for lodging that isn’t a house rental, but also isn’t quite a hotel, look no further than Sonder. The vacation rental company offers a modern approach to hospitality: stylish lofts, apartments, and rooms in major cities around the world with meticulously designed interiors, completely digital contactless check-in and concierge systems, and extended stays.
The platform offers a variety of room sizes and even full apartments in cities like New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, Dubai, Rome, and London. Want an entire two-bedroom flat in London for two months, complete with a full kitchen, couch, television, and washer and dryer? They've got it. Or are you just looking for a studio in Boston that offers a small kitchenette and a place to rest your head after a long day? They’ve got that, too.
To book: sonder.com
Airbnb
Since its founding in 2008, Airbnb has grown immensely, with over six million listings in 100,000 cities around the world. This pretty much guarantees you can find an apartment, home, room, or even a boat for a short-term rental no matter where your wanderlust takes you.
Make sure to set the parameters for what you need from your lodging. Airbnb's easy-to-navigate site allows you to choose between private rooms or entire homes, as well as places with amenities like air conditioning, car seats or strollers, WiFi, washers and dryers, and even pools or hot tubs. In 2018, the company debuted Airbnb Plus, which highlights homes and hosts that have been vetted and are rated highly for quality of service, design, and, of course, comfort.
To book: airbnb.com
Love Home Swap
The concept of Love Home Swap is less renting, more trading places. It was founded by a British mother of two who enjoyed this type of arrangement and wanted to create a secure site for temporarily exchanging beautiful homes. On the platform, you can find more than 80,000 homes – ranging in price, style, and amenities – in 160 countries. Love Home Swap gets major kudos from customers for the high-end appeal of the properties. You can find multi-bedroom apartments, châteaus, villas, and all sorts of gems that will make your Instagram that much more impressive.
You don't always have to put your own home or apartment up for grabs during the same time period to book. Love Home Swap offers the option to swap at different times or to swap points instead of homes. This means you could technically book on the site without someone staying at your home, but you would instead give them points (which can be converted to cash) for the stay. The best case scenario, of course, is to have your home listed, which will definitely cut down on the cost.
To book: lovehomeswap.com
Vrbo
Vrbo (Vacation Rental by Owner) is a company that only offers vacation rental properties, so you won’t be tiptoeing around anyone’s prized coffee mugs or wondering what’s behind a locked closet door.
Vrbo specializes in spacious homes located in popular destinations throughout six continents. Nearly every property will have a kitchen, as well as family-friendly amenities like toys and high chairs, but it’s important to read the fine print and check the reviews before booking. The owners are responsible for the upkeep, so to avoid disappointment, exercise your research skills to find a trustworthy spot.
To book: vrbo.com
FlipKey
FlipKey, a subsidiary of Tripadvisor, lists more than 800,000 properties in 190 countries. Similar to Tripadvisor, you are able to sort through a variety of features and amenities when browsing the site. Whether you want a sleek condo, a villa with a pool or a hot tub, or an apartment that’s within walking distance of bars and restaurants, you can easily sort through hundreds of listings.
FlipKey draws upon the information Tripadvisor has collected to display traveler reviews, nearby restaurants and attractions, and other helpful know-how that could make planning your trip easier.
To book: flipkey.com
Paris Perfect
Paris Perfect was founded in the late 1990s by a husband and wife duo that began renting out their apartment in Paris to family and friends. The business has since expanded to include luxury vacation rental properties throughout Paris, London, Italy, and Provence. Nearly all of the listings in the City of Light offer views of the Eiffel Tower and are located in the tourist-friendly and accessible neighborhoods of the 6th and 7th arrondissements. To ensure an upscale — and often romantic — experience, the Paris Perfect team personally vets all apartments and houses.
In 2020, the brand also launched Paris Perfect Shared, a fractional real estate venture that allows clients to co-own a pied-a-terre in Paris. This means buyers have a deeded share in the property and can stay there for up to four weeks a year.
To book: parisperfect.com
Vacasa
Vacasa is a vacation rental management company that services more than 30,000 vacation rentals in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Belize. Unlike peer-to-peer platforms like Airbnb, where hosts are responsible for managing their own listings, Vacasa takes a more hands-on approach by overseeing the process from start to finish– including reservations, guest communications, housekeeping, and more. This means that every home listed on Vacasa meets the company’s criteria for cleanliness and comfort (think smart locks, fresh linens, and premium toiletries), and comes with a local support team.
While Vacasa properties are also listed on other marketplaces like Airbnb and Vrbo, the company's website offers 3D virtual tours of most of its properties, giving guests a true sense of what a space looks like before they book it.
To book: vacasa.com
Plum Guide
Quality over quantity is the name of the game at Plum Guide, which offers a curated selection of more than 17,000 luxury homes and apartments in popular destinations worldwide. While the platform follows a peer-to-peer model like Airbnb, each property has undergone multiple rounds of quality checks by a team of experts. Plum Guide staff personally inspect the properties according to the company's 150 criteria, covering everything from WiFi speed to location.
The website's listings are also created and verified by staff and feature accurate, professional photos. While Plum Guide does not feature any peer reviews on its platform, guests are encouraged to complete a survey after their stay so that the team can either work directly with the hosts to improve the guest experience or remove the property if it falls short.
To book: plumguide.com
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