The less known vacation rental company makes fun of Airbnb via Billboard

Just in time for summer, a rivalry between vacation rental companies is preparing.

Last month, VRBO crowned the “warmer, cooler and more friendly” platform with an Airbnb display panel rival. VRBO put the display panel just outside the airbnb seat in San Francisco.

Now, Savvy, a brand new vacation rental company, takes a chance of its two rivals that are very doing.

SAVVY has placed a display panel near the headquarters of Austin de VRBO to bring back its “free” model, imitating the clean VRBO manual to make fun of Airbnb.

SAVVY – A startup based in Austin with 13 employees who launched in February – does not promise any costs to the hosts to list their properties for rent or for customers to book with them.

“As a new child on the block, we thought it would be fun,” said Savvy founder Eric Goldreyer, to Business Insider.

Goldreyer thought that focusing on the costs was a way to enter the reproaches of current customers on Airbnb and VRBO.

“What really cares about customers is saving money on their stay,” he said.

Airbnb described the original sign of VRBO “desperate”, although the CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, published an emoji laughing on Instagram in response. Airbnb and VRBO both refused to comment on the SAVVY display panel.

Savvy has 150,000 properties across the United States, Canada, Mexico, said Goldreyer.

He has a long way to go before catching up his competitors. In 2024, Airbnb said that it had 7.7 million announcements worldwide, while VRBO said it had more than 2 million.

Savvy is trying to draw attention to your free model

Airbnb fees were a collision point for guests and hosts over the years, some saying that the cost increase has arrested them to book via the platform. Airbnb has taken additional lengths to ensure that customers can easily see the total price of a stay, including cleaning costs and taxes.

Airbnb mainly uses a divided foot model, where the most common arrangement is 3% service fees for hosts and costs of around 14% for customers. VRBO Fresh hosts costs of 5% and guests up to 20%.

The hosts list their properties free of charge on Savvy, and guests do not give reservation costs, said Goldreyer.

However, hosts can choose to pay a subscription that stimulates how high their house is on Savvy. Current subscription packages vary from $ 5 to $ 20 per month, said Goldreyer.

Savvy mainly targets more -scale rental operators to develop its registration base.

The platform is only Short -term professional hosts that have at least five properties and use formal reservation software, among other requirements.

Goldreyer said Savvy wanted a coherent experience for guests.

“We don’t want people who host their side are jostling,” he said. “We want to know if our guest arrives at 11 pm and that the Bluetooth lock is out, there is a professional they can call.”