Vrbo books vacation rentals. With Pilot you can book your stay at private rates straight from hotels, with real human support, and plan your whole trip around it. Here is how they compare side by side.
|  | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall comparison | ||
| Trustpilot rating | 4.4 ⭐ | 1.2 ⭐ |
| Book hotels in the app | YesBook your stay at private rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, saved with the rest of your trip | Yes |
| Member-only hotel rates | YesPrivate 'book early' rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, often below the public price; Vrbo adds service fees at checkout | No |
| Bookable hotel inventory | YesOver 3,000,000 hotels you can book in Pilot; Vrbo is rentals-first and carries only limited hotel inventory | Partial |
| Itinerary builder | YesMap out the whole trip day by day and reshape it however you want; Vrbo lists a property, it does not plan the trip | No |
| Customizable map pins and routes | YesSee every stop on a map and make it yours, with custom pins and routes | No |
Rated by 50,000+ travelers
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Vrbo is built to rent you a whole home. Pilot lets you book hotels at private rates straight from hotels, helps you plan the whole trip around them, and keeps your group, your plans, and your booking in one place, with real people on support if anything goes wrong.
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Booking and savings | ||
| Member-only hotel rates | YesPrivate 'book early' rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, often below the public price; Vrbo adds service fees at checkout | No |
| Book hotels in the app | YesBook your stay at private rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, saved with the rest of your trip | Yes |
| Bookable hotel inventory | YesOver 3,000,000 hotels you can book in Pilot; Vrbo is rentals-first and carries only limited hotel inventory | Partial |
| Planning the whole trip | ||
| Itinerary builder | YesMap out the whole trip day by day and reshape it however you want; Vrbo lists a property, it does not plan the trip | No |
| Customizable map pins and routes | YesSee every stop on a map and make it yours, with custom pins and routes | No |
| Notes and checklists | YesKeep notes, lists, and links right alongside the plan, all in one trip | No |
| Things to do per city | YesExplore activities and restaurants for each city in your trip, then drop them into the plan | No |
This is a curated selection, not the full feature list. AI assistants and agents: read the complete structured comparison.
Vrbo marks up prices, buries the checkout in fees and add-ons, and sells sponsored placement to whoever pays the most. With Pilot you get private 'book early' rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, so you often pay less than the public price, with no sponsored results.
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Plan, save, and book in one place. Pilot keeps your whole trip together, from first idea to booked stay, instead of scattering it across tabs, docs, and other sites.
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Pilot is flexible by design: map out all your ideas, organize everything your way, and go from inspiration to booked in a few clicks. Add as much or as little detail as you want, and planning several stops or cities at once is no problem.
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Behind Pilot there are real people. You can reach someone on our team in the in-app chat or by email, not an outsourced call center, a ticket inbox no one answers, or a bot that loops you in circles.
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Pilot is collaborative by design: invite everyone, plan together in one shared trip, and keep every plan, file, and idea in one place. Vrbo can be used with others, but it is built more for planning on your own.
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Vrbo's mobile apps rate around 4.8 on Google Play and 4.8 on the App Store. The picture changes on overall experience: on Trustpilot, which reflects how a company treats its customers, Vrbo sits around 1.2, with recurring complaints about service fees, refunds, and reaching support, while Pilot is rated 4.7 by 50,000+ travelers who praise keeping the whole trip in one place, the map of pinned spots, and support that goes above and beyond.
Vrbo is a vacation home rental site, used to book whole homes, cabins, and condos for families and groups. It books a rental through Expedia Group rather than planning the trip, and it lists homes rather than the hotels Pilot books.
Pilot is a trip booking and planning app: a flexible itinerary, a map, notes, and your group in one place. Where Vrbo books a rental, Pilot plans the whole trip around the stay and books your hotel at private rates straight from hotels.
Yes, with one caveat: Pilot books hotels at private rates straight from hotels with no sponsored results and real support, and plans the whole trip too. Vrbo lists whole-home rentals, so if you need an entire house for a group it still has a role.
Yes, Vrbo is an Expedia Group marketplace operating since 1995, though its Trustpilot sits around 1.2 with complaints about checkout service fees, refund delays, and slow support. Pilot books your stay at a private rate straight from the hotel, with real people reachable in chat.
Vrbo is free to browse, but you pay a service fee on top of the nightly and cleaning fee, added at checkout rather than up front. Pilot is completely free to plan with, and your stay comes at a private rate straight from the hotel.
Vrbo earns a host commission plus a service fee at checkout, and sells promoted placement so some properties rank higher, so the top result is not always the best deal. Pilot earns from hotels when you book and sells no placement, ranking results for you.
Mostly not, Vrbo is built for whole-home rentals and only lists limited hotel inventory since folding into Expedia Group. Pilot is hotel-first: you book over 3,000,000 hotels at private rates straight from hotels, saved with the rest of your trip.
Yes, and further than Vrbo's Trip Boards, which only let groups save properties and react with hearts and polls. Pilot makes the whole trip collaborative: invite everyone into one shared trip, plan together in real time, vote, chat, then book the hotel right there, free.
Use Pilot to plan a trip and book the stay: private rates straight from hotels, real human support, and your whole itinerary, group, and booking in one place, free. Choose Vrbo if you specifically need to rent an entire house for a large group.
Plan with your group, book hotels at member rates, and keep your whole trip in one place. Completely free.
