Best holiday rental sites for families: honest comparison (Airbnb, Vrbo, Sykes and more)

Finding the right place to stay is half the holiday. But with so many platforms to choose from, working out where to even start can feel overwhelming. I’ve booked through most of the major rental platforms over the years and now I’m travelling with R, the stakes feel higher. A property that looks lovely in photos can quickly become a nightmare if there’s no stairgate, an unfenced pool, or a host who listed a cot that turns out to be a foam mat on the floor.

Here’s my honest rundown of the main holiday rental platforms including what they’re good for, where they fall short, and how easy they are to filter by the things that matter to families when you’re searching with a baby or toddler in tow. Greece in particular has a brilliant stock of villas and holiday homes, and if you’re planning a trip there it’s worth reading our guide to the best Greek islands for families alongside this to understand which islands lend themselves best to self-catering.

How to choose family-friendly holiday accommodation

Choosing the right place to stay can make or break a trip with a baby or toddler. A beautiful property that looks perfect in photos can quickly unravel if the cot is a foam mat, the pool is unfenced, or the nearest supermarket is a 40-minute drive. Before you even look at which platform to book through, it’s worth knowing what you’re actually looking for – and this is where my rating of booking platform by their search functionality comes in!

These are the things I check for every single trip:

• Travel cot: confirm it’s a proper travel cot, and if in doubt, message the host directly before booking
• High chair: listed more often than it’s actually provided so always verify
• Stairgate: essential if you have a crawler or early walker. Very few platforms let you filter for this, but Sykes does
• Enclosed garden or terrace: gives you somewhere to let them roam without constant supervision
• Pool fencing: this may be important for toddlers, so check photos carefully and ask the host if it isn’t clear
• Proximity to a supermarket: sounds obvious but worth checking, especially in rural areas or on islands (our trip to Skye was a good example where we nearly ended up over 30 mins from a supermarket!)
• Washing machine: with babies and toddlers, this is less of a nice-to-have and more of a necessity

Once you know what you need, the platform you book through will determine how easy it is to find it. Some make filtering for family essentials straightforward; others require a lot of back-and-forth with hosts. That’s what the rest of this guide covers.

Quick comparison: best holiday booking sites at a glance

A couple of things really stood out when I pulled this together, and for UK family breaks, we always start with Sykes. Airbnb and Booking.com are the two biggest names out there and most of us default to them without thinking, but the Trustpilot scores tell you something about the difference between volume platforms and more curated ones. For family search filters, Sykes wins hands down and reinforces that I’m making the right decision by starting there for my UK trips.

If you’re torn between a self-catering rental vs hotel for your family holiday, I’ve covered that in detail in my guide to the best holidays with a baby.

Read on for the full breakdown of where each provider shines, where they fall short, and which I reach for first depending on the trip I’m planning.

1. Sykes Holiday Cottages

Best for: UK self-catering, families wanting curated properties

Sykes is the UK’s biggest holiday cottage agency, with around 22,000 properties across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. For domestic breaks, it’s the natural first port of call.

The search functionality is impressive for families. You can filter for many amenities from basics like a cot and high chair to a stairgate or enclosed garden – plus the magic filter functionality allows you to filter by really niche things like having a playground nearby. Always verify the amenities section before booking, as I stumbled across a couple of reviews where owners hadn’t properly marked their holiday homes.

On cost Sykes can be one of the more expensive platforms, but it has better pricing transparency than Airbnb. There are no cleaning fee surprises at checkout, and what you see tends to be what you pay. Plus they are known to pay the owners a higher % of what you pay, which likely feeds into the cost.

2. InterHome

Best for: European holidays, personal local service

InterHome is one of Europe’s oldest holiday rental specialists, founded in 1965 and now part of the HomeToGo Group. With around 40,000 properties across 20+ countries, it sits between the scale of Airbnb and the curation of James Villas, with particular strength in Alpine, Mediterranean and Scandinavian destinations.

InterHome is less well known in the UK, so there are fewer reviews to draw on for individual properties. For exclusively UK breaks, Sykes or Luxury Holiday Cottages will have more choice, but InterHome offer a standout on-the-ground service. Properties are checked before arrival, key collection is handled by local staff, and 24/7 support is available during your stay. For international travel, particularly somewhere you’d otherwise be relying entirely on an app, this is reassuring.

I stayed at an InterHome holiday home on our recent Loch Ness (Scotland) trip and it was a really impressive experience. We had to pick up the keys at the office which felt like a bit of faff but actually was nice to know someone was just around the corner. They dropped a high chair off at the property the morning of our stay. As an aside if you’re considering travelling to Loch Ness, this ski chalet style 3-bedroom house was perfect and we didn’t want to leave!

3. Vrbo

Best for: whole-home rentals, larger groups, North America

Vrbo (Vacation Rentals by Owner) is one of the biggest names in holiday rentals, particularly popular in the US and a strong choice for North American trips where it often has far deeper inventory than Airbnb in suburban and rural areas. Unlike Airbnb, Vrbo lists whole-home rentals only, so no shared spaces or renting a room in someone’s occupied flat – which makes it inherently more family-friendly from the outset.

The search filters are decent but not quite at Sykes level – you can filter for cots, high chairs, and essentials like a washing machine. Where Vrbo pulls ahead is on price transparency: service fees are shown clearly before you book, which is a refreshing contrast to Airbnb’s checkout fee surprises.

For European breaks, the inventory is patchier than James Villas or Airbnb, and for UK breaks, Sykes will almost always have more relevant options. But for a US or Canadian holiday, it’s worth checking Vrbo first – the selection in places like Florida, New England, or the Pacific Coast is impressive, and you’ll often find larger family homes with the kind of outdoor space that’s hard to filter for elsewhere.

One thing worth noting: Vrbo properties are often listed simultaneously on Booking.com, so it’s worth cross-checking prices before you commit.

4. Booking.com

Best for: value, last-minute bookings, international travel

Booking.com started as a hotel platform but has grown into a serious holiday rental option, frequently listing the same properties as Airbnb and Sykes. Its strengths are pricing, transparency and customer service.

The filters aren’t as granular as Sykes but better than Airbnb, and free cancellation is available on a wide range of properties – which matters when you’re travelling with unpredictable small children.

Often a property is listed across multiple platforms simultaneously, and it’s frequently cheapest on Booking.com. Worth checking before you commit elsewhere. Despite the terrible TrustPilot score, customer service consistently gets good reviews.

5. James Villas

Best for: European holidays, larger villas, families wanting a private pool

James Villas is a premium villa specialist with a strong portfolio across Spain, France, Portugal, Greece, Italy, the Canaries and the Caribbean. If you’re planning a European family holiday and want a properly vetted private villa it’s worth serious consideration – and the family search functionality is pretty decent.

Properties skew larger and more premium than a typical Airbnb listing. Many have private pools (check fencing carefully with toddlers), and listings are detailed with clear amenity information. Properties are inspected, which means the description tends to match what you actually find on arrival — important when you’re booking abroad.

For a special holiday — a big family milestone trip, a multi-generational break — the experience tends to justify the price. For a budget trip, look elsewhere.

6. Luxury Cottages

Best for: premium UK self-catering, special occasions

Luxury Cottages is a curated UK platform at the higher end of the market — think hot tubs, coastal views and converted barns that feel genuinely special. The selection is smaller than Sykes but the quality is high.

Family filters are ok (but the lack of cot and high chair filter is frustrating) and amenity information tends to be accurate. Because properties are generally higher quality, you’re more likely to find the basics are covered and well-equipped kitchens – but I wouldn’t book without verifying the items you need are available. The obvious caveat is cost — and a more limited selection in niche locations or specific date windows.

7. Airbnb

Best for: flexibility, global coverage, unique properties

Airbnb has the widest choice of any platform, and for international travel especially it opens up properties you simply wouldn’t find elsewhere. The interface is slick and the search is fast, and the ability to talk directly to hosts is great.

But for families, Airbnb doesn’t let you search for much bar cots and washing machines. In my experience travelling with R, I’ve learned never to trust the filter alone — I always message the host directly to confirm. It’s surprisingly common to discover the listed cot is “available on request.” Occasionally the reverse happens and a host has actually sourced something (like a high chair) that they haven’t listed. The lesson: use filters as a starting point, then verify.

On cost, cleaning fees are the main issue. They can add 20–30% onto the nightly rate and only appear clearly at checkout. I have always had a good experience but I spent a fair bit of time chatting to hosts before I book.

So which holiday rental platform should you actually use?

It genuinely depends on the trip, and I regularly use more than one.

For UK breaks with a baby or toddler, Sykes is my default for family filters and quality reassurance, but I always check Booking.com for the same property before booking. For something more special, Luxury Cottages is worth browsing.

For European and overseas holidays, James Villas or InterHome is worth being your starting point for quality-assured villas and homes. And for US and Canadian holidays, Vrbo should be your starting point, given the whole-home inventory is often stronger and the pricing is more transparent at checkout.

For maximum choice and flexibility, Airbnb has the most properties but requires the most legwork. Always message the host to verify family amenities, and check the full price at checkout before you fall for a listing.

Whatever platform you use, my non-negotiables for travelling with a baby or toddler:

• Check the amenities section carefully — don’t assume a cot or high chair is included
• Message the host or platform directly to verify before booking
• Scan photos for open staircases, unfenced pools or anything hazardous at baby height
• Read recent reviews specifically, not just the overall score
• Check the cancellation policy — flexibility is everything with small children

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