Vrbo Owner vs Octochannel
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Receive booking alerts
- Reply to inquiries
- Approve/decline bookings
- Manage guest messages
- Update reservation calendar
- Edit listing details
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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.
Octochannel
Manage all aspects of your property from a single, device-accessible platform. Streamline processes, save time, and boost performance with this comprehensive suite designed for property management.
- Property management
- Process automation
- Performance optimization
- Multi-device access
- All-in-one suite
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Octochannel allows you to enhance, automate, and optimize all the processes related to managing your property, from a single platform accessible from any device. Start saving time and improving the performance of your property with our All-in-One Suite, designed specifically for you.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Vrbo Owner at 4.6 against Octochannel's 1.7. Vrbo Owner also leads on ratings volume (152K vs 3) and update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks). Octochannel's advantage is monetization model (free vs ad-supported) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Vrbo Owner holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 1.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Vrbo Owner has 152K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 24% of Vrbo Owner's written reviews are positive against 22% of Octochannel's.
Vrbo Owner ships an update weekly, Octochannel every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Vrbo Owner | Octochannel |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (152K ratings) — better | 1.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 23.8% of reviews — better | 22.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 152K — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 330 MB | 43 MB |
| Age rating | +4 | 4+ |
| Developer | HomeAway.com, Inc. | Octorate |
Customer experience
Vrbo Owner
Octochannel
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
Octochannel
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Vrbo Owner
No in-app purchases
Octochannel
No in-app purchases
