Best holiday let sites - and what's the difference with Airbnb?

[CatAndHisKit]

It looks like I will need to rent short term between sale and purchase, and I've never booked holiday lets, but do know a friend who does Airbnb so I know how it works (but only with owner letting out a room).

I would need a whole place (for two people / two beds). What's the difference between the two and which tends to be more expensive for the same area?
Also which is more flexilble in terms of extending your stay, paying deposits, more choice of places?

If holiday lets aer better - as that's what I see mentioned on MN, what is the best site to use? Thanks!

The main difference is the fees. Airbnb take a big chunk, so if you can find somewhere to rent directly from the owner it will be cheaper. Vrbo are also ok but also take a big chunk. Find a plce you like on those sites then google the name of the owner, name of the house and the location and see if they have theown website.

It tends to be more expensive to book a whole place than just a room.
How flexible it is to extend etc will depend largely on the owners and on their other bookings rather than on the type of property.
If you're in a holiday area and are looking through the summer you may struggle... Things are very busy due to restricted options to go abroad.
Lots of Airbnb is flexible on start and finish day and length of stay, whereas a lot of the holiday sites are more fixed Sat to Sat.
Do you have any options to stay with friends or family or house sit for anyone away etc? Holiday lets are likely to be an expensive and difficult to get proposition this summer

I'm at a holiday let between sale and purchase. I think I just googled holiday lets with dags and booking.com was the top of the list. I then double check as pp advised if the place
had own website. It wasn't any cheaper though, and as where I'm at os a holiday destination I am paying £850/week which will keep going up the closer we get to school holidays!
I found many places are listed on multiple sites.

If you look on booking/ air B and B and then find and place and contact owners directly you will likely get a cheaper price.

We rent out a 2 bed holiday home. The price per week includes cleaning and laundry after each stay, feed to places like booking.com, etc etc. If someone contacts me direct and said they wanted place for say 2 months I could offer cheaper as no fees or cleaning time/fees etc every week.

Flexibility will depend on other bookings. If someone else has already booked in then that’s the latest you could stay until

Thank you all, I will follow that advice and check on google for direct comtact.
Blue I've tried other options but no luck with the dates so far. Its not just me and a bit comlicated - need two bedrooms. Friend only has one spare bedroom - and tbh I wouldn't want to stay with or impose on someone for weeks unless they have a big house / guest bathroom.