Top 5 Accommodation Booking Sites to Consider When Staying in Singapore

Airbnb is one of the major innovators of online vacation property renting, and its strengths lie in its community-based idea. However, the extra verification measures on Airbnb can make the booking process a hassle. And Airbnb does not seem to have strong protections for your payment after you book, so the onus is on you to rule out the dishonest hosts before they make off with your money.

Airbnb’s most popular alternatives address some of its core downsides. For example, HomeAway.com (in the U.S) do not charge booking fees to guests. And Roomorama.com (in the U.S.) only release your booking payment 24 hours after you check in of the property.

Here is more information on five of the biggest accommodation booking sites like Airbnb, and what they offer when finding accommodation in Singapore or for expats living in Singapore.

FlipKey

A popular Airbnb competitor, FlipKey is owned by enormous travel company TripAdvisor and feature over 30,000 rental listings in over 1100 cities from around the world. Furthermore, all apartment owners who put up their properties on FlipKey have to be verified by the website’s staff, so the chance that you will book with home owner who has dishonest ways are low. And FlipKey shows over 5000 special booking deals daily, so you can find your stay for even less! However, the only disadvantage to FlipKey is that not every listing can be booked directly over the website; some might need you to email or phone the owner directly.

Tripping

Tripping.com is a specialized search engine for accommodation. Think of skyscanner.com for airline and hotels, Tripping.com works the same way. It combines many search listings on different travel booking websites at the same time, so you can look for more properties on it than a single booking website.  You can also compare prices for listings posted on multiple accommodation booking sites at once, so you can be sure that you get the best deal.  Sometimes you can get a discount too!

HomeAway

In terms of online rental property booking, HomeAway is the main competitor versus Airbnb, with over 1 million worldwide listings.  It offers many of the same services as Airbnb, helping people find rental properties and apartments based on their location and travel dates, as well as several other requirements. HomeAway does not charge booking fees for guests, and it offers its own brand of travel insurance and other protections so that you can rent with confidence. HomeAway also operates several smaller vacation property renting websites, which are often aimed at certain geographical markets.These include VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner), TravelMob (for renters in Asia) and VacationRentals. All serving different purpose and needs.

Roomorama

If you are looking for a site like Airbnb that makes safety and peace of mind its top importance, then try Roomorama. Roomorama needs property owners who list on it to upload information that ensures that they’re not out to cheat someone, such as personal ID, recent bills, or pictures of themselves. As a further deterrence, Roomorama has a unique payment system in which you are given a six-digit code when you book a room, which you must provide to the property owner when you check in. This ensures that Roomorama only pays apartment owners for hostings. Fun fact: Roomorama headquarters is actually in Singapore.

Airbnb

Airbnb is more than a brilliant website that lets anybody put their spare couch, room, or house up for rent. The goal for hosts: to rise through the search rankings, allowing them to get bookings, meet great people from all over the world, and earn extra cash. For guests: to stay at amazing and unique places for a fraction of the price of a hotel room. Here’s what you need to know to know find a good accommodation in Singapore.

If you would like to find hassle-free accommodation or serviced apartments in Singapore, consider us at Abiel Corporate Housing.

We look forward to serving you. At Abiel we are “more than just Home”.

*The above article on accommodation booking sites was written to provide value for our customers and readers, it expresses Abiel’s viewpoint. Abiel will not be liable or responsible for any loss or damages because of this article.*