Basics:
HomeEscape is a home rental platform that allows you to list your property for a flat annual fee
Expected pay: You set it
Husl$core: $$$$
Commissions & fees: $199 annually
Where: Nationwide
Requirements: 18 or older; a house to rent
What is HomeEscape?
HomeEscape is a home rental platform that launched in 2016, encouraging homeowners to sign up and rent out their vacation home or spare bedroom.
How it works
Unlike Airbnb or VRBO, HomeEscape charges homeowners a simple flat fee to list their homes for rent. There are no commissions imposed by the site on owner or renter. Moreover the site pledges that you will find at least 6 potential renters in the first year, or they’ll give you a second-year listing for free.
Like the other home rental platforms, you list your home here with a description, lots of photos, and a calendar that tracks the home’s availability.
You are in charge of what you charge per night and whether you have prohibitions (like no pets or smoking) and requirements, such as minimum stays.
However, unlike the other rental sites, you control communication with your potential clients and are able to talk to them directly. Sites that charge commissions generally bar direct communication with homeowners and renters out of fear that, if they can communicate directly, they’ll skirt the site and avoid the fees.
HomeEscape Review:
Direct communication can solve a lot of problems for both homeowners and renters. And flat fees can save both homeowners and renters a small fortune on long or frequent bookings. For these reasons, we like HomeEscape’s model a lot.
That said, HomeEscape is a relatively new site and doesn’t draw even a fraction of the customers of bigger sites like Airbnb and VRBO. And less web traffic translates into fewer potential customers.
When you’re paying an upfront listing fee, you want to know that you’re not throwing those advertising dollars away. Thus, the fact that HomeEscape will give you a second-year listing for free, is important.
Recommendations
We think this site is worth a try. You can sign up with HomeEscape here.
However, if you’re trying to keep your home rented regularly, you may also need to list with Airbnb, which pulls in far more potential customers.
If you aim to rent your house out for longer stretches, such as weeks or months at a time, also check out SabbaticalHomes. And, if you have an ocean-front rental, consider BeachHouse.
What their users say (from SiteJabber)
I would love to leave VRBO. But they have 7,600 units in Myrtle beach. HomeEscape has five. I can not live on this for advertising.
We have a listing on HomeEscape for two years now and on the other popular platforms (The ones that form a monopoly/duoploy). We receive a small number of bookings on HomeEscape annually (like 1-2) and have been paid promptly by their site’s payment platform. I have no complaints and my bookings are in addition to what I received on the other sites, so it is paying for itself. We have to support sites like HomeEscape to help break up the Monopoly or at least try to keep it more honest. Book-fee and hassle free. Thanks Home Escape.
It is like pulling teeth to get paid thru this company. They started out good but last year (2020) and so far this year, it has been awful. Eventually they do pay. But this year, I am still wondering since I have had 2 guests already check in and depart and no $. This could be a great company – too bad they are pulling these stunts.
Looking for alternatives
I listed my two properties in Florida on this site and I am very pleased so far. I was looking for alternatives to HomeAway. The site is easy to use and lets me have direct contact with guests and collect payments on my own. I signed up a couple of months ago and have received several inquiries and two bookings. A lot of people seem to be migrating over because of new fees on VRBO as well.
Love it!
I wrote a positive review for HomeEscape several months ago. But after having been with them for 7 months and completing over 10 successful transactions through them, I wanted to again rate them as excellent! They are a travelers and owners BEST alternative to VRBO/Homeaway and I hope travelers & vacation owners learn of them and start using them… why wouldn’t they? Travelers don’t pay the bogus “traveler service fee”. Which is really a booking fee – there’s no extra service given. They don’t hide owner or traveler phone or email information like Homeaway/VRBO do. Allows owners/travelers to freely communicate. VRBO/Homeaway aren’t going to be there when the A/C goes out or you as a traveler get locked out… the OWNER is. So why pay them extra for nothing?
List here!
I am a renter and frequent user of VRBO and other sites. I came across HomeEscape when looking for alternatives to the new fees VRBO and others are charging the renter. Haven’t found any listings in the areas I am looking for currently, but have been back several times hoping for more listings. I am leaving sites that charge the consumer, and so is everyone I have spoken to about this. I want to encourage homeowners to list on here. It doesn’t matter how many listings VRBO or other sites have because I won’t even go there to look. We are here, waiting for your listings to show up.
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