Vrbo

Title Sponsor

Goodbye HomeAway®, HELLO Vrbo®! Expedia Group launches Vrbo in the UK, continuing its worldwide consolidation of simplifying its alternative accommodation division under one global brand name. With the launch of Vrbo in the UK, the world’s travel platform extends the number of countries offering its unique holiday rental-portfolio under the same brand to 17.   

25 years of bringing families together - Launched in 1995, Vrbo was the first holiday rental company to offer its portfolio to holidaymakers online. Since then, the company has evolved and now connects millions of families looking for their perfect place to stay every year. Founded in Aurora, Colorado, Vrbo’s mission is to connect holidaymakers to the people and places they love, giving
them the space they need to drop the distractions of everyday life and simply be together. 

Over the past few months in which the world was hit by a global pandemic, the way British families travel and choose their holiday homes has significantly changed. While cleanliness has always been an important factor when choosing a holiday home, the medical guidance to reduce the spread of COVID-19 has resulted in an increase in demand by British Vrbo holidaymakers looking for properties rated highly for cleanliness by previous guests. Furthermore, there is a clear move towards staycations, with the vast majority of demand for holiday homes being in the UK this year. 

New name, same experience - Vrbo maintains HomeAway’s goal of connecting holidaymakers with their perfect match holiday home and they will continue to book and pay securely online, benefiting from the Book with Confidence Guarantee (which covers them in the event of possible incidents related to their booking) and 24/7 customer service. Both holidaymakers and holiday-homeowners will be able to access their accounts with their current credentials (same username and password), in the web version and in the mobile application (in the latter case, holidaymakers will first need to download the new Vrbo app available for iOS and Android). 

Likewise, holiday-homeowners will be connected with holidaymakers from all over the world in the same trusted and simple way as before. Professional owners and managers have the necessary tools to manage their listing and have a high international visibility on all Expedia Group websites, which receive more than 750 million visits per month. They will still have control over their listing, access to
tools to manage their bookings, statistics to manage their business in relation to other similar properties, secure channels to communicate with travellers and the same team of experts at their disposal 24/7. 

Technological tools adapted to the needs of families - Vrbo has some fantastic features to help families plan their trips. One of the most remarkable tools is Trip Boards. To improve the way families can book a dream holiday home that the whole family likes, Trip Boards enable the holidaymaker who’s in charge of planning the trip to save all holiday homes they like on their personal Trip Board and invite all family members to the board. The rest of the family is then able to comment and vote for their favourite property(ies), making travel arrangements and choosing their next holiday home easier by involving the whole family at any time, from anywhere. Another feature available in Vrbo is the Virtual Assistant, which answers holidaymakers’ most frequently asked questions about a property and allows the holiday-homeowner to connect with the holidaymaker instantly.