If you have a Vrbo account that is being managed through Vrbo, switching to a direct connection with Guesty is an easy and efficient way to manage your Vrbo properties. Follow the two-part process below to initiate a direct connection with Guesty and manage your preexisting Vrbo reservations to avoid double bookings.
Before you begin
Please note the following information before you begin:
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The connection process will take several days, so we recommend switching your listings in Vrbo to "quote and hold" until the process is finished.
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It is not possible to connect a Vrbo account to Guesty if the master brand is Vrbo BR. As a workaround, you should connect via Vrbo US instead. (See step 6 below.)
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Your onboarding is not completed until you see the final page "You're all set"", "You're almost done", "You've nearly finished!".
- You will not be contacted by Vrbo if you do not complete the Self-Service Onboarding Form.
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Your listings must meet Vrbo's requirements, otherwise, they will fail to publish.
- Once you receive email notification from Vrbo that your connection is activated, syncing will start immediately. However, it can take up to 24 hours for the status to be updated to "Connected" in Guesty.
1. Connecting your Vrbo account to Guesty
Follow the steps below to start the connection process in Guesty. Please note that all steps must be completed in Guesty to finish the account connection process with Vrbo.
Step by Step:
- Sign in to your Guesty account.
- In the top navigation bar, click, the icon drop-down menu and select Growth mode.
- Click Distribution.
- Click the HomeAway/Vrbo thumbnail.
- In the top right corner, click Add account.
- In the pop-up, fill in the relevant account settings. Learn more about the account settings.
- All supported brands can be found here.
- Click Next.
- Wait for all your listings to load. This may take several minutes. While your listings load, please note:
- Your listings must meet Vrbo's requirements, otherwise, they will fail to publish.
- If you have any listings with errors, they will appear on your screen under "X listings could not be added". You must fix these listings before you can publish them to Vrbo.
- If you wish to add any new listings, do so now.
- Select the listings you wish to publish to Vrbo and click Add Listings to Vrbo.
- When switching to a direct connection with Guesty from another channel manager/PMS, all existing listings in your Vrbo portfolio must be published to and managed by Guesty.
- Read Vrbo's instructions and fill out the Self-Service Onboarding Form, taking note of the steps for "Existing Users".
- Vrbo might ask for your Guesty Advertiser ID, so be sure to have it ready.
- If you encounter any error messages, contact Vrbo. Do not drop out of the self-service onboarding.
- An Onboarding Specialist from Vrbo will contact you within 3 working days to match each active Vrbo listing to a property in your property management software. You must be responsive to Vrbo's communication! If unresponsive, the process will be canceled by Vrbo automatically after 5 days.
- Add the property's registration information in the Vrbo dashboard. Adding it in Guesty as well is optional.
- Once the connection has been successfully activated, your properties will switch from "Pending" to "Connected" in Guesty. Click here if your properties are stuck in "Pending" for more than 3 days.
- Once your account is connected, check that your Guesty integration email address is entered in your Vrbo account. This ensures that messages from guests are received in Guesty, and vice versa. Follow these instructions.
Step by Step:
- Sign in to your Guesty account.
- At the top left, click Distribution then select Vrbo.
- Click Connect to Vrbo.
- Select yes to answer "Do you already have a Vrbo account?"
- Click "I'm switching from a direct connection to Vrbo" then click Next.
- Fill in the relevant account settings then click Next.
- Fill in the relevant booking settings then click Next.
- On the next screen, wait for your listings to load then select all listings to publish to Vrbo.
- Guesty will link to your existing listings in Vrbo. When switching to a direct connection with Guesty from Vrbo, all existing listings in your Vrbo portfolio must be linked to and managed by Guesty.
- If you don't see a listing, make sure that it has been imported into Guesty from Airbnb.
- If you see this message: "Listing is not eligible because it does not meet Vrbo's requirements" review the reason(s) provided for ineligibility.
- Click Go to listing to open the listing page and edit as needed.
- Read Vrbo's instructions and fill out the Self-Service Onboarding Form, taking note of the steps for "Existing users".
- Under "Add another email address to your Vrbo account":
- Copy the Guesty guest communication email.
- Add it to your Vrbo account settings as "Email 2".
- Payment processor: select one or both options. We recommend using Stripe for automatic payment collection. For payments collected manually you must document that they were made outside of Guesty.
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- Collect payments automatically via Stripe
- If you don't already have a Stripe account connected in Guesty, click Connect Stripe Account and follow the prompts.
- If you already have a Stripe account connected in Guesty, we will connect with your default account. You can select a different Stripe account from the Payment processor page.
- Collect payments manually via Bill me (Invoice Payment)
- Read the pop-up warning and click Continue.
- Collect payments automatically via Stripe
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- Click the tickbox "I've completed all the steps".
- At the top right, click Connect to Vrbo.
- An Onboarding Specialist from Vrbo will contact you within 3 working days to match each active Vrbo listing. You must be responsive to Vrbo's communication! If unresponsive, the process will be canceled by Vrbo automatically after 5 days.
- If you receive any error messages, please contact Vrbo's support team.
- Vrbo might ask for your Guesty Advertiser ID which you can find here.
- Vrbo may require a Property License or Registration Number depending on your jurisdiction. This information can be added once the listing is connected and exists on Vrbo. Until added, the listing will not be active. See Vrbo's instructions here.
- Once the connection has been successfully activated, your account and listings will switch from "Pending" to "Connected" in Guesty. If your properties are stuck in "Pending" for more than 3 days, please contact us.
- Check that your Guesty integration email address is entered in your Vrbo account. This ensures that messages from guests are received in Guesty, and vice versa. Learn more here.
2. Managing your preexisting Vrbo reservations
- Preexisting reservations should not be imported or uploaded into Guesty. You will need to create a manual reservation in Guesty for recording purposes and to block the calendar on Guesty to avoid double bookings.
- IMPORTANT: When creating the manual reservation, under "Channel" use "Vrbo" as the source. Do not use “uploaded_VRBO”.
- Guest payment methods are not transferred to Guesty. You will need to manage the payments directly from your Vrbo account. Alternatively, you can contact guests for their payment details and add them to Guesty, or send them an invoice.
- Messages for preexisting reservations may not be received in Guesty, since these reservations are associated with the channel manager/PMS integration email. We recommend moving to email communication with these guests.
