HouseTrip

Author: Kalicia Bateman

Top Ranked Companies

Airbnb chevron_right

3.8

star star star star star_border

(166)

View Profile View Profile

Tripz.com chevron_right

4.6

star star star star star_half

(13)

View Profile View Profile

TripAdvisor chevron_right

4.4

star star star star star_half

(26)

View Profile View Profile

thumb_up

The Good

• Secure housing
• Free posting
• Great customer service

HouseTrip.com is dedicated to having secure housing. They have a group of employees that concentrate on verification of houses listed to ensure that no fraudulent accounts are posted. Just in case, HouseTrip also withholds payment of hosts until 24 hours after check-in. This means if you have any issues with check in or if you find out that your vacation rental is fraudulent or misrepresented you are eligible for a refund. Additionally, HouseTrip is one of the few websites that let their hosts post available homes for free. This means that hosts can post their house just for the week or two that they are out of town. HouseTrip allows people to post their homes for free, creating more safe options like:

• Over 300,000 holiday homes, apartments, villas and cottages
• Over 20,000 beach and rural locations around the world
• 7 million nights booked so far
• Over 95% guest satisfaction on vacation homes

HouseTrip also offers a 24/7-customer service line, and while they do not have any express guarantees, they do go out of their way to make sure you have a good experience with your vacation home. They do have a few security features to make sure you are comfortable with your vacation home, such as:

• Customer reviews that are only from previous tenants
• Screening team to verify posted homes
• Payment is withheld from hosts until 24 hours after check in to make sure your vacation rental is exactly how it was advertised

Over great parts about using HouseTrip are the convenient search options, easy to use mobile app, and informative FAQs page. HouseTrip also has a cancellation ranking system so you can choose homes that have a flexible cancellation schedule. This way, you can customize your holiday rental to fit your needs.

thumb_down

The Bad

• Additional fees
• Lacking details

HouseTrip has a few things to keep in mind while planning your next vacation. Firstly, HouseTrip has a few fees with usage and leaves a lot of options open to the discretion of the host. Here is what to plan for:

• 3% service fee associated with booking any vacation rental
• Hosts can add on additional fees like cleaning and processing fees
• Hosts get to decide how strict their cancellation policies are
• Customer Service lines are the last resort, they encourage you to first speak with our host about any issues
• No specific guarantees about service or fraud issues, just a general implication that they would resolve the issue if it came up

HouseTrip claims to investigate each posting for fraud but they do not share any specific details about how they verify or protect against fraudulent postings. Lastly, although HouseTrip has a wide variety of locations and homes-their top competitors boast almost double the amount of properties listed.

gavel

The Bottom Line

We recommend HouseTrip as an excellent place to plan your next vacation rental. HouseTrip offers a vide variety of views and boasts over 95% customer satisfaction. Be aware of the 3.3% booking fee and make sure you can't find a better deal somewhere else. However, when it comes to finding a nice place to stay, HouseTrip has a place for you. Those that use House Trip can expect the following:

1. Thousands of properties to choose from
2. Verified listings
3. Real user reviews/feedback
4. Varying cancelation policies
5. Issues of fraud