Vrbo Checklist Every Host Needs

Travelers who book accommodations on Vrbo and its alternatives instead of hotels do it because they prefer the coziness of renting an independently owned home. And they have high expectations about customer service.

That means that you, as a host, should be ready to go the extra mile to provide your guests with a great experience that can help you earn 5-star reviews and win more bookings. You must prepare your property for guests and ensure it is always well-stocked with the basic items and extras to make travelers happy they booked your home over another.

Stocking your vacation rental can be arduous, so we’ve created this comprehensive Vrbo checklist that you can rely on when setting up your home to host short-term guests.

If you want to list your space on Airbnb, you may want to check out our Airbnb host checklist, which will help you deliver high-quality service to your guests.

Download our free short-term rental business guide for step-by-step instructions on building an efficient STR business.

Get Your Home Ready for Vrbo Hosting

Listing your property on Vrbo is easy, but turning your home into a short-term rental isn’t that simple. There are many things to do to ensure you and your property are ready for guests.

Make sure your home is safe

It’s your responsibility as a host to maintain a safe vacation rental. You need to fix any loose steps or exposed wires and repair or replace appliances that don’t work properly. Provide essential safety equipment such as carbon monoxide and smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, deadbolt locks, and outdoor lighting.

Furnish and decorate your Vrbo

Travelers choose to stay in vacation rentals instead of hotels because they want to feel at home even when they’re away. So you need to invest in comfortable and durable short-term rental furniture and add cozy, homey touches to your home’s interior design. Mirrors, vases, plants, throw pillows, soft blankets, artwork, and other design details can make your rental space incredibly inviting.

Hire professional cleaners

Short-term rental guests usually have high expectations regarding cleanliness, so hiring a cleaning service to give your home a deep clean makes sense. Keeping your rental space tidy between guest stays is also essential, which can be rather time-consuming.

That’s why delegating this responsibility to reliable professional cleaners who can respond even to short-notice requests is better. Provide your cleaners with a detailed Vrbo cleaning checklist. Then your only job will be to send reminders to your cleaning team, and if you opt for vacation rental software like Hospitable, you’ll be able to assign such tasks automatically.

With Hospitable Tasks, you can automate turnover cleanings and manage your cleaning team stress-free. Just set task rules once, and our system will assign tasks to your cleaners automatically based on check-ins and checkouts. We can notify your cleaners about upcoming jobs via email, SMS, or iCal feed.

You can also invite your cleaners and maintenance staff to their teammate portal. They can use it to view upcoming and requested jobs, complete tasks and checklists, share updates, message you directly, and report issues. With the teammate portal, you can track job progress in real time and pay your teammates through Hospitable when their job is done.

Or take it one step further with Hospitable’s Cleaner Marketplace. We will find you a reliable cleaner for your turnover cleaning. All you have to do is enable the feature and create a cleaning checklist.