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The choice of rental channels is a crucial factor in maximising the visibility of your property and finding the right tenant. Both domestic and international platforms in the Finnish housing market offer a wide range of rental solutions, but each has its own strengths and challenges. In this article, we compare key platforms such as Etuovi, Oikotie, Airbnb and Booking.com, as well as other channels in the market.
Finnish landlords particularly benefit from domestic platforms such as Etuovi and Oikotie, which reach a broad and targeted audience. These services are designed to support long-term rentals, offering an easy-to-use advertising platform and competitive costs, but their user interfaces and search functions have sometimes been identified as needing improvement.
On the other hand, international platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com are particularly popular for short-term rentals, with dynamic pricing tools and automated booking and payment systems. User reviews and feedback are key tenant selection tools on these platforms, making them particularly attractive to tourists and those interested in short-term accommodation solutions.
In this article, we will go through the features of each platform and compare the advantages and disadvantages they offer. This allows us to provide landlords with a clear guide to help them choose the rental channel that best suits their needs. Whether it's a long-term tenancy or a short-term accommodation solution, choosing the right platform can make a big difference to the success of your rental business.
Etuovi.com is one of the leading housing market portals in Finland, reaching a wide and diverse user base. The platform's clear and intuitive interface makes it easy to create and manage listings, although some users have experienced limitations in search functionality.
The cost of advertising is competitive and transparent, making the service a cost-effective option for advertising rental accommodation. While customer support is generally quick, the service's privacy practices, such as extensive cookie acceptance, have attracted criticism, and the payment process and tenant assessment often require further attention from the landlord.
Oikotie.fi is one of Finland's best-known housing market portals, with strengths such as high visibility, ease of use, cost-effectiveness and fast customer support. The platform makes it easy to create and manage classifieds, although there is room for improvement in the search functions, which can lead to irrelevant classifieds being displayed.
In terms of payment processing and tenant verification, the landlord often has to take additional measures, as advanced tools are not included in the basic service. For long-term rentals, Oikotie.fi provides comprehensive management tools, but the pre-defined contract templates and more in-depth tenant selection do not always meet all requirements. In addition, strong competition and data protection practices are a source of criticism.
Both platforms are key Finnish channels for renting an apartment, offering landlords the opportunity to reach a wide audience in a cost-effective way. Etuovi and Oikotie share many basic criteria, such as wide visibility, ease of use, competitive costs and effective customer support. These features give rental advertisements high visibility, which is crucial for reaching target tenant groups.
Broad visibility
Both platforms offer broad visibility in the market, ensuring that rental advertisements reach a large number of potential tenants.
Ease of use
The front door is known for its clear and intuitive interface, which makes it easy to create, edit and monitor notifications and statistics.
However, there is room for improvement in the user interface and search functionality of Oikotie: users have found that the search criteria are not always precise enough, which can lead to irrelevant listings and slow down the search for an apartment.
Cost-effectiveness
Both platforms offer competitive and transparent costs, making them attractive to landlords who want to optimise their marketing costs.
Good customer support
Both services provide customer support for landlords, aiming to solve technical and administrative problems quickly, thus improving the user experience.
Secure payment processing
Neither platform manages payment processing directly, but payment processing is often done through partners, which requires additional attention from the landlord.
Tenant screening and assessment
On both platforms, the detailed information included in the notices helps with traditional tenant assessment, but more advanced background check and assessment tools are not included in the basic services, which places an additional requirement on the landlord.
Stable leases (ready-made contract templates)
Both platforms offer lease templates to help ensure a legally valid contract, but these templates do not always cover all the requirements of a long-term lease as comprehensively as specialised contract solutions.
More in-depth tenant selection and background checks
The information contained in the notices provides a starting point for tenant selection, but the more advanced background check features remain the responsibility of the landlord, which can increase the administrative burden.
More extensive management tools (e.g. rental statistics, long-term leases)
Front Door is also known for its extensive management tools, but in this comparison, Oikotie is particularly praised for this feature.
Oikotie provides comprehensive management tools, such as notification statistics and the ability to manage leases, which supports the efficient management of long-term leases.
Etuovi.com
Oikotie.fi
Etuovi.com
Oikotie.fi
Both Etuovi and Oikotie offer landlords a strong platform for publishing rental advertisements, but there are differences that may influence the choice according to the needs of your rental business.
Of course, both platforms can be used, but if you're going to choose one or the other, here's our recommendation.
Assess your current rental goals and priorities, and choose the platform that best meets your needs.
You can also try both platforms on a small scale and see which one gives you better visibility and quality tenants. This informed decision will help optimise your rental operations and ensure long-term success in the housing market.
Both platforms are for short-term rental. They have their own challenges, which can be seen in the experiences of some of those who have started renting on Airbnb. However, they are popular and well-established platforms with many good points.
Airbnb is a global and popular accommodation platform that attracts travellers looking for personalised and experiential accommodation. The platform's intuitive and easy-to-use interface makes it simple to create and manage listings, even for new landlords.
Airbnb's clear and transparent pricing (around 3% for hosts, 12-15% for guests) combined with a centralised payment process makes it easier for landlords. Airbnb offers a robust two-way rating system that improves tenant selection and security. On the other hand, Airbnb does not offer many premium add-on services and there are potential regulatory restrictions on the use of the platform, especially for short-term rentals.
Booking.com is a very popular and global platform that reaches a wider and more diverse user base, including business travellers and traditional tourists. Although Booking.com offers a wide visibility and a wide range of premium add-on services, its interface may seem more complex and require more familiarity on the part of the landlord.
Booking.com commissions range from around 10-25%, but payment processing and cancellation management are often left to the landlord, which can add to the administrative burden. In addition, Booking.com does not offer a two-way rating system, which can make it difficult to assess renters in advance.
Both Airbnb and Booking.com offer strong platforms for renting an apartment, but there are clear differences that will influence your choice depending on which features you value most.
Both platforms are strong and popular options for renting an apartment, but their strengths and weaknesses differ significantly.
Choose Airbnb if:
Choose Booking.com if:
You can also test both platforms to see which works better for your specific goals and objectives. This will help optimise your returns and ensure the long-term success of your rental business.
Wide visibility
✅ Airbnb reaches out to travellers looking for experience accommodation in particular, and has a strong global user base.
✅ Booking.com has a wider user base, including traditional holidaymakers and business travellers, which can bring a more diverse customer base.
Interface and usability
✅ Airbnb's interface is very intuitive and easy to use, especially for new users and private landlords.
⚠️ Booking.com offers a wide range of features, but the interface may seem more complex at first and require a little more familiarisation.
Pricing and cost-effectiveness
✅ Airbnb's service fees are clear and transparent: hosts pay around 3%, guests 12-15%.
⚠️ Booking.com commissions range from 10-25% and there are no extra charges for guests, but landlords often handle the payments themselves, which can add to the workload.
Payment processing
✅ Airbnb offers centralised, secure and automated payment processing, reducing the administrative burden on landlords.
⚠️ Through Booking.com, the collection of payments can either be the responsibility of the host or use Booking's own service, but this requires more management on the part of the host.
Tenant assessment and security
✅ Airbnb's two-way review system helps you choose better quality tenants and reduce problems.
⚠️ Booking.com only offers reviews from guests, which does not allow landlords to assess tenants in advance as effectively as Airbnb.
Dynamic pricing and booking system
✅ Both platforms offer real-time, dynamic pricing. Airbnb's automated booking engine and instant payments greatly simplify processes.
⚠️ Booking.com also offers automatic booking, but payment processing and cancellation management require more attention from the landlord.
Risks and regulatory aspects
Short-term rentals through Airbnb may encounter legal restrictions and require special permits. Both services carry financial and operational risks, such as potential damage, neighbour disturbances and high maintenance costs.
Both Airbnb and Booking.com provide landlords with effective tools for renting a home for short or long periods, but the choice depends on your own goals and priorities.
Choose Airbnb if:
Choose Booking.com if:
You can also test both platforms to see which works better for your specific goals and objectives. This will help you optimise your returns and improve the long-term success of your rental business.
Vuokraovi provides a clear and user-friendly platform for landlords to give their advertisements wide visibility in the housing market. The platform's easy-to-use interface makes it easy to create, edit and update advertisements, saving time and resources. Rentovia is known for its competitive pricing models that keep marketing costs in check, and its customer support is designed to resolve technical and administrative issues quickly.
Although Vuokraovi provides a strong basic service, its payment process is not fully managed internally, but often relies on partner solutions. Similarly, the information contained in the notices helps with traditional tenant assessment, but more advanced background check features are not included in the service, often requiring the landlord to take additional steps. This makes Vuokraovi an excellent choice for those who want a cost-effective and straightforward solution, but its use also requires active tenant selection.
Tori.fi is a popular Finnish classifieds platform that stands out for its free interface and large user base. The platform allows landlords to publish rental advertisements without any fees, making it a very cost-effective option, especially for smaller landlords and private owners. Tori.fi reaches a wide range of people looking for accommodation, although it is not only specialised in the housing market, but also serves as a broad advertising platform in different categories.
While Tori.fi offers an easy way to publish ads, its limited management features and lack of targeting can pose challenges in optimising ads. Competition for listings is fierce and the platform does not offer advanced analytics or tenant assessment tools, often leaving landlords to take on additional tasks themselves. This makes Tori.fi a good fit for those who value budget-friendliness and easy ad publishing, but require a little more input from their own ad optimisation.
Facebook Marketplace offers landlords a free and comprehensive platform for posting rental ads, leveraging the world's largest social network. The platform allows ads to reach a large number of users quickly and allows landlords to communicate with potential tenants in real time via Facebook Messenger. This provides a flexible and fast way to reach a local audience looking for rental properties for both short and long term tenancies.
On the other hand, Facebook Marketplace does not offer specialized rental tools such as automated payment processing or advanced tenant assessment systems. Notice management and background checks remain partly the responsibility of the landlord, which may require additional effort. This makes the platform an excellent cost-effective solution to take advantage of a large user base and real-time communication, but at the same time it requires the landlord to be prepared to manage part of the process themselves.
Want to find a reliable tenant who pays more? Read more on Immodan's page for landlords and rent your property to businesses.
