Vrbo is one of the most popular online travel agencies, attracting more than 3 million visitors each month to its website. Having a Vrbo listing may help you get the word out about your home to a wider audience, ideal for hosts. Whether or whether a Vrbo listing will boost your bookings is the question. In addition, how can you make your listing stand out from those of your rivals?
Vrbo, like Airbnb, is a vacation rental platform available for both hosts and guests to utilize. In 1995, a host who wanted to rent out his ski resort apartment launched Vrbo. Short-term rental listings were added to the site in the following years.
In 2006, HomeAway purchased Vrbo, and in 2015, Expedia bought HomeAway. The Expedia group relaunched Vrbo in 2020 after merging HomeAway and Vrbo. Vrbo expects to have more than 2 million postings throughout the globe by 2020.
How Much Does it Cost to List a Vacation Rental on Vrbo?
Hosts may choose from two Vrbo listing fees. Depending on your expected yearly revenue, one of these fees may be more appropriate for your company than another.
one-time yearly charge
Customers of Vrbo pay an annual subscription cost of $499. All reservations for the year are included in this cost.
Per booking fee
The “pay per booking” charge is an alternative for hosts. In addition to the 5% commission fee Vrbo charges for each booking, hosts are also charged a 3% credit card processing fee.
Vrbo’s listing fees all come with some kind of perk. A one-time charge is preferable if you are a host who leases out your space year-round. However, it is important to be sure that the reservations you get will cover the charge. The cost-per-booking option is ideal if you only have active listings a few months out of the year.
Listing on VRBO: what do I need?
To list on Vrbo, you’ll first need to acquire certain information:
- The address of the property.
- The property’s fundamental facts (its type, size, number of rooms, etc.)
- Images were taken with a digital camera of the home
- What are your prices? (nightly rate, cleaning fee, etc.)
- You’ll need to know your bank’s name, account type, and account number, in addition to your social security number.
- Vrbo Listing Creation (Step-by-step Instructions)
- Only a few minutes are needed to create a listing on Vrbo.
- Create a new listing in your Vrbo account by selecting the option.
- From the drop-down menu, choose the sort of home you’d want to rent out.
- Indicate the number of bedrooms and bathrooms in your home.
- Enter the physical address of your vacation rental.
- Add your final contact details to finish the listing, such as a phone number where Vrbo may reach you.
Your vacation rental listing will be available as soon as you’ve finished uploading it.
How Can I Make My Vrbo Listing More Effective?
Vrbo listings may be improved by following these specific Vrbo listing tips:
1. High-Quality, beautiful images
Visitors to your Vrbo ad will be drawn in by your photos, so be sure to include many of them. They provide visitors with a notion of the resort’s size and amenities. Your listing images must be eye-catching and showcase your home to its full potential.
2. Create a compelling title for your vacation rental.
Users will see your title in their search results, so make sure it’s a good one! The title of your ad should be consistent with the photographs and the rental description that accompany it. A good title will not only define your property but will also draw attention to its best features.
No special property features are conveyed by writing “2 bedroom apartment with a carport.” There is a good chance that readers will just scroll down and not click to learn more. Use terms like “breathtaking city apartment with spectacular views” in your headline.
3. Write an interesting description
Your listing’s description is your best opportunity to persuade potential renters to stay at your vacation rental. What distinguishes it from others? What can visitors expect if they book a stay at your property? All of this information may be included in the description of your rental property. It’s important to keep in mind that you shouldn’t raise the bar too high although you want to promote reservations.
4. Maintain a rapid reaction time
Whether they’re bookings or queries, all communications should be responded to as soon as possible. Guests will be more interested in your establishment if you maintain a rapid response time for them. You’ll come off as a gracious host if you do this. As a result, you’ll see an increase in repeat business and good online ratings and reviews. Your Vrbo listing might rise in the search results due to these actions.
5. Online reservations and payments should be possible
More and more visitors are choosing rentals that allow them to book and pay online because of the continuing COVID–19 epidemic. Booking and paying for a vacation rental online are more convenient for both the renter and the renter’s visitors. Both guests and hosts benefit from increased occupancy rates due to the ease of making reservations.
6. Get reviews
Getting reviews is the best way to tell other potential guests that you have a high quality listing. People always read reviews about from others experiences. On Vrbo, either the guest or host has up to one year to leave a review after the reservation has ended. However, once one party begins the process and leaves a review, the other party has up to 14 days to complete the review.
Conclusion
Setting up a vacation rental be a daunting task but if you breakdown all of the essentials then it will make the process a whole lot easier! To get the most exposure for your vacation rental, list it on as many online travel agencies (OTAs) as feasible. However, keeping track of queries and reservations on many listing sites may be time-consuming. It is possible for hosts to feel overburdened and trapped in a never-ending loop of mundane everyday duties—vacation rental channel management software, such as Lodgable. You probably also heard about timeshare instead of having a vacation rental. A timeshare allows a group of individuals to share ownership of a property, usually a holiday home or a condominium unit in a resort region just like Diamond resorts timeshare. Each customer often purchases a set amount of time in a specific unit. You would also think if can i cancel my diamond resorts timeshare? The only convenient way to get out of a timeshare contract is to formally cancel it.
