Integration overview

Introduction

Vrbo is an American vacation rental online marketplace originally known as Vacation Rentals by Owner or Vrbo.

In 2006, Vrbo was acquired by HomeAway, and on December 15, 2015, Expedia Group, Inc. acquired HomeAway. As of April 2019, the site listed more than 2 million properties across the world that travellers could rent.

Integration model

Vrbo is a Sales Channel (SC) that has been successfully integrated with Rentals United. Property Managers (PMs) can connect to Vrbo and start advertising their properties.

In this integration type, the data flow is the following:

Vrbo retrieves property descriptive content and availability and pricing once per 24 hours;
additionally, Rentals United synchronizes availability and pricing to Vrbo upon change ;
Vrbo sends new reservations and booking requests to Rentals United;
Vrbo retrieves the reservations from Rentals United once a day to check for changes or modifications registered in Rentals United;
Rentals United retrieves leads from Vrbo every 5 minutes.

Due to the integration type used for Vrbo, in case of any consistencies or discrepancies between Rentals United and the channel, it is recommended to first contact the Vrbo Support Team. Please, see Contact details.

Categorization

This channel is categorized as a Holiday Rental Website (HRW). Vrbo sells single properties mostly. In this system, guests choose the exact place they are staying at.

Rentals United property refers specifically to a single apartment;
Single apartment belongs to the Advertiser ID.

For Vrbo, each user is provided with Advertiser ID, which is generated when connecting properties. It is possible to have more than one Advertiser ID for one user.

In this integration, multi-units are supported and pushed to Vrbo. A multi-unit refers to a set of indistinguishable properties. These properties work the same way the regular properties do; however, they represent a number of properties with the same specification at the same address. An example of a multi-unit property is a set of identical hotel rooms.

Note: Rentals United creates one listing in the channel, while the actual number of available units is sent in availability.

Contract details

In case you intend to advertise the properties on Vrbo, you need to agree on a contract. With Vrbo, the below agreements come into life:

Eligibility: Vrbo requires you to be registered VAT taxpayers before they accept your properties.

New clients: Start with Establishing connection or Establishing connection.

Existing clients: Despite the fact that you may be an existing Vrbo client, you still need to sign a contract in order to connect to Vrbo through Rentals United. Start with Establishing connection or Establishing connection. Once you complete the steps in Rentals United, you will be contacted by Vrbo to sign the contract anew.

Onboarding time: An average onboarding time is 1-2 weeks, depending on your responsiveness to Vrbo and the quality of your property content. Rentals United cannot influence the time it takes to get live.

Properties and reservations: All properties need to be connected with Rentals United, as the connection is on the account level. Upcoming reservations need to be added to Rentals United as well, and then transferred to Vrbo, as it is not possible to import reservations from the old account to the new one.

Length of stay: Maximum length of stay Vrbo offers is 90 days.

Payment model: There are two payment models offered by Vrbo, which influence the connection between Rentals United and Vrbo.

PPB (Pay Per Booking) - in this model, new properties go live automatically if activated. If a property's content is defective, this property will have an Inactive status in your Vrbo dashboard. Missing information need to be added in Rentals United or in the PMS (if you use one) in order to go live.
PPS (Pay Per Subscription) - in this model, new properties appear in the Preview tab in the Vrbo dashboard. You need to either contact Vrbo or log into your dashboard and pay the PPS fee. Once the fee is paid, it is possible to set the listing as Active in the Vrbo dashboard.

Commission: Vrbo charges 5-15% commission. If you wish to cover for the commission, mark up the prices in Rentals United.

Payment process: You are responsible for charging the guest, hence the payment method is not enforced on you. The credit card details can be found in the Bookings tab of the main menu in Rentals United platform. If you need a payment provider, please contact your dedicated Account Manager in Rentals United.

Disconnection: Depending on the payment model offered by Vrbo, the disconnection from Rentals United differs.

In case of the PPB model, when disconnecting from Rentals United all the information on your listings will be lost and you will need to upload all your properties manually in Vrbo.
In case of the PPS model, all your listings will be preserved.

Important channel information

Good ranking in Vrbo

To be successful on Vrbo, it has to be understood how to receive a good ranking. Accounts positioned high in the ranking typically receive more bookings. To achieve this, Vrbo works with an algorithm called Best Match. This algorithm tracks your performance, which decides about your position in the ranking.

The following aspects are taken into account:

Follow Minimum requirements to connect;
Instant booking process is utilised;
Cancelling a reservation principles must be followed;
For more information, please see the screenshot below.

Vrbo advertising websites

By connecting to Vrbo, your listing will be advertised through a multitude of channels. These include: the United Kingdom, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, France, the United States, Germany, Austria, Brazil, Canada (French), Canada (English), Australia, Mexico.