Orbitz Partners with Zonder to Offer Vacation Rentals

Orbitz became the first major travel agency to begin offering vacation rentals. They've partnered with Zonder to power their service.

In an interview, Orbitz Worldwide Inc. President and Chief Executive Steve Barnhart said that the vacation home rental market is highly fragmented, with most rentals advertised and booked locally. Orbitz, he said, is the first major online travel agency to offer a dedicated inventory of rental homes.

The Orbitz homepage is live with promotional links to the new vacation rentals site, located at vacationrentals.orbitz.com. 

The site appears to be an Orbitz branded version of the Zonder directory.  In our test searches we didn't see any integration of the Zonder vacation rental listings into Orbitz search results.

While Zonder doesn't have the inventory of listings to match VRBO, it seeks to differentiate itself by offering No Hassle Bookings.

With Zonder, you can finally book vacation rentals in real-time online or over the phone using a credit card, just like you would a hotel. No more complicated booking process. No more paper and contracts and personal checks to send off. With Zonder, booking the perfect vacation rental is just a click away.

Search integration of Zonder's listings into Orbitz results will be the true test of Orbitz commitment to the new partnership.

To get your property listed in Zonder, their FAQ asks you to email your name, phone number, email address and a link to information about your property to rentals@zonder.com.

If anyone has had prior experiences with Zonder, we'd love to hear about them in the comments.

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