Dwellable app

Dwellable Vacation Rental App Review – will Dwellable Be the next VRBO ?

In Uncategorized by Tamala Prickett

Dwellable Vacation Rental App Review – will Dwellable be the next VRBO ?

We have all heard of the VRBO empire that now owns Homeaway and Vacationrentals.com, but have you heard about Dwellable yet ?

Dwellable Home Page

Dwellable Home Page

VRBO began as a grassroot project by a vacation rental owner who self-managed his own second home and decided to take matters into his own hands by creating VRBO after-work hours. Fast forward to 2013, and VRBO is no longer what it use to be in that it is a publicly traded company that gobbled up the only other well known competitors, Homeaway and VacationRentals.com.

Yesterday, I downloaded the new Dwellable vacation rental Android app after I received an email notification that it was released. I was already familiar with Dwellable, because I post vacation rental blog reviews on their website on a regular basis.

Now, I have to tell you that I had no intention of comparing Dwellable to VRBO or any other similar website for that matter. I was not even thinking of those websites when I downloaded the Dwellable app, because it just was not on my radar. After I took a look around the Dwellable app, it just hit me…..”The VRBO empire better watch out, because there is a new kid on the block.”

The Dwellable app for Android is a clean and easy to use app with crisp and vivid photography, that will make any potential rentor want to keep looking. For example, the Dwellable app homescreen simply states ‘where are you going?’ with a high resolution and appealing background.

Dwellable app

Dwellable app

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I find this format refreshing in that the Homeaway homepage, and all of the VRBO owned websites for that matter, are not attractive at all. The VRBO owned websites are flooded with a nightmare of clickable choices for an ‘ADD personality’ like my own.

VRBO homepage

VRBO homepage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I began looking at Orange Beach Al rentals  on VRBO, which is near my hometown and a realistic summer vacation option, but ended up looking at Bora Bora for the heck of it. I mean, why not? I would much rather go to Bora Bora, even if I can’t afford it for the next 20 years or so!  Thus, the end result is not what the rentor wants and certainly not what the vacation rental owner or manager wants. No one got anywhere 🙁 Well, I did see some kick butt pictures of Bora Bora !

Bora Bora

Oh come on, admit it. You looked and imagined either yourself OR  your travel companion looking this fabulous in Bora Bora and the reality is  (insert reader response)  or my response, “Mamma ain’t got the money this year, but I am totally going to the gym today!”

To be fair, the Homeaway app has as simple homepage that enables the potential rentor to enter a location and search. Again, here in lies a big problem for the potential rentor. For example, we typed in “Orange Beach Alabama” and got 3272 results on the Homeaway app, while we got a much more manageable amount of 61 results on the Dwellable Android app. Now, what would you do with 3272 results? I know what I would do, RUN FORREST RUN!

I know what you are thinking, Dwellable’s results won’t be as manageable if they grow like Homeaway and VRBO, and I agree. I am just reviewing the products as they exist, and I hope that Dwellable would take any growth patterns into consideration when updating their app.

So, why do we love the Dwellable app for the Android? Here is our Top 3 Reasons:

1.  It’s modern and attractive

2. It’s extremely user-friendly and manageable

3. It gives you enough information to decide whether you want to contact the owner or manage

I was done with my review of the Dwellable app when I decided to test the app’s user friendly ability with my 11 year old who is tech savvy like most tweens these days. I said : ” Hey Evelyn, download the Dwellable app for Android and the Homeaway app and let me know what you think.” Here is what she said : ” Well, the Homeaway app takes forever to load, looks boring, is really confusing, and it takes a lot to get to where you want to go.” She then looked at the Dwellable app for Android  and said :” It’s new and cool looking, it is really easy to use, and loads quickly.”

Enough said.

Maybe, I should hire her to write for me? hmmm……

My sincerest apologies to Dwellable as I know they did not want anyone to compare them to the VRBO empire, but I could not help myself. I just speak the truth 🙂 Rock on Dwellable, and we love the new Android app!

 

 

Tamala PrickettDwellable Vacation Rental App Review – will Dwellable Be the next VRBO ?