Google Vacation Rentals and TripAdvisor are search and metasearch channels: they show your property, rates and availability to travelers who have not decided where to book. Optimizing them means accurate listing content and photos, rate parity and availability across channels, and a direct booking link that is competitive with the OTAs.
Chicago sells mostly through Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com. Short-term rental revenue management in Chicago is about the seasonal spread. Summer weekends and festivals can command several times the winter rate, so we load Lollapalooza, Pride, the Air and Water Show and the marathon early with minimum stays. Wrigleyville homes need Cubs schedule pricing. In winter, we hold floors, lengthen minimums and use weekly stays for business travellers instead of chasing occupancy with deep cuts.
Airbnb leads for leisure groups and festival visitors, Booking.com and Expedia carry convention and international demand, and Vrbo works for family-sized homes. We keep parity, use Booking.com visibility programmes in winter and adjust stay rules for festival weeks across all channels.
The full service is described on our other ota optimization page; this page covers how it applies in Chicago.