If you own a vacation rental property, you probably want to reach as many travelers as possible to keep it booked. Then listing your vacation home on Vrbo will help you expand your audience reach worldwide. With over 2 million properties listed in over 190 countries and 48 million users, Vrbo is one of the most popular OTA platforms.
But the question is whether creating a Vrbo listing will help you get more bookings and make more money. With millions of vacation rentals available on different booking sites, the competition is intense, so how can you make your listing stand out and attract potential guests?
If you are looking for tips on how to list on Vrbo, here you’ll find step-by-step instructions. You’ll also learn how to optimize your listing to rank higher in search results and attract your ideal guests.
You may also want to check out our blog post to find answers to Vrbo FAQs to better understand how this vacation rental site works for property owners.
Why Should You List Your Property on Vrbo?
Vrbo is now a part of the Expedia Group, one of the world’s most trusted online travel brands. By listing your vacation home on Vrbo, you’ll show it to a massive audience searching for vacation rentals. Moreover, your listing will be displayed on other sites of the Expedia Group, such as HomeAway, Trivago, Expedia, and KAYAK, and it will be featured in their searches as well.
Listing your property on multiple platforms, including Vrbo, Airbnb, and Booking.com, is an excellent strategy that will help you reach a wider audience and boost your business’s success. And if you opt for vacation rental software like Hospitable.com, you can manage all your listings efficiently from a single dashboard and avoid juggling multiple calendars.
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How to List on Vrbo: Step-by-Step Instructions
To list your vacation rental on Vrbo, you need to prepare the following information first:
An accurate address of your property
Basic details about your vacation home—size, type, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, etc.
At least six digital photos of your property
Your payment and banking details
Your rental rates, such as a nightly rate, cleaning fee, etc.
Listing a vacation rental property on Vrbo is a straightforward process that can take only a few minutes. Visit the Vrbo website and select List Your Property at the top of the homepage. Enter your basic property details (the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, location) to see your property’s earning potential.
Then you’ll need to create the Owner account. Enter your first and last name, email address, phone number, and password. After creating the account, Vrbo will show your property’s earning potential based on similar places with 75% occupancy in your area. You will get an email to confirm your registration and can proceed with the following steps to list your rental space.
Location: Verify your property’s location. Enter your property’s address using the map to pinpoint its position.
Details: Provide more information about the property, including headline and description and its amenities. Set the house rules, such as maximum occupancy, minimum age requirement, and whether you allow parties, children, pets, and smoking.
Local laws: (Only for specific locations). You may need to visit the local law page to learn about the regulatory requirements for your listing.
Photos: Upload from 6 to 24 photos to publish in your listing.
Security: Protect your account by sending a verification code to your mobile phone to confirm your identity.
Payment: Enter your contact information and set up your payment and banking details.
Pricing: Choose your booking availability, nightly rate, minimum stay length, and additional fees. You also have the option to add taxes or include them in the price (you need to follow all local rules, regulations, and tax requirements).
Booking readiness: It’s the final check, so review your booking settings, and you will be ready to publish your Vrbo listing.
Go live: Select Publish listing. Vrbo will review your submission and contact you once your property is live on the site.
Vrbo Listing: Optimization Tips
It may take between 24 and 48 hours for a new Vrbo listing to become visible in search after it has been published, so you’ll have time to adjust your policies and make some improvements to your dashboard. You should also optimize your listing to increase its visibility and attract more guests. Follow these tips.
Create a catchy title because it’s the first thing travelers see in the search results. Make sure your title is unique, and use descriptive words to highlight your property’s best features and encourage potential guests to click on your listing.
Write an enticing description to explain what makes your vacation home a great place to stay. Focus on your property’s amenities and highlight how they will make your guests’ stay more enjoyable. Try to paint a picture of what kind of experience your guests can have.
Upload perfect photos of every room of your property and the outdoor area to give potential guests an idea of the size of your vacation home and what it offers. Take photos in natural light and try to highlight the unique features of your rental space and the charming details that can add to your home’s appeal. You may also include photos of the surrounding area and local attractions.
Respond quickly to all messages from travelers because the response time is one of the main factors affecting your listing quality score. And if you respond to guest inquiries fast, you’ll keep them interested in your property and show that you’re an attentive host.
It’s also crucial to ensure perfect communication during the entire guest journey to make them happy with their stay. Then they will be more likely to leave you positive reviews and book your listing again. Using vacation rental software like Hospitable, it will be easier to communicate with your guests effectively via messages. Moreover, you can automate most of your hosting routine and minimize workload with Hospitable.
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Collect 5-star reviews. Excellent reviews left by past guests can influence travelers’ decisions to book your property when searching for a place to stay. Do your best to ensure a memorable experience for your guests, and always ask each guest to review their stay at your vacation rental home.
Keep your calendar updated to ensure that it always reflects upcoming bookings. That’s particularly important if you list your property on multiple OTAs. The easiest way to keep your calendars in sync is to use tools like Hospitable. This way, you’ll avoid double bookings, cancellations, and bad reviews.
Final Thought
Listing your vacation rental property on multiple online booking websites will help you reach a wider audience and build a successful STR business. Hopefully, our tips will help you create a perfect Vrbo listing and compete with other hosts on this platform on equal terms.
You may want to check out our article to find more Vrbo tips for vacation rental owners.