Additional booking platforms

[Ron8603]

I'm fairly new to air bnb and am wondering what additional platforms experienced hosts have been successful and happy with? My main concern is double bookings. Any platform better than the next in that respect?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ron8603 you can synchronise your calendar with other sites but it is not perfect or always immediate. We tried VRBO but got no bookings so gave up after a few months. Also unless you are on host only service fees the pricing between sites needs care as all other sites charge host only commission.

[Bob297]

@Ron8603 
I use several websites for five properties. I don't want to have all eggs in one basket
Calendars can be connected, but I've experienced that sometimes that connection breaks.
I now use a simple property management system that synchronizes everything for me, and I have not had a problem during the last year.

[Lorna170]

@Ron8603  Over the 20 years we have offered rental properties, we have listed on multiple platforms and real estate companies in order to have the widest range of advertising.

We have never experienced a double booking, but that is because I will promptly check that the newly booked timeframe is also blocked out on the other platforms.  I use a mixture of Instant Book and Request to book which actually makes this easier (for me), i.e., a property may be Instant Book on one OTA but Request to Book on the others.  The key takeaway for you IMO is to rely on yourself and not on the offered automation.  Accept a booking and immediately reconcile your other calendars.  

While others use property management systems, I do this all myself as this is my "business" and my responsibility to ensure that it moves smoothly.

[Debra300]

@Ron8603,

We are on four platforms.  I started this conversation earlier this year about some of the likes and dislikes that I have about the different  platforms where we list.  

[Sudsrung0]

@Ron8603 

Dont rely 100% on airbnb, there are lots of other companies out there some work better than others depends on where you are, you have to give them a try see how they are working,

You can sync all the calendars using iCal but you still have to check I have had problems with VRBO a few weeks back they were showing I had no bookings when we are full till end of February,

For me booking.com always seems slow to sync, I do check everyday.

We are in Thailand and this year airbnb has been to number 1, we have not had any bookings from any other company I think that might be down to our calendar on airbnb showing full,

At the moment I only have one property on airbnb, we do own some pool villas that we did LTR because of the covid times, one of them is due to come vacant next month.

At the moment Im wondering what to do, stick to LTR or go back to STR,

I have also been looking at this company that will list your property on 30+ OTA  sites, they do it all for you, they manage the calendars and send you the bookings I might just list one property on there and see how it works,