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.
Finger Lakes sells mostly through Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com. Finger Lakes vacation rentals need different rules by sub-market. Lake houses sell best as weekly stays in July and August, with premiums for private docks and lake frontage. Ithaca homes depend on university dates: commencement, move-in and family weekends get long minimums and peak rates. Watkins Glen homes need race-weekend pricing. Foliage weekends in October deserve premiums everywhere.
Vrbo is strong for weekly lake houses, Airbnb for cottages and Ithaca stays, and Booking.com and Expedia for hotels and inns. University families often book a year ahead, so we keep calendars open well into the future and highlight distance to campus, lakes and wineries.
The full service is described on our other ota optimization page; this page covers how it applies in Finger Lakes.