RentByOwner

• Direct communication with owner
• Great search tool

RentByOwner works to help travelers find the perfect rental home for their upcoming trip. Their mission statement reads, "Our mission is to match every traveler with their perfect rental home in order to create a positive and memorable travel experience." While the RentByOwner platform does enable online booking for some of their listings, that is not their main focus. Instead, the RentByOwner teams works to help connect travelers to the best property and then allow the traveler to communicate directly with the owner or listing agent. This open communication helps ensure there are no hidden surprises. When booking a rental with RentByOwner, there is a process that needs to be followed in order for the transaction and planning of the trip to go through. RentByOwner believes that the key to planning a great vacation is finding the right accommodations in a timely manner. Travelers will need to follow these seven steps when booking through the RentByOwner platform:

1. Search - users can search by entering their desired destination and can even add required travel dates if applicable
2. Review - view images of properties that match the destination and possible dates will be made known
3. Bookmark - as the research process carries on, users can click the bookmark icon to save their favorite rental properties
4. Contact - once a traveler settles on a property, they can use the message icon to reach out to the owners directly. During this stage of the process, travelers can ask andy and all questions to confirm and unknown details.
5. Discuss - hammer out all details and confirm final requirements
6. Review - once a travelers is happy with the vacation rental they have selected, a rental agreement will typically need to be signed. Make sure to review that contract carefully.
7. Book - complete by paying the property owner/manager for the property. Online booking is only available for some listings.

Travelers can quickly search using the RentByOwner search tool. This resource allows users to narrow results to find the perfect home for their upcoming trip. There are over 500,000 homes available to choose from spread across the entire world. To quickly find suitable accommodations, users can use the advanced filter system to cut down on the research time.

• Limited online booking
• No mobile app
• Limited listing

Online booking is not available on a majority of their property listings. While it is helpful that travelers can communicate directly with the owner or property manager to answer questions, there are some security risks with booking over the phone directly with owner. That being said, RentByOwner does encourage travelers to try and book online to maintain the security of the transaction. While RentByOwner has created a vast platform complete with hundreds of thousands of properties, there are still some unknowns regarding their service. This information is something many users may be interested in knowing prior to making any reservations. These missing pieces of information include:

• Unknown destinations - they do not make public how many countries or states they operate in
• Lack of mobile app - there is no way to search or book on the go
• Travel protection - the policy regarding cancellation or altering reservations is unclear

Considering the fact that RentByOwner claims to operate on a world-wide basis, one would think there would be more listing available. Other worldwide vacation rental platforms have millions of properties available for rent on any given day, while the RentByOwner selection is quite limited.