When booking on VRBO or Airbnb, look to book direct

I had rented a VRBO place a few years ago, and I remember in the handbook that the owners left in the house, that if we wanted to book any one of their other properties, we can contact them directly and save something like 15%. Fast forward to last week when I was looking at the [redacted] property in Maui. I wasn’t sure if the complex was a timeshare or not, but it had lots of units available on both Airbnb and VRBO as well as their main site. It seems owners can rent out their unit using a property management company or directly themselves. There were 2 primary property management companies that most people used, which explains why there weren’t that many units listed on the main site; most of the units were listed on Airbnb and VRBO.

Anyway, I was ready to lock down a unit on VRBO and I noticed in the description that the property manager left his name and phone number. I decided to call up the number and ask if there was an option to book direct. The lady goes, “Sure, it’s cheaper without the VRBO fees.” She then emailed me a link to the unit to book directly through the property management company’s web site, and sure enough, I saved about 20% off due to not having to pay the VRBO fees. Looking back, I should have Google’d the property management company’s web site and booked direct without the phone call.

I was kind of shocked that VRBO would let them put that info in the description, but whatever. Of course this is easier since it was through a property management company, but I’m sure you can Google the names of the owners on Airbnb and possibly find them on Facebook. Doesn’t make sense to put all that effort for a cheap or short stay, but if you’ll be staying for a while, that extra research could save you 20%.