Websites for renting directly from owners

[needmesomesun]

My husband and I have always been big fans of by owner rentals. Some of the big by owner websites are now SO flooded with listings by the rental/management companies that it is near impossible to find the listings that are by actual owners. It is so discouraging. The point of those websites was to rent directly from owners. Over the last few years I've noticed that there is an extreme shift and there are now more listings by the management/rental companies than by owners. In some listings it is hard to tell. The occasions we have rented directly from the owners we have had really great experiences. When I recently went to look for a rental I was overwhelmed and it seems every rental on St. John now has a listing on those sites, but owner or not.

Do any of you find this dishonest?

[Xislandgirl]

in many cases, owners complete the listing but direct bookings to the management company. It has been happening for years, I just think that more and more owners/companies are doing it because people think they will get a better deal if they go straight to the owner on VRBO or FlipKey or 10K rentals, etc.

I don't find it dishonest. People are trying to get their property rented. Either through a management company, a free site, listing with multiple agencies, whatever works to get the most traffic.

There also has been instances of listings from owners being hacked and duplicated on other sites. Having the management company as the contact may be another lvel of protection as I would think that a hacker would avoid a listing with a company as the contact as opposed to an individual owner.

[stj4me]

ok

[stj4me]

I can understand your frustration and that is why we created a website for our property that is separate from our vrbo listing. We frankly enjoy having direct contact with our potential renters and enjoy sharing our knowledge and enthusiasm for St. John.

Cheers,
Leslie and Peter

[needmesomesun]

I don't think flipkey or 10k rentals, or homeaway for that matter, advertise that they are listed by the owners. So as far as I'm concerned, that is a free for all. It is the websites that say BY OWNER that bothers me. The people I think it is most dishonest and unfair to are those owners that tackle it all themselves (we have rented from several) and now instead of them having a special outlet, they are overrun with listings by management/rental companies taking business away from them on a site that was intended for them (Not reps of other rentals).

Leslie and Peter - best of luck with your rental. We stayed at Grande Bay for part of our last visit and really loved the location and harbor view. Having a parking spot in town was awesome and being able to walk everywhere in town without worrying about parking made for so many relaxing evenings.

[Sea Turtle]

Rental villa selection has definitely become increasingly confusing. There are villas listed solely by owners with their own web sites, 'by owner' web sites that include owners and management/marketing companies, 'property management companies' that both market and manage certain villas and 'marketing companies' that do only bookings of villas and no property management. Now, more than ever...."caveat emptor".

Rich Glass