How to Optimize Your Vacation Rental Listing Pages: The Data Behind What Drives Bookings

In the vacation rental space, having a beautiful home isn’t enough on its own.
How that home is presented online plays a huge role in whether a guest books or keeps scrolling. 

Over the past four years, Wander has continuously tested and studied traveler behavior during the online booking journey. One insight has emerged consistently: listings built with the right structure, clear information, and well-highlighted amenities perform significantly better.

This matters because travelers don’t read every word. On average, users absorb only 20–30% of a page’s content, which means information must be concise, scannable, and placed exactly where guests expect to find it.

When a traveler lands on a vacation rental listing, trust is built, or lost, in seconds. In fact, 75% of consumers judge a business’s credibility based on its website design (Stanford Web Credibility Research). A confusing layout, missing details, or inconsistent flow can quietly introduce doubt and send a guest searching elsewhere.

This article explores how data helps eliminate those moments of friction. We’ll look at which listing page elements truly influence revenue and bookings, and how those insights are reflected in the structure of Wander property pages. Ultimately, it’s a practical breakdown of the anatomy of a listing page built to convert confidence into bookings.

Why the data matters

Not all listing details carry the same weight. Some elements build trust, others drive clicks, and only a select set of features consistently impact pricing, occupancy, and overall revenue.

At Wander, we combine proprietary performance data with insights from AirDNA, Beyond Pricing, Guesty, and Statista to uncover what truly influences bookings. We compared listings across different markets, analyzing how the presence—or absence—of specific amenities affected performance.

This data-driven approach is at the heart of the Wander Method: blending intentional design, hotel-level standards, and a seamless booking experience—guided by decisions proven to deliver real results.

The anatomy of a high-performing listing page

When a traveler lands on a vacation rental property page, the clock starts immediately.

In just 0.05 seconds, they form a first impression of your brand, and within 3–5 seconds, they decide whether your property feels worth their time, or a quick back click. By 2.6 seconds, their eyes are already scanning for trust signals: a compelling hero image, clear details, and an intuitive layout. In that moment, strong design and clarity aren’t just nice to have, they’re what turn curiosity into confidence and clicks into bookings.

High-converting listing pages aren’t random. They follow a structure that matches how guests browse, filter, and decide. 

Hero section and first impression

The first section of a listing does most of the heavy lifting. 

This is where guests should immediately see:

• a strong hero image (or video)

• the home’s core stats (beds, baths, guest count)

• the most valuable amenities (pool, hot tub, views, pet-friendly, gym)

If a high-demand amenity isn’t visible right away, the listing risks being filtered out or ignored.

Complete home details reduce friction

Guests want to know exactly what they’re booking. Missing or vague information creates uncertainty and leads to extra questions or drop-off.

Clear listings include:

• number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and beds

• bed sizes

• maximum guest capacity

• basic layout clarity
  

Listings with complete home details see up to 35% more inquiries compared to those with missing information. Wander pages prioritize clarity early on to reduce hesitation and help guests move forward faster.

Amenities that actually drive revenue

Amenities aren’t just about guest experience, they’re revenue drivers. Certain features have a direct, measurable impact on ADR, occupancy, and RevPAR. That’s why Wander intentionally highlights these amenities in its listings: they don’t just improve perception, they materially change performance.

Hot tubs
Hot tubs consistently boost all key metrics:

• around 24% higher ADR

• about 7% higher occupancy

• roughly 33% higher REVPAR

They perform well across markets and often pay for themselves quickly, which is why they’re treated as a top-tier feature in listings.

Pools
Pools are especially valuable in coastal, warm-weather, and family-focused markets:

• about 18.5% ADR lift

• 5% higher occupancy

• 24% higher REVPAR

On Wander property pages, pools are typically showcased visually and early because guests actively filter for them.

Gyms and wellness spaces
Wellness is no longer a nice-to-have. Only about a quarter of luxury listings offer a gym, but those that do see meaningful ADR lifts and attract longer stays. As trips get longer and remote work becomes more common, this category continues to grow in importance.

Dedicated workstations
Work-from-home travel isn’t slowing down. Listings that go beyond a basic desk and chair and offer a real work setup tend to attract longer stays and more consistent, year-round bookings.

These features help fill shoulder seasons and stabilize revenue, which is why Wander clearly calls out work-friendly homes.

Pet friendliness
Pet-friendly listings consistently outperform:

• significantly more bookings

• higher nightly rates

• longer stays

About 25% of vacation rental guests actively search for pet-friendly stays, but supply hasn’t kept pace with demand. While nearly 60% of hotels allow pets, fewer than 15% of vacation rentals do, creating a clear gap, and a meaningful opportunity, for owners who choose to offer it.

Pet-friendly is also one of the most commonly used filters across booking platforms. When it isn’t clearly surfaced, a listing is often filtered out before a guest ever sees it.

Interior design as a performance lever

Design has a direct impact on how a listing performs. According to AirDNA, professionally designed homes can see up to a 40% increase in revenue.

Simple upgrades often deliver strong returns:

• repainting to neutral, modern tones can increase bookings by up to 15%

• updated furniture improves first impressions, photos, and booking appeal

Because photos drive clicks, design improvements often improve performance across the entire funnel, not just aesthetics.

Visuals and media

Photos and video are often the first real interaction a guest has with a home.

High-performing listings tend to have:

• clear hero images showing top amenities

• consistent lighting and style

• full room coverage with no missing spaces

Listings that meet these standards see higher click-through rates, higher booking conversion, and fewer follow-up questions. Wander property pages emphasize complete, cohesive galleries for this reason.

Designed to Book

High-performing listings aren’t built on intuition, they’re built on insight.
Every image, amenity callout, and layout decision should work together to reduce doubt, highlight value, and guide guests confidently toward booking.

At Wander, we design listing pages around how travelers actually browse and decide, using real performance data to shape every choice. The result is a booking experience that feels effortless for guests and delivers measurable results for owners.

The bottom line: optimizing your listing page isn’t just about looking better, it’s about booking better.

Want to create a direct booking site that truly converts - in minutes?

Wander Sites is built to do exactly that. We handle the science behind the customer journey, applying the proven insights and performance learnings from wander.com so you don’t have to. 

Start owning your guests today.