What is Google Vacation Rentals and how does it work?
August 2026
You might think you’re already using every possible tool to advertise your holiday home —then, along comes Google with something new! Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) is a new tool from the search engine giant, introduced in 2024. This platform could soon become one of the most important weapons in every holiday rental landlord’s arsenal, so don’t sleep on it. Here’s how to make the most of Google Vacation Rentals.
What is Google Vacation Rentals?
There are so many holiday rental websites out there, and now a new challenger has come along, trying to take the crown. Google Vacation Rentals is the latest addition to Google’s suite of user-friendly search tools.
Essentially, GVR is similar to other Google services, such as Google Flights. It acts as a metasearch engine, crawling the web to find results from holiday rental portals across the internet. Just like Google Flights, it’s not actually a sales platform. Travellers won’t be able to make their bookings through GVR. Instead, they can use it to find the ideal holiday home for their next getaway and then follow links to make a booking.
Crucially, GVR will direct customers to the landing page of your choice when they click on your listing. This means you can send guests straight to your website, and they can book directly through you —in other words, commission-free bookings.
What are the benefits of Google Vacation Rentals?
From a holiday rental landlord’s point of view, GVR is great news. There are lots of reasons to be cheerful about Google’s new innovation. Here’s why landlords should be happy:
- First of all, GVR is completely free. You won’t pay any commission or fees.
- It massively boosts your reach. Instead of only being visible to customers on your platform of choice, it shares your property with millions of Google users.
- You can get direct bookings. GVR listings include a link to your very own holiday rental website, so guests will book through you rather than going through a middleman. That means more money in the bank at the end of the day.
- You can showcase your brand more effectively. The search results allow your logo to be prominently displayed, and if you have more than one property in your portfolio, you can group them together.
- There’s no real work for you to do. Because GVR is a metasearch engine, it takes results from existing holiday rental platforms. That means you won’t have to set up yet another profile or do any micromanagement.
All in all, it’s fair to say that GVR has the potential to be a huge disruptor in the online holiday rental booking game. After all, Google is the platform with the biggest reach on the internet — what holiday rental landlord wouldn’t want their property showcased to millions of users?
Are there any downsides to Google Vacation Rentals?
If this all sounds too good to be true, it’s time to look for the catch. The truth is that there are a few potential pitfalls involved with GVR. Here they are:
- Listing can be tricky. Some of the largest holiday rental platforms, such as Airbnb, refuse to list their users’ properties on the service. You’ll need to make sure that you advertise your holiday home on a portal that permits GVR to include it in its search results.
- Some holiday rental platforms will allow you to be listed, but the landing page on the listing is your advertisement on their website. Google doesn’t take any fees, but of course these websites do. In other words, you may still have to pay commission for your listings.
- If you want to be listed without going through a holiday rental platform, it can be very tricky. You’ll need to have 5,000 or more properties in your portfolio, which very few holiday rental landlords have.
- GVR can be rather picky about what it considers to be a holiday rental. Specifically, if your property includes a separate reception area or hired management staff, then Google considers it to be a hotel. You can still get listed on Google Hotels, but you may struggle to reach the right audience.
The sheer size of Google’s audience means that, even with these downsides, getting listed is still a pretty good deal.
How to advertise property on Google Vacation Rentals
There are three ways for a landlord to advertise a property on GVR. The first and easiest option is just listing their property on a holiday rental portal that GVR pulls data from. Secondly, landlords with extremely large portfolios can get a special listing. Finally, you may be able to list your property on its own website, but it’s a little tricky.
To list a property separately —that is to say, not as part of a holiday rental portal— here are the requirements you must meet:
- Your website must be created using software that integrates with GVR.
- Your website must have a logo with a square shape, a transparent or non-white background, and no more than three characters of text. Your logo cannot depict alcohol, violence or adult content.
- There must be at least eight photos of each accommodation or room, and each photo must have a caption.
- Your website must allow instant bookings.
- Your accommodation must have capacity for no more than 14 guests.
If your website meets these requirements, then you can give Google permission to include it in its metasearch results. Then, your property will automatically appear in GVR’s listings, and guests can rent your holiday flat or home directly.
How to optimise your GVR listing
Once your property is listed on GVR, you’ll probably want it to appear prominently in the rankings for your area. One major bonus is that some large platforms, such as Airbnb, are not integrated with GVR. This means that their properties won’t appear in the listings at all.
The Google algorithm takes a number of things into account. These include high-quality photographs and lots of amenities and services, such as late check-out options, breakfast available, sports equipment for rent, swimming pools, hot tubs, and so on. Having a flexible cancellation policy will also help boost your rankings.
Essentially, the more information you can provide about your property, the higher it will appear in the listings. This makes it easier for it to reach potential guests who’ll rent your house for holidays.
Remember, this is a very new system. As people get used to it, optimisation strategies may change, so keep paying attention and looking for new ways to boost your ranking.