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What is Hopper? Here's What Vacation Rental Hosts Need to Know
Vacation rental hosts drive most reservations from online travel agencies like Airbnb or Vrbo. But have you heard of the Hopper app?
It's an app where travelers can find some of the best travel deals, and save money while still enjoying a high standard of travel experience.
Hopper is the most downloaded travel app with over 120 million downloads and is one of the largest OTAs in the US and Canada. Billions of dollars worth of travel across Hopper flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation homes are booked annually through Hopper.
What's in it for vacation rental hosts? Keep reading to find out how hosts can get the best use of this app.
What is Hopper?
The Hopper travel app company is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Travelers can book flights, car rentals, hotel rooms, and vacation homes. Although they've been present since 2007, they introduced vacation rentals a few years ago.
Previously, Hopper was an app where travelers could find the best deals, especially to monitor flight prices and book the cheapest flights.
Its initial focus was on using data and AI to predict the best times to book and to find the cheapest air tickets and book hotels. Around 2019, Hopper pivoted toward integrating fintech products to improve profitability and cater to younger users, Gen Z and Millennials, who they say constitute 70% of their user base.
Their focus has been on leveraging AI-driven predictions and data analytics to reduce travel costs for users and book accommodation, flights, and cars at the lowest possible prices.
How People Use Hopper
Hopper has improved the way people plan trips by giving them the inside scoop on when to book for the best deals. The ability to analyze flight prices across the travel industry and offer predictions on whether costs will rise or fall in the coming days.
Users can search for available flights while accessing info that includes not just current prices, but also historical data and future price forecasts. This approach allows travelers to time their purchases strategically, and to save as much as hundreds of dollars on airfare.
As the app combines artificial intelligence with a user-friendly interface, it's able to provide its users with valuable insights about prices on desired travel dates. Users can choose to book hotel stays or vacation rentals, in addition to cheap flights and car rentals.
What Is the Advantage of Booking on Hopper for Travellers?
Vacation rental hosts and property managers should understand what travelers like about the app to see how their business fits into the picture.
This is what Hopper users like about the app:
Price prediction tool
The app predicts price trends. It processes trillions of data points monthly, and has access to over five years of historical pricing trends on routes and dates worldwide, so travelers can predict if prices are likely to increase or decrease and book at the lowest price. The app will push a notification if it spots a great deal or if prices are on the rise.
Free cancellation
Hopper has a "cancel for any reason" service. This service allows travelers to cancel their flight or accommodation without providing a reason. They will receive a full or partial refund, depending on the specific terms and the booking date.
Hopper Carrot Cash
Carrot cash is Hopper's reward program, where you earn carrot cash that can be redeemed on eligible future travel bookings. Usually, 1 Carrot Cash equals $1 in travel credit, and it's applicable toward Hopper bookings—only if it's a prepaid reservation.
Price freeze
Hopper’s Price Freeze allows you to lock in today’s flight or hotel price for a few days to a few weeks (for a small fee.) Travelers like Price Freeze option because it gives them flexibility and peace of mind without the pressure to book immediately.
Change for any reason
This feature allows you to change your dates, destination, airline, or trip before departure. It adds an extra layer of flexibility for travelers.
User experience
Users and reviewers agree Hopper offers a modern, and mobile-first interface that feels intuitive and friendly. Hopper excels at keeping users informed through accurate push notifications about price drops or increases on watched trips, creating an interactive experience.
Who Can List a Vacation Rental Home on Hopper?
Any vacation rental host can apply to be listed on Hopper. This means that both individual hosts and professional property managers can list on Hopper.
It's worth noting that Hopper currently prefers working with property managers who have at least a few properties in their portfolio. That doesn't mean that if you're an individual property owner, you can't apply.
The fact that they prefer property managers has a lot to do with technical requirements. Partnering with established property managers allows Hopper to connect seamlessly through channel managers and property management systems, and because it's easier to scale. This means more automated updates and smoother integrations with Hopper’s technology.
Listing on Hopper is open to hosts managing either single-unit or multi-unit properties. Also, you can list entire homes only. No shared spaces are available.
The Advantages of Listing on Hopper as a Vacation Rental Host
Now that we understand what the Hopper app offers travelers, let’s take a look at what it means for hosts who consider listing properties on Hopper Homes.
Global reach
Hopper operates in over 70 countries worldwide, expanding your property's visibility beyond local markets. And currency conversion features would make booking seamless for international guests.
Cater to Gen Z and Millennials, and budget-conscious travelers
Hopper claims that 70% of its users are Gen Z and Millennials, groups that prefer mobile-first apps and flexible booking options. On top of that, the platform attracts a large number of budget-conscious travelers thanks to its flash deals and reward features like Carrot Cash. For hosts, this means more visibility among younger audiences who value convenience, affordability and chase great deals.
Additional booking channel
Driving bookings from multiple platforms is becoming standard practice among vacation rental hosts. Adding one more channel to the marketing mix doesn't only mean more bookings, but also more stability if one channel fails for any reason.
Access to Hopper's loyal customer base
It’s worth noting that Hopper has built a loyal user base over the years, with millions of downloads on both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. When you have a listing on Hopper, you tap into this audience.
What Are the Cons of Listing on Hopper for Vacation Rental Hosts?
As we've seen, travelers typically don’t go to Hopper specifically to book vacation homes. The app is still more focused on flights and hotels, although vacation rental owners do get exposure.
Another downside is Hopper’s strategy and focus on deals and low prices. This can be limiting for hosts who aren’t willing to compete on price or who want to position their property as a high-end, branded luxury rental.
Also, as of now, Hopper prefers to work with property managers who manage multiple properties. The platform hasn’t yet developed tech features that give individual hosts complete control.
However, if you fall into the categories mentioned above, Hopper can be worthwhile as an additional booking channel.
How to List Your Property on Hopper
There are two ways for hosts to create a Hopper account and list their property. It depends if you have a PMS, or otherwise, you go through a manual process.
Manual Registration Process
Registering without a PMS is a few-step process:
- Sign up for a Hopper Hosting Account
- Receive confirmation email from Hopper Homes
- Set your password
- Choose manual listing option instead of PMS integration
- Add your property details - photos, descriptions, amenities, and pricing
Registration with PMS Integration
Hosts with a PMS have a straightforward process where they ask you a few details and to connect with your system.
- Company name
- Phone Number
- Airbnb Link
- Channel Manager or PMS
- Where you are located
How Does Hopper Charge Fees?
To be listed on Hopper, hosts need to pay a booking fee. Hopper charges a fee only for confirmed bookings.
For hosts who use a PMS/CM integration
Hosts pay a standard 14% fee.
Their fees are calculated from the booking subtotal nightly rate plus fees, excluding taxes. The host fee is automatically deducted from the host's payout.
For hosts who do not use a PMS/CM integration
In this case, the fees are split between the host and the guest.
Hosts pay a 3% fee.
Guests pay up to a 12% fee.
How is Hopper Different from Airbnb and Other Online Travel Agencies?
Let's take a look at how Hopper compares to major OTAs.
Hopper vs Airbnb
Airbnb is a major platform for vacation rental hosts and has been in the home rental market since 2008. Hopper, on the other hand, entered this space only recently.
While both platforms primarily focus on Gen Z and Millennials, Airbnb has expanded its audience to include all demographics. On Airbnb, you can rent almost anything—from shared spaces to luxury villas or unique accommodations.
Hopper, by contrast, targets younger generations and deal-seeking travelers, where affordability and saving money are top priorities. Unlike Airbnb, Hopper doesn’t offer shared spaces.
When it comes to host fees, Hopper has introduced a structure very similar to Airbnb’s, which means you either pay a host-only fee or a split fee between the host and the guest.
Even though Airbnb is the leader in this space, Hopper is less saturated, which could give your listing more visibility.
Hopper vs Expedia
Expedia is a travel platform that’s somewhat similar to Hopper, offering a range of services under one brand to help users find packages and deals on flights, car rentals, and accommodation.
That said, Expedia is a much bigger player in terms of market share. The company owns Vrbo, so hosts generally list their properties on Vrbo first. Those listings then also appear on partner sites like Expedia.com, Trivago, and others.
Expedia targets a broad audience, including families and older travelers. Vrbo offers robust tools for hosts, including advanced listing management options, detailed customization, and flexible property settings. In comparison, Hopper Homes offers a more basic dashboard for hosts.
Hopper is also mobile-first. While they’ve started working on a desktop version, their main focus is still the app experience.
Hopper is really focused on monitoring price changes and offering the cheapest deals to users. Expedia, on the other hand, is more of a full-service travel platform.
While it does highlight discounts and package deals, Expedia's main focus isn’t just finding the absolute lowest price. They want to give users a wide range of options across flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation homes.
FAQ
Is Hopper App Legit?
Yes, Hopper is a legit app that travelers use to find the best deals. Users like it most for its ability to search, compare, and book low-cost flights, as well as for its price prediction technology. While the app has received some mixed reviews on review sites, it has also been downloaded millions of times.
How the Hopper app works
Hopper works like a smart travel assistant in your pocket. It helps budget-conscious and flexible travelers track deals, avoid overpaying, and book directly from their phone, since it’s built as a mobile-first platform.
Most users start by searching for flights, but the app also includes hotels, car rentals, and home rentals. All you need to do is download the app from your app store and start comparing deals. The app will send you price alerts when prices drop.
How does the Price Freeze work?
The Price Freeze feature lets users lock in a flight or hotel price for a limited time by paying a small fee. The app stands out for its price prediction technology, which tells users whether to book now or wait. If they can’t decide whether to book right away, they can freeze the price for a while using the Price Freeze option.
Does Hopper offer a Price Drop Guarantee?
Hopper used to offer a Price Drop Guarantee, where users would get a refund (usually in Carrot Cash) if the price of a flight dropped shortly after booking.
However, this perk is no longer available.
Instead, Hopper now focuses on the Price Freeze feature, which lets you lock in a price before it changes by paying a small fee.
This is confirmed on Hopper’s official help page. The app claims:
Unfortunately, if you do happen to find a better deal elsewhere, or if the price of your flight, car rental, or hotel drops after booking, we are unable to price match.
Takeaway
Hosts can use Hopper to attract potential guests. It can be convenient for those managing multiple properties and who are already listed on several platforms.
People use this app mainly for travel planning and finding deals, especially on flights and hotels. Besides the hotel business, Hopper entered the vacation rental space a few years ago. They’re still early in the short-term rental industry, but the potential is there.
If you’re an Airbnb or Vrbo host struggling to juggle your presence across multiple platforms, try iGMS, a PMS system and your reliable partner with a channel manager and a bunch of other features that automate your daily hosting tasks.
About the Author
Zorica Milinkovic is a B2B SaaS writer who is passionate about psychology, marketing, and, when inspiration strikes, cooking. You can find her on LinkedIn.
