Connecting to Vrbo

Establishing connection

In order to start advertising on Vrbo, you need to establish the connection with this sales channel. You can do this by adding it to the list of services in your account. Follow the below steps in order to get connected.

In Rentals United platform, go to the Services tab.
Click the Find Services tab.
Type the Sales Channel name in the search box or scroll down through the list of available channels.
Unfold the Sales Channel section by clicking the Down arrow button.
Click the Get connected button.

Your connection is now being validated in the background. If the validation is passed successfully, the Connection Wizard is launched and you can go to the next step. If you are not eligible to connect to Sales Channel, an error is displayed.

Eligibility errors indicate violating initial channel requirements that need to be met before you establish the connection. You will not be able to go to the next step and finish the connection process unless the eligibility error is cleared away. In order to resolve it, follow the instructions displayed on the screen. Please, see an exemplary eligibility error below.

You are presented with a brief description on how the Sales Channel works. Read it carefully and confirm that you agree with it by ticking the checkbox below. Do not worry, once all the steps of the Connection Wizard are completed, you will still be able to view the How it works content again. Click the Save & Next button on the bottom of the page to move to the next step.

Tip: On the top of the page, you can view the progress of the Connection Wizard. Depending on the channel, the number of steps may differ. You can stop anywhere along the process. Upon next time you open the Connection Wizard, you will continue at the last completed step.
Follow the next steps displayed in Rentals United.

Select the currency in which your prices will be sent to Vrbo. The list of currencies is limited and you can see it here.
Set up the mark-up for your rates in Vrbo. Read more here.
Select a cancellation policy from the available options. Read more here.
Choose whether you want to charge a down payment at the time of booking and select the amount to be charged. Read more here.
Select the minimum age of guests that you will accept at your property. Read more here.

Once you complete the Connection Wizard, you will seemlessly enter the process of adding new properties to Vrbo. Move to the next chapters in this article.

Create new listing

Follow the below procedure if you already have some properties created in Rentals United and you want to connect them to Vrbo.

In Rentals United platform, go to the Services tab.
Select the proper list to search for Sales Channel.
- Find Services lists the channels you are not yet connected to,
- My Services lists the channels which you have already established connection with and channels that are in the process of being connected.
Type the Sales Channel name in the search box or scroll down through the list of available channels.
Unfold the Sales Channel section by clicking the Down arrow button.
Click the Property Settings button.
Connect the property.

Depending on whether you already have some properties connected to the Sales Channel or not, you are presented with two different options.
- If it is the first property to be connected, click the Connect your first property button.
- If it is the next property to be connected, click the Add property button.
Choose the properties. You can read about the different ways of filtering and selecting properties here.
Click Next. You will see here the summary of all selected properties. Review the list and check if all properties are included.
Click Next to proceed.
The content quality is analysed. The process should take up to a few minutes.
The summary of properties’ content is displayed.
If some properties are not ready to publish, improve the content.
1. Check the content quality by unfolding the section with warning.
  
  Verify if any data is missing or incorrect. It is possible to display the errors by unfolding the section. For more detailed summary of errors, download the XLSX report by clicking the Download Quality Check button.
2. Click the Improve button. The Edit property page is opened in a new tab.
3. Correct the content indicated in the report in the Edit property page.
4. Go back to the Property List and click the Re-check button. If no further errors are displayed, the property is ready to publish.
If the properties are ready to publish, adjust the mark-up for each of them. You can adjust the mark-up for each property one by one or apply the same mark-up value for all at once. For Vrbo, it is also possible to specify Down payment at this point.
Click the Publish properties button.
The published properties enter the Pending status.

Tip: If you are in the middle of the onboarding process with the Vrbo team, your properties will not go live automatically. Vrbo will publish them after they have completed the on-boarding process.

Note: It is possible to check the listing status after the property is connected to Vrbo. Please, read Vrbo listing statuses.

Tip: If only Sales Channel provides this information, the URLs directing to the listing published in the Sales Channel website are filled in automatically in Rentals United.
The property status changes to Active and you can receive reservations now.

Mapping properties to existing listings

Vrbo will take you through the property mapping process in case you have existing listings in Vrbo. Please, contact the channel.

Vrbo listing statuses

After connecting the property to the channel, you may look up its connection status any time you want. The connection status page clearly indicates if your property is successfully connected to Vrbo or requires your action to clear away anything that may prevent it from being listed on the Vrbo website.

Pending - This is the default status the property enters after connection to Vrbo. You need to wait until Vrbo completes all the necessary steps on their side in order to successfully connect your property. Usually, it may be signing a contract, completing the account set-up and so on. The status will change after the live link to your property listed in the Vrbo website appear. You may wait up to few days for the status to change, and if you do not hear from the channel, you should contact them.
Active - The property has been successfully connected and is listed on the Sales Channel website. You can receive reservations at this point.
Not connected - An error occurred while connecting to Vrbo, which prevents the property from being listed.

This status may indicate that the property is missing some descriptive content, for example the photos are to big or the description is too short. You can check the summary of the invalid content that caused this status by clicking the Check notifications button and review the areas needing improvement. Please, edit the property content according to the mentioned suggestions and wait until the Vrbo attempts to reconnect the property upon the next synchronization time - see Static content.

Updating listings

After the property content is changed in the Edit property page in Rentals United, your listing will be automatically updated on the Vrbo website.

Deactivating properties

In this section, you can find more information on how to stop renting your properties on the Vrbo channel.

In Rentals United platform, go to the Services tab.
Select the proper list to search for Sales Channel.
- Find Services lists the channels you are not yet connected to,
- My Services lists the channels which you have already established connection with and channels that are in the process of being connected.
Type the Sales Channel name in the search box or scroll down through the list of available channels.
Unfold the Sales Channel section by clicking the Down arrow button.
Click the Property Settings button.

Search for the property you want to deactivate by scrolling down or filtering the property out.
Click the Manage button.
A property management page is opened.
Click the Disconnect button.
A pop-up window is displayed. Confirm the action by clicking the Yes, disconnect button.

Note: At this stage, no bookings can be made for this property through the Vrbo channel, but the connection with Vrbo remains intact. Still, the availability can be re-opened by clicking the Activate button next to the property.

Old Property Settings

Old Property Settings are no longer supported and we recommend using new Property Settings exclusively. New Property Settings are a robust and safe solution that offers you the newest features to manage your connections. If you need instructions related to old Property Settings, seeConnecting to Vrbo .