Top 10 most used accommodation booking platforms in the U.S.

Where can you find the best guests for your property? It’s a popular question, with landlords looking to maximize both revenue and occupancy when utilizing short term rentals. The top 10 most used travel booking platforms is a good place to start.

Included in JLL’s Alternative Accommodations research, this handy breakdown covers the most used marketing channels in the U.S.

However, are they going to provide the results landlords are looking for? Staykeepers can market on all of these channels (plus over 400 more!), and here’s some guidance.

Booking.com

Over the years since its founding in 1996, Booking.com has grown into an international powerhouse in digital accommodation services – offering travelers a wide selection of lodging options at competitive prices while providing helpful features like rewards programs and activity bookings that differentiate it from its competitors in the market space today.

With over 78 million customer reviews worldwide on their website alone (as ranked by Forbes Magazine), it’s no wonder why so many people are turning toward this industry leader when making important decisions about where they want to stay while on holiday or business trips abroad!

For Staykeepers, Booking.com and its sister websites have accounted for an average of 62% of reservations in the last 3 months. You might be wondering why we market on 450+ channels if one platform provides such a large number of bookings. It’s a great question that we cover in our Q4 short term rentals report here.

Hotels.com

Overall Hotels.com is a trusted leader among online travel websites due its easy-to-use interface and wide array of features that allow users to conveniently book flights, hotels and rental cars all in one spot while still getting some great savings too! The website also provides special packages that bundle flight + hotel together so users can save money when planning an entire trip through them alone.

Over the last 3 months, Hotels.com provided less than 1% of total bookings for Staykeepers’ clients properties. However, the average length of stay was 80% higher than Booking.com, providing less turnover for clients.

Airbnb

Airbnb, which was founded in 2008, has become one of the most popular ways for travelers to find alternative accommodations to hotels and resorts. The site offers a range of accommodation options in more than 65,000 cities and 191 countries around the world. As a growing sharing economy platform, Airbnb has disrupted the traditional hospitality industry by allowing private individuals to rent out their own homes or spare rooms on a short-term basis.

Month on month, Airbnb provides an average of 11% of reservations for Staykeepers. There is a misconception amongst institutional residential landlords that welcoming Airbnb bookings is increasing the chances of antisocial behaviour.

This isn’t substantiated, particularly when partnering with Staykeepers. Guests from every marketing channel go through a rigorous guest vetting process to ensure only the best guests stay in our clients’ properties. 

In fact, we turned away 4.5% of all initial bookings received in 2022 due to guests failing to meet the guest verification criteria.

Expedia & the rest

Expedia and its group of booking sites perform well for Staykeepers, generating reservations on a variety of websites. However, this channel and the five others on this list are not our top performers for reservations. You can find out more in our quarterly report.

The best approach to secure reservations at high prices is through multi-channel marketing. Plus with Staykeepers’ AI dynamic pricing technology, landlords see up to 80% more revenue compared to long term leases. Updating prices on marketing channels daily, our tech considers seasonality, local events and competitors within a 0.3 mile radius of a building.