As people get accustomed to traveling in new ways, there are more and more home rental sites popping up.
Tripping.com, a vacation rental search engine, allows people to navigate many of these sites all at once, finding the best rental properties available no matter where they’re going.
With over 12 million listings around the world and powerful search and filter tools, you can quickly sort through a ton of listings and find exactly what you’re looking for, wherever you’re planning on traveling.
In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into Tripping.com to show you how the site works and discuss why you might want to choose a vacation rental property over a hotel.
Then we’ll cover some frequently asked questions, including how renters can get their property listed with Tripping.com.
A Brief Guide to Tripping.com
Tripping.com was launched in 2009 by co-founders Nate Weisiger, Jen O’Neal, and Jeff Manheimer.
Weisiger and O’Neal had previously worked at Stubhub, while Manheimer was a travel industry veteran with prior experience at Hyatt and TravelZoo.
Their mission at first was to be a more standard travel site, like Kayak or Expedia.
In 2012, they pivoted, becoming a metasearch site which would allow users to explore many different home rental sites, all with one search.
The San Francisco based company has already won support both within and outside Silicon Valley.
In 2015, they closed a $16 million Series B funding round led by Steadfast Venture Capital.
In 2016, they raised $35 million in a Series C funding round.
A Search Engine for Vacation Rentals
Like Orbitz or Expedia does with hotels, Tripping.com lets users search through 12,000,000 available properties, which are listed on several of the largest vacation rental sites.
These include HomeAway, VRBO, Wimdu, Booking.com, FlipKey, HomeToGo, and more.
The properties listed are not only all over the United States, but in 190 countries around the world.
They list many different types of properties, including condos, vacation homes, apartments, cabins, treehouses, and more.
If something is listed on a short-term rental site, Tripping.com will let you check it out, price it out, and visit the site it’s listed on to learn more.
On Tripping.com, users can browse the listings and then go directly to the source website to book through their platform.
In this way, Tripping.com is slightly different than hotel search engines, which let you book directly through them.
Tripping.com just connects you to these rental sites, and then you book there.
The appeal of Tripping.com is that you don’t have to search through tons of sites.
Instead, you can find all the listings in one centralized location.
Their filtering tools also let you limit your search to certain neighborhoods or only view homes with certain amenities that you deem important.
Why Stay in a Vacation Rental Over a Hotel?
Vacation rentals can give you more space, more privacy, and many times, a lot more amenities.
Some rental properties have big kitchens, hot tubs, washer and dryers, food in the refrigerator, you name it.
Another appeal of a vacation rental is that you can often fit more people under one roof.
Taking a group of 10 friends to a hotel may result in the need for a room block or for people in your party to spread out across the hotel. And it can cost a lot more than just renting one home.
Rentals also let you stay in neighborhoods that a hotel might not be located in.
In many cities, hotels are confined to high traffic areas like downtown or near the airport or interstate.
Vacation rentals let you stay exactly where you want to stay, even if it’s off the beaten path.
Finally, vacation rentals can be a lot more affordable than hotel rooms, too.
One study found the average cost of a vacation rental was about the same as a hotel room, though rental properties were often much larger and had more amenities.
While some people may prefer standard hotel amenities like room service, for those willing to try rental properties, they do have serious appeal.
Did you know? Staying in a vacation rental instead of a hotel unlocks an entirely new level of comfort and convenience. Many hotel rooms do not come with a washer and dryer, while most vacation rentals do.
How to Use Tripping.com
Tripping.com should be easy to use for anyone who’s ever searched on a travel site.
On the homepage, you provide them with the location you’re traveling to, a start date and end date, and the number of people you’ll be traveling with.
That’s it.
It looks like this:
Once you start your search, on the next page you’ll be taken to your results, where you have a lot more options to find what you’re looking for.
On the right, you’ll see that you have a map that shows you where all the properties are located, as well as the quoted price for the length of your visit.
On the left, you’ll see a few more details about the properties, as well as photos that you can survey quickly.
At the top, you’ll also notice that you have a menu to further filter your results.
You can sort by price, rating, amenities, location, and accommodation type.
If you click on those filters, you can then select exactly what you’re looking for.
By using these filters, you can either set parameters, like with price, or lock in hard and fast rules, like only displaying properties that have hot tubs.
You can also set multiple filters at once, limiting your search to a specific neighborhood and within a specific price range.
Here, we’ll tap on price:
As you can see, we can now select exactly what we want to pay nightly for a property.
Once you make your selection, the site filters out the other results, only showing you exactly what you’re looking for.
Find something you like? All you have to do is click “View Deal.”
You’ll then be taken to that property’s listing site and can complete your booking there.
Editor’s Tip: When comparing vacation home options, go for a price point that is somewhere in the middle.
Rentals that are priced too low are oftentimes in poor locations, while ones too high are usually priced that way simply because people will pay that price.
Frequently Asked Questions
We’ve looked at Tripping.com, how it works, and why you might want to use it to help plan your next vacation.
Let’s get to some frequently asked questions, including the big one: Why you can’t find Airbnb properties on Tripping.com.
1. Why don’t I see Airbnb on Tripping.com?
So this is the big drawback with Tripping.com: While it has a ton of vacation rental sites in their search engine, they don’t have the biggest site.
Airbnb does not list their properties with Tripping.com.
So if you want to be thorough, you can search Tripping.com and then Airbnb, and that should give you a full picture of properties listed where you’re traveling.
2. What kind of houses can I find on Tripping.com?
You’ll get to look at all sorts of short-term rentals when you look on Tripping.com.
They have apartments, cabins, condos, houseboats, forts, castles … you dream it, they’ve probably got it listed on there somewhere.
3. How can I list my home with Tripping?
The way to get your home on Tripping.com is to list it on any of the partner sites, including VRBO, HomeAway, Homestay, etc.
By listing your home on any of those sites, it will automatically be listed with Tripping.com.
No need to do anything else.
4. Does Tripping.com cost anything?
Nope.
It’s free to search, free to use, and even free to list there.
You’ll have to pay fees to list on one of their partner sites, but there’s no additional cost to get your home on Tripping.com.
Finding a Vacation Rental with Tripping.com
When you’re planning your next vacation, whether it’s a big city weekend in New York or a week away from it all on an island, you should check out the properties listed on Tripping.com. With 12 million properties from a host of short-term rental sites, Tripping.com can give you a comprehensive view of what an area has to offer for vacation home rentals.
While it doesn’t list Airbnb properties, Tripping.com has all the other major websites in this space. If you are thinking about skipping the hotel stay and finding a real home for your getaway, Tripping.com is a good place to begin. Start browsing, and find that dream vacation stay with Tripping.
