Comparison

Vrbo Owner vs Hosty

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Vrbo Owner

Manage your vacation rental business on the go. Stay connected with travelers, respond to inquiries, and manage bookings and your calendar from your smartphone. Update listing details and policies with ease.

Highlights
  • Receive booking alerts
  • Reply to inquiries
  • Approve/decline bookings
  • Manage guest messages
  • Update reservation calendar
  • Edit listing details
Features
Read full description

The Vrbo Owner Mobile App makes it easy to manage your vacation rental. Stay connected with travelers, manage your bookings, and run your business, anytime and anywhere. NEVER MISS A BOOKING Get alerted every time you receive an inquiry or booking request! You can reply to an inquiry and approve or decline bookings directly from your smartphone. QUICKLY REPLY TO MESSAGES It’s easy to stay connected to guests before, during, or after their booking. You can read and reply to your messages quickly, with all of your conversations in one place. EASILY UPDATE YOUR CALENDAR Add, edit, or cancel a reservation in your calendar in just a few taps. Need to block dates? That’s easy, too. AND MORE Edit your listing, update your house rules and policies, and stay in control with the convenience of an app.

About

Hosty

Streamline vacation rental management with a unified platform. Organize listings, manage bookings, and automate guest communication across multiple accounts and platforms. Optimize pricing and delegate tasks to boost productivity and revenue.

Highlights
  • Multiple account management
  • Centralized inbox for guest messages
  • Multi-calendar view for bookings
  • Automated guest communication and pricing
  • Channel manager for third-party platforms
  • Task management for teams
Features
Read full description

Hosty is a simple and intuitive vacation rental property management software. - MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS Manage all of your accounts in one place. Use a single online platform to organize and control multiple accounts without the headache of logging in and out. - LISTING MANAGEMENT View and edit all of your vacation rental listings from multiple accounts in one app. Seamless account integration for maximum productivity. - CENTRAL INBOX Never miss a message again. View, send and reply to messages from all of your guests using a powerful central inbox feature. - MULTI CALENDAR Effortlessly keep tabs on the daily calendar activities of your rentals from multiple accounts and platforms. Review and edit bookings, change prices, and manage calendar availability with ease. - BOOKING MANAGEMENT Sophisticated booking dashboard to manage all reservations. Accept or reject incoming bookings, view and edit confirmed reservations. Use our innovative filter tool to make booking management simple again. - AUTOMATION Communication and price management made simple. Automate guest relations, price adjustments, and guest reviews to save time, increase revenue, and keep your response rates high. - CHANNEL MANAGER Manage bookings and reservations from 3rd Party platforms. Sync all calendar data from VRBO, HomeAway, Booking.com, TripAdvisor, and many other short-term rental booking platforms. - TASK MANAGEMENT Delegate responsibilities amongst your team and increase overall business productivity by taking advantage of our task management solution. Distribute tasks with deadlines to your support staff. Disclaimer: Hosty is not associated or affiliated with Airbnb TM. All trademark and copyrights belong to their owners.

Screenshots

Vrbo Owner4 screens
Hosty4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Hosty at 100% against Vrbo Owner's 23%. Hosty also leads on monetization model (free vs ad-supported) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). Vrbo Owner's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.0) and ratings volume (152K vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Vrbo Owner holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Vrbo Owner has 152K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 23% of Vrbo Owner's written reviews are positive against 100% of Hosty's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Vrbo Owner ships an update weekly, Hosty monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Vrbo Owner versus Hosty: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVrbo OwnerHosty
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (152K ratings) — better4.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews23.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings152K — better2
Update frequencyWeekly — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supportedFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size398 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHomeAway.com, Inc.Hosty Technologies Inc.

Customer experience

Vrbo Owner

All ratings151,693 ratings
Positive89.9%
Neutral4.3%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews898 reviews
Positive23.3%
Neutral14.4%
Negative62.4%

Hosty

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Vrbo Owner

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Calendar sync issues
  • Booking request problems
  • Unreliable notifications
  • Frequent login issues

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved mobile app functionality
  • Better calendar management tools
  • More transparent pricing and fees
  • Enhanced owner-guest communication
  • Stronger fraud prevention measures

Hosty

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Vrbo Owner

No in-app purchases

None

Hosty

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Vrbo Owner free?
Vrbo Owner is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hosty free?
Hosty is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Vrbo Owner or Hosty?
Vrbo Owner is rated higher. Vrbo Owner averages 4.6 out of 5 from 152K ratings, while Hosty averages 4.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Vrbo Owner or Hosty have ads?
Neither Vrbo Owner nor Hosty shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Vrbo Owner or Hosty?
Vrbo Owner ships an update weekly, and Hosty monthly. Most recently, Vrbo Owner was updated on September 27, 2026 and Hosty on September 1, 2026.

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