Most holiday home owners in Kerry start on Airbnb, and many stay there. Sooner or later the question comes up: should the house also go on Booking.com, on Vrbo, or on its own website? Each one brings a different kind of guest and charges the owner in its own way. Below is what we have learned running holiday homes around Castlegregory, Cloghane, Camp, Fenit and Listowel.
Airbnb: where most Kerry holiday homes start
Airbnb is the biggest channel for self-catering homes in Ireland, and for most houses on the Dingle Peninsula it brings the bulk of bookings. Guests know it, and the calendar and messages are easy to run from a phone.
The fee has changed. Airbnb is moving hosts in Europe to a single host fee of 15.5% of the booking, plus VAT, with no separate service fee added for the guest. Prices set under the old split model need to be checked after the switch, because the whole fee now comes out of the host payout. See Airbnb's help page on service fees for the rate that applies to your listing.
It suits houses that sell on character, such as a cottage with a sea view, and it is where a new listing collects its first reviews fastest.
Booking.com: more short stays and more guests from Europe
Booking.com reaches travellers who would never open Airbnb, many of them booking two or three nights while touring the Wild Atlantic Way. Instant booking is the default, and guests expect the same level of detail they get from a hotel listing.
Commission is set per property. The global average is around 15%, the range runs from about 10% to 25%, and payment handling through Booking.com adds roughly 1% to 3%. Optional visibility programmes such as Preferred Partner cost about 3% more (Houst breakdown, 2026).
Booking.com also asks more of the owner up front:
- Identity and ownership checks for the business behind the listing, which in Ireland can include the Land Registry folio number.
- Address verification, sometimes by a letter with a code sent to the property. Allow up to two weeks for it to arrive.
- Bank details for payouts and tax information, which Booking.com reports to Revenue under the EU DAC7 rules.
- An account that stays in use. Accounts that go quiet for months can be locked, and a booking that arrives while nobody is watching still has to be honoured.
Vrbo: families, longer stays and the route onto Expedia
Vrbo is owned by Expedia Group. Its guests tend to be families and groups booking five to seven nights, many of them from the United States. For a private holiday home it is also the way onto Expedia: there is no separate Expedia listing for houses, and Vrbo passes eligible instant-book listings to Expedia through its expanded distribution programme.
From 29 October 2026 Vrbo charges hosts a single 12% fee on the stay and all charges, including cleaning, with VAT on top. Guests pay their own service fee on top of your price, so the same nightly rate looks dearer to the guest on Vrbo than on Airbnb (Vrbo help centre).
In our part of Kerry, Vrbo listings are mostly run by a few agencies, and many have few or no reviews, because reviews from Airbnb do not carry across. The channel is smaller in Ireland than Airbnb, but it reaches a guest who books early and stays longer.
Direct bookings on your own website
A booking taken on your own website carries no platform commission, which means the guest can pay less and the owner can still earn more than on Airbnb for the same dates. The guest deals with the local team from the first message.
A website does not bring guests on its own, though. Direct bookings grow from returning guests, from search and maps, and from guests who find the house on Airbnb and then look for it by name. They work best alongside the platforms.
Keeping one calendar across several channels
The main risk of listing on more than one site is a double booking. Each platform can import the others' calendars through iCal links, but those links refresh only every hour or few hours. Two guests can book the same night in that window, and the cancellation penalty falls on the host.
A channel manager solves this by connecting to the platforms directly. Availability, prices and bookings come from one system and reach every channel within minutes. It costs a monthly fee per channel, and it is the step we would take before a house goes on more than two platforms.
Keep the house the same everywhere too: the same photos, house rules, cleaning charge and cancellation terms. Guests compare listings, and a mismatch between two platforms is the first thing they ask about.
The new Fáilte Ireland register applies to every channel
From 2027, every home let for stays of up to 21 nights in Ireland needs a registration number from Fáilte Ireland, shown on every listing on every platform. The register opens on 1 December 2026, and owners need to register by 31 December 2026. Platforms must display the number and take down listings when Fáilte Ireland asks them to.
The owner registers personally; an agent cannot do it for you unless the house belongs to a company. You will need your PPS number, contact details, the property address with Eircode, the number of bedrooms and the maximum number of guests. The Department of Enterprise guidance on short-term letting has the details.
Which mix suits your house
| Channel | Typical guest | What the host pays | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbnb | Couples, families, mixed lengths of stay | 15.5% plus VAT | Almost every house, and new listings that need reviews |
| Booking.com | Touring guests, short stays, many from Europe | About 15%, set per property, plus payment fees | Houses that can take two or three night stays |
| Vrbo | Families and groups, five to seven nights, many from the US | 12% from 29 October 2026, plus VAT | Larger houses and longer stays |
| Own website | Returning guests and guests searching by name | No platform commission | Owners with a local team to answer enquiries |
For most of the homes we see, Airbnb stays the base. Booking.com is worth adding when the house can take short stays in the shoulder season. Vrbo makes sense for larger houses that sell by the week. More channels only pay off if the calendar is run from one place.
How we handle this for owners
Wild Atlantic Aways looks after holiday homes in West and North Kerry, including Fenit, Listowel and the north side of the Dingle Peninsula. Part of that work is agreeing with each owner which channels the house goes on, keeping the listings consistent, running one calendar and answering guests across all of them. Read about our holiday home management or see the homes we look after.
FAQ: listing a Kerry holiday home on Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo
Can I list the same house on Airbnb and Booking.com at the same time?
Yes. Many holiday homes in Ireland do. Link the calendars at the very least, and use a channel manager once there are more than two channels or many short bookings.
Which platform charges the lowest fee?
From 29 October 2026 Vrbo charges hosts 12%, against 15.5% on Airbnb and around 15% on Booking.com. On Vrbo the guest also pays a service fee, so the guest's total is often higher there.
Do Airbnb reviews transfer to Booking.com or Vrbo?
No. Each platform keeps its own reviews, so a house starts from zero on a new channel.
Do I need a Fáilte Ireland registration number?
Yes, for any home let for stays of up to 21 nights. Register between 1 and 31 December 2026 and add the number to every listing.
How do I avoid double bookings?
Run every channel from one calendar. iCal links between platforms help, but they refresh with a delay; a channel manager connected to each platform closes the gap.