Which OTA is the best to Book a Holiday House?

We know how stressful it can be searching endless OTA sites, real estate sites and google for a good, no, a great house for you and the families next big getaway - but don't stress - we got you!

We get it there is so much pressure, what if it doesn't look anything like the photos, what if  it's not clean or worst thing ever they cancel on me at the last minute.

These are all legitimate concerns and all quite possible, we all have heard or been in that scenario right.  It may surprise you that even if you book your holiday house via Airbnb or Booking.com, there is still no guarantee you won't get cancelled or the house turns out to be a dude.  The reason for this it that it is ultimately the host/agent/owner who is supplying the end product not the agent, the OTA is just the middle man, the agent who takes their commission regardless of your experience. 

Don't get me wrong there are some amazing places and hosts on these big sites and they are the best place to search for the perfect home, but let me give you my best advise on how to use these sites to your advantage.

Let's Go.

My Favourite sites are Airbnb and Stayz, Stayz is the Australian version of Airbnb and has been around since 2013 and is now owned by the Expedia Group.

These two OTA's are definitely where you want to start your search for a holiday house in Australia. Let me share with you how  to drilled down through all the duds and find the holiday house of your dreams and even better -  have a seamless, hassle free, well organised family holiday that will leave the whole team singing your praises at how good you are at this holiday house thing.

1. Understand the difference between the OTA's.  Airbnb origin was all about house sharing, so the places on Airbnb can be anything from a single bedroom in a shared house to a whole house experience - stayz is only whole house, so no house sharing and booking.com can be all of the above plus hotels rooms, hostels and resorts.
2. Communication via the OTAs are different as well, I find that Airbnb and Stayz encourage a lot of communication between the guests and host and they make this relatively easy via their app chats as well as providing the host with the guests contact info once the house is booked.  This means it is easy to reach out to your host or guest at any time with any questions or concerns.  Once booked all your communication should be with the host and not the OTA, they will always encourage you to talk to the host first, they only get involved if there is an issue or dispute.  If you book via an OTA and do not hear from the host at all, this is a red flag and I would reach out to them asap to ensure the booking is good - if they still do not respond then contact the OTA.
3. Use your filters on these sites to ensure you are not wading through hundreds of houses.  Plus be aware that houses with good reviews, good response rates and good listings will rank better.  So you will find the best houses with the best hosts on the first few pages.
4. The most important part of your search will be reading the reviews and checking the host status.  The Superhost Badge on Airbnb and the Premier Host for Stayz and very important and are more than a marketing hype token badge.  They have to be earned and are reviewed often.  They are measured by good reviews, response rate and no cancellations.  I would not book a place with a host that had a lot of bookings but no host status, this tells me they have not met the strict standards despite hosting many guests over a period of time.
5. Once you have a house you love, do a google search to see if they have their own booking website.  The big guys will always come up on page 1 of google for any holiday house search, but with so many PMS and Booking software available to hosts, hotels and holiday accommodation operators, many professionals hosts will have their own site and chances are their prices will be a bit cheaper than the OTAs,    However the upside of booking with the OTA is you have the extra cover and support from them as the middleman if anything goes wrong they assist with refunds, disputes and if you do get cancelled via the host or owner, the OTAs will usually find you something similar.